A MICHAEL Cheek brace secured a convincing 5-1 pre-season win over Grays Athletic at the Melbourne Stadium.
Goals from Leon Redwood, skipper Mark Hughes and Joe Ward sealed the win in a good work-out for Mark Hawkes' men.
On a difficult and heavy pitch, both teams looked to keep the ball on the deck.
The Clarets best move of the first ten minutes came with some lovely work down the right. Luke Callander held the ball up well and fed Hughes who broke through the middle. But he was not able to keep his shot down and the ball sailed over the Grays bar.
Hawkes' men should have been one up within 20 minutes as a mistake by Grays keeper George Kamakzi gave Cheek a golden opportunity to score. Kamakzi redeemed himself by saving Cheek's effort, with the rebound falling to Callander who could only fire over.
But ten minutes later the Clarets did take the lead. After a long break in which Kamakzi had to be substituted through injury, Glen Southam curled in corner which Cheek rose to meet and guide into the bottom corner.
However, the lead didn't last long when in the 35th minute centre-back Marvin Ekpiteta held on to the ball too long and was caught in possession by Chris Benjamin. The Grays striker was able to round keeper Nicky Eyre and roll the ball into an empty net.
Redwood restored the Claret's lead in the 44th minute with a fantastic strike. The left-back overlapped Hughes, who rolled the ball into his path and Redwood let fly with a thunderous effort that rifled into the top corner.
Chelmsford tried to pile on the pressure at the beginning of the second half, with Christian Smith's free-kick curling past the post, before Southam's audacious chip just drifted over the bar.
The Claret's started to look more comfortable on the ball, with a nice passage of play leading to Redwood bursting through but dragging his shot wide.
But the Southam and Cheek corner combination worked again as the striker grabbed his second goal of the game in the 56th minute.
And just three minutes later Hughes got in on the act to make it four when he fired in a shot from the right of the box into the bottom left hand corner.
As Hawkes began to ring the changes, Grays managed to get a foothold in the game, but were unable to really threaten. Chris Bryan's free-kick that drifted over the bar was their best effort of the second half.
With just two minutes to go Ward sealed the win with a fifth when Sam Gregory slipped him through. The substitute kept his cool to round the keeper and finish neatly in the corner.
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