Egham Town 3 Greenwich Borough 0

FA CHALLENGE VASE FIRST ROUND
SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 2011
EGHAM TOWN 3 (2) GREENWICH BOROUGH 0 (0)
Egham Town scorers: Matt Grave (17), Dale Marvell (28), Enrico Rossoni (84)

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John Hamsher's Egham Town made relatively serene progress to the second round of the FA Vase with a comfortable three goal win against Greenwich Borough. The Londoners, who lie in bottom place of the Kent League Premier Division, were clearly a side low on confidence but played some decent football in the first half. However, they lacked any kind of goal scoring touch, as evidenced by a haul of just 10 goals in 12 league games, leaving Paul Borg in the Egham goal generally untroubled. Egham, whose second place in the CCL Premier was maintained by Windsor's shock 0-1 home reverse to 22nd place Mole Valley SCR (who lost at the Runnymede Stadium in the last round), were in control from the start, even with a rejigged starting line-up that saw Lee Pasmore and Jake Galbraith unavailable. Galbraith's absence broke up the usual defensive arrangement, so skipper Marcus Moody fitted in to the left back slot, and showed again how versatile he is. Egham took the lead in the 17th minute, Dale Marvell heading a Moody pass to Matt Grave for a 20 yard half volley that flew past Borough keeper John Beal. Marc Cumberbatch threatened to make an instant reply but Moody did well to clear the danger. Borough were tending towards the robust in some of their challenges, and in Zak Henry possessed a player not afraid to indulge in some off-the-ball niggling. One such challenge saw Sheriff Babatunde cautioned for a foul on Brendan Matthew, set free by Grave's pass. From the resultant free kick Marvell whipped in a superb free kick that left Beal flatfooted and gave Egham a 2-0 lead. Henry got the yellow card that he had been overdue, as did Matthew Ramasamy for a foul on Ken During. The Sarnies almost had a 3-0 lead to take into the break but off a Marvell corner Luke Muldowney's powerful header was cleared off the line. The half ended with a caution for Moody, after he had been fouled by Cumberbatch.
Early in the second half Grave, from Jamie Houghton's through ball, seemed caught in two minds as he ran in on Beal and put his shot wide. The game drifted for the next half hour or so, the main points being the substitutions of Matthew for Tom Brunton, and Max Galbraith for Matt Grave. In between came the swapping of Marvell for Enrico Rossoni, a forward with five goals to his name already for CCL One side Eversley, beaten by Egham in the League Cup a few weeks ago. Rossoni made an impact; just over 20 minutes into his Egham career he finished a one-on-one chance with great skill to give his new team a decisive 3-0 advantage, and was desperately unlucky not to have had a double on his debut with an overhead kick that cannoned off Beal's right hand post.
Next week's game is at Cove, who are always tricky opponents.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Marcus Moody (capt.), Ken During, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Brendan Matthew, Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Tom Hedges. Subs: Tom Brunton (Matthew, 60), Louis Chandler-Joseph, Max Galbraith (Grave, 73), Enrico Rossoni (Marvell, 63).