Saturday 19 March 2004 - Twerton Park - kick off 3.00pm Southern League Premier Division

Although this turnaround was as unexpected as it was timely the visitors could have few complaints as they had shown almost no intent to increase their advantage and, for once, City took full benefit of such a negative opponent. With Bobby Ford and Alex Sykes both missing due to illness manager Gary Owers recalled himself and Jimmy Benefield to the starting line-up and it was the latter who marked his first appearance since the Gloucester City defeat four weeks ago by setting up Martin Paul just four minutes into the game. His ball over the top was taken early by Paul but his audacious 35-yard effort landed on the roof of the net. Holland then had a header blocked on the line and Owers forced the first save of the afternoon out of Jackson. However, as has so often been the case this season after a bright start City faded and from their first attack on 14 minutes Chesham went ahead. Clifford and Power challenged for a Smith free-kick sending the ball high into the air. They both went down with head injuries but the referee failed to stop play and Lawford took full advantage, firing home at the second attempt after Paul Evans had blocked his initial shot. Power was okay to continue although Clifford was forced to leave the field and was replaced by Bowden-Haase. Lawford almost doubled his side’s advantage eight minutes later, shooting just wide after making himself some room in the City area. This was as close as United would come for a while as they looked to simply frustrate City as so many sides had successfully done at Twerton Park this season. Benefield blasted a rare opening high over the bar before Russell Milton was denied his first goal for over 18 months by a full-stretch save from Jackson. The only other event of note before the interval saw Chesham lucky to keep eleven men on the field when Bowden-Haase pushed Benefield in the face down by the corner flag. Incredibly the referee only booked the player, but this was symptomatic of a painfully weak performance all afternoon from Mr Pike.

The second half began with a neat dummy by Paul from a Partridge cross giving Owers a sight of goal, but he failed to find the target. The match was now settling into a horribly familiar pattern for the City faithful in the 516 crowd. Their team was seeing the vast majority of the play but looking completely incapable of turning this into clear-cut chances, let alone goals. Time and again possession was cheaply given away and one such error almost handed Chesham a second goal after 54 minutes. Owers was the culprit, losing possession in the Chesham half. A swift break saw Reilly bear down on goal but he choose to shoot with better options to either side and the danger passed. Just before the hour mark City made a change, bringing on top scorer John Williams, fit again after his calf injury, in place of Benefield. Before he could have any impact on the game Evans produced a fine save to turn Lawford’s shot away for a corner. Williams was causing the Generals a new problem as part of a three-man attacking line but despite this a goal was looking no more likely than before. A second Chesham player Reilly was lucky to only receive a yellow card on 72 minutes when he clearly kicked out at Jim Rollo near the touchline but eight minutes later City produced the perfect response to their ill-disciplined opponents. Fittingly it was Reilly who conceded the free-kick that Owers lifted into the box. Williams provided the flick for Holland to loop a header past a stranded Jackson into the top corner of the net. However, even a point would have been of little help to City’s play-off ambitions but this state of play lasted just 50 seconds. Power looked favourite to reach a Williams cross ahead of keeper Jackson before Sinclair clearly tugged him back. Summing up his performance perfectly the referee had to rely on his linesman to spot the offence before he pointed to the spot. Partridge stepped up and fired a great penalty high into the top left hand corner of the net. Even though there were still nine minutes remaining Chesham were a beaten side and it was City who went closest to adding to the goals in stoppage time. Ricky Hulbert, on for Williams after he aggravated his calf problem, fired in a low cross that Jackson and Bowden-Haase both missed only for Partridge to just fail to get the vital touch.