Egham Town travel to South Park for a relegation six-pointer on Tuesday. It promises to be an interesting affair. The Sarnies now have in their ranks former Park manager Mick Sullivan, as well as midfielder Danny Campion and goalkeeper Yannick Makiese. South Park came desperately close to causing a major upset at Larges Lane, Bracknell as they recovered from 1-3 down to level before losing to a late goal, while Egham, now looking more settled, were good value for a point after going behind to a controversial penalty. With fellow drop candidates Molesey going down 0-3 at home to Ware a win for Dickson Gill’s men in midweek would see them climb above both the Sparks and the Moles.
A midweek 2-0 win against Banstead Athletic gave manager Dickson Gill the chance to check out a few new players. Makiese (who has also played at Merstham, Arlesey Town and Staines Town) made an impressive debut,as did left back Tom Penson (Guildford City, Chipstead, AFC Croydon), right back Ahmed Guled (Leatherhead) and midfielder Howard Newton (Walton & Hersham).
There was not a lot to divide the two teams initially, then Egham had the first half-chance as Brandon McCarthy lobbed Carl Dennison, only to see the ball hit the top of the net. Two minutes later Danny Campion raced through and angled his shot beyond Dennison’s reach and was wheeling away in celebration until the ball clunked against the foot of the right post. The Saints’ had offered nothing up front until former Sarnie Rhys Rabess blazed over after Luke King had miscued a clearance. Three minutes later Rabess tumbled under King’s feather-light challenge, and Adam Morris scored from the spot.
Going in a goal down after dominating could have been damaging to the Sarnies’ morale, but as the new men start to understand each other’s play their cohesion and team drive will increase. They were not ready to give in on this one, and came close to levelling after Campion’s run and pull back was fired wide by the inrushing McCarthy. Half way through the half Rabess missed an absolute sitter from Morris’ cross, the erstwhile Egham man failing to make contact only a yard from goal. Rabess later tried to claim a penalty off a ridiculous dive then reacted petulantly when offered a hand up by Makiese.
With time running out Egham kept working hard and got their reward when a long pass from midfield saw both Campion and McCarthy run in on Dennison. As the keeper advanced McCarthy kept his head and steered the ball into the net from the edge of the box. The relief was great, but might have been shortlived as, almost from the restart, a cross clipped Makiese’s left post. Two minutes into injury time McCarthy was presented with and took another chance, turning well to drive the ball in, but an upraised flag terminated celebrations.
After the trip to South Park there is another away match for Egham, at Waltham Abbey. The next home game is against Ware on 26 January. Then the Sarnies entertain Woking (29 January) in the Specsavers Surrey Senior Cup Second Round.
EGHAM TOWN: Yannick Makiese, Tom Penson, Ahmed Guled, Luke Randall, Luke King, Howard Newton, Sean McCormack, Tristan Toney, Brandon McCarthy, Danny Campion, Gilberto Abril. Subs: Ibrahim Kehinde, Temiloluwa Oladejo, Keanu Williams, Declan Nche, Levi Shango (Abril, 70).