We welcomed back former striker Kingsley Anokye as a fan following his transfer to Eastbourne Borough, and it would be interesting to see where our goals might come from after his great start to the season. Adam Green, who is suspended, and Steffan Aiwone (injured) also came to give their teammates support. This really does reflect well on the team spirit this season.

The team again faced some changes due to suspension and injuries; Faebian Witter returned between the sticks following his recovery from concussion, and Connor McShane replaced Ethan Nelson-Roberts at full-back. Che Bell, a new signing from Hampton and Richmond’s U18s, made his debut replacing Toby Young in the centre of defence. Jason Vincent and Jake Brown came in for Kallum Peart and Luke Miller (who was on the bench) up front, for their first starts. Antonios Nazareth took the captain’s armband.

Chipstead had three former Salts in their line-up: Tijani Eshilokun, their captain, striker Carl Oblitey, who decided to make a change at the start of the season, and Sirak Negassi, who was on the bench.

The early exchanges were pretty even, with neither team troubling the keepers. Chipstead had a couple of good moves early on, but each time their striker was offside. We had a good move on 17 minutes and Brendan Murphy-McVey was found just outside the box, but his shot was high and wide. It must have come off a Chipstead defender as a corner was given, but it came to nothing. On 25 minutes there was another good move with Jason Vincent finding Andrew Herring, whose cross beat everyone, and Kionte coming in on the far post couldn’t keep his shot down and it went over the bar. A similar move down the right found Niall Stillwell, who put a lovely cross in, but it beat everyone and went off for a throw-in. In the meantime, Chipstead No. 10 Taurean Roberts was causing trouble with his close control in the box, but he couldn’t find a clear pass to a teammate and the Salts defence were quick to jump on anything and clear.

On 30 minutes, Faebian almost had an assist with a long ball down the middle that Kionte ran onto. Unfortunately, the ball just got away from him and the keeper cleared. Kionte hurt himself stretching for the ball and needed some attention from Jodie, the Salts physio, but fortunately he was able to return to the game.

Eventually, on 40 minutes, we got the breakthrough. The move again went down the right side with Jake Brown getting down the right wing before he found Vincent, whose inside pass found Andrew Herring in the box. He hit the ball first time under the advancing keeper and it was 1-0 to The Salts.

On 42 minutes, Connor McShane found his way into the book with a foul just outside the box. The kick was weak, though, and Faebian gathered easily. A quick clearance found its way to Kionte on the left; as he moved inside, he was fouled but the ref played on for a little before pulling the play back for the free kick. Unfortunately, it came to nothing.

HT: Epsom & Ewell 1-0 Chipstead.

Connor McShane was replaced at the start of the second half, with Ali Fofahan coming on up front. Faebian, who had made a few good saves although nothing we expect to beat him, was fully tested on 47 minutes. A shot from well outside the box forced him to tip over at full stretch — a great save.

On 50 minutes we got a second. Kionte started the move in our half and found Emmanuel Limpo on our left, who surged into the Chipstead area before passing back to Kionte. He was half tackled, but the ball fell nicely to Jason Vincent and he finished off with a great strike low to the keeper’s right.

A few minutes later, Niall Stillwell picked up a yellow card. We were all baffled as he was going to take a throw-in and then left it for our new centre-half, Che Bell, who had already shown his prowess with a long throw. The referee deemed it to be time-wasting, but there was no warning and it was to prove costly.

Chipstead started to put the pressure on and Witter was called into action when Roberts again put a lovely ball into the box, but Faebian was watching and he came off his line quickly to make a great save. Roberts then almost got around the back of the defence but his shot hit the side netting. Chipstead then had another great opportunity after a corner was only half-cleared and the No. 5, Evan Kelly, hit a great strike that beat everyone but fortunately for us hit the outside of the right post and went away for safety.

Nazareth was then replaced by Craig Dundas after being booked for apparent simulation. He handed the armband to Stillwell. It wasn’t to last long, though, as soon after he was booked again for an innocuous challenge and received a second yellow. He passed the armband to Dundas for our third captain of the day.

Chipstead really put the pressure on and their sub, Pele Dunn, hit a volley that was half-blocked by Limpo, with Witter making the final clearance. The next Chipstead corner then found a free header at the back post, but it was inexplicably put wide.

The Salts were still dangerous on the break and another sweeping move out of defence put Andrew Herring clear with some lovely one-touch passing, but his shot beat the keeper and then the right-hand post.

We made the game safe in the 90th minute. A ball played across the pitch found Obasanjo Akinniranye who, using his speed, drove into the Chipstead half where he found Ali Fofahan just inside the box, who controlled the ball and slotted it to the keeper’s right. 3-0.

That took the wind out of Chipstead’s sails, and just when it seemed Faebian would be rewarded with a clean sheet, Evan Kelly hit another great shot from outside the box into Witter’s top right-hand corner. Murphy-McVey felt he had been fouled just before and had been pulled down, giving Kelly the space and time to pick his spot, but the referee waved away his appeals.

The game finished soon after.

Final Score: Epsom & Ewell 3-1 Chipstead.

It was an important win and our first league victory in five games, with two draws and two defeats in that period. The three points took us up to 11th, although with all other games on Saturday we may slip down. We do, however, have at least two games in hand on everyone above us apart from league leaders Cobham, so hopefully we can keep the momentum.

It was a good, hard-fought victory and, as we said, the main difference was our finishing. Che Bell looked very composed in the centre of defence for a 17-year-old, and our two strikers, Vincent and Brown, starting for the first time, slotted in really nicely.

Our next game is a difficult draw in the Surrey Senior Cup v Farnham Town on Tuesday evening at home, KO 7.45. The next league game is away at Tadley Calleva on 4th October at Barlow’s Park, KO 3pm.

As always, the lads will be appreciative of your support.