| Sunday afternoon saw Newbury Ladies travel to Chesham United in the First Round of the Berks & Bucks County Cup. Although they were facing higher league opposition, Newbury were in confident mood and kicked off the game determined to put the home side’s defence under immediate pressure. This nearly paid off inside the first three minutes when a good passing move involving Ellie Reed, Caroline Harkness and Leanne Creese, eventually resulted in a Shelley Forster shot. The Chesham keeper responded to this early test and produced the save.
With this season’s County Cup competition introducing for the first time repeat substitutions, Newbury were forced to make their first change on just nine minutes when midfielder Kirsty Parfett required strapping to her knee and was withdrawn early, with Rachel Panting entering the fray in her place. This enforced change switched the early momentum away from Newbury and over to the home side, who now started to enjoy a spell of pressure. However, the Newbury defence was standing firm and able to catch the Chesham forwards off side on several occasions.
As the midway point of the half approached, the tie was unfolding into a very even encounter. With Nicole Beesley and Panting up front for Newbury, both working very hard to ensure that the home defence were not allowed to settle. After a good cross field pass played by Reed out to the right flank, Creese cut in for Newbury, but pulled her shot across goal and just wide of the upright. Then on 28 minutes Newbury found the break through, after good work again by Creese and Lily Chubb inside the Chesham penalty area, the ball broke to Reed, who fired her shot passed the keeper and into the net to give the visitors a one nil lead.
Newbury’s lead lasted only seven minutes, when a Chesham midfield player was allowed to pick the ball up just inside the Newbury half, driving forward through the middle. When the Newbury centre halves went to close her down, she unleashed a high shot that left Chloe Hunt helpless in goal and gave Chesham an equaliser. The half ended with the scores tied at one goal apiece.
As the second half restarted, Parfett returned to help anchor Newbury’s midfield, but sadly for her and her team mates, she fell very awkwardly under a heavy challenge and had to be carried from the field, her afternoon ending early due to a bad shoulder injury.
On the hour mark, Newbury failed to clear their lines and Chesham capitalised, creating their second goal to take the lead. This gave the home side real impetus in their play and they began to dominate possession. They extended their lead on 68 minutes when an uncharacteristic error from Newbury’s Gemma Povey, allowed the Chesham number 9 to latch onto a short back pass and slide a shot passed the helpless Newbury goalkeeper for 3-1.
Newbury heads didn’t drop and with plenty of time still on the clock, Panting and Harkness were working extremely hard to drive Newbury forward, with one attacking move providing Harkness with the chance to shoot from a central position from 25 yards. The effort sailing just above the cross bar.
A very strange referring decision then saw Chesham awarded a free kick on the left, when it appeared that Newbury’s Sam McConnon had actually been the fouled player. However the Referee saw it differently and from the resultant set piece, Chesham extended their advantage to make it 4-1. It was 5-1 within two minutes following a break down the right and it was now all Chesham pressure.
The final ten minutes saw two further goals converted for the home side, although one further chance was created for Newbury by Lauren Sheldon, who skipped into the 6 yard area and shot from a narrow angle on the left. But sadly for Newbury the end result of 7-1 saw them bow out of the competition, as they were beaten by a very good and organised Chesham United side.
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