City fifth after Welling win (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

City fifth after Welling win

12:50pm Wednesday 2nd December 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

FIFTH place is where Glenn Pennyfather’s Chelmsford City team sit in the Blue Square South table having secured four points from a possible six in their last two games, including a solid 1-0 victory away at Welling United on Tuesday night.

The Clarets had been frustrated with recent drawn matches which saw points dropped, including a 2-2 stalemate against Weston-super-Mare at Melbourne where they twice had to come from behind.

But Ricky Holmes’ solitary goal, his ninth of the season, saw City jump four places thanks to a slender win in Kent, Pennyfather reinforcing: “Our team wear their hearts on their sleeves and they’re really playing for their shirts.”

Entering the match having faltered from winnable positions in recent games, Pennyfather was additionally excited to see results elsewhere enable City to move nearer the top.

“I was pleased for the players who put on a performance and defended well when they needed to,” he explained after the match, which saw Ashley Harrison replace the transfer-listed Craig Holloway in goal.

“Ashley was great and commanded his box well. We could have wrapped the game up, but I think we answered a few critics tonight as Welling were also on a good run and hadn’t lost since we beat them in mid-October.”

City were marginally the better side as the game got under way frantically and they enjoyed the first opportunity of the match, though Loui Fazackerley was released into space on the left for the hosts, cutting inside and providing Harrison with some early work as he had to parry his shot.

But Holmes put the visitors in front with 22 minutes on the clock when Michael Haswell’s delivery was cleared as far as Steve Ward, who sent the ball back into the box where Chelmsford’s marksman turned and found the bottom corner.

After half-time they should have doubled their advantage when a fantastic move involved Cook passing to Edmans who then fed Ollie Berquez with a back-heel, only to see the midfielder prevented by home goalkeeper Charlie Mitten inside the six-yard box.

Meanwhile, the visitors had Harrison to thank at the other end as he parried to deny United and stake a claim for a regular spot in the team.

Opportunities began to stack up for City, though their inability to capitalise meant they were in for a tense final period of the game.

In contrast to recent fixtures, however, Chelmsford looked solid, much to the pleasure of Pennyfather who had started to become frustrated.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)