Chelmsford City 3-0 Eastleigh

CHELMSFORD CITY v EASTLEIGH



SATURDAY 4th OCTOBER 2008
Blue Square South

Report by Ray Murphy

Chelmsford City moved up into second place of the Blue Square South with a competent display against Eastleigh. Matt Bodkin and James Baker were relegated to the substitutes bench at the expense of David Hughes and Jamie Brown as Eastleigh took on a home side on a pitch that had a strong wind blowing the full length. City also included ex-Eastleigh players Bertie Brayley and Kevin James in their line up in a side recovering from the previous weeks F A Cup defeat at the hands of Bury Town of the BGB Midland Division.

Eastleigh started brightly and an Andy Harris cross in the sixth minute caused concern in the Chelmsford area before they managed to get the ball clear. Eastleigh went behind though on eleven minutes. Brayley and Ollie Berquez combined before Brayley was bundled over by Andy Harris. Dave Rainford stepped up and confidently sent Jason Matthews the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Immediately Eastleigh were back on the attack with Peter Adeniyi sending a cross that struck Brown and rolled agonisingly wide. The game settled into a midfield contest for a while before Brayley broke clear of the Eastleigh defence on twenty-six minutes but he was denied by the feet of Matthews. A quick break by Eastleigh followed and Tony Taggart fired over the top when the ball would not sit down for him.

The home side had two chances within a minute on the half hour. James’ cross was met with a Berquez header that brought a fine save by Matthews, from the subsequent James corner Rainford had a shot saved by Matthews. Eastleigh's next attempt came on the half time mark when Matt Groves' turn and shot from the edge of the area was saved by home goalkeeper Danny Gay.

Chelmsford started the second half in the ascendancy. Shortly into the second half James attempted a delicate chip to deceive Matthews, but the Eastleigh keeper managed to divert the ball over the bar. whilst Ricky Holmes also shot narrowly off target.

With fifty-six minutes played Chelmsford did net a second goal. Holmes’ cross into the box saw three Chelmsford players unmarked which allowed Rainford to slot home his second of the afternoon.

Baker came off the bench for Eastleigh on sixty-eight minutes and soon thought he was celebrating a goal, but his effort was disallowed for an infringement. Another attempt from Baker was saved by Gay.

The final and condemning third goal arrived two minutes into stoppage time. Played through by Jon Keeling, Rainford strode on to stroke home his hat trick goal.