|
 |
Chipstead 1
Hayes & Yeading Utd 2
|
 |
| |
Hayes & Yeading United moved five points clear at the top of the Bostik South Central table courtesy of a 2-1 victory away at Chipstead with first half strikes from Lee Barney and Elliot Benyon enough to see Paul Hughes’ men home despite a late reply from the home side through substitute Jacob Sewell.
The deadlock was broken by United in just the fourth minute when top scorer Lee Barney collected the ball on the left wing, the striker then cut inside and planted a low drive beyond the reach of Chipstead’s newly arrived Fulham loanee ‘keeper Taye Ashby-Hammond.
This goal for United was quickly followed by the visitors creating another opening, this time Scott Bridges picked out Elliot Benyon in the Chipstead box, his shot however was blocked and then cleared by experienced home skipper Sam Page.
On eight minutes the home side’s first chance of the game saw Jeremy Boakye find Sam Bell on the right wing, his centre was tipped away by United stopper Charlie Burns with Chips striker Izzy Bademosi in close attendance, Roddy Collins completing the clearance.
A lull in chances for a good fifteen minute spell saw a midfield battle played out with neither side getting an effort on goal and then United’s tenacity created and delivered a second goal. A short goal-kick by Ashby-Hammond was played to the hosts left-back Luke Elliott, the ever alert Tom Jelley was onto the ball in an instant and stole possession away from the home side, he then raced to the bye-line before pulling the ball back to Benyon who planted it beyond Ashby-Hammond into the bottom corner for his third goal since returning to United from Leatherhead at Christmas.
On the half hour mark United’s two goal lead was retained thanks to excellent work from Burns. Anthony Oaks collected the ball on the right side, his centre was met by Bademosi, Burns clawed away his goalbound header and when the loose ball dropped to Page at the far post, Burns appeared to get the slightest of touches to take the ball onto the post and wide despite referee Emery awarding a goal-kick.
United were quickly on the attack again, Ed Asafu-Adjaye’s deep cross was partially cleared by Page with the ball dropping nicely to Jelley who saw his volley deflected wide by a timely interception from Elliott. This was followed a few minutes later by a smart interchange involving Scott Donnelly, Barney and Benyon with the ball being laid back to Donnelly who saw his low drive held by Ashby-Hammond.
The final opening of the first period saw another chance for the home side when another cross from the right again picked out Bademosi, this time however under pressure from Roddy Collins he could only get in a weak header that caused Burns little or no trouble and United went in two ahead at the interval.
The second half was to see a more fluent performance from the home side in part due to a triple change just after the hour mark that seemed to offer them more spark in attack however apart from what turned into a consolation goal eleven minutes from time, neither ‘keeper was overly tested in the whole 45 minutes.
The first chance of the second period came the way of United just four minutes after the re-start when Collins found Jelley on the right wing, he took a touch past his marker before finding Donnelly on the edge of the box, the skipper’s effort going just the wrong side of the upright.
For the home side, a 54th minute free-kick from fully 25 yards beat the wall and the post but Burns appeared to have it well covered anyway and this was the prelude to another sizeable lull in attacking creativity with nothing hitting the notebook for fully 20 minutes in the way of chances for either side.
As the game entered the final fifteen minutes, Toby Little fired in a corner kick from the right side that fizzed across the six yard box with nobody from either team able to get a touch on it, the ball going just wide of the far post.
Three minutes later a United corner from the opposite side by Donnelly was headed back into the mix by Benyon, Collins got his head to the ball and sent it goalwards only for Matt Warren to head clear off his own goal line.
Within a minute the home side gave themselves a flicker of hope when two substitutes combined, Sam Clayton fired in a cross from the right wing that saw Jacob Sewell get to the ball just before Liam McDevitt, his flicked header flying past Burns into the United net.
Despite there still being 11 minutes plus stoppage time remaining at this point, the United defence dealt comfortably with any forward surges by the home side leaving the final whistle to blow on a sixth consecutive League win for Paul Hughes’ side and a little bit of breathing space between United and the chasing pack at the summit of the table with games coming thick and fast at the moment.
Report by Kevin Watts.
United Man of the Match: Ed Asafu-Adjaye.
|
Chipstead |
Hayes & Yeading United |
|
|
