Chesham Want To Keep Dreaming After A 2024 To Remember

The Generals were promoted to Vanarama National League South for the first time in March and, ahead of the weekend, were above pre-season title favourites Boreham Wood, Maidstone United and Chelmsford City.

On Monday, they host EFL League One opponents Lincoln City in the FA Cup 1st Round, looking to write another chapter in their history by beating the side 76 places above them in the English pyramid.

Tom Bodell from title sponsors Vanarama takes a closer look at Chesham’s rise.

Formerly of this parish, the Imps know a thing or two about cup-sets. In 2017, they became the first non-league side to reach the quarter-finals in more than a century.

With Vanarama emblazoned on their shirts during the run, Lincoln only saw their progress ended by Premier League giants Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. They had already defeated Championship sides Ipswich Town and Brighton, before seeing off Premier League outfit Burnley at Turf Moor.

But Chesham, having seen off Yeovil Town in the 4th Qualifying Round, are not to be taken lightly.

As the Imps were then, they are led by a joint-managerial duo in Michael Murray and James Duncan. The pair joined from Potters Bar Town in 2018 – where Duncan was manager and Murray a member of the coaching staff – earning a playoff place in 2023 before completing the job earlier this year.

After gradually finding their feet at Step Two, the Generals have lost just one of their last eight to move within touching distance of the playoff places – all while embarking on a Cup run.

Entertainment at The Meadow is almost guaranteed.

In their last home game, three goals in the final four minutes completed a comeback win against Chippenham Town. Nobody in National League South has scored more times than Chesham (24) and it’s not by chance.

The Buckinghamshire outfit have the second-best expected goals (xG) total in the division. Expected goals is a metric that assigns a score between 0-1 to every shot, based on the likelihood of going in. Only Dorking Wanderers – another of those early season favourites – can top Chesham’s 28.94.

The flip side of that commitment to entertainment is Chesham are yet to record a clean sheet this season. Only matches involving Worthing (48 goals) and Enfield Town (50) have seen more goals scored than their 44.

Speaking after another dramatic come-from-behind win, this time at Enfield, Michael Murray said: “We don’t like doing things easy, do we? We make things hard for ourselves and we’ve done nothing different today.”

Out of possession, Chesham are committed to pressing high. Nobody in National League South has recovered possession more often in their opponents’ half than Duncan and Murray’s side (399 times). They’ve also recorded the fifth-most successful offsides (30).

One interesting thing to note is the tactical flexibility of Duncan and Murray. While predominantly deploying a back three, they have adapted their system almost weekly.

In recent weeks, that has shifted to a notional back four. But, as we can see from their average position map, the role of T’Sharne Gallimore has pushed on at right-back while left-back Callum Adebiyi has tucked in to make a back three.

Not since 2015/16, when they lost 4-0 to Bradford City, have Chesham reached the FA Cup Second Round. Last term, they reached this stage only to lose to Maidstone United, who went on to become the story of the FA Cup.

We’ll be there on Monday to see if the Generals can march on and represent the Vanarama...

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