BOSTIK SOUTH CENTRAL
SATURDAY 19 JANUARY 2019
WALTHAM ABBEY 2 (0)
Jack Stevenson (64')
Christian Assombalonga (85')
EGHAM TOWN 1 (1)
Brandon McCarthy (25')
by Mark Ferguson
Small margins cost Egham Town in this entertaining game at Waltham Abbey. Dickson Gill jiggled the line-up from that which played so disappointingly at South Park in midweek and was rewarded with the best two-half display since he took over just before Christmas. That they went in at half-time a goal to the good is down to superb team work, crisp passing and a refusal to accept their presumed fate. When Abbey threatened their defence it stood firm, and when the chance came to strike the Sarnies sliced open the home back line and scored superbly. Gilberto Abril had tested Abbey’s back line with a surge down the right and a cross that was not quite accurate enough, but when Samir Bajja sent a long pass forward to Brendan McCarthy the Egham No. 9 kept his composure and curled a beauty from the edge of the box past home keeper Lamar Johnson. McCarthy had benefitted from a dummy run by former Abbots’ man Ibrahim Kehinde. He had scored the only goal of the game when Egham lost the first meeting of these two sides in October but has not managed to find the net for the Sarnies yet. Small margins. He had two chances in quick succession to invoke the “inevitable law of the ex” after his erstwhile side had gone behind. The first – and more presentable – chance came off a cross from McCarthy but, three yards out, with a free header, he somehow managed to send the ball over the bar. Two minutes from the break Egham’s skipper Danny Campion drilled in a cross from the left and as the defence struggled to clear Kehinde spun on the ball and banged his shot just past the right post. Those misses…
Egham were always likely to be under increased pressure from 6th placed Abbey once their manager had had a word. There is, potentially, a hidden problem for Egham. They had travelled to Capershotts without a point in 11 away games – no side is going to want to be the first who in entertaining them will be the first to lose points to them. After 64 minutes managers Michael Spencer and Billy Holland replaced Timothy Ogunrinde with Rob Clark, whose first touch found Jack Stevenson who in turn hammered the ball past Yannick Makiese in the Egham goal from a good 22 yards out. At this stage leaving with a point would have been a fair return for Egham. Kehinde was withdrawn, and McCarthy moved further up. Kehinde had been doing a useful job in keeping the home defence occupied. Gill brought on Palmire Cabo-Verde (ex Hanworth Villa, Hayes & Yeading United Youth, and Sutton United). Four minutes later an Egham boot hacked the ball off the line following a corner. Lamin Ceesay replaced Abril and looked lively. Abbey’s Harry Agombar came close to making it 2-1 with a shot that hit the right post and Makiese thwarted Christian Assombolonga, then it was Egham’s turn to curse their luck. Small margins again, as McCarthy took control of a scramble in the home box and hit a rising shot that cannoned off the underside of the bar and was cleared. Six minutes from time Tristan Toney, who had been excellent in central defence, conceded a free kick that Stevenson landed on Assombolonga’s head and the ball settled in the Sarnies’ net. For this observer the key point here is that Egham are in desperate need of at least one proven goalscorer. McCarthy worked tirelessly throughout the match but the goal here is only his fifth and only the 16th the Sarnies have netted in 22 league games. It would be a shame to see that, now the rest of the on-field problems seem to have improved, the fight against the drop fail due to an inability to put the ball in opposition nets.
With South Park (now on 15 points) winning 3-2 at home to Hertford Town and Molesey (11) getting spanked 0-5 at home by Uxbridge it is the Sarnies (9) and the Moles who now look the most likely relegation candidates. In midweek Gill said, after the loss at South Park, “It’s not over. The club have got me here to do the best I can.” When asked if he thought Egham could move away from trouble and retain their Step 4 status he said “I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think we could.”
On Tuesday Egham have a friendly at Horley Town’s “The New Defence” ground, a venue at which they have not played since 20 April 2013, a 1-1 draw on their way to winning the Combined Counties League title. Egham have sixteen games left to make sure that they will not be returning there next season for a league match. Next Saturday Ware come visiting, and then on 29 January, there is the little matter of facing Woking at home in the Specsavers Surrey Senior Cup.
EGHAM TOWN: Yannick Makiesee, Tom Penson, Temi Oladejo, Luke Randall, Tristan Toney, Samir Bajja, Sean McCormack, Ibrahim Kehinde, Brandon McCarthy, Danny Campion (Captain), Gilberto Abril. Subsitutes: Conor Channon, Levi Shango, Palmire Cabo-Verde (Kehinde, 65), Lamin Ceesay (Abril, 69), Greg Wright (Campion, 86).