Chesham Rangers (29/05/2005)
2004 - 2005 Season, Hithercroft Youth



This game was supposed to be an away fixture but took place at the Pedestal because of a lack of pitch availability to Chesham Rangers. There were no breaks in the cloud but the weather remained dry and bright throughout the game. Both sides had substitutes available and the referee was Mr Paul O’Hare. Pam Ife ran the line for Hithercroft during the first half and Brian Lewis took over for the second half.

The game got under way at 2.05pm and Hithercroft had an opportunity to open the scoring after 3 minutes when Mark Sadler sent the ball down the wing to Dewayne Dublin who ran into the 18-yard box but hit the ball across the face of the goal and out on the far side for a goal kick. One minute later Baz David sent a corner kick from the right into the centre to Mark who hit a shot on the turn but sent the ball over the crossbar. In the 6th minute Chesham broke down the left and, as they played the ball forward, the Hithercroft keeper came out of his area and missed his clearance kick. Graham Moore continued but sent his shot across the face of the Hithercroft goal. However, four minutes later, Chesham took the lead when a long ball was played down the middle to Graham who lifted the ball over goalkeeper Simon Mines’ head and the ball dropped down into the net for a 1-0 lead. After 23 minutes of play Hithercroft’s Rhydian Grange collected the ball on the right and hit a shot which went just outside of the top left-hand corner of the goal. At 2.36pm Baz sent a long high ball from a corner kick on the right and Mark ran in to head the ball into the Rangers’ net to bring Hithercroft back onto level terms. Hithercroft had begun to put a number of good passes together but could not penetrate the Chesham defence, Tom Kelly proving noticeably prominent in clearing the danger and setting up Chesham’s breaks. On the 40-minute mark Chesham brought the ball down the wing and M. Silley hit a terrific shot from about 30-yards out that had Simon diving to his right to push the ball outside of the left-hand upright. When Mr O’Hare blew his whistle at 2.50pm to end the entertaining first half the scores remained level at 1 each.

The second half began at 2.56pm with Dewayne Dublin having been replaced by Ben Steele. Two minutes into the half Rhydian again tried one of his long-distance shots that forced the Chesham keeper to put the ball out of play. At 3.05pm Baz received the ball in the middle and raced towards the Rangers’ goal, chipping the ball over the advancing keeper into the net to put Hithercroft into the lead for the first time in the match. This lead lasted for 14 minutes until Chesham took the ball down the right and J. Stroud hit the ball home to level the score at 2-2. At 3.28pm Peter Morgan had to leave the field with a damaged boot and so Hithercroft sent on Jamaine Warner to replace him. Both defences were being kept busy and Alan McKie was proving extremely difficult for Chesham to get past. In the 82nd minute Mark sent a very high ball in from the left wing and the ball came off the keeper’s chest to Ben Steele but he chipped the ball over the crossbar. In the 88th minute Tom Kelly headed the ball out as far as Baz who chipped the ball forward and, as the keeper came out, Baz headed the ball over the keeper’s head, went round him and tapped the ball into the goal to put Hithercroft back into the lead. At 3.42pm the final whistle was blown with Hithercroft winning 3-2 to take all 3 points. This meant that they moved up from sixth place to third in the Division.


Hithercroft’s M.o.M:- Alan McKie

Hithercroft’s scorers:-
Mark Sadler (31m) and Baz David (54m and 88m)

Chesham’s scorers:-
Graham Moore (10m) and J. Stroud (68m)

Hithercroft team:-
Simon Mines, Paul Morgan, Peter Morgan, Baz David, Richard Vere, Dewayne Dublin, Mark Sadler, Richard Vere, Rhydian Grange, Alan McKie and Ralph Khier.
The subs used were Ben Steele and Jamaine Warner.

Chesham team:-
T. Grace, T. Kelly, S. Cronin, A. Stott, T. Wells, M. Silley, G. Moore, M. Watson, C. Whelan and D. Legge.
The subs were J. Stroud and A. Raher.