Egham Town sit in 18th place in the fledgling Bostik South Central Division after a defeat that looks like a bit of a drubbing but was anything but. It is clear though that new boss Ashley Smith still has a lot of work to do to mould his squad into a consistently successful outfit, because although the Sarnies outplayed their hosts for vast stretches of the game a combination of poor finishing, defensive lapses and too many players putting in patchy performances condemned them to a fourth defeat in only six league matches.
With a decent win at AFC Sudbury in the FA Trophy (a trip to Bostik South East side Greenwich Borough next Saturday the reward) and a midweek 4-2 friendly success at Windsor (in which new signing Brandon McCarthy, signed from Sutton United, scored twice) behind them the omens were good even though the weather was not. That the game would go ahead was never in question on Wodson Park’s plastic pitch, a surface identical to Sudbury’s, and Egham started well enough, until a free kick found the head of Louis Rose, unmarked, and the home side had an ideal start. A full length save by Xavi Comas from Albert Adu prevented that start getting any better. Egham, now without Tayshan Hayden-Smith, who has signed for Bostik Premier outfit Merstham, then started putting together some enterprising and attacking moves, a couple of which were abruptly ended by extremely crude challenges on Rhys Rabess by Billy Baird and Gareth Madden. It beggared belief that referee Ian Stewart saw fit only to speak to the culprits, just as he did when Rose lunged with both feet into Stephan Hamilton-Forbes, who was fortunate to escape injury. That Rabess, in the second half, received a yellow card for an innocuous push only increased the frustration of the visiting fans. Hamilton-Forbes had had the Sarnies’ first shot on target, a 20 yarder that nearly caught Ware keeper Anthony Page by surprise. In the 26th minute Josh Andrew burst forward and played a delightful one-two with Kezie Ibe before seeing his shot clip the right post. Rabess fired a shot in off the rebound but a defender blocked it. At the other end Rose played in Ben Hart for a fierce shot that Comas pushed away. Egham were having a lot of the ball and making inroads down the right but without penetration, the best example coming just seconds from the break when Andrew belted down the wing and fired in the sort of cross that needed just a touch from an inrushing team mate or panicking defender for the ball to hit the net.
Five minutes into the second half Egham drew level, Rabess’ shot too hot for Page to handle, the ball bouncing off Page’s face and falling nicely for Ibe to poke the
ball home. At this stage it looked likely that the Sarnies would push on for a win, but that lasted only five minutes. A cross came in towards the edge of the Egham box and Comas came off his line to punch clear, but the sizeable presence of Hamilton-Forbes in the way the punch fell nicely for Gareth Madden to put Ware ahead again. Rabess had another shot blocked – this is a notable change from the days of Simon Lane; players seem willing now to have a pop at goal instead of fiddle-faddling around looking for the next safe pass. Shortly after Rabess picked up his yellow he went off and Michael Kalu replaced him. David Cowley headed a deep cross wide of Comas’ goal and Rose went off on a run before seeing his shot denied superbly by the Egham keeper. The rebound fell to Madden; Comas’ full length save low to his right was a thing of wonder, which he repeated with a tremendous block from a Rose header a couple of minutes later. McCarthy had a shot spilled by Page, who looked less than assured with his handling. Kalu found McCarthy after a surging run, but the young striker lifted his shot over the bar, and Hamilton-Forbes was wasteful when the ball sat up for him on the edge of the Ware box. The home side had by this time brought on John Frendo, a name that made this scribbler’s heart sink a little when I saw it on the team sheet. Frendo has been a prolific scorer for a number of clubs, chiefly in Hertfordshire, since 2003. He last played against Egham for Royston and scored in a 3-1 win for The Crows. A powerful forward, he muscled past Josh Andrew as he threatened to score again before pulling the ball back for Dave Cowley to add some unwarranted gloss on the result for the home side.
Egham had played well; the results should start coming soon.
Egham face Bostik South East division Whyteleafe (who drew 2-2 at Phoenix Sports yesterday) in a rescheduled Velocity Trophy First Round tie that was postponed after the Runnymede Stadium lights failed before kick-off. As mentioned above, the Sarnies then go into the heart of London for a Preliminary Round tie in the Buildbase FA Trophy at Greenwich Borough. Like Egham they aren’t having the best of starts, and lost 0-2 at Whitstable Town on Saturday.
EGHAM TOWN Xavi Comas, Josh Andrew, Georges Ehui, Stephan Hamilton-Forbes, Gregory Haydon (or Gregoriou Hamdon according the published team sheet!), Lewis Hobbs, Sean McCormack, Ashley Lodge (Captain), Kezie Ibe, Rhys Rabess, Brandon McCarthy. Subs: Enock Soganile, Danny Julienne (Lodge, 81), Michael Kalu (Rabess, 73), Ashley Smith.