Egham Town 3 Mole Valley SCR 2

FA VASE SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND
SATURDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2011
EGHAM TOWN 3 (1) MOLE VALLEY SCR 2 (2)

Egham Town scorers: Jamie Houghton (12), Dale Marvell 2 pens (77, 90+2)

Well, it was a win. It was certainly one of the least fluent performances Egham Town have produced this season, but they got there in the end. Egham Town, apparently fresh in body, mind and spirit after two stonking wins and an eleven day break, against a side with eleven straight defeats (10 League, one FA Cup); surely this was no contest? Well, it may well have been had Egham not managed to gift Mole Valley a second minute goal that gave their guests something to hold onto and from which to build. One of that string of defeats was against Egham by 4-2, in which it took a late burst from Egham when the scoreline was tied at 2-2. Clearly Mole . Valley had seen something they could use in this FA Vase game, and from the moment Egham keeper Paul Borg came too far off his line to clear a ball centre back Ken During may well have dealt with, allowing Richard Smith to lob the ball into the Jungle End net they worked their socks off to try to gain their first win in 2011-12 season.
Egham recovered, briefly, after excellent approach play by a combination of former Mole Tom Hedges and Marcus Moody. Dale Marvell's shot was parried and Jamie Houghton slammed home a low shot for 1-1 after 12 minutes. Six minutes later Egham were adrift again, after more defensive faffing let Richard Smith finish neatly with a looping shot. There followed a long period of few chances and Egham failing to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Houghton had a half chance when a first time shot might have yielded more reward than a corner but at the other end Nick Wrightwick wriggled free for a shot that was a yard off target.
The second half was not a good spectacle, at least to this viewer. Eighteen minutes had passed before my first note, that Hedges had been replaced by Lee Pasmore. Play from both sides was disjointed and ugly to watch. On 25 minutes Grave fired an underhit shot at Bowden. A minute on from that Max Galbraith went on for Houghton, who had taken a knock. Finally Egham got their breakthrough, as Grave was sent crashing in the area by right back Luke Silavwe. Marvell took the spot kick, drilling it past Bowden. That at least took Egham to the possibility of extra time, but there was not a lot of urgency immediately after. When a Marvell corner missed all in defence and attack it seemed the last chance for Town might have gone, and the Moles might well have won had Liam Holden not finished his 30 yard run with a shot that hit the foot of the right post and seen sub Kris Barry fail to turn in the rebound. Then two minutes into added time Aaron Smith clattered into Luke Muldowney in the area and Egham had another penalty. Marvell was again on spot kick detail and fired the ball in off the diving Bowden's right hand. Five minutes into added time Marvell came off for youngster Tom Brunton, who had scored the first of the Egham Town Youth team's goals on Monday as they overturned a 0-2 half time deficit for a 4-2 win against Balham Blazers.
Egham Town know who they will face in the First Round; Kent League side Greenwich Borough will come visiting on Saturday 22 October. This means the home game against Sandhurst Town will be rescheduled.
Egham sit in sixth place in the CCL Premier Division after midweek and weekend results; today Sandhurst Town lost 0-1 at home to a Dorking side intent on not being this season's whipping boys. With lots of FA Vase ties that left only one other Premier Division game, with Guildford City and Camberley Town drawing 1-1 at The Spectrum. Next Saturday Camberley visit the Runnymede Stadium. The following Tuesday Egham are at home to CCL Division One side Eversley in the EL Records Premier Challenge Cup.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Ken During, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Marcus Moody (Capt.), Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Tom Hedges. Subs: Tom Brunton (Marvell, 90+5), Lee Pasmore (Hedges, 73), Max Galbraith (Houghton, 71).