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Ade off as United suffer first home league defeat - 6/10/07

Seven days after losing their 100% home league record, United's unbeaten run at the Pilot Field was brought to an unceremonious halt by big spending pre-season title favourites Chelmsford City, although the three goal margin of victory did rather flatter the visitors in the end. While they were undoubtedly the better side throughout the ninety minutes, it took a highly dubious penalty award five minutes before half time to give Chelmsford the advantage at the interval. The Clarets doubled their lead early in the second half, with Sam Adams, who had been denied by a goalline clearance inside the opening ten minutes, then hitting the post, as United's leading scorer wasted their best opportunity to get back into the game. Ade Olorunda was sent off for a late tackle on substitute Spencer Knight, with City defender Andy Duncan also red carded for his part in the ugly brawl that followed, and when the match finally resumed, Chelmsford sealed a comfortable enough three points by adding a late third.

Having been rested for Tuesday's League Cup defeat at Horsham, Ade and Dan Williams were both recalled to this afternoon's starting line-up, as manager Nigel Kane once again rang the changes. He was forced into one switch, Rhys Whyborne's hamstring injury keeping him out of action, and seeing Kevin Rose deputise alongside Sean Ray in defence. Dan started at right back, with Danny Spice dropping to the bench, and Jimmy Elford's thigh problem had cleared sufficiently for him to occupy his usual left back position. Lee Carey and Nima Cham resumed their occasional central midfield partnership, as Scott Kirkwood and John Bradley both returned to the bench, while Nathan Russell was named for the first time since the opening day of the season, after serving out a thirty-five day suspension carried over from last year. Much has changed at Chelmsford since their last visit to the Pilot Field in November 2002, not least the fact that they have completed construction of a new home ground in the city, ending several years of exile sharing with Billericay Town. The arrival of former Canvey Island supremo Jeff King and an accompanying cash injection had served to turn the Clarets into genuine Premier Division title contenders, able to call on the services of an array of experienced players. Skipper Minton would be no better example, the midfielder having enjoyed spells in the Football League with Brighton and Port Vale amongst others, while defender Duncan was a veteran of almost 300 appearances for Cambridge United. At only twenty-four, striker Kezie Ibe was something of a journeyman, with Chelmsford being his eleventh club to date, while keeper Danny Gay had joined City after an unsuccessful pre-season trial at Brighton, which included a second half appearance at the Pilot Field on 31 July.

The visitors immediately set about making that experience count and kept United on the back foot in the early stages, Ibe and Ricky Holmes both missing half chances. United slowly got a foothold in the game and created the first clearcut opportunity in the ninth minute, Danny Ellis playing the overlapping Dan Williams free into the area, but Gay got a hand to Dan's goalbound strike, and Sam could get no purchase on his shot from the rebound, allowing Lee Protheroe to hook the ball off the goalline. City almost scored from the very next attack, Bertie Brayley benefiting from a lucky ricochet off Sean to advance on goal, but Lee Worgan saved superbly, and he did so again to deny Holmes a couple of minutes later, while Ibe blazed a shot some way over when well placed in the area. A Protheroe free kick was glanced over by Brayley at the near post, but after a flurry of early goalmouth activity, the contest entered a lull at the mid-point of the half, and Danny Ellis painfully colliding with a floodlight pylon was the sole incident of note for the best part of twenty minutes. There were plenty of talking points in the closing stages of the half though, with Chris Duffy's awful backpass nearly embarrassing Gay and Ade then lifting a lob volley narrowly over the bar, as United looked to head into the interval on a high note. But it was the visitors who would do just that, after they were awarded a questionable penalty kick for some shirt pulling by Dan on Ibe, as the City striker shielded the ball with his back to goal in the area. With the Chelmsford player still in possession of the ball and in a dangerous position, the sound of the referee's whistle initially brought some relief to a stretched United defence, but that quickly turned to disbelief, a feeling shared by the visitors it appeared, as the spot kick was given, and coolly dispatched by Minton to put the Clarets in front. Sean went close to an instant reply, but failed to keep his header down after beating Gay to Russell's inswinging free kick, and United trudged off for the break feeling a tangible sense of injustice at being behind.

