FOOTBALL: Chippenham Town 3 Exeter City 4 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

FOOTBALL: Chippenham Town 3 Exeter City 4

8:56am Wednesday 8th August 2012 in Sport

CHIPPENHAM Town were given a more than useful workout by a slick-passing youthful Exeter side that contained a sprinkling of players with first-team experience.

The match was notable for the award of four penalties, three of which were converted by three different Chippenham players.

Chippenham keeper Josh Dempsey had a mixed evening, pulling off several outstanding saves, but also gifting Exeter their third goal.

The fist spot kick fell to the Devon side on 12 minutes when a Chippenham free-kick broke down and Elliott Chamberlain sprinted into the box before being clipped by Ashley Williams. Tom Nichols made no mistake from the spot.

Chippenham fought back as Alan Griffin’s overhead kick lacked the necessary power to beat Christy Pym, while the Exeter keeper also tipped over Greg Tindle’s shot.

Exeter doubled their lead on 18 minutes when Nichols fired home a first time shot from skipper Aaron Dawson’s cross. Dempsey then did well to turn aside Jake Gosling’s effort before denying Chamberlain.

Chippenham pulled a goal back on 36 minutes when Lee Phillips was pulled down in the area by Dawson and Griffin gave Pym no chance from the penalty spot.

Dempsey then pulled off an outstanding save to deny Gosling, but four minutes before the break the former Yate keeper allowed Nichols to take the ball off his toes and square to James Keohane to fire into an empty net.

The impressive Nichols weaved his way into the area on 56 minutes and his cross laid the ball on a plate for Keohane to head home. The latter was then denied by another fine save by Dempsey.

A raft of substitutions by both sides saw Chippenham finish the stronger and they were rewarded on 85 minutes when Luke Ballinger’s cross was handled and substitute Dave Gilroy scored from the resulting penalty.

In the final minute another Ballinger cross was handled by Jordan Tillson and the Chippenham player took the penalty himself to complete the scoring.

Chippenham: Josh Dempsey, Alex Kite, Greg Tindle (Shaun Lamb 59), Ashley Williams, Scott Lye (Iain Harvey 59), Nathan Rudge (Tom Seery 59), Brandon Barnes (Toby Osman 71), Scott Rogers (Josh Egan 73), Alan Griffin (Dean Griffiths 59), Luke Ballinger, Lee Phillips (Dave Gilroy 71).

Exeter: Christy Pym, Aaron Dawson, Jacob Jagger-Came (Matthew Grimes 75), Jordan Moore-Taylor (Jamie Micklewright 75), Jordan Tillson, Oliver Knowles (Kamarl Duncan 64), Elliott Frear, Elliott Chamberlain, James Keohane, Tom Nichols (Luke Roper 75), Jake Gosling.

Referee: Iain Parsons.

Assistants: Nigel Sykes, Paul Collyer.

Attendance: 212

REACTION & PICTURES IN THURSDAY'S GAZETTE & HERALD AND FRIDAY'S WILTSHIRE TIMES