Click here to listen to Glenn’s post-match interview.

 

Glenn Pennyfather was excited to see that his City team had showed no ill-effects from their weather-enforced lack of competitive football recently and pointed out the “hunger and desire” for success in the dressing room after a comfortable home victory over Havant & Waterlooville.

 

Justin Miller’s first goal for the club on 20 minutes was followed up by strikes from substitutes Ricky Modeste and Cliff Akurang after the interval as the Clarets adjusted best to the soaking, blustery conditions. Scott Jones claimed an injury time consolation for the visitors but the three points saw City jump to third.

 

Pennyfather praised his players’ focus and application in adversity, claiming: “We tried to play our stuff and two of the goals in the second half were excellent. We fought hard in the first half and it’s not always easy to play with a strong wind. People think that because you’ve got the wind behind you you’re going to have the majority of it, but you’ve got to master it. Sometimes it’s easier playing against it.”

“I couldn’t have asked for any more. Wind is the worst condition for any footballer to play in and it did swirl a little bit. You can over-hit things if you try to clip things in and the wind either kills it or makes it run on. I thought when we got the ball down we were very, very good considering the time we’ve been inactive.”

 

The three-week lay-off had minimal impact on Glenn’s starting eleven. Both changes were made wide in midfield as Sam Corcoran returned from suspension to assume Ricky Modeste’s place on the right, while new signing Ishmael Welsh came in for Warren Whitely on the opposite side. And City were quick out of the blocks.

 

Right-back Ben Nunn almost notched on 7 minutes when he penetrated the Havant box and his effort from an angle ten yards out was deflected over. But the hosts did take the lead on 20 minutes as David Rainford battle for an aerial ball from a corner which fell to Miller, who struck low through a crowded goalmouth to convert.

 

Havant’s response was limited, though they went close through Perry Ryan with 27 minutes played as he directed his header inches wide following a free kick delivery into the box. That was as good as it got for the visitors in the first half but an interval downpour made for an entertaining second period as both sides adjusted.

 

Ten minutes after the break, Clarets skipper Rainford tried his luck from distance and skidded narrowly wide. Then, within two minutes, there was action at the other end when goalkeeper Stuart Searle was forced into a brilliant point-blank save to deny Sammy Igoe who’d got on the end of a tempting left-wing centre.

 

Nevertheless, Chelmsford pressed home their superiority with a clinching second goal on 67 minutes. Some brilliant short passes in the build-up via Corcoran and Craig Parker worked a shooting opportunity for Kezie Ibe and, when his initial effort was blocked by custodian Lyall Beazley, Modeste made sure the excellent move was rounded-off by tapping home from the rebound.

 

It was a splendid team goal and the Chelmsford Manager revealed: We’re like that in training all the time. A lot of our game is about passing and moving and ‘keep ball’ and I was very, very pleased with the fact the boys moved the ball very quickly. At times we picked the wrong pass today, but we did show flashes of excellence.”

 

The hosts’ second substitute, Alex Osborn, showed determination to win a 74th-minute header and ran through on goal, only for his eventual strike to have too much velocity as it careered wide. Almost immediately, that missed chance nearly cost them when defender Kenny Clark’s headed clearance just evaded his own goal for a corner, from which Hawks midfielder Steve Ramsey nodded onto the bar and over.

 

But the encounter was finally killed off in the last minute through yet another replacement, Akurang, who benefited from an accurate Osborn cross to head past Beazley from a few yards. Parker could have contributed a fourth but for the intervention of Beazley who thwarted him as the last man, then Jones spoiled City’s clean sheet when he slotted home three minutes into injury time.

 

Glenn summarised: “I thought we were excellent today. It’s always a little bit of a worry after the enforced lay-off but I thought the performance today was spot-on. We’ve only managed to be on the grass once in the last three weeks - and that was Thursday - and I thought at times our passing and movement was excellent. You could see the hunger and desire in the players to get out and play football again.”

 

City:

 

1 Stuart Searle

2 Ben Nunn

3 Aiden Palmer

4 Justin Miller

5 Kenny Clark

6 David Rainford (C)

7 Craig Parker

8 Sam Corcoran

9 Kezie Ibe

10 Max Cornhill

11 Ishmael Welsh

 

12 Cliff Akurang (On for Ibe, 79)

14 Ricky Modeste (On for Welsh, 61)

15 Alex Osborn (On for Cornhill, 69)

16 Warren Whitely

19 Alex Rossis (GK)

 

Havant & Waterlooville: Lyall Beazley, Jake Newton, Jon McDonald (Craig Braham-Barrett, 79), Paul Hinshelwood, Ryan Woodford, Sam Pearce (C), Sammy Igoe, Steve Ramsey, Scott Jones, Perry Ryan (Ollie Palmer, 55), Chris Arthur. Unused Substitutes: Harvey Whyte, Chris Holland, Carlos Geteski.

 

Bookings: City: Modeste (71, foul). Havant: Igoe (42, foul), Pearce (58, foul), McDonald (63, foul).

 

Referee: John Busby (Oxford).

 

Assistant Referees: James Turner (King’s Lynn) and Alastair Rayner (Chatteris).

 

Attendance: 859.

 

City Man of the Match: Aiden Palmer.