Winchester City drew their away fixture with Chertsey Town 3-3, but after taking a 3-0 lead half an hour into the game and having a 3-2 lead when Chertsey had their goalkeeper sent off and had to put an outfield player in goal.

Chertsey were last season promoted from the Isthmian League South as champions with 100 points and only 1 defeat from their 40 league games.  They like Winchester City are former winners of the F A vase with Chertsey's success coming exactly 15 years after Winchester's.

Chertsey went into this match with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses from 5 league games with an unbeaten home record and being the only team to have both scored and conceded an average of two goals per league game which is a record that remains intact after Saturday's exciting game.  They have also progressed to the 2nd qualifying round of the F A Cup.

This is believed to be the first-ever meeting of the teams, although Conor Lynch who played for Winchester last season was on the bench for Chertsey.  Winchester made two changes to their starting line-up from Saturday with Alex Wilkie and Dan Jones coming in for Luka Chalwell and Kieran Douglas.  Chalwell was on international duty hoping to add to the 18 full international caps he has won for the British Virgin Islands National team with three goals scored in these games. Jordan Rose, Harry Nevins and Ollie Balmer were again on a substitute bench which also included Sam Ashton and Reggie Hodan.

Winchester made a bright start to the game with Trevor Caborn setting up Ollie Griggs whose shot was just and Josh McCormick putting in a cross that no-one could get a decisive touch to.  They took the lead in the 8th minute when Tommy Wright cut in and scored with a low shot from outside the area.  Winchester continued to attack with Josh McCormick and Tommy Wright coming close.  Chertsey had their first attack of the game when their captain Luke Robertson had a header saved following a corner.  It was 2-0 when a cross from the left from I K Hill saw Dan Jones score the second goal of the game.  Winchester by this stage had lost the injured Trevor Caborn and replaced him with Ollie Balmer, but on the half hour Balmer made his impact on the game following up to score after Tommy Wright's initial effort was saved.

With Winchester using the flanks to good effect Chertsey made two substitutions in order to shore up the defence in the hope that with greater solidity they could become more of a threat at the other end of the pitch.  The game remains fairly open, but Chertsey pulled a goal back five minutes before halftime when after Jack Mazzone's initial shot was saved, Conor Lee followed up to score.  This goal gives Chertsey a bit of momentum at the end of the half, but the score remains 3-1 at the interval.

Backed by an enthusiastic crowd with an attendance of 559  in which the Winchester fans were also in good voice Chertsey applied a lot of pressure at the start of the second half.  Substitute Tony Little and Mazzone both force saves from Luke Cairney.  Although Winchester looked dangerous on the break at times Winchester need fresh impetus and they bought on Jordan Rose and Harry Nevins to replace I K Hill and Dan Jones.  Shortly after the substitutions were made Mazzone had a great chance to score, as although the ball was moving the forward would be disappointed that his close range effort was not on target.  Just as it looked as though  it seemed that Winchester who were playing with determination might have weathered the storm but then Lee scored his second with a well struck effort.

This goal certainly gave Chertsey the momentum, but they appeared to lose it when shortly afterwards goalkeeper Nicky Jupp bought down Tommy Wright and was shown a red card. Jupp who was the only member of Chertsey's F A Vase winning team of 2019 in the Chertsey team on Saturday had just returned from suspension after being sent off against Havant and Waterlooville.  With no goalkeeper on the substitutes bench Chertsey had to put outfield player Toby Little in goal and in fairness to Little he made three saves from Ollie Balmer, one from the free kick immediately following the sending off.

Winchester also substituted Tommy Wright lat in the game and despite Chertsey playing with just 10 men the contest remained an open contest with both teams having their share of attacks.  However in the 2nd minute of added on time Conor Lee scored from a free kick to level the scores and although several minutes were played after this goal that was the end of the scoring.

After Tuesday's Hampshire Senior Cup tie at Gosport Borough Winchester are at home to Hungerford in the F A Cup on Saturday with the match being played at Winklebury.  The home league match against Poole will now be played on Tuesday, October 8.