Egham Town 5 Horley Town 0

EGHAM TOWN 5 (2) HORLEY TOWN 0 (0)
SURREY SENIOR CUP THIRD ROUND TUESDAY 28.01.14

Egham Town made it through to the quarter finals of the County Cup, and a home tie against Walton & Hersham (the winners of which face a trip to Woking), after a decent 5-0 win over Combined Counties Premier side Horley Town. Having previously played in this competition, Calvin Thomas and Darren Stapleton were cup-tied, while Andy Crossley, scorer of two goals in the 6-0 success against Potters Bar Town, was ill. Ashley Quashie got a recall, and Brendan Matthew a rare start, alongside top scorer Ryan O’Toole, and Nathan Busuttil made his debut.
The first ten minutes were pretty even, but Egham took a 12th minute lead through Joe Chandiram. Taking a pass from Busuttil he had plenty to do with defenders in front of him but he sidestepped two men and drilled the ball into the bottom left corner for his fifth goal of the season. Given the relative placings of the two sides, with the visitors in 21st place in the Combined Counties League and Egham 12th in Calor One, the neutral spectator would have expected Egham to run riot but even though the Sarnies pressed hard and came close with a bending free kick from Ryan Lake it took until the 39th minute for the lead to be doubled. The goal came from a quick break that saw Chandiram find O’Toole who scored with an angled shot off the outside of his left boot, across keeper George Hyde in the Horley goal. The establishment of a two goal advantage probably would have sealed the win but Horley helped Egham’s cause when their No 9, Karl Parker, got himself dismissed for two stupid fouls in three minutes just before half-time.
Josh Andrew forced Hyde into a very good save seconds after play resumed. Quashie replaced Andrew to threaten down the left wing, but thanks largely to some spirited play that should bode well for Horley’s relegation battle it took Egham until the 72nd minute to score again, Luke Muldowney flighting in a corner for an unmarked Arran Taylor-Ives to head home. Matthew had worked hard all night and got the goal he craved and deserved three minutes from time as he took Quashie's pass on, drove through two tackles, saw his shot blocked and netted the rebound. Finally, with time running out, O'Toole spotted some defensive dithering and took the ball into the area, was forced wide and saw his angled shot blocked by Jack Poplett. Horley disputed the aim of the shot, saying it was going wide, and that Poplett had not handled it. Poplett was in no fit state to argue as he needed treatment for the ball smacking into his "gentleman" area, and, perhaps, a hand. Harshly, given the score and the circumstances, he was sent off, and as he limped from the Jungle End goal towards the away dressing room saw O'Toole lash home the spot kick.

Mark