Salisbury 1-2 Chesham United (National League South)
I’ve been scoring for Yorkshire at the cricket over the last couple of weeks so haven’t been able to update my football fix until now. Trips to North Marine Road at Scarborough and Headingley at Leeds have taken priority with all eyes on Jonny Bairstow and others, but I’m back in the saddle tonight as Salisbury take on Chesham, two sides I’ve never seen play before.
Salisbury FC were only formed in 2015, a phoenix, following the previous regime getting into financial difficulties. I’m told they’re now debt free and much better ran these days than Salisbury City who self-bust after reaching the Conference Premier in 2013 following a previous spell at the level which lasted three years.
Chesham United, a much steadier and stable but less exciting past were formed in 1917 as a merger between Chesham Generals and Chesham Town, after spells in the Corinthian and Athenian leagues they spent 31 seasons in the Isthmian League before promotion to the Southern League in 2004, they won the Southern League South last season and like Salisbury, who were promoted via the playoffs, gained promotion to the National League South.
It’s a 170 mile trip south for me from Nottingham, so I’ve left early afternoon to avoid the back-to-school run rush hour, down the M1 to junction 15A, crossing the A43 and M40, A34 through Oxford and down the Newbury Bypass, taking a shortcut past signs for Highclere Castle and through the idyllic village of Hustbourne Tarrant with its number of thatched cottages.
Wiltshire is remarkable, not a county I know much about, it seems to have army barracks everywhere and stunning scenery, I’m a few miles from Stonehenge on the A30 as I pull in for a Starbucks and a pee at a services where there’s a couple of Salisbury players in tracksuits doing the same thing.
The Venue
I pull up in a town called Old Sarum, apparently one of the earliest settlements in the UK, there’s an Iron Age hillfort around the corner which has been there since 400BC. Where I’m parked on Partridge Way it doesn’t look quite as tourist friendly with signs up for ‘NO PARKING’ so I pull up away from danger and walk the last few yards into the pot hole covered car park of the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.
Known locally as the Ray Mac, it’s basic to say the least from the outside, but as I walk through reception where I’m greeted by a lady and a lanyard, I’m told to go upstairs to my seat in the press box, and it’s from there where I get to see what this place is really all about.
Elevated on half way, dug outs well below, you get a fabulous view, panoramic of the whole venue, as I meet a guy called Andy who tells me a bit about the history of the club, I tell him 'this place is fit for the next level', he says “It’s hosted football in the Conference before, just not with this team”.
The Ray Mac Stadium was built in 1997 and is named after the then Chairman who played a significant part in the clubs growth. The venue actually hosted my club, Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup match which ended 1-1 in 2006, third tier Forest winning the replay during some pretty forgettable times for the Reds… Which is probably why I completely overlooked they once played here.
The stand I’m in is large, elevated, next to me are corporate hospitality seats with equally fantastic views high up with the touchline below, opposite us is a small seated section overlooked by housing, the end to my left has a long roofed terrace, the end to my right open, but with a huge modern electric scoreboard behind the goal, room for three or four thousand tops, but they’ll be less than 800 in tonight.
The Game
Last season Salisbury beat Chesham here 3-1, they lost at the Meadow 2-1, and since both clubs have gained promotion, they have an almost identical record in mid table, Salisbury 8 points from 6 games with 6 goals scored and 6 conceded whilst Chesham have 7 points having scored and conceded 7.
I’m predicting a close affair as I watch the warm-ups, the sun slowly going down as smoke smells from the sizzling burger stalls, but soon after the teams get underway to a frantic start, I’m much more impressed with the home side than I am the away, as Salisbury knock it about neatly, and take a deserved lead all be it through a hugely deflected effort by striker Ronan Silva just five minutes in.
That goal lifts the whites who attack in numbers, largely from the right where Tom Leggett gets forward and combines well with their gifted looking playmaker Josh Hedges. Salisbury have all the ball and at one stage play some fine one and two touch passing in a move of around twenty passes total, Chesham can’t get near their opponents and I’m hugely disappointed by the Southern League South champions, but Salisbury do leave space in behind and Jack Connors gets free down the left, his cross is palmed into Joe Grant who sliding in levels things up as the home support fall silent and the supporters next to me ask ‘how on earth did that happen’.
The Score
It’s a goal out of nothing, but there’s been a couple of bright sparks for Chesham who’s winger Omar Rowe sets sight from range, his shot is athletically saved and pushed out for a corner and the resulting set play is into the danger area where centre half Callum Adebiyi heads home downwards unmarked.
