11:30am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Dan Barnes
ADIE Mings was an interested spectator as Chippenham Town left it late to beat Hemel Hempstead 1-0 on Saturday.
The Bluebirds boss was suffering with illness and must have breathed a sigh of relief from the sidelines as Sam Allison headed a late winner to steal the points for his side.
“He was feeling under the weather and didn’t want to pass it on to the players,” said coach Matt Bown, who took charge of the side with fellow coach Gary Kemp.
“We had a chat with Adie on the phone before the game and we all had the same idea on what the team should be.”
Strike partners Lewis Powell and Ben Highmore were the first to test on-loan QPR goalkeeper Elvis Putnins before Alex Kite’s header brought a fine save from the Latvian.
Midway through the half, the hosts had Putnins to thank yet again as his heroics denied the Bluebirds.
From a set piece, Powell hit a fizzing effort from 35 yards but the Hemel keeper tipped the striker’s effort onto the post to keep the scores level at half-time.
The home side piled on the pressure in the second half, with Chippenham keeper Ian Gill saving well from Clark Akers, Daryl Robson and Adam Martin’s header over.
However, on 85 minutes and against the run of play, the Bluebirds made the vital breakthrough.
Jon Davies, on as a substitute, beat his defender on the left-hand side with a series of stepovers, before floating a ball to the far post.
The left-winger’s cross was met by right-winger Allison, who bundled the ball over the line with a header down towards the ground.
“We dug in and defended for our lives - it was a great team performance,” said Bown.
“I thought we played very well and our first-half performance was as good as any we’ve had all year.
“There were always going to be spells in the game where we’d have to be strong and when it happened, we defended brilliantly.”
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