Iron cup stalemate

Braintree Town v Chesham United – Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying – Rare Breeds Meat Co. Stadium – Report

Braintree Town 0-0 Chesham United 

Braintree Town and Southern League Premier South highfliers Chesham United played out a hard-fought 0-0 draw in their Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie at the Rare Breeds Meat Co. Stadium.

With Aaron Blair and Tom Blackwell both testing Chesham keeper Zaki Oualah with a string of chances early on, the Generals were somewhat fortunate to still be on level terms going into the break, although they themselves had the chance to take the lead in the forty-second minute when Connor Roberts forced Braintree’s on loan keeper Vicente Reyes, signed earlier that morning from Norwich City to replace injured Jack Sims, into action with the 19-year-old doing well to hang on to a well-struck volley from the edge of the area.

Immediately after the resumption, George Quantrell’s volley crashed against the post from fifteen yards out and with the Iron continuing to dominate, Ben Watt’s superb thirty-yard strike smashed against the Chesham crossbar just after the hour mark with Oualah well beaten. 

Several chances came and went for Braintree, the best of which saw Blackwell’s free kick being tipped over the bar by Oualah before late on, the Iron had a big shout for a penalty turned down by referee Matthew Jackson after the ball appeared the come off a Chesham defender’s hand.

Despite their domination, it was not to be Braintree’s day and with the game finishing goalless, Iron must now take the trip to Chesham at the Meadow on Tuesday, October 17 for the replay (7.45pm).

Braintree Town: Reyes, Mason, Stevenson, Watt, Grimwood, Tompkins, Quantrell (Sparkes 76’) Payne (Capt) (Herschel 90’) W Davies, Blair, Blackwell (L Davies 90’) Subs not used: Smith, White

Chesham United: Oualah, Roberts (Jones) Connors, Rolfe, Murphy (Capt) Andrade (Joseph) Rush, Edwards, Casey, Adebiyi, German (Sinclair) Subs not used: Shulton, Brown, Duru

Referee: Matthew Jackson

Assistant Referees: Harry Price and Abdul Kadir

Fourth Official: Henry Steele

Attendance: 879