Head coach Glenn Pennyfather confirmed “a week’s a long time in football” after his team claimed six Blue Square South points in two quickfire games.
This culminated with a victory over relegated Blue Square Premier side Lewes on Monday night, thanks to first half strikes from Anthony Cook and Danny Hockton.
City temporarily moved up to ninth place in the table having matched the figure in the matches lost column with that of games won and they survived a second half dismissal of left-back Danny Bunce to boot.
Pennyfather reported: “Two-nil flattered them at half time and we should have been about four-up. At that stage you expect to win comfortably. I was extremely disappointed with Danny getting sent-off as I specifically said at half time that both our full backs had been booked and we mustn’t give the referee an opportunity to send one of us off. Danny knows he let his mates down.”
Pennyfather was able to achieve a rare feat in naming an unchanged team, including substitutes, to the one which beat St Albans City at the weekend, moving a step closer to the settled team he desires. But the reduction to ten-men on 58 minutes forced him to shuffle his pack, adding: “After that we made some changes to return to our two banks of four and had to move John Martin into left-back, which is not his best position. We brought Rob Edmans on up-front as well as we knew he could hold the ball up. With 15 minutes left they got one back but a draw would have been an unfair result.”
The hosts got off to an active start and couldn’t believe they hadn’t scored when a triple-strike in a mad 10-second period on 13 minutes saw Antonio Murray and Cook both try their luck only to find their paths to goal blocked. Nevertheless, from the resulting corner the ball was only cleared to Cook on the edge of the box who was waiting to rifle back through a crowded area and low into the net.
Lewes attempted to respond soon afterwards and almost gained a helping hand when a defensive header careered just wide of Craig Holloway’s goal. Then they sent a corner into the danger zone and Chelmsford were let off the hook when David Wheeler jumped to head wide. However, a splendid 21st minute move added to City’s lead when John Martin fed Ricky Holmes down the left. He dribbled inside and squared to Cook and, when the chance seemed to have dissolved, the ball was sent across the face to Hockton who simply tapped-home.
Both sides had causes for defensive concern for different reasons around the middle of the half. Firstly, Lewes’ Ryan Timms lobbed his own goalkeeper and watched with relief as his effort bounced just over the bar. Then City lost the services of returning centre half Ben Martin who suffered a minor recurrence of the groin injury which kept him out for several weeks. Timms himself later had to leave the field injured.
Just after the half-hour mark, Murray watched a strike squirm across the face of goal while another cross from the right was fired just out of the reach of the fully-stretched Hockton as Chelmsford hunted a killer third. The other side of the interval they forged an even more promising scenario when Holmes was through on goal with acres of space but visiting custodian Rikki Banks did well to rush out and block.
Then came the turning point. Having already been cautioned for an over-the-top lunge second before the interval, the cynical block of a forward’s run left the referee with no alternative but to issue Bunce with a red card, changing the complexion of the game entirely. This was quickly followed by Lewes’ first meaningful attempt as a defensive slip allowed Williams Peauroux to dribble through and strike at Holloway from distance.
Chelmsford still weren’t without opportunities to put the game to bed and Cook’s 69th-minute delivery turned more into a shot in mid-air as it whistled narrowly over the bar. Holmes’ ambitious lob after a tidy build-up additionally went close and substitute Edmans could have done better when he fought-off the challenge of a defender on the left to run clear and manage a low strike which was saved by the feet of Banks.
Fifteen minutes remained when the Clarets were given a real reason to be tense. Wheeler succeeded where he had previously missed out when he shot from 20 yards and this time found the bottom right-hand corner, leading to an anxious late spell for Pennyfather’s men. Substitute Louis Pople had his head in his hands with 2 minutes left, however, when a glorious chance presented itself but he nodded over.
Wheeler also ran towards goal again and shot low to Holloway’s left, but City saw off the overdue challenge and Pennyfather was able to reflect: “As the chairman said in his programme notes, a week’s a long time in football. We’ve obtained six points out of six and the squad is beginning to come together now.
“It’s good to have some of our key players back and the team spirit is building with a bond that doesn’t just happen overnight. We have a very buzzy dressing room at the moment!”
(Chris Evans)
