Bowdon 4 Chelmsford 2

EHL Men's Division One

Bowdon 4 Chelmsford 2

Chelmsford suffered their second successive defeat, but this time a much-improved performance belied the result against table topping Bowdon.

Chelmsford started the game off at a much higher tempo than in previous weeks. Over the course of the first 20 minutes the Essex side created more chances. The only disappointment was that Will Hales, who had been keeping Pakistan international Ali Ghanzanfar quiet, had to go to hospital with a very nasty cut to his lip.

Bowdon began to force their way into the game and a few small errors, which had not been present in Chelmsford's game to that point, were becoming evident.

In the 29th minute Ghanzanfar powered an unstoppable drive past goalkeeper Dean Armstrong. Armstrong, who has been impressive over the last two games could do nothing with the bullet strike, despite the narrow angle it was hit from.

While Chelmsford were disappointed to go into half time a goal down, they could take solace from the way they had played, creating as many chances as Bowdon.

With ten minutes of the second half played, Chelmsford found themselves three down as goals came from Ali Brogdon and Ghanzanfar in the space of three minutes.

However, the last 25 minutes of the game was one way traffic in Chelmsford's favour. Firstly they grabbed a goal back 15 seconds after the third goal. A fine cross-field pass from Elliott Seleska found Adam Hunter in space and his cross-shot was then steered into the rigging by Olly Cooper.

Chelmsford continued to push hard for a further two goals. The second came when Luke Mepham's drag flick sent the Bowdon keeper the wrong way.

Chelmsford then nearly grabbed an equaliser with minutes to go when Josh Mepham's reverse stick drive was expertly saved as it headed towards the top corner.

Ghanzanfar then gave the score a slightly flattering feel as he converted a penalty corner.

Manager Peter Woodward said: “I was impressed with the way we played. However, there is no reason that we should not be playing like that every week. We will look to step up the intensity at training this week.”

Next week, Chelmsford go to second placed Havant in a must win match for the Hampshire based team if they are to continue pushing Bowdon all the way for first place in the division.