Chatham Town hosted strugglers Walton & Hersham at the Maidstone Road sports ground on Saturday afternoon with the host attempting to pull themselves away from relegation trouble and into the relative comforts of mid table.

The home side had to make a late change to their starting line up with Jeffrey being replaced by Oriogun but this didn’t stop the home side from a resounding victory with goals at the double from Ricky Gundry and George Humber in a really good performance.

Chatham started brightly with Gundry being a threat down the left. His run to the by line ended with a low cross towards the near post where Humber’s cute back heel fell into the arms of the goalkeeper.

Chatham continued to press in the opening 5 minutes and Gundry forced the keeper into a fantastic save. Butler’s left wing cross found Gundry in the area, the forward swivelled and hit a ferocious shot which the keeper fantastically tipped over the bar.

From the resulting corner, Chatham took the lead. Oriogun inswinging corner caused havoc in the 6 yard box and the ball was eventually stabbed home by Humber with his back to goal 2 yards out.

Two minutes later and Chatham extended their lead after more woeful defending from the visitors. Davies broke down the right and his low cross across the box found its way to Gundry to slot home from 5 yards with no defenders in sight.

Just a minute later and the home side should have put the game out of sight. Osei slipped through Humber one on one with the keeper and looked certain to score but his cheeky chipped finish was gratefully clutched by Beach in the Walton & Hersham goal.

It was one way traffic towards the away goal with Gundry proving to be a class above the rest, forcing two players towards him before passing for Butler to cross towards Davies at the back post who headed inches wide.

Beach in the away goal was keeping his side in the game and made another wonderful save as we approached the 20^th minute. Gundry popped up in the number 10 position and slotted Medley in on the inside left, he shot first time towards the top corner and the keeper again clawed the ball away for a corner.

With the keeper being so busy, it was little surprise to see him go down injured halfway through the half suffering from what appeared to be fatigue.

On 31 minutes, Chatham’s keeper Nicholls was forced into his first save. A long ball inside the left back found Mici who ran into the box, his first touch perhaps making it a bit more difficult to trouble the keeper too much as he shot straight at him from the angle.

Chatham’s dominance should have bought a 3^rd a minute later as centre back Hickey strode forward before crossing a peach of a ball towards Medley unmarked in the centre. The striker scuffed his line and the shot fell wide. Medley had another opportunity from the restart as Difford’s header found its way to him before he shot just over with the aid of a deflection.

Chatham extended their lead in the 40^th minute, Oriogun was fed in the inside right channel and his cross hung up for Humber to nod home his second of the game to put the game out of sight for the visitors and the home fans wondering how many they could finish with.

The home side again started the second half brightly and quickly extended their lead with a wonderful goal from Ricky Gundry, his ball out right to Medley made it easy for Medley to clip in from the by line where his cross was met by Gundry with an overhead kick which went past the keeper and in off the right hand post for the goal of the day just 3 minutes after the restart.

The second half was a lot quieter than the first with only sporadic attempts from either side at maintaining possession but from one of those spells of possession, Davies hit a piledriver from 30 yards which Beach tipped over the bar well for the visitors.

The away side offered very little going forward until injury time when two Ollie Smith shots caused a little panic in the Chatham penalty area.

George Humber should have completed his hat trick with the last attack of the game but Davies’ centre from the right just bounce slightly too high for the striker to strike home.

The visitors’ late flurries of attacks meant nothing to what was a comfortable day for Kevin Horlock’s Chatham side as Chatham boosted their goal difference and helped in their own quest for survival.

 

 

Chatham: Nicholls, Davies, Butler (Collins 75), Osei, Difford, Hickey ©, Gundry, Loft (Bray 75), Medley, Oriogun, Humber

Subs not used: Edwards,  Obasi.

Walton & Hersham: Beach, Kinsella, Casey, Wallbanks, Van Sullivan, Williams, V Smith (Goncalves-Neto 45), Butler (O Smith 60), Chendlik ©, Pacquette, Mici (Salako 45).

Subs not used:  K Smith, Okai.

Booked: Williams 72

Attendance: 148