On Saturday Wokingham & Emmbrook travelled to Mill Meadow in Buckinghamshire to face Chalfont St Peter in the Combined Counties League Premier Division North.
The Sumas had taken two points from their opening five games and had not won in 16 competitive fixtures, but they were hoping that the appointment of new manager Matt Cronan would improve their fortunes.
Wokingham started brightly and were playing some sharp football but were unable to create any clear-cut chances. As the half wore on the hosts came into the game and started to take the ascendency but they too struggled to create chances with their best opportunities coming from corners where they looked dangerous.
Half time came with neither side having been able to break the deadlock but in the second half the Sumas again started brightly with James Clark forcing a save from the Chalfont keeper shortly after the break.
Wokingham were much improved in the second half and got their reward 20 minutes after the break when Seb Lintern did really well to get the ball in from the left and find Joao Jardim in the centre. The striker chested down the cross and fired in for a debut goal.
The celebrations were short lived as Chalfont equalised almost immediately from the kick off through David Levy.
In the final 20 minutes the game became stretched as both sides pushed for a winner. Jardim had great chance to put his side in the lead with 10 minutes to go as he found himself through on goal but the strikers ferocious shot was well saved but the Chalfont keeper. He made amends 2 minuets later, after great work from substitute Will Mabukwa on the right, Jardim collected the ball in the centre of the box and took one touch before smashing the Sumas into the lead.
In the closing minutes, with Chalfont piling the pressure on, the tireless Olly Noyes found Mabukwa at the back post, but the forward was unable to take the golden opportunity to settle the game.
The miss did not prove costly however, as Wokingham held on to record their first win on the season.
After the game manager Matt Cronan was understandably pleased to start his tenure with a win and for Jardim to get off the mark on debut “There were spells when we were in control of the game but there were also spells when we were a bit on the back foot. I think that will improve with games and just by playing more fixtures, that should help us gain a bit more experience, but yes I am happy. It’s three points
“[Jardim] is a player I have brought across so it’s always good when one of those do well because if not you get judged straight away, so I’m happy he’s got two. Two good finishes and he could have had a third as well, but you can’t blame him, he’s worked so hard today and credit to him.
“[Conceding straight after scoring] is just a bit of inexperience. We’ve scored, we’re very high, emotions all over the place and concede because of a lapse in concentration, but that’s what I’m on about with game management. We’ll sort that out and it should stop that happening.
“The target [from now] is to keep improving week in, week out. We obviously going to keep doing training, going to keep getting better. Like I said, we are going to improve every game and every training session so that’s the aim really. Just to keep moving up.”
