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Pre-season friendly
Witham Town 1 Chelmsford City 7

Bertie Brayley was the main beneficiary as he netted twice in a first half which saw the visitors contribute five, with all other goals spread evenly amongst the rest of the team, eager to impress during the warm-up games.

Amongst those were newcomers Ian Cousins at left-back and Steve Robinson at the heart of defence.

Former City player from around seven years ago Cousins, who has recently been released by Braintree Town, was the only Chelmsfordian to complete the whole 90 minutes and he lined up in defence alongside Robinson, previously captain of last season's Blue Square South champions Lewes.

Any late-comers to the ground will have missed a superb opening, as the Clarets went ahead inside the first minute. Town's goalkeeper managed to save an initial strike but he could only push it into the path of Kevin James, who finished the job.

This was quickly followed by a swift Witham equaliser as a brilliant finish from Nicky Love levelled the scores for Tony Last's team.

Chelmsford did re-gain their lead, however, in the ninth minute, as a long ball from Cousins brought a great first touch out of Brayley, laying off to Ollie Berquez who dribbled into the penalty area and tapped past the helpless custodian.

Town had far from given up at this stage, though, and a splendid volley out of the blue from Chris Tucker rattled the crossbar to keep goalkeeper Danny Gay on his toes on 20 minutes, though on the half-hour mark they fell further behind. Ricky Holmes evaded a challenge on the right wing and supplied a cross which saw Brayley control, swivel and shoot high into the net in a single motion.

As half time approached Town's concentration was found wanting and the visitors remained ruthless to convert two further chances.

In the 44th minute a pass was sprayed out to James who sent it back inside to Brayley and a defensive lapse enabled the former West Ham United Youth striker to tap simply into the net.

In addition to this late opening-period action, there was still time for a series of short passes to move the ball from left to right to Holmes in space. He made the most of the time afforded to him by ramming across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Post-interval the usual flurry of substitutions took place, the Clarets waiting around ten minutes before introducing ten fresh players. It was one of these who quickly made an impact on the scoreline. A 59th-minute free kick was awarded to Chelmsford just outside the area and Stuart Ainsley watched his dead ball craftily clip the post on its way into the goal.

Within seconds, Jason Hallett had the ball in the net following a header from a few yards which was ruled out for a foul elsewhere in the area, leaving it to James Lawson to round off the thrashing as a corner was diverted to him on 78 minutes and he finished off via the underside of the crossbar.

2:12pm Monday 14th July 2008

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