Things went a little quiet again after the restart, with Chelmsford appearing to drop a touch deeper at the back, clearly believing themselves capable of withstanding United's attacks, but having enough pace and guile about them to remain a threat on the counter. Ten minutes after the interval, United won their first two corners of the match in quick succession, the second of which ultimately resulted in the visitors' doubling their lead, Holmes leading a break from the edge of his own area, with Ibe and Minton also involved in a move that ended with the latter crossing low for Holmes to place a right foot shot into the corner from twelve yards out. United took the sucker punch badly at first, and Lee had to save well from Brayley to keep his side in the game, with Duncan heading wide from the resulting corner, but Tom Poole's introduction as a third striker gave United added impetus and they looked the more likely scorers in a good fifteen minute spell of pressure. The most gilt-edged chance of the match fell their way in the sixty-third minute, when Gay's horrible error allowed Sam to block an attempted clearance and hit a shot on the turn from barely ten yards out that rebounded to safety off the upright. A goal back at that point could so easily have changed the course of the game, which sadly took a more sinister turn five minutes later, when Ade slid in and caught Knight with the late challenge that led to players from both sides shamefully converging from all corners of the pitch for a typically graceless and unnecessary melee. Indeed, the stricken Knight, a suitably contrite Ade, and Lee Worgan, seemed to be the only players not spoiling for a fight, although there were undoubtedly several would-be peacemakers in the throng on both sides of the pointless argument. However, it was rather surprising that Duncan was the only player to be red carded after peace was eventually restored, perhaps suggesting that the officials had simply been unable to identify other trouble-makers in the crowd, although Dean Palmer did curiously collect a yellow card, with Ade the first to head down the tunnel for the foul that preceded the incident, another debatable decision from the referee, who maybe felt forced to take the strongest of action to appear as even-handed as possible. When the match was finally back underway, Lee Carey curled a long range free kick into Gay's arms, and Sam failed to connect with a left foot volley at the far post, as United tried in vain to get on the scoresheet, while Ibe showed them how with four minutes remaining, converting a Palmer cross from the left, despite being surrounded by covering defenders, to put Chelmsford out of sight. There was still time for United to feel aggrieved at one final decision, when Russell's cross appeared to strike Protheroe on the arm in the area, the referee indicating that the ball had actually hit the full back on the head though.

While United can rightly feel themselves to have been on the wrong end of some key decisions this afternoon, there is no disguising the fact that they were second best on the day and lost to a better team. There is no obvious evidence of a confidence crisis though, despite United's winless run now standing at six matches, and they have ten days to work on plans for their next Ryman League encounter at home to Carshalton, with the distraction of a Sussex Senior Cup tie at Wealden ahead of that, this coming Tuesday.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Hastings United	4	7	16	4	2
Chelmsford City	6	4	16	2	2

Hastings United (4-4-2)							Chelmsford City (4-5-1)
1 Lee Worgan							1 Danny Gay
2 Dan Williams							2 Lee Protheroe
3 Jimmy Elford							3 Chris Duffy
4 Kevin Rose							4 Andy Duncan
5 Sean Ray (c)							5 Steve Ward
6 Nima Cham							6 Dean Palmer
7 Danny Ellis							7 Stuart Ainsley
8 Lee Carey							8 Jeff Minton (c)
9 Ade Olorunda							9 Kezie Ibe
10 Sam Adams							10 Bertie Brayley
11 Russell Eldridge							11 Ricky Holmes
Substitutes
12 Tom Poole (for Rose 62)							12 Ben Chenery
14 John Bradley							14 Aidan Collins (for Brayley 72)
15 Scott Kirkwood (for Carey 89)							15 Spencer Knight (for Duffy 45)
16 Nathan Russell							16 Ben Sedgemore
17 Danny Spice							GK Ashley Harrison

Attendance 595

Referee Lloyd Rendell (Worthing)

Assistants Dominic Lyons (Lewes) & Andrew Colwell (Eastbourne)