However, in the next move, it was Newbury who attacked swiftly. The ball was played into the right hand channel, where Lauren Hanson was a willing runner. She collected the pass and easily swept past the last defender, before cutting in and unleashing an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area. One nil to the home side.

It was then all Newbury from that moment on, with a new look attack of Hanson and Kendall Gilmour combining well. After 15 minutes, Hanson fed a ball wide to Ellie Reed in the final third. She cut in and shot from 25 yards. Her effort looked to be heading into the top left corner, but for the Chesham keeper to just make a very good, last ditch fingertip save around the post for a Newbury corner.

Just prior to the half hour mark, Newbury extended their lead, when captain, Leanne Creese scored from the left to make it two nil. Newbury looked to be well in control, when a Chesham forward sustained an injury that was to curtail her involvement for the day, leaving her side with no option but to go down to 10 players.

The resulting delay in proceedings, disrupted Newbury’s rhythm and not long after the re-start, Chesham were able to claw a goal back, when the home defence failed to clear their lines. It was 2-1 as half time approached.

Just before the half time break, Newbury carved out one further opportunity, when holding midfielder Lauren Sheldon chose to venture forward. She played a one-two on the left and then found herself skipping through the defence inside the Chesham area. She finished with aplomb, but her left foot shot across the goalkeeper, was unfortunately just wide of the far post.

Moved back into Newbury’s defence for the start of the second half, Sheldon was then adjudged to have fouled on the right of the penalty area. Chesham’s midfielder shot direct from the free kick and although Newbury’s Chloe Hunt got up well to get a hand to the ball, the shot was too strong to keep out and it crept under the bar and into the roof of the net. That early equaliser buoyed Chesham and they began to dominate much of the possession.

Whilst there was little fluidity to Newbury’s play, their effort was certainly not lacking and their visitors were providing a good challenge. Utilising their squad over the course of the game, Newbury were able to build on their match fitness, with the aim of being ready for the opening day of the season in two week’s time.

Newbury’s quality told in the final stages, with Ellie Reed scoring her second goal in as many games on 76 minutes and it was a shot worthy of winning any match. And so it proved, as the 3-2 score-line in Newbury’s favour remained until the final whistle.

Match report by Sue Hewett