Murray’s message pays off as Burnham snatch victory against Chalfont
Jack Penton says he and his teammates were under strict instruction to leave the pitch with ‘three points or nothing’ when Burnham went head-tohead with Chalfont St Peter at the 1878 Stadium on Wednesday night.
Following a disappointing 5-1 defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls Flackwell Heath on Saturday (pictured left), manager Ben Murray tasked his men to immediately return to winning ways against the lowly-placed Saints.
And that they did – just – with goals scored by Penton, Anas Igozouln, and Jaiden Celestine-Charles resulting in a 3-2 triumph for the Blues who notably finished the game with 10 men.
Speaking to the Advertiser on Thursday morning, midfielder Penton said: “It was a good win. We started fast, we tried to press them high up the pitch, we tried to suffocate them. We won the ball back a lot in their half.
“After just five minutes, our striker Jabs (Jabir Laraba) ran through, played me in, and I slotted the ball past the ‘keeper. I could have had a couple more – I think I had a hat-trick of chances within the first 10-15 minutes but only one went in unfortunately.
“Late in the second half, we went 2-1 up but we also went a man down so they were able to make it 2-2.
“Before the game, our gaffer, Ben said: ‘It’s three points or nothing tonight’. So we had that in the back of our minds – we couldn’t leave the pitch without a win. Ultimately, we managed to get a late goal which secured the three points.”
Penton added: “After that disappointing result on Saturday against Flackwell, we knew we had a job to do against Chalfont.
“We’re hopeful we can go on a nice winning run now, keep pushing, and hopefully stay in the play-off positions.”
Burnham face Milton United this weekend. After 23 games of the Combined Counties Premier Division North season, the two sides haven’t faced one another yet.