MOST teams pin their hopes on a miserly defence or deadly attack; Chesham United have both this season and the results have been stunning.

Wednesday's penalty shoot-out cup loss aside, they have conceded just three goals in their last 13 games, two of which were penalties, while at the other end of the park they have put 36 past their opponents.

Twelve of those 13 matches have been won and the Generals are now top of the Southern Premier League and going strongly in two cups.

Margate in the The FA Trophy were the latest domino to fall, subsiding 3-0 on their own ground on Saturday as Chesham swept over them to book a First Round Proper tie with Hungerford on November 30.

Manager Andy Leese said: “It was a hard-fought game, but we scored our goals at good times.

“We scored early on to give ourselves a lift and then defended well. We took the sting out of the game and I felt everything they did was in front of us.

“We never really felt under threat, then we scored a second towards the end of the game to put it to bed and then scored a third right at the end.”

Keeper Shane Gore deserves some credit for a flying save after half an hour to deny Margate when it was only 1-0, but yet again the headlines were written at the other end of the park.

Inih Effiong had a rare outing in the previous match and took his chance with a brace, but Leese recalled top-scorer Drew Roberts for The FA Trophy and two more goals duly followed.

He has now scored 21 times already since joining from Arlesey in the summer, while partner in crime Chris Dillon has 11 in all competitions.

Leese said: “They got 51 goals between them at Arlesey last year and that was our intention – to get that volume of goals in.

“Although we had that great run last season we weren’t finishing teams off.

“We were scraping through at times but now we feel if we get it into the box they are going to take their chances.”

It’s not just the Roberts/Dillon double act though.

Effiong has scored when he’s started and James Potten has weighed in with 12 goals.

Leese said: “Everyone knows we’re a threat up front and as a front three, I don’t think there is better around in our league.

“There is an art to finishing and they have it. Between them, there is strength, pace, great finishing quality...that firepower has made a huge difference to us this year.”

Chesham host AFC Totten in the Southern League tomorrow.