Finally a game in 2014

FRIENDLY
SATURDAY 18 JANUARY 2014
Cove 1 Egham Town 6
Egham Town scorers: Joe Chandiram 2, Andy Crossley, Ryan O’Toole 2 (1 pen), Brendan Matthew

Lee Passmore took his squad to Cove for a hastily arranged friendly against the CCL Premier side, whose own game at home to Wembley was postponed. The game was played on a 3G surface, in three 30 periods that each saw the Sarnies net two goals. Joe Chandiram and Andy Crossley scored in the first, Ryan O'Toole got both middle period goals (the second a penalty) and Brendan Matthew and Chandiram again made it 6-0. Some hesitancy in defence let Cove score late on.
The main feature of the game was the quality of the Egham goals. The first, from Chandiram, was a crisp shot with the outside of his left boot, the second was a well placed lob by Crossley from the left corner of the Cove box. In the second period O’Toole, with very little space to work in, lifted an exquisite shot over the outrushing keeper, off a Mo Harkin through ball then O’Toole slammed in a penalty awarded for handball. The third saw Matthew race down the right win before arcing a wonderful shot, on the run, over the Cove custodian and Matthew’s was the final touch in a slick attacking move, Chandiram finishing well.

In the squad today were all the usual faces bar Marcus Moody, Andy Quashie, Josh Andrew and Louis Chandler-Joseph, with defender Ryan Lake and striker Matt Grave also turning out for us. In addition there was a new face, Nathan Bussutil, who impressed as an attacking midfielder. Grave looked like he had never been away, save for some match sharpness with one-on-ones as he had two and failed with both. However, for a man whose last competitive football was our 1-1 home draw with Farnham Town in the final match of the season before last, he did not look out of place. He will certainly be an asset with his passing and scoring ability; he notched 22 goals two seasons ago. Lake has of course had two loan spells with us; at the time of writing this I don’t know if this appearance was a prelude to a similar arrangement or a permanent signing. Bussutil put in a skilful and energetic performance. I don’t know his pedigree; Google has little except that he is a personal trainer.

EGHAM TOWN SQUAD: Jamie Norris, Luke Muldowney, Jake Galbraith, Arran Taylor-Ives, Jim Ward, Richie Byrne, Joe Chandiram, Andy Crossley, Reis Stanislaus, Calvin Thomas, Nathan Bussutil, Gary Ross, Matt Grave, Ryan Lake, Mo Harkin, Brendan Matthew, Ryan O’Toole, Kyle Andrew.