Chesham United 1 Stourbridge 1

The Glassboys came away from The Meadow with a point from a hard fought encounter with Chesham. The home side were on top in the first-half and enjoyed the greater possession for much of the game, but Gary Hackett's men dug in to mainly restrict the Buckinghamshire to efforts from outside the box thanks to some solid defensive work.

Attacking down the slope in the opening 45 minutes, Chesham quickly threatened with a dangerously looking inswinging right-wing free-kick from Toby Little eluding everybody in the box before bouncing just past the far post. Stourbridge responded in the 5th minute with on-loan debut striker James Spray driving a 20-yard shot past Chesham keeper Shane Gore's left-hand upright. The visitors had a let-off six minutes later when an attempted clearance by Paul McCone was charged down and Inih Effiong played the ball in low from the right into the path of James Potton who looked to try and round Dean Coleman in the Stourbridge goal, but Coleman saved well at his feet. Chesham continued to press and a minute later Little cut in from the left before hitting a right-foot shot that Coleman saved away to his right. Midway through the first period, Dave Fotheringham fed the ball inside to Potton who produced a square pass across to Steve Wales and he let fly with a long range low drive that forced Coleman to make a diving save down to his left at the expense of a corner. John Kyriacou also struck a shot wide for the hosts before the Glassboys snatched the lead against the run of play on 35 minutes. Sean Geddes fed Spray who cut in and hit a shot from the left-hand corner of the box that took a deflection to leave Gore beaten. Lifted by the goal, the visitors went on the offensive again three minutes later as Lee Osborne provided a low cross from the left, however Ben Billingham was thwarted by a timely tackle by Mark Lambert. In first-half stoppage time Chesham were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, but Coleman got safely behind Potton's low effort.

Six minutes after the re-start Chesham were back on level terms as Effiong slipped a short pass inside from the left for the arriving Potton to neatly place the ball past Coleman and into the far corner of the net. Four minutes later Coleman saved at his near post to keep out a shot from the left-hand side of the box by Effiong, but Stourbridge nearly re-gained the lead in the 64th minute. Geddes swung in a free-kick from the left that flicked off the head of a Chesham player enabling Billingham at the far post to get in a header that Gore did well to touch on to the crossbar. Little continued to provide problems down the left for us and in the 66th minute he drove forward before hitting an angled low drive that drew a sharp save from Coleman down to his left. Stourbridge showed up better in the last twenty minutes, but neither side could fashion a clear chance in the latter stages to ensure the match finished all-square in the end.