The Opposition View – Chelmsford City

In the wake of yesterday’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Chelmsford City, here are some views on the game from the Clarets’ manager Glenn Pennyfather and a few of their fans.


“I’m proud of everything – the players and the supporters have been magnificent and it’s done us the power of good,” Pennyfather told his club’s official website.

“We’ve not got the result but we have shown that we’ve got some excellent young players who all like to play the game the right way. Wycombe’s fitness and sharpness showed in the end and it was a fair result. We’re all sportsmen who want to win but we can’t deny it’s an achievement to get this far,” he said.

“Our game plan worked well and it was a very even first half so we felt aggrieved to go into half-time one down. But we dominated for 10 to 15 minutes after scoring our goal and could have gone ahead ourselves before their second took the wind out of our sails.”


Most Chelmsford fans seemed to have enjoyed their day despite the result not going their way.

The following extracts are taken from “The City Soapbox.”


OnlyClaret wrote:
‘Great effort today. I thought the boys really ran themselves into the ground, Wycombe were just too much for us in the end. If Cookie had buried that chance midway through second half at 1-1, it could have been a different story.’


sean6 wrote:
‘Great effort today, two leagues between the teams – one pro, one semi-pro, but you’d never have known.’


1973Claret wrote:
‘Great day out that was, thoroughly enjoyable. Could only have been bettered by the result going our way. I really enjoyed being part of a passionate Claret Army. Well done to Wycombe, hope they get a good draw and that they don’t end up in a 30,000 seater rugby stadium. Adams Park is a great little ground and just right for the Wanderers. The atmosphere after their goal was disallowed was electric. I had just shouted at the top of my voice that they should stop arguing with the ref as he wasn’t gonna change his mind – What do I know!’


Chelmsford Police wrote:
‘Great performance. The only difference was the final ball – their final ball was much better than ours.’


deltic15 wrote:
‘It was a good day out, although bit gutted that we were stuck in the big stand surrounded by the most whingey, clueless, ungracious fans I have ever encountered (made Old Trafford look sane at times). Would have preferred to be in the Dreams Stand enjoying the atmosphere, but hey ho. The staff at Wycombe were fantastic and let us do pretty much whatever we wanted. They looked after us today and we’re very grateful, but that management doesn’t deserve those fans. I am sure you will hear plenty of ‘interesting’ Wycombe comments on our highlights.’


Claret Kim wrote:
‘We matched Wycombe for much of the game and had two periods where we pretty much dominated it. The team did us proud, giving everything. Wycombe’s superior fitness and tactical ‘nous’ simply told in the end. It wasn’t until after they scored their 2nd goal that they really took control of the game – it seemed to knock the stuffing out of City. All due credit to Wycombe though, as throughout the game (even though they were restricted to breakaway attacks for much of it) they did look sharper in front of goal. We were however, often frustrated by some very strange decisions not going our way.’


Piggy wrote:
‘Fantastic support from City fans – good job we were there, it would have been like a morgue otherwise.’


Gary Mixture wrote:
‘I thought we started like a house on fire and really took the game to them. When the ref disallowed their goal, the noise from our stand was incredible and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up – it was as if we had scored ourselves. I thought that was the bit of luck we needed and we would kick on from it; sure enough, Sam scored, and I will never forget that moment – ever. Disbelief mixed with ecstasy. After that, we seemed to switch off and it was all them. Real shame as I was convinced we were going to beat them once we equalised. Still, fantastic day, fantastic support and a great stadium.’


Next Game: Crewe v Wycombe – Saturday 4th Dec – 3.00pm