Chatham Town Women eased to three Women’s National League points through the Chesham United rain and mud on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead at the interval through Lottie Sharp’s goal, the lead was doubled after the break as Sharp turned provider for Amelia Woodgate before Jess King weighed in with a brace that sealed the three points from what had begun as a frustrating afternoon for Keith Boanas’s side.
The struggling home side were indebted to their over worked keeper to only be one behind at the break as time and again she thwarted the Chats as the visitors played down the Meadow Park slope.
Skipper Ellie Jeffkins was the first to be denied as her free kick was well palmed over. From one of the eleven first half corners that the Chats forced, the keeper did remarkably well to keep out a header from a defender who was totally deceived by the pace and swerve that Lucy Jones put on the ball.
The keeper then excelled again as she denied Amelia Woodgate on the edge of the box after she raced through. The keeper did even better to keep out Karesha Iton’s follow-up as well though the referee, who seemed to play an excellent advantage, perhaps should have given Iton a free kick she was cleaned up on the edge of the box as she shot.
Amy Russ then drilled an effort just too high before the Chats thought they had – and seemed to – have taken the lead. Woodgate’s drive was again turned aside by the keeper and sliding in from an angle, Sharp appeared to have forced the ball over the line.
However, neither referee of his assistant (who was at least twenty-five yards behind play) thought so and the “goal” wasn’t awarded.
It fortunately didn’t matter for the tireless Sharp or the Chats as they did so deservedly take the lead five minutes from the break – again Woodgate’s shot wasn’t held by the keeper and following up this time Sharp rammed the ball home with some intent!
The Chats deserved their lead, and it could have been doubled if Russ’s shot on the stroke of half time had literally been inches lower.
The second period began as the first with Chats dominant but frustrated and with only the slenderest of leads. And it was a lead that they very nearly relinquished on fifty-five minutes following some indifferent defending, the ball fell to the home number nine but fortunately for the Chats her effort drifted over the bar.
It seemed to be the kick-start that the visitors needed, and soon after Woodgate was again released by Sharp. The young striker brought a fine save out of the keeper, and as the ball ran to Iton, she was flattened in the box. The assistant waved for the foul but for some reason, the referee completely ignored him and the pleas of those in Chatham red, waving away the appeals for arguably the worst of many baffling decisions.
Midfield dynamo Ciara Hynes shot narrowly wide before the Chats netted twice in ninety seconds to finally seal the points. Sharp flighted a delightful ball into the box for Woodgate, who sweetly connected sending the volley into the roof of the net.
Almost straight from kick-off, King, who had replaced the hard running Russ, picked up the loose ball and fizzed a low drive that skidded and nestled in the corner of the net to finally break Chesham’s stubborn resistance.
King then added a fourth as she touched Otesha Charles’s header (from Jeffkins corner) over the keeper and into the net, before she was denied a hat-trick as she cut in from the left and curled a cracking drive off the frame of the goal.
Chats now turn their attention to their next game and arguably their biggest since the Club moved across Medway from Gillingham as they face Sutton United Women next weekend for a place in Round Four and the last thirty-two of the Adobe Womens FA Cup.
CHATHAM TOWN WOMEN – Eligon, Wright, Perkins, Wellington, Jones (O’Shea), Hynes (Auguste), Jeffkins, Russ (King), Iton (Charles), Amelia Woodgate (Maddison Woodgate), Sharp.