Town's first game for 10 days brought with it hope that some of the many injured players had recovered and could get back amongst the action. No such luck, captain Turner and Thompson both had reactions to their ankle problems in training and will still be out 'for some time'. However Town could welcome back Walkington, Odey and Fearon who all started on the bench.
On a damp evening at Stag Meadow, and some uninspiringly empty terraces it was somewhat suprising that the few that did turn up were in for a dramatic game. As soon as the game kicked off you could see that the two sides were very evenly matched and that an exciting game was in store. Wokingham's defence soon became worried that the Cheshunt goal tally still stood at zero as the clocked moved onto ten minutes, thus had too gift the opposition their customary early goal. This came about after some more disorganised defending leaving the team to face yet another uphill struggle. Despite Wokingham having their fair share of posession it wasn't long before Town had conceded another. James De Fraine lost his man when defending a free kick, only for the Cheshunt man to clearly controll the ball with his arm. As De Friane appealed, the ball dropped to a blue shirt and he fired home.
About fifteen minutes later Town were rewarded for their posession and were back in the game. With the ball seemingly lost and running out of play, Campbell used his pace to reach the ball and send in an enticing cross. De Fraine was bursting through from midfield and cooly headed into the far corner, 1-2.
While all this was going on both teams had to fight against the referee who repeatedly made the wrong descisions to frustrate the fans and players alike. As the Cheshunt fans growled and grunted at the ref from the stands the game took more of a physical edge. Then when Craig Wall clattered into a Cheshunt defender far too late, there was a bit of a flare up and the defender retaliated. Wall recieved yellow while the Cheshunt number 2. saw red. This came despite pleas from the terraces that the ref had sent off the wrong player ! Although I didn't see it myself other fans were adamant it was the no.4 who was the offender, comical. This gave Town hope only for Cheshunt to add a third after Wokingham failed to clear, 1-3.
As the two teams came out for the second half it was obvious the game was going to be tight with Cheshunt playing the whole of the second half with ten men. As it turned out it was one of the most one sided 45 minute period ever. Town enjoyed at least 80% posession and virtually the whole half was played in the Cheshunt half. With all ten blue shirts behind the ball Town were simply not good enough to break them down and get the two required goals. Cheshunt defended superbly until the final whistle and it was only a dubiously offside Odey goal ten minutes before the end that Town had to show for their efforts. It has to be said that a slow build up to break down ten men didn't suit Wokingham's style, prefering to attack on the break, but nethertheless it was a poor preformance considering we were playing ten men for about an hour.