Potters Bar Town 1 Egham Town 0

POTTERS BAR TOWN 1 (1) EGHAM TOWN 0 (0)
Scorer: Tom Boxer (32)

Egham Town dropped to 15th in the Southern League Division One Central with six points from the first fifteen available after this reverse at Potters Bar Town. Following the win at Beaconsfield SYCOB on Monday it was to be hoped that the spirited recovery from being a goal down at half time would lead to a similar performance at the home of The Scholars but continuity in team selection was a luxury denied manager Lee Passmore. Skipper Luke Muldowney was stricken with a bad back, Richie Byrne is injured as well and Calvin Thomas (comfortably the best player on the field in the Beaconsfield game) was unavailable due to family commitments. Then, in the warm-up, striker Dan Read pulled up with a muscle strain and had to be replaced by sub Dwayne Antonio. Egham replaced Muldowney with new man Morris Nassauer, and had two more new faces on the bench in George Gould and James Richmond.
Potters Bar have started strongly this season and it was easy to see why. They have a hard working side and Egham found it hard to break them down. The game’s first clear chance fell, though, to the Sarnies off their second corner kick, which Scott Weight headed over. At the other end Garry Aulsberry in the Egham goal saved superbly off an Alex Shepherd rising drive. Weight then headed over from a chipped pass by Antonio and Josh Andrew played a one-two with Mo Harkin before firing into the side netting. The misses were important. In the 32nd minute The Scholars had a corner kick which was half cleared to Chris Doyle, whose mishit shot hit Aulsberry’s left post. Egham did not clear the danger and centre back Tom Boxer, up for the corner, was free to roll the ball into the net.
From the restart panic in the Egham defence meant Rick Farnden had to clear off the line and almost immediately Aulsberry pulled off a stunning save from Shepherd. Five minutes from the break Egham could and should have equalised. Harkin found Jake Galbraith, the full back crossed and Reis Stanislaus, with a free header, missed the target. There was still time for Potters Bar to threaten again, Josh Hutchinson running powerfully from deep and crossing for Boxer, who’d run from defence, to force another important save from Aulsberry.
Five minutes into the second half Nassauer gave way to fellow debutant Richmond, and a third debut appearance came when Gould, a forward, accompanied Matt Grave, who is well known to the Sarnies but has not played for a couple of seasons, on to the pitch as replacements for Antonio and Andrew. It did not go well for Richmond, the victim of a thuggish two footed lunge by home skipper Ashley Harrison-Barker, who, to Egham’s horror, only received a yellow card. As far as discipline is concerned the home side can also count themselves lucky that referee Chris Felton waved the yellow only once at Lee Close for two similarly awful challenges, one in each half. Richmond received treatment from physio Heather Stevenson and carried on but it was soon clear he was crocked. As Egham had made all three substitutions all he could do was swap places with Gould with the hope that his height would be some sort of weapon against the home rearguard. His repositioning almost worked as a corner dropped to him but the right footed player stabbed the ball wide with his left. Grave dragged a good diving save from Mike Underwood in the home goal with a shot on the turn and Harkin saw a header blocked then The Scholars’ Hutchinson broke free and only another good save by Aulsberry, tipping the ball over the bar, denied a 2-0 lead. Straight away Egham attacked and Stanislaus was fouled on the edge of, or perhaps just inside, the area. The way their luck was going it was no shock when nothing was given.
Egham now go into their Bank Holiday game at home to Godalming Town with doubts over Muldowney, Byrne and Richmond. It was difficult to judge the new men given that one was only on the pitch for 50 minutes and the other two had to swap positions after one was severely damaged. Monday’s game is against a side who are currently 5th, ten places but only three points ahead of Egham Town. There have already been, looking through the prism of last season’s form, some odd results this season. Next Saturday Egham travel to Hellenic Premier side Abingdon United in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, with the following Tuesday set aside for any possible replay at the Runnymede Stadium.
EGHAM TOWN: Garry Aulsberry, Morris Nassauer, Jake Galbraith, Ricky Farnden, Ryan Lake, Scott Weight, Josh Andrew, Joe Chandiram, Reis Stanislaus, Dwayne Antonio, Mo Harkin. Subs: Matt Grave (68, Andrew), Dan Read, George Gould (Antonio, 68), James Richmond (Nassauer, 50), Luke Muldowney.