Chelmsford's resources were severely stretched at the weekend but they were unfortunate not to come away with all the points from Sunday's match at Brooklands.

Chelmsford, sponsored by Teakglobe Trading Limited, were forced to reorganise following the return of Stuart Gower-Jackson to college and player/coach Craig Fulton's call-up to the South African squad.

However, the late withdrawal of Rob MacKay with a finger injury meant that the midweek preparation was largely irrelevant.

Chelmsford dominated the first half and, although Brooklands put the Chelmsford defence under scrutiny in the second, Chelmsford created the better chances and could have stolen the match in the closing seconds.

With the new-look midfield of Ben Farmer, Gary Boucher and Chad Miah proving too elusive for Brooklands, Chelmsford created a number of opportunities early on.

While some indifferent finishing contributed to Chelmsford's inability to score, they were also unfortunate to find Brooklands goalkeeper, Gary Stoneley in inspired form as he made a number of fine stops.

The breakthrough came in the 21st minute when Simon Gittins slipped the ball to Will Rogers from a penalty corner.

The forward made no mistake as he blasted the ball past Stoneley to put Chelmsford ahead.

Brooklands responded quickly and immediately put the Chelmsford defence under pressure without severely testing goal keeper, David Carter.

However, hesitation in the Chelmsford defence, when the ball appeared to hit a Brooklands player's foot, allowed the home side to draw level when Peter Skates converted a left-wing cross.

After the break, the home side took control and penned Chelmsford back.

That said, with Abdul Khalik in commanding form at the heart of the Chelmsford defence and Ben Farmer producing one of his best displays for Chemsford in the midfield, Brooklands found scoring opportunities hard to come by.

Both Rogers and Adam Hunter had chances to restore Chelmsford's lead and then, in the final minute, it looked as though a Farmer burst from midfield would create another opportunity.

However, just as he slipped the ball inside to the unmarked Rogers, the final whistle was blown.

After the game Chelmsford manager, David Kitchiner was pleased with the team's performance when he said: "It's never easy to compete at this level and it's even harder when you're missing seven players from the squad.

I couldn't have asked for any more effort from the players today and I'm pleased that we gave a good account of ourselves. With a little more composure in front of goal we could easily have won this game."

With leaders Loughborough Students dropping two points against Doncaster, Chelmsford still have an outside chance of the league title but games are running out now.

This Sunday, (February 20), Chelmsford take on Barford Tigers at Chelmer Park in a match that starts at 1 pm.

Chelmsford manager David Kitchiner, who was pleased with the team's performance at Brooklands.

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