Paulton were greeted on arrival by the delightful sight of the Chesham mascot, 'General Fox'. It was United that hunted in packs and after withstanding early pressure, Rovers' Scott Wilson tested keeper, Shane Gore, then Liam Malone brought a save from Kyle Phillips.
On seven minutes, Jon Davies' free kick was cleared to Stuart Tovey, who tried, from distance, to lob Gore, only for the ball to sail over the bar. Phillips pulled off a great save from Ryan Blake and winger, Toby Little, saw his shot held by the Paulton custodian.
Chesham went ahead on ten minutes, when Inih Effiong's shot from the right wing bobbled over Ashley Williams' foot as he attempted to clear and fell to Blake to hit the ball home. Effiong then turned and thumped a shot over the bar and Blake tried to chip the ball over Phillips, but his effort was too high.
The Generals were made to pay for these missed chances as Rovers built through Mike Bryant, Dean Evans and Jordan Walker. The equaliser came on 35 minutes, when Jon Davies ran at the home defence. His pass split the centre back pairing of Darren Purse and Tommy Fletcher and Mike Bryant ran on to the ball. His first shot was parried by Gore but he was first to the rebound to tuck it into the net and make it 1–1.
Home Captain, Purse, who made over 550 professional appearances for the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City, including 24 Premier League appearances for West Bromwich, was increasingly influential. His ball out to left winger, Dave Pearce, was inch perfect, he laid it back to full back, Ash Smith, but his cross was headed over the bar by Blake.
Davies was causing problems for Rovers and nearly played in lone striker, Scott Wilson, then Bryant, as the visitors increasingly got into their stride after the 3½ hour journey.
Paulton came out a different team in the second half. Evans' pass found Wilson and his goalbound shot was blocked, then Ollie Knowles, back after injury, tried a shot, but it was held by Gore. Not to be outdone, Chesham saw Tovey block Pearce's shot and then the lively winger tried a half volley, well saved by Phillips. Walker picked up a loose ball, drove forward and vollied narrowly wide of Gore's left hand post. Pearce saw his cross held by Phillips, then found substitute, Mark Bell, but he shot wide.
United surprisingly substituted the towering Effiong and Purse, who was tiring, as Wilson kept running left and right, seeking his side's breakthrough.
That came when Paulton took the lead on 79 minutes. Davies broke in from the left wing. His volley was twice deflected and blocked by Chesham's defenders, only for the ball to fall into Bryant's path and he beat Gore from ten yards out.
The lead was shortlived, as two minutes later, Walker was harshly penalised on the halfway line. The free kick was pumped high into the box by Fletcher, Phillips' attempted punch clearance under pressure was misjudged and the ball flew off the back of his hand and into his own net, despite a valiant effort to clear by left back, Adam Flint.
Evans did get the ball into the net, only to be penalised for handball and Rovers forced three corners on the trot to no avail.
Whilst Chesham had two great chances in the dying minutes, Phillips redeemed his error with a good save from Bell and then Bell was on hand again, but shot wide.
Team: Kyle Phillips, Stuart Tovey (sub. Tyson Pollard 71 mins), Adam Flint, Ashley Williams, Scott Brice (C), Mike Bryant, Jordan Walker, Scott Wilson, Jon Davies, Dean Evans. Subs not used: Josh Jeffries, Josh Klein-Davies, Harry Paice, Callum Hinder.