Egham Town 2 Guernsey 5 aet (FT 2-2)

EL RECORDS PREMIER CHALLENGE CUP THIRD ROUND
Tuesday 31 January 2012
EGHAM TOWN 2 (0) GUERNSEY 5 (1) AET. FT SCORE 2-2.
Egham Town scorer: Brendan Matthew 2 (65, 73)

It is difficult to know what to write about this match, which ended barely an hour before I have to get something written for the local paper and with an eye for the programme for the home game against Croydon. I'll get the silly trivia out of the way first; we hate playing at home against sides whose homes are completely surrounded by water. Newport and Cowes Sports have come to our place in the last two seasons and won and CCL One leaders, and best side by a country mile, made it a bad sort of hat-trick. That they managed it is as much down to the shortcomings of this team as it is to their own abilities.
Egham managed to combine in this game some of the best attacking play seen under John Hamsher combined with some of the worst possible defending. I have said before in my reports that we cannot afford to defend so badly because some day it will see us having a day such as this. We went in at half time at 0-1, but we had played scintillating, delightful attacking football, and so had Guernsey. With Paul Borg being replaced in goal because of a domestic emergency yesterday, Enrico Rossoni cup-tied (he played for Eversley when we beat them 5-1 in this competition's second round) and Charlie Muldowney still unavailable, youth keeper Josh Henry came in, with Rossoni's place taken by Brendan Matthew. In the first minute Matthew, roared on throughout by Chairman Pat Bennett, headed over Guernsey's bar off a Matt Grave pass, and after nine minutes Grave had a shot blocked, before firing the rebound wide. Guernsey have in their front line probably the most talked about forward in the Combined Counties League, namely Ross Allen. Any striker who has netted 50 odd goals before February is clearly no mug, but he missed his first chance against Egham's young keeper, who blocked his 10th minute shot. With 17 minutes gone Guernsey's keeper Paul Degalis pulled off a full length save to turn away a Dale Marvell free kick that had been diverted goalward by the islander's No 6, Angus Mackay. Not long afterwards Egham were behind, Jacques Isabelle's crossfield ball to Allen presenting the striker with a chance to run at the Egham defence before whacking the ball into the far corner. Matthew Loaring's drilled cross created problems for an Egham defence that then got away with some appalling defending as Henry miskicked one ball from his area only to get the ball back for another attempt which he then gave to Allen. Happily the forward blasted the ball over the bar from the edge of the box with a hasty shot. Relieved, Egham settled a bit and with five minutes left of the first period came close to levelling through Matthew's dribbler of a shot that hit the foot of Degalis' left post.
Egham were a different side in the second half, up to the time they recovered to lead 2-1. With Tom Hedges running at will through the visiting defence and the midfielders working with Dale Marvell, Grave and Matthew with neat touches, clever passes and maintaining a level of pacy attack that had Guernsey reeling, it was no shock that they got a by now fully deserved equaliser. It came from a Marvell corner, one of several, the ball reaching Aarron Taylor-Ives whose header took a vital touch off Matthew's back to leave Degalis wrongfooted. That came on 65 minutes, and was prefaced by a shot a Jamie Houghton shot that itself could have gone in before nicking off two defenders and Degalis. A subsequent Marvell corner was met again by Taylor-Ives but was cleared off the line. Egham were maintaining their attacking momentum in a style that was truly wonderful, and with Guernsey on the ropes it was only a matter of time before Egham took the lead. A long pass to nothing was turned into something by Hedges' speed of foot and mind, and after he had taken the ball into the box he saw his low pass to Matthew beautifully converted with a superbly confident back heel that bamboozled the Guernsey defence.
So far so thrilling... Two minutes later the rot set in. Guernsey broke at pace and Zico-Black rifled the ball home for 2-2. Matt Grave was taken off and replaced by Paul Bartholomew. Sorry, and I know I am no football coach, but that utterly baffled me (and others). Grave was not having his greatest game; he tends to have good days and bad days and this was somewhere in the middle, but his replacement by a full back to mark Zico-Black, an experienced midfielder??? Let's say that it posed more questions than it answered. Bartholomew spent his time on the pitch looking like a fish out of water. He is not a midfielder. Two minutes before extra time beckoned Zico-Black found the time and space to flick a cross shot that Henry did superbly well to save.
Egham were not good in extra time. With four minutes left of the first period a routine corner hit someone and went in. I have no idea who scored, and don't care much. I'll found out when the bulletin is published. As that first period was nearing its end Bartholomew got up for a corner and his header won another corner for Marvell, but on the break Guernsey made it 2-4 with another classy finish from Allen at full pelt. Surely there must be other clubs at a higher level having a look at this guy? Had Marvell, whose goals of late tend to be from whacking a static ball into the net instead of the wonderful range of finishing he was producing earlier this season, been more fortunate with a shot on the turn on 112 minutes there might have been some chance of taking the tie to penalties. Zico-Black removed the problem of marking him by collecting, for kicking the ball away, a caution to add the one he was awarded in the first half for fouling Marvell. That did not stop either our suicidal dithering in defence or Guerney's willingness to take advantage; Ken During and Taylor-Ives got in a mess and seemed determined to give the ball to Glyn Dyer, whose shot, unlike our defending, was not a homophone of his surname. It hardly mattered that Henry stood and watched the ball whizz past him because this game was well gone by then. For the record that one went in with two minutes left of extra time.
Egham will have to get their act together before a visit on Saturday from a Croydon side who will, in all probability, be their usual awkward selves. Hopefully we will have our missing men back. Fair play to Guernsey; they put on a good show of excellent passing moves and did what they had to do very well. They will certainly be a threat next season when they come into our division. Let's hope Allen has moved on by then, eh?

EGHAM TOWN: Josh Henry, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Ken During, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Brendan Matthew, Matt Grave, Dale Marvell, Tom Hedges.
Subs: Paul Bartholomew (Grave, 71), Louis Chandler-Joseph, Will McDonald.