Chesham Rangers (19/10/2003)
2003 - 2004 Season, Hithercroft Youth



There was confusion over the venue for this game as the information from the League conflicted with the fixtures published in the handbook. It was also found that a group of gipsies had moved onto Chesham’s usual ground and so we eventually played at Hervines Park at Amersham-on-the-hill. The weather was overcast with a chilly wind blowing across the pitch. The referee, a late replacement for Jason Cousins, was Alex Vickery and Jonny Bartlett ran the line for Hithercroft. With Chris Paget, Richard McBarnett and Anthony Disson having left Hithercroft all of the remaining players attended so giving us the luxury of substitutes. The reserves were Duane, Matt, Shahid and Stevie.

The game kicked off at 2.01pm and within 3 minutes Chesham had taken the lead through Liam Whelan, Simon managing to get a touch to the ball but being unable to prevent the ball from going into the net. However, straight from the restart Dewayne Dublin took the ball down the right and crossed the ball in for Arron Clarke to head it into the top left-hand corner of the net to level the score at 1-1. In the 12th minute Liam crossed the ball from the right and Matt Silley sent a glancing header into the visitor’s net, putting Chesham 2-1 ahead. At 2.35pm Kevin Ife was replaced by Duane White. Hithercroft had scoring opportunities on two occasions when they sent the ball across the mouth of the Chesham goal but had no players available to tap the ball home. The first half had been fairly evenly balanced with both teams having forays into their opponents half of the field. By the end of the half there was no further change to the score-line.

At 2.53pm the second half began with Matt Seaton coming on to replace Ricci Proffit. This half was played out mostly in the Chesham end of the pitch with the home team relying on sending long high balls downfield for their taller players to collect whereas Hithercroft were using more passing moves to gain ground. About 10 minutes into the half Laurence Dunn, the Hithercroft captain, made an unfair challenge and the referee called him over. At this point a Chesham ‘supporter’ ran onto the pitch and pushed Laurence over, causing Laurence to respond with rather ‘colourful’ language. Amazingly, the referee ‘red-carded’ Laurence and took no action against the ‘supporter’. This left Hithercroft with just ten players for the remainder of the game and without their motivator and long-throw specialist. In the 66th minute Chesham broke out of their half and took the ball down the centre where Matt Silley lifted the ball over Simon, the Hithercroft keeper, to give the home team a 3-1 lead. Matt Seaton of Hithercroft was later demonstrating his dazzling footwork around a ring of Chesham players when the No. 10 came charging across the field and shouldered him violently in the back to earn a booking from the referee. Hithercroft’s Jamaine Warner later also went into the referee’s book following a tackle from behind on a Chesham player. In the 87th minute Arron weaved his way round two or three Chesham defenders before sending the ball into the middle for Duane White to put the ball into the bottom left corner of the Chesham net to reduce Hithercroft’s deficit to just one goal. Immediately before the final whistle Jamaine, under pressure on the wing near his 18-yard box, attempted a back-pass to his advancing keeper but under-hit it, allowing Matt Silley to nip in, take the ball round the Hithercroft goalkeeper and run the ball into the net to give Chesham a 4-2 victory.


Hithercroft scorers:- Arron Clarke and Duane White.

Chesham Rangers scorers:- Matt Silley (3) and Liam Whelan.



The following report appeared in the Bucks Midweek following information obtained from Chesham. Because of communication problems there was no input from Hithercroft. (errors highlighted in red)

"A Matt Silley hat-trick saw Chesham Rangers move off the bottom of Division Four with a 4-2 win at hosts Hithercroft.
Hithercroft were beginning to play some good football when the visitors went on the break and opened the scoring through Liam Whelan.
The home side struck back instantly with a goal straight after the kick-off and it remained 1-1 until a few minutes before half-time when Whelan broke down the right flank and put in a cross to Silley who headed into the bottom corner.
After the break, Chesham once again caught Hithercroft on the break and Silley grabbed his second with a lob over the keeper.
Hithercroft brought the score back to 3-2 but Chesham were beginning to dominate and Silley completed his treble when he beat the keeper again."