Woodley bow out of County Cup at the semi-finals

After being knocked out of the competition by Thatcham at the quarter final stage, United found themselves reinstated after Thatcham were judged to have fielded an ineligible player.

This meant a home game against Southern League Premier Division side Chesham United; the highest ranked side the club has ever faced.

Chesham started well, with Woodley keeper Alex Reed called into action multiple times in the opening ten minutes. His first save was excellent; sticking out a leg to deny Shane Bush from twelve yards after a cut back from the left wing.

He followed this up by diving to his right to parry out a shot from the right side of the box before making a routine save to keep out a curling effort from the edge of the box.

United midfielder Abdul Kamara was the pick of the outfield players; making crucial interceptions and seeing plenty of the ball, his most telling contribution however was a superb tackle to thwart Oran Swales who was in the midst of shooting.

Woodley's first chance came courtesy of a deep left wing corner that was headed wide by right back Luke Turner.

All the Chesham pressure was coming down the left with full back Jhai Dhillon combining with winger Dave Pearce time after time. The game's opening goal was scored by the latter; a powerful drive from just inside the box went in off the underside of the bar.

The half wound down with the away side looking for a second. Pearce just missed to the right before Reed kept out a header when Pearce turned provider whipping in a cross.

HT Woodley United 0-1 Chesham United

Eight minutes into the second half saw Chesham double their lead when a good run by Dhillon saw him pick out Pearce who smashed home from close range.

Falling two behind might have been the catalyst for the flood gates to open but the opposite happened with Woodley matching their opponents for the rest of the game. Winger Teddy Thomas saw his cross to United forward Haydon Richardson cut out by a defender.

The closest Chesham got to a third was when Swales hit the inside of the right post on the hour from twenty five yards out.

United made a change on sixty two minutes when Liam Wilson replaced Richardson.

Chesham keeper Hafed Al-Droubi had had a quiet evening but showed good concentration to rush off his line and gather after a ball over the top nearly picked out Toby Briggs.

Woodley made further changes on sixty five and sixty seven minutes when Abdul Kamara made way for Dave Morgan and debutant Ben Collins came on for Danny Horscroft.

Morgan was immediately in the thick of things; his through ball was cut out by Kieran Murphy who prevented Thomas going one-on-one with Al-Droubi.

The pass of the match was played by Turner whose raking cross-field ball found Briggs who brought the ball down well before firing off a shot that Al-Droubi kept out at full stretch. This was followed up by a more routine save by the Chesham stopper to keep out a shot by Pele Hagger.

Reed was called into action again with ten minutes to go, diving to his left to keep out a vicious shot by Bush.

Woodley were playing some good football; their best move saw them work the ball from right to left. Maintaining possession into the Chesham box, they over-played things before getting a shot off. Their final chance fell to Briggs who had his shot blocked by the impressive Murphy.

FT Woodley United 0-2 Chesham United