Egham Town 6 Guildford City 1

RED INSURE CUP FIRST ROUND
TUESDAY 15 OCTOBER 2013
EGHAM TOWN 6 (3) GUILDFORD CITY 1 (0)
Egham Town scorers: Ryan O’Toole 2 (27 pen, 37), Jamie Houghton (33), Shane Graham (54), Josh Andrew (66), Louis Chandler-Joseph (88)

Club skipper Arran Taylor-Ives made a more than welcome return as Egham Town made comfortable progress into the Red Insure Cup second round against a poor Guildford City side who crumbled once the first goal went in. The home side had the game won by half time but had needed two decent slices of luck, one before the goal and one that led to the opener. After 22 minutes of Egham dominating possession and playing some pacy, clever football their guard slipped and Pat Cox, City’s top scorer, picked up on some defensive indecisiveness and had a shot cleared off the line by Kyle Anthony, and as the ball ran free Calvin Thomas missed an open goal from five yards, hitting the bar instead. Five minutes later Egham were on the attack, and the referee awarded what looked a soft penalty for what was described by his assistant as dangerous play on midfielder Jamie Houghton. The City bench, who had not been the calmest previously, were incandescent, and Ryan O’Toole scored easily from the spot. Six minutes on and it was 2-0 as Houghton’s brilliant diving header gave the perfect finish to a superb run and cross by Louis Chandler-Joseph. The third was not long in coming as O’Toole, fully 30 yards out, smacked a low shot into the bottom left corner of keeper Will Dukes’ net.
Guildford came out at half time looking to salvage a little pride against an Egham side who had beaten them 4-1 in a pre-season friendly, and got a goal back on 51 minutes after Gary Ross spilled a Tuan West shot into the path of Cox, who scored easily. There was no hope of a City comeback though, as on 54 minutes Shane Graham, off a Mo Harkin pass, raced from the halfway line and made the one-on-one with Dukes look very easy. Dukes prevented Jake Galbraith scoring from distance with a decent save but had no chance with his next test, Houghton squaring the ball for Josh Andrew to hammer the ball home from 25 yards after 66 minutes. Between goals 4 and 5 Egham had replaced O’Toole with Jacob Lambe and Graham with Brendan Matthew and after Andrew’s wonder strike Mo Harkin gave way to Jo Chandiram. Lambe was sent sprawling in the area but the referee decided to let City off, and Houghton had a shot blocked by Dukes before things got worse for the visitors as Ryan Bernard was cautioned for holding Lambe back and, having previously been cautioned, had to walk. Chandler-Joseph was fouled in the box but that too was ignored but there was no ignoring the way he took Patrick Craig’s superb through ball on before ending his advance on Dukes’ goal with an assured finish.
The draw for round two has not yet been made. Next up is the FA Trophy home game against Cirencester Town on Saturday.
EGHAM TOWN: Gary Ross, Josh Andrew, Jake Galbraith, Arran Taylor-Ives, Kyle Anthony, Mo Harkin, Patrick Craig, Jamie Houghton, Shane Graham, Ryan O’Toole, Louis Chandler-Joseph. Subs: Brendan Matthew (Graham, 65), Jacob Lambe (O’Toole, 61), Chris Ellis, Joe Chandiram (Harkin, 68), Luke Muldowney.