Were it not for this Spring’s sodden weather this damp squib of a season for Egham Town would have ended today. As it is there is one game left, at Aylesbury, who have had drainage problems over the winter. For the Sarnies the problem is leakage. After last Saturday’s uplifting 3-0 win over Fleet Town they have lost 1-2 to already relegated Arlesey Town, been hammered 1-5 at home by Beaconsfield Town (now champions) and then this. Two scored, ten against in five days. Had it not been for Matthew Nolan in goal this total could well have been even more embarrassing.
Seven games in 22 days will test any small squad but all across the country clubs faced this. There was nothing on this game for either side, the Saints having let slip a none too firm grip on a play-off place, even despite a commendable series of results against the top six sides. The Sarnies will finish in 15th or 16th place. Chalfont have the second best defence in the division; Egham now have the equal second worst (88), along with Aylesbury, which, sod’s law dictates, is where they finish this campaign. There is some incentive for a win – taking the points total to 50 and leapfrogging Uxbridge who (see how cyclical this is!) won 2-0 at Arlesey today. The Ducks will want to win to rise from 21st to 18th. They have won once since Boxing Day (at local rivals Aylesbury United), and that was at Arlesey. They have five points from 51. Tuesday should be an ideal opportunity for Egham’s beleaguered troops to end the season with a win. The trouble is, that judging by the performance at Chalfont, with no penetration until they were three down, Egham can take nothing for granted. Top marksman for the last several years Brendan Matthew seems to have picked up some mystery injury, and some players have run themselves into the ground for the club (Danny Julienne, Alex Nolan; I am sure there are others).
Egham went behind when former Sarnie Louis Stead hit a perfect pass for Rob Hastings to fire an angled shot into the roof of Matt Nolan’s net, but by then the keeper had made one excellent save from Stead and as the break approached pulled out an astonishing double block from point blank range. The swapping at half time of midfielder Daniel Gbadeyan and Alex Nolan for Julienne and Ashley Lodge briefly looked like reviving the visitors but with Josh Andrew running into blind alleys and not picking out better placed team mates that initial hope was soon dimmed. There is on Twitter a video clip of keeper Nolan saving one shot then pushing that save over his bar, and he was unlucky with sub Victor Osobu’s penalty (for a push in the box), his right hand millimetres from the spot kick. That came with fifteen minutes left. Consolidation and regrouping? No; instead, the Sarnies allowed Alex Paine room to fire in, two minutes after the second. (This is the third game on the trot that they have let in a goal within three minutes of a previous one.) That sealed it. Egham striker Lauric Diakiesse had one shot on target, easily dealt with, and closed down home keeper Carl Dennison in the 90th minute, the rebound no more unsettling the custodian than Andrew did with his shot two minutes into injury time.
EGHAM TOWN: Matt Nolan, Alex Nolan, Andreas Loizou, Rhys Paul (Captain), Mitch Wiseman, Greg Haydon, Josh Andrew, Daniel Gbadeyan, Ryan Debattista, Joe Debayo, Michael Kalu. Substitutes: Georges Ehui, Lauric Diakiesse (Paul, 73), Daniel Julienne (A Nolan, HT), Devante