Both sides appeared strangly hesitant in the opening exchanges and continually gave the ball away. The first team to settle was City and they came close to opening the scoring after 21 minutes. Drysdale run forward ended with him being pulled back by Skelly and he saw the resultant 30 yard free kick tipped to safety by keeper Hurst. Thorne blasted the following corner high over the bar after a neat lay-off by Gosling. This escape for the home side was only temporarily though as five minutes later City broke the deadlock. Gosling evaded a challenge by Skelly and unleashed a stunning left foot shot that flew into the top corner of the net past Hurst's despairing dive. In the rare position of a goal up City looked to build on this advantage but their finishing failed to match the build-up work. Hopkins could only shoot straight at Hurst after Drysdale picked him out with 40-yard pass. Collier's 32nd minute effort did test the Hurst, the keeper getting down well to the low shot. In response Towler did well to block Dobinson's shot six minutes before the break but with Hervin's handling excellent behind the solid back three of Kemp, Towler and Thorne City comfortably reached the break with their advantage intact.

With Hopkins forced from the action at half-time, to be replaced by another emergency front-man Dave Watts, predicatably the home side began to impose themselves on the game as City struggled to retain possession. Just three minutes had passed when Hervin was forced to claim Cross' centre before being floored by Statham. He then did well to stop Cambridge's shot after City ahd again given the ball to the Clarets. All City had to offer at this stage was a longe-range effort by Drysdale. A 69th minute shot by Statham was turned around the post by Hervin as Chelmsford continued to press and moments later a great tackle by Thorne prevented Cross from advancing into the City box. Hervin's one error in the game, spilling a high cross, went unpunished after 72 minutes, and Kemp cleared a Cross effort off the line, but three minutes later City's resistance was finally broken. A harshly awarded free-kick was headed behind by Thorne and from the corner Hockton powerfully headed past Hervin. The Essex side now looked the clear favourites to go on to win the game but surprisingly failed to really test Hervin again. A break by Gosling, which saw him slice a shot wide with Drysdale well-placed, showed that City were not completely out of the game and six minutes later they regained the lead. Again the impressive Gosling was at the heart of the move, intercepting a poor pass out of defence. He advanced toward goal before squaring the ball to Collier, and his low shot flew past Hurst. The game had again swung toward City and they were now forced to defend their lead as Chelmsford looked for another equaliser. With the referee appearing to be happy to play until they did score City were left facing an increasingly anxious period of stoppage time. However, with the eighth minute of this extra time ticking away a hurried clearance by Hurst fell to Williams. He advanced on goal and just as it looked like the keeper would take the ball off his toes he turned it past him and into the net. Knowing that even City couldn't surrender a two-goal lead now the referee finally ended proceedings as soon as Chelmsford kicked off and City had taken a small, but vital, step toward retaining the Premier Division place.