Is this the start of the recovery? Egham Town, players and fans alike, will be hoping so as a solid defensive display against the side in third place earnt the Sarnies just their fifth point of the season, lifted them off the bottom and ended a six game losing streak in the league. Indeed, with anything resembling a cutting edge they could have won this match as they easily bridged the divisional gap. Manager Ashley Smith gave a debut to Sutton United full back Bradley Pearce and made the decision to have skipper Ashley Lodge and centre back Greg Haydon on the bench. New signings Merrick James-Lewis and Darren Abbey worked hard in the centre of the defence, so it was particularly galling that James-Lewis pulled up in the dying minutes with what looked like a hamstring pull.
On this day, the one before Remembrance Sunday, it was to be expected that the match would be preceded by a minute’s silence. It didn’t, because referee Andreas Anastasiou forgot. How on earth could he have forgotten? Why did his assistants not remind him? It did take place before the second half, which barely satisfies what was surely a stipulation. Disgraceful.
Mr Anastasiou further failed to endear himself to the home fans when he missed a clear handling offence in the Marlow area 24 minutes in, Curtis Chapple the lucky man off Kezie Ibe’s flick on of Tochukwu Okolo’s throw in. Play was even throughout the first period, Kameron English pulling a decent stop out of Sarnies’ keeper Matt Nolan and Simon Grant doing the same down the other end from James-Lewis’ shot in the 44th minute.
Both sides carried on working diligently in search of a breakthrough in teeming rain that, thankfully, did seem to do too much damage to the pitch. Marcus Mealing, who played briefly for Egham last season (he scored twice at Arlesey on his debut) fired wide, as did Chapple on the odd occasions opportunities presented themselves. Egham swapped Brandon McCarthy for Sean McCormack, adding some pace to the attack, but the visiting defence was holding firm and keeper Simon Grant was not often called upon to do more than catch an occasional corner or field back passes. Egham have scored a considerably less than frightening 8 goals in 12 league games and none in their last three league games, so keeping a first league clean sheet this season was important. Had it not been for Nolan producing another excellent save, off a Chris Ovenden effort, in the 87th minute Egham would still be bottom, even with South Park losing 0-3 at FC Romania. With regulation time played out Egham had a corner that was cleared out to Abbey, whose shot was cleared by a long punt down the Marlow left. Lewis-James pulled up short as he ran back to clear, putting a dampener on a good afternoon’s graft. Hopefully it will not be as bad as it looked. With Bracknell only winning in the Velocity Trophy tie on Tuesday with a goal two minutes from time and this sterling effort the Sarnies boss will be looking for the same level of commitment when his squad visit Uxbridge next Saturday before facing Virginia Water in the Surrey Senior Cup at Windsor.
EGHAM TOWN: Matt Nolan, Bradley Pearce, Tochukwu Oloko, Merrick Lewis-James, Darren Abbey, Curtis Ujah (Captain), Brendan McCarthy, Daniel Julienne, Kezie Ibe, Mason Tunbridge, Rhys Rabess. Substitutes: Josh Andrew (Rabess, 82), Ashley Lodge (Tunbridge, 72), Greg Haydon, Abraham Eze, Sean McCormack (69).