EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE, EAST DIVISION
THURSDAY 26 APRIL 2018
EGHAM TOWN 1 (0)
Ashley Lodge ((53)
BEACONSFIELD TOWN 5 (1)
Anthony Mendy 2 (35, 64), Kezie Ibe 2 (60, 71), Tre Mitford (78)

Egham Town’s mess of a season ended with the visit of a Beaconsfield Town team built around a nucleus of former Sarnies, and it was the Egham Town of now that paled in comparison.
Five of last season’s play-off squad faced the home side last night; they and their fellow Rams are champions-elect. All they need to do is half of what they did at the Runnymede Stadium when they play their M40 derby at Marlow tomorrow to be crowned. They will have the pressure of needing a win as the other side going up to Step 3 with them, AFC Rushden & Diamonds, have a superior goal difference. Back in February Egham beat the Diamonds and then play-off certainties Hayes & Yeading United in consecutive games, an all-too-brief gelling of the squad that Simon Lane has managed to assemble. On Tuesday this week the Sarnies became the only side in the division to beat the (then) top placed Diamonds and lose to basement boys Arlesey Town. Egham losing to Beaconsfield by a four goal margin was bad enough but the real humiliation came from Thame United (where Egham won 3-2) showing what should be done against sides as poor as Arlesey, hammering them 7-1.
The visit last night of The Rams started off as a tepid affair, the highlight being Anthony Mendy’s clever trap and volley past Matt Nolan in the Egham goal ten minutes before the break. All the Sarnies managed was the brief frisson of excitement from Luke Neville slicing the ball out, a little too close to the visitors’ goal for his liking, and, just before Mendy scored, Devante McKain’s header from Ashley Lodge’s corner needing to be scrambled clear by keeper Brendan Hazlett.
Any Egham fans lulled into thinking that the Rams had put all their wares on display were soon abused of the notion, even when, seven minutes into the second half, they were briefly level. The Rams defence got caught in a muddle and, from 25 yards out, Lodge lobbed Hazlett expertly. Hope sprang – for seven minutes more. All that equalising did was prod the wasp nest a little too hard. Kezie Ibe forced his way past home defenders and hammered in his first, and you know it is not going to be your day when a forward (Mendy again) has the time, room and clarity of vision to run past the ball and backheel in his second of the night into an open goal. Ibe won a one on one with Matt Nolan for the 4th and was denied a hat-trick by Lodge, running back to hook the ball off the line. Tre Mitford slammed in a 25 yard screamer for number five with 12 minutes left. Egham substitutions made no discernible impact on the course of the game.
Egham, 15th, one point ahead of Chris Moore’s old side Uxbridge, finish with trips to Chalfont St Peter on Saturday and Aylesbury on Tuesday. They are in 8th and 21st place respectively. In the 18 games since Boxing Day, when they won at local rivals Aylesbury United, they have lost all but three. That run included losing 1-5 at home to Arlesey Town and beating them 2-0 away. It would be nice if Egham could beat Chalfont and the Ducks as a season finale, but without top scorer Brendan Matthew, apparently out with a tweaked hamstring, anything could happen.
EGHAM TOWN: Matt Nolan, Josh Andrew, Michael Kalu, Greg Haydon, Devante McKain, Danny Julienne, Georges Ehui, Alex Nolan, Lauric Diakiesse, Rhys Paul, Ashley Lodge (Captain). Substitutes: Daniel Gbadeyan (Ehui, 88), Ryan Debattista (Diakiese, 87), Mitch Wiseman, Andreas Loizou, Stephan Hamilton-Forbes.