Egham Town 2 - 2 Ashford Town

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EGHAM TOWN 2 (0) ASHFORD TOWN (Mx.)
23 July 2011

Egham Town scorers: Matt Grave (58) Dale Marvell (74)

Two new managers pitted their wits against each other at Runnymede Stadium on Saturday, and saw an entertaining match finish with honours even. For both Ashford's Paul Burgess and Egham's John Hamsher their work in fine tuning rejigged squads for the upcoming season continues; both will probably be happy with their striking power but a tad concerned with the ease with which they conceded.
A tight first half which ended goalless produced a few goalscoring chances, but the first, 22 minutes in, saw Egham's new keeper Kevin Borg tip a long shot over the bar. From the corner there was a scramble in the Egham box and a shot that Aaron Taylor cleared off the line. It took almost as long again before Matt Grave created space for a shot that clipped the top of the Ashford bar.
The second half began in lively fashion with Ashford forcing two decent saves from Borg before Aaron Taylor took the ball out of the danger area with a determined run down the middle of the park. He passed to Ross White on the left, and from his shot, which hit the right hand post and ran beyond Grave the ball was just as quickly sent back upfield for another Ashford attack which ended when the ball hit the side netting. Five minutes in the visitors were gifted a goal thanks to a mix up between Borg and Taylor, Dan Brown having time to raise his arm in celebration before scoring.
Marcus Moody, whom Egham fans are very glad to see back after his stint at Chertsey Town, linked with Grave for the latter's cross shot that was slipping wide until the inrushing White got only enough on the ball to hit the left post. White was replaced by Matt Evans, who made an almost instant impact with a run from midfield and a well weighted pass into Grave's path. As Evans ran in for the return Grave fired home with his usual certainty from a tight angle. Four minutes later Ashford had the lead again, a side foot home by a player Ashford Town guru Alan Constable could only identify as “Pietro” coming at the end of a quick break. Grave and Jamie Houghton went off, replaced by Steve Brown and Dan Hartlebury, in midfield and defence respectively. Moody forced a good save from the Ashford keeper on 71 minutes. Three minutes Egham had scored their fifth equaliser in two games after their 3-3 draw with Chertsey. This fighting spirit certainly bodes well for the new term, and Dale Marvell, scorer of two at Alwyns Lane, was on target this time, poking the ball home after a Moody inspired attack caused some serious discomfort in the visitors' back line. Moody gave way to Frankie Driver and Borg to Josh Henry for the final stages in a match that will almost certainly offer no clues for the managers when these two meet again, in the Surrey Senior Cup 2nd round on 7 December, again at the Runnymede Stadium.

Egham Town started with: Kevin Borg, Luke Muldowney, Jake Galbraith, Aaron Taylor, Ken Drury, Jamie Houghton, Lee Pasmore, Marcus Moody, Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Ross White.
The subs who were used were: Josh Henry, Steve Brown, Dan Hartlebury, Matt Evans, Brendan Matthew, Frankie Driver. To the best of my knowledge the only unused sub was Jake Josling.