Caddington Chequers picked up a deserved three points in their opening game of the season on Sunday. They came away with a hard earned 2-0 victory in what was a tight affair. Chequers won with goals from striker Hinton & Midfielder Almey with Stu Rolls picking up the man of the match award. Rolls has become a changed man following his purchase of the Wayne Mardell does Zumba DVD (Available at the online club store). This was in vast contrast to his previous workout plan designed by club veteran and nutritionist Joey Donnelly.
Chequers started the game cautiously trying to work out their opponents with a few smooth passing moves testing the young Leighton side’s movement and pace. The deadlock looked like it was about to be broken on the 20 minute mark when Smith had been played through on goal and took it away from the defender only to be brought down. The travelling supporters appealed for a penalty and all were dismayed when the young referee waved away the protests. Leighton then should have taken the lead when their striker found himself one on one with the keeper inside the penalty area. But Roullier pulled off a close range save to keep the score level. Leighton had another great chance when a cross field ball left R.Mardell with two to mark and the Leighton player looked certain to score. But somehow last season’s player’s player of the season managed to stick his leg out and put the ball out to safety. The best chance for Chequers fell to the bald head of Chris Wills just before half time. A perfect cross came in and Wills was unmarked but failed to get his header on target. HT 0-0.
The start of the second half and a shock decision saw the substitution of club legend Jon Onyon. Onyon was caught by the sky sports camera kicking bottles and expressing his frustration at the clubs long serving manager. This change brought about boo’s from the crowd and created a scene of unrest around the stadium. Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness was quoted as saying “Your f@#king joking int ya?”. The crowd eventually calmed down and after chanting ‘You don’t know what your doing’ to Robin Towler for a good 15 minutes, then came around to support the team again. The best chance of the second half fell to Hinton who expertly rounded the last defender before passing it straight into the keeper’s arm’s. But Chequers continued to work hard and although the game looked certain to end 0-0, a counter attack saw Hinton find himself through on goal and put it past the keeper for 1-0. With only 5 minutes left as long as no one did anything stupid the game looked to be over. However disaster struck when all time appearance record holder Tom Smith had vented his frustration and saw red for foul and abusive language. Club Favourite Smith may have earned himself a hefty two match ban for that outburst. This didn’t stop Chequers pushing on through, and in the 90th minute Gareth Almey sealed the victory with a solo goal. FT 2-0.
