Salisbury progress to the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy for first time

Salisbury progressed to the Fourth Round of the Isuzu FA trophy after winning away at Chesham United, writes Toby Pike

Salisbury came out the blocks fast, starting with a quick tempo to their play.

Noah Coppin was brought down, breaking, and Salisbury were awarded a freekick. Watts whipped it onto the head of Josh Sommerton, but the attempt was way wide.

The hosts had the first real sighter on goal when Mitchell Weiss went one-on-one with Dan Lincoln. The Whites keeper kept the scores level with a sublime save with his left boot.

Moments later, at the other end, Cameron Coxe surged forward from right-back to link up with Ronan Silva. The latter was fouled just outside the Chesham box, winning the Whites a freekick in a shooting position. Owen Dore struck it well, but it could only find the crossbar.

Salisbury would continue their pursuit of an opener when Watts drove at the Chesham United backline. The midfielder’s medium-ranged effort was saved well by Oliver Steinke in the Chesham net, who managed to tip it out for a corner on the stretch.

A minute later, in the 17^th, Alex Lafleur was the first to react to Lincoln’s initial save from a pop-shot. The Chesham man fired home from very close range to give the hosts the lead against the run of play.

In the 33^rd minute, Silva broke into the Buckinghamshire side’s half, driving at the backline. Silva spotted the run of Coppin out wide, who took the ball into the area from the wide position and clipped an inviting ball towards the back post. Fasanmade wasn’t quite able to reach it after a valiant effort to make the run.

Just before halftime, Callum Watts found himself on the ball in a threatening position outside the Chesham box. The midfielder struck it sweetly; the strike was too good for Steinke in the host’s net.

The Whites went into the interval level.

The second half couldn’t have started any better from a Salisbury perspective. A beautiful move saw Silva and Ragguette link up well to put Fasanmade into the host’s penalty area. Fasanmade drilled in a low ball across the six-yard box to the lurking Noah Coppin, who was able to turn it home for his third in this competition.

In the 58^th minute, Chesham looked to respond to going behind. Two quick-fire chances from Stevens and Weiss were both squandered.

In the 62^nd minute, Fasanmade did well and won the ball deep in the Chesham half. He attempted an ambitious effort that, for a minute, looked as if it was heading in over the head of the planted Oliver Steinke. However, the ball didn’t quite dip enough, struck the bar, and was eventually cleared.

After a flurry of corners for the hosts, Salisbury broke. Fasanmade, once again, played an instrumental role as he ran in behind and was taken out in the host’s box to earn the Whites a spot kick.

Noah Coppin casually strolled up to the ball and stroked it home, sending the keeper the wrong way to give Salisbury a two-goal lead, much like he did in the last round at home to Farnborough—four goals in two games for Coppin in the Isuzu FA trophy.

Chesham responded immediately, and the hosts halved the deficit thanks to a Connor Stevens goal from a corner (78^th).

The game became quite a scrappy affair in the last ten minutes of normal time as neither side were able to sustain a period of possession.

The fourth official added on six additional minutes.

Chesham worked themselves one more clear-cut opportunity deep into stoppage time, but Stevens couldn’t steer in his header from point-blank range.

Salisbury progress to face Sittingbourne in the next round commencing the first weekend of January. But for now, the Whites look on to their assignment away at Slough on Saturday in the NLS.