Miles Rutherford, Dabba, Danny Potter & Co went with the same starting XI that beat Chatham 1-0 last time out with Kieran Magee in goal behind skipper Rob Hutchings and Ryan Davidson at left and right back alongside Curtis Da Costa and Ben Pashley. Again, Dunn began in midfield and partnered up with Mo Jammeh, Joe Clarke, Bello and Lloyd Rowlatt as Lewis Rustell led the line instead of the injured Jimmy Wild.
Chi beat the Hertfordshire team 3-2 in the reverse fixture earlier in September, coming back twice thanks to goals from Pashley, Dunn and a late Wild winner.
The hosts came into the game after that win against Chatham, a 2-1 loss to lowly Hendon and a 3-0 shut-out at home to Lewes, whereas the visitors had lost their last three by the same 2-1 score-line to Horsham, Dover and Lewes.
Bello, who bagged the winner at Chatham in the previous match, got Chichester off to the perfect start with the opener in the second minute.
Pashley then looked for Bello with a fine diagonal ball but keeper Preston Edwards gathered before Man of the Match Dunn played it neatly back to Magee at the Tennis Club end with both sets of Ultras amassed behind the goal.
It was 2-0 to Chi six minutes in when Bello got his brace with a shot that went straight through Edwards.
Next, Hutchings was caught by Rob Hall and Kenny Coker surprisingly beat Da Costa in the air but the back line eventually stifled the Cheshunt move.
Davidson won the home side a throw and the visitors earned two of their own as they probed.
An odd Pashley pass across his own goal led to a Vas Vasiliou shot that got blocked by Da Costa and the away team won a free-kick that Jammeh finally hooked clear.
The Chi midfielder then got flagged offside when Hutchings and Bello combined and Rowlatt mistimed his tackle after Hall and Charlie Naylor linked up.
The Oaklands Park faithful thought Bello had netted his hattrick in the 16th minute but the goal was ruled out for an offside decision.
Davidson was well up in the next Ambers attack before Coker got adjudged offside once more.
A lovely ball from Magee set Bello up for another hit which Edwards effectively saved and Rustell’s shot was diverted for the first corner of the game. Hutchings took this and Clarke had a header at the back stick.
Coker’s collision with Magee didn’t lead to a yellow card from referee Jacob Wright at the mid-point and Bello conceded a throw off his back on 25.
Nice stuff from Jammeh instigated a move involving Dunn and Rustell before Pashley passed to a marauding Davidson who won Chi their second corner which Hutchings once again delivered.
One of the Chi players made a header at the near post and the ball was smuggled away to Rowlatt who hit a rasping effort only for Edwards to pull off an excellent save.
Bello might have got in again but Mr Wright oddly blew his whistle for something, and the Lillywhites won a corner off Hutchings’ set-piece that was deflected for another on the opposite side.
Edwards palmed Rustell’s header out for a third corner in this spell of Chichester pressure and Hutchings struck a wild shot wide of the mark.
The Chi captain then combined with Bello for a Rowlatt attempt that was saved easily enough by Edwards and Clarke might have hit first time as a decent move petered out.
Hall at the other end did Hutchings on 42 but Coker, not for the first time, was ruled offside and the match officials decided Hall had handballed up against Dunn.
In the third minute of stoppage time the Canadian bagged his fifth goal of the season thumping the ball beyond the despairing Edwards to give City a 3-0 lead at the break.
The Hertfordshire visitors introduced three subs at halftime – Dequane Wilson-Braithwaite, Nathaniel Orafu and Tobias Braney, and then Magee confidently claimed a corner two minutes in to the second period.
Next, Naylor went down for some lengthy physio treatment before Magee, who’d had little to do to be honest, saved Cheshunt skipper Sam Granville’s effort.
The ball was threaded through in Chi’s following attack but Edwards smothered safely enough.
It all got a little bit scrappy for a while and substitute Orafu, the referee decided, had handballed as Bello tried to break.
The free-kick came to nothing and Magee got out well to deny sub Donell Thomas in a rare Ambers raid before his counterpart intercepted proficiently when Clarke, Hutchings and Jammeh exchanged passes.
Rustell couldn’t get a clean shot off as Chichester won a corner which Hutchings sent in deep only for Edwards to glove over the resulting header for another and then punch this cleanly clear.
Rustell was booked for kicking the ball away on 63 after Rowlatt was strangely ruled offside and Magee tipped Vasiliou’s attempt over the bar for a Cheshunt corner that Vasiliou took.
Then Rowlatt cleared a Vasiliou cross and Hutchings up against Lordon Akolbire won the hosts a throw.
Vasiliou, Coker and Raul Da Silva combined in the next Ambers’ attack but the delivery was cleared before Naylor’s header went out for a Chi goal kick.
Olly Munt came on for Rustell with 20 minutes of normal time to go and a Vasiliou shot got blocked.
Pashley was yellow carded for a lunge on Orafu in the 73rd minute and Davidson gave away a corner which a combination of Dunn and Davidson eventually cleared.
Akoilbire was booked for impeding Da Costa on 77 before a decent Da Costa tackle snuffed out the threat posed by Darion Furlong.
And then it was 4-0 after a lovely Rowlatt cross came out to Dunn who reacted first and lashed it in for his second of the match.
Charlie Bennett and Joe Moore came on for Da Costa and Davidson two minutes after the goal as Chi rejigged.
Next, an odd Magee clearance spun out for a corner that once again Vasiliou took and then headed out for a goal kick.
Ethan Prichard was introduced for Hutchings with six minutes of normal time left and Bello dropped back to his position.
Bello, Jammeh and Rowlatt linked up for a Munt shot which Edwards managed to block for a corner.
Chichester dug in and repelled a couple of Cheshunt attacks through Moore, Bello and Munt before Jammeh and then Clarke defended resolutely to snuff out any possible danger.
Bennett got tugged back for a Chichester free-kick late on as the game came to a close.
Dover lost 3-1 away at leaders Dartford so the gap between the Kent team in fifth place and Chi in sixth spot with just two games of the regular season to go is now only two points.
Chi travel to Whitehawk on Easter Monday (Kick Off 3pm) before welcoming Dover, in what could be a play off decider, to Oaklands Park in the final league encounter on Saturday 26th April (Kick Off 3pm).
Chichester – Magee, Davidson, Hutchings, Clarke, Da Costa, Pashley, Bello, Dunn, Rustell, Rowlatt, Jammeh. (Scrimshaw, Munt, Moore, Prichard, Bennett)
Photos to follow.
