Egham Town 0 Aylesbury 2

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 2014
EGHAM TOWN 0 (0) AYLESBURY 2 (2)
Scorers: Ben Stevens (9), Sonny French (15)

Three men, one from each side and the one in the middle, were the key players in a match that saw the visitors augment their early season play-off push with a controversial win. In the end the goals, coming in the opening sixth of the game, were not the main talking points, which is probably just as well given that both were preventable.
Aylesbury’s opening strike came nine minutes in, a deep free kick from the Aylesbury right finding the first of the three key men, skipper Ben Stevens, who used his free header to put the visitors in the lead. The second came as Aylesbury took advantage of Egham’s overly cautious start, which belied the fact that under the new managerial pairing of Luke Muldowney and Richie Byrne the win ratio was five out of five. From a free kick, again on the Aylesbury right, home keeper Jamie Norris was forced into a tremendous arcing save off former Egham centre half Kyle Anthony’s powerful header. The resultant corner was not cleared properly, the ball fell for Sonny French on the edge of the box and his drive seemed, from behind the other goal, to take a flick or two on its way into Norris’ net.
Egham got their act together, and started playing with purpose and spirit, but unfortunately not with penetration. The closest they came was a lob by Josh Andrew as he beat Connor Baker to the ball but the ball cleared the bar. While Aylesbury had players Brian Haule (28 minutes) and Gareth Price (54) booked for blatant dives not a lot else happened until the 62nd minute, when began a remarkable sequence of events, the two remaining key protagonists coming to the fore. With Aylesbury playing a high defensive line Egham midfielder Joe Chandiram slipped the ball through to Stanislaus, who ran between the centre backs, had the ball under control and was racing in on goal before being sent crashing by Stevens. There was only one obvious decision for referee Alexander Fisher to make, and he bottled it, waving only a yellow card. Egham’s players, management and fans were incredulous, a feeling only exacerbated by what Stanislaus relayed to the bench: “Did you hear what he said? He said ‘Last man is a myth’.” Well, for the purpose of clarification I checked LOAF, the Laws Of Association Football, and it seems that Mr Fisher could do with a refresher course. This is what they say:

SENDING-OFF OFFENCES
A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off if he commits any of the
following seven offences:
• serious foul play
• violent conduct
• spitting at an opponent or any other person
• denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity
by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within
his own penalty area)
• denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving
towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a
penalty kick
• using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures
• receiving a second caution in the same match

An offence punishable by a free kick. It must have been a sending off offence, because Mr Fisher awarded Egham Town a free kick for that offence. The only man between Stanislaus and the goal was the keeper, James Weatherill. From that free kick Egham skipper Ryan Lake was pulled down in the box. Mr Fisher had no option but to award a penalty, but then he had had no option but to dismiss Stevens and he got that wrong. Also wrong was Stanislaus’ decision to try to place his spot kick; Weatherill saved by pushing the kick round the post. The ball was fed from the corner to Stanislaus, and Stevens (I know I am now labouring the point), who should not even have been on the pitch, brought him down with the sort of scything tackle from behind that would have merited a caution – and, therefore, a (belated) dismissal - anywhere on the pitch. Not this time, not with Mr Fisher, who did award the spot kick, as, again, he had no choice, but he did not even speak to Stevens. Whatever he does in his day job I hope for charity’s sake he is a darn sight more capable than he is in performing his hobby. Stanislaus stepped up, hoping to make amends but this spot kick was even worse than its predecessor. He usually belts his spot kicks, but not today, and today it made a difference. That’s why, for all that Egham were considerably more than exasperated with Mr Fisher’s inexplicably woeful interpretation of some of the Laws Of Association Football, there were gilt-edged chances to get something from a game that, at 0-2 with 15 minutes played, looked likely to end up in a shellacking. When, seven minutes from time, Andrew clearly handled in the area, Egham did not even appeal. Perhaps they thought it was not worth it. Even if it had been given there was no guarantee it would be converted. To make things worse Louis Chandler-Joseph had to leave the field after being trodden on by Davis Haule.
Egham slipped to 8th place, and on Tuesday make the short trip to Uxbridge, who went down 1-3 at Aylesbury United. Egham won 5-0 at Honeycroft last season, but were on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline in the tail end of a tiring, rain affected campaign.
On Saturday comes the long haul to mid-Cornwall for a First Round Qualifying trip against Truro City, 1-0 victors against Cambridge City. Truro sit in fifth place in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier. Cambridge’s 680 mile round trip puts Egham’s 548 in the shade, but for Muldowney, Byrne and the Egham squad it will be the longest haul ever made by the club for a competitive match, and competitive is what Egham will be looking to make it.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Danny Williamson, Jake Galbraith, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Lee Morley, Josh Andrew, Joe Chandiram, Brendan Matthew, Reis Stanislaus, Ashley Quashie. Subs: Dan Read (Chandler-Joseph, 75), Mo Harkin ((Quashie, 57), Ricky Farnden, Wayne Jackson, Wilson Gondwe.