CHESHAM United won their ninth and tenth games in a row this week to progress to the next round of The FA Trophy while preserving their lead at the top of the Southern Premier League.

They edged out Weymouth 2-1 in the cup on Saturday thanks to goals from Chris Dillon and Steve Wales, before following up with a 3-0 victory over Bedford on Tuesday evening.

Andy Leese’s men have now won 16 of their last 18 games and are setting a furious pace at the top of the Southern Premier League.

Leese said: “I’m really pleased, it’s a good time to be at Chesham.”

However, second-placed Hemel Hempstead continue to breathe down their necks.

They underlined their threat with a whopping 10-0 drubbing of Bashley on Tuesday to remain three points adrift with two games in hand.

Leese said: “We beat Bashley 1-0 and they beat them ten, but three points is three points –it doesn’t matter how many they get.

“To be fair to Hemel, they have set the pace early on but I’m more concerned about opening up a gap between ourselves and fourth, fifth and sixth.

“I’ll be amazed if we win our next ten games. We will have an off day and we want to make sure we’ve got a points buffer so it doesn’t matter.”

Chesham go to Truro on Saturday before continuing their tour of seaside towns a week later when they travel to Margate of the Ryman Premier in the next round of the FA Trophy.

In between, Leese’s men host MK Dons in the last eight of the Bucks Cup next Tuesday evening.