Caddington Chequers bounced back from a defeat at the hands of AFC Oldhill last week with an emphatic 5-2 hammering of the League new boys Dunstable Colts.
As the players arrived at the "Theatre of Dreams" known as Stockwood park, you could feel the tension in the atmosphere as former Chequers player Craig Hinton set his eyes upon his former team. There were no words shared before the game from the Hinton brothers, now on opposing sides, instead they carried on with there training routine like the professionals they are. You could see the concentration on C Hintons face before the game who during the week had been involved in a Twitter war regarding this fixture with Chequers favourite Tom Smith.
With the fomalities out of the way the Referee got the much anticipated clash under way. Within the first ten minutes it was all Colts, bossing the possession but creating few clear cut chances. On the 14th minute a free kick was given away by Chequers, some 30 yards from goal. The ball was floated into the box with Smith beating Colts player Hinton to the ball in the air only to wrong foot Chequers keeper Roullier and send the ball into his own net. 1-0 Colts, Not the start Chequers or for that matter Smith would of wanted. The goal sent shockwaves through the Cheuqers camp and they suddenly came into life. Just after 20 minutes Smith recieved the ball on the left wing, meaning to make amends for the own goal, whipped a right footed cross dangerously into the Colts penalty area finding the head of Michael Ryan to make it 1-1. Chequers carried on pushing forward piling on the pressure and no more than 5 minutes later got their reward. A goal mouth scramble which saw Michael Ryan get taken to the ground but before the Referee could blow for the penalty Gareth Almey smashed the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 Chequers. After conceding the second goal Colts heads looked to drop and Chequers made them pay. A long ball over the top saw Smith head the ball to Almey who in kind returned the ball with a brave header against the Colts centre back to find Smith one on one with the keeper who calmly placed the ball into the corner. With some solid defending at the back from Mardell, Bishop, Rolls and Wills to keep the Colts at bay and hard work in the second stage of the first half Chequers deserved to end the first half with a 3-1 advantage. (HT 3-1).
The second half saw a League debut for new signing Liam Jones replacing USA star Jacob Peters. Chequers started the second half much like they finished the first although at times were caught taking too much time on the ball and giving away possession. The first chance of the second half fell to centre back Neil Bishop, a free kick was floated towards the back post with Bishop winning the header unchallenged only to send the ball a foot wide of the post, if he had hit the target the game would of been out of reach. The second half saw plenty of long balls from both teams and again both teams giving possession away far to easily. Colts were the first to suffer from giving possession away when smith intercepted a pass on the edge of his own box passing the ball to Dean Hinton on the halfway line who cooly turned the Colts defender leaving a clear run to goal, it had looked by many that Hinton took the ball to wide but Hinton proved everyone wrong by smashing the ball past the helpless keeper to put the game out of Colts reach, 4-1 Chequers. As the game went on Chequers were made to pay when a ball wasnt cleared properly from the edge of the area and a Colts player hit a tame shot but with Roullier unsighted due to the number of bodies in front of him couldn't get to the ball as it hit the bottom corner, 4-2 a life line for Colts? The game was finally put to bed when on the 81st minute Colts player Craig Hinton when down injured but Chequers played on with Liam Jones chipping a delightful ball into the Colts box with Dean Hinton there to volley the ball past the keeper, no mercy shown with his brother down injured. A well battled game saw Chequers come out on top with a final score of 5-2.
Things are looking good for Chequers this year but face a tough test next week with a few key players missing against a Leighton Town side who put 6 past Chequers rivals Victoria Rangers.
After the match Sky Sports caught up with Chequers boss Robin Towler who had these words to say "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everyime we fall". Powerful words from such a dangerous man.