Half time approaching and somehow 2-1 to the visitors, they’ve been outplayed for long parts, but have the all-important advantage into the break.
At half time there’s a fifty-fifty draw and one of the winners is club hierarchy, as the tannoy announcer states ‘she’ll put her winnings back into the club” she’s sitting up in the stand next to me, shaking her head, laughing, saying ‘no I bloody won’t’.
It’s dark as the two teams come back out, Salisbury in all white, Chesham in changed yellow, the white numbers on their backs hard to make out under the dim floodlights, but as I’m expecting more pressure from the hosts to get back into the game quickly, I’m finally seeing an improved performance from Chesham, who’s 3-4-3 style system is compact, organised and hard for the hosts to break down.
The later the game goes the deeper the away side gets, they are seeking out to defend their lead and look good value for doing so, but Salisbury buoyed by their loudening home support are getting in more prominent areas, their subs have been attacking and they are now knocking on the door. A well-worked corner is played back to Jordan Ragguette who from 30 yards lets fly, a thunderbolt, off the cross bar and down and back again, it’s crossed the line? It hasn’t? “It’s gone in” says the Salisbury staff… A rocket, but no one can be sure if it did… Or didn’t?
That was Salisbury’s best chance, they kept knocking and knocking and even sent the goalkeeper up for a last ditch corner but Chesham’s defence proved strong, a massive away victory for their handful of five or ten fans to enjoy, for Salisbury it felt like not what might have been, but what should have been, their first half performance should have had them comfortably in the lead, their second half surge should have at least left them with a leveller, the win and three points however, going the way of Chesham. Football works in funny ways.
The Stars
Despite their loss I was most impressed with a number of Salisbury players, the rangy running, socks rolled down of Josh Hedges who’s lovely feet and guile had him the most likely to create danger from his attacking midfield position, he’s a powerful, progressive boy aged just twenty and is certainly one to watch.
Hedges linked really well with right back Tom Leggett, similarly thick set and powerful he’s now 28 and from the Aston Villa Academy, he still zips passes in like a pro, hard and firm, sometimes too hard for his strikers who are often looking to spin on them which results in the ball bouncing away, but Leggett gets forward well and has good quality, although he did get exposed a couple of times defensively, in particular when leaving a void which was counter-attacked for the opening goal.
Aaron McCreadie was another player who impressed, his name was read out as sponsors man of the match, a midfield sitter of Oxford United DNA, just 22 and who did the simple things well, he ended up playing right back as Salisbury tinkered with tactics in chasing the game for a leveller late on.
For Chesham, they had one player who I really liked, in Joe Grant, a stylish centre forward who had good feet and made good decisions, who scored a good strikers goal, whilst their left winger Omar Rowe, stocky, small, speedy, unpredictable, he certainly has talent, but he’s one that will also frustrate, an early booking for him could have ended much worse, in the end he was substituted but shown glimpses of a real awkward threat at times.
The Verdict
The Ray Mac is a lovely ground, a proper football home which smelt of smoke, onions and brut from the elevated seat where I was sat.
Salisbury will rightly aim to settle into life in the National League South this season and I feel they’ll take points off others, whilst playing some good attractive football at times, they may be prone to conceding from set plays, a mid-table destination will be most satisfactory for them, and par, for what they have got.
For Chesham, well they weren’t pretty, but they have something which all winners have, a real togetherness, managed dually by James Duncan and Michael Murray now in their sixth season at the club, they’ll be aiming for a top half finish which is certainly achievable, and with that, you can’t rule out a playoff push either.
The Teams
Salisbury: Ryan Gosney, Jordan Raguette, Tom Leggett (Rafa Ramos 67), Luke Wilkinson (Owen Dore 60), Josh Sommerton, Jaden Perez, Craig Fasanmade, Josh Hedges, Ronan Silva, Aaron McCreadie, Sido Jombati.
Chesham United: Ben Goode, Lewis Rolfe, Connor Stevens, Mitchell Weiss, Eoin Casey, Jack Connors, Joe Grant (Obi Mfinda 90), Callum Adebiyi, Ashley Lodge, Avan Jones, Omar Rowe (Steve Brown 85).
7:45pm Kick Off. Tuesday 3rd September 2024, Raymond McEnhill Stadium, Salisbury (att 727).
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