EGHAM TOWN 0 ST IVES TOWN 0

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN CENTRAL ONE
SATURDAY 6 DECEMBER 2014
EGHAM TOWN 0 ST IVES TOWN 0

On 18 November, five minutes into the second half, Egham Town striker Dan Read scored his side’s second goal in a 2-1 Red Insure Cup win at Godalming Town. That strike, ignoring messy bits of injury time, but including the 30 minutes of extra time as Egham lost to Molesey last Tuesday in the Surrey Senior Cup, came 430 minutes of playing time ago. It was the last time Luke Muldowney’s men found the back of an opposition net, and, with this goalless draw against Cambridgeshire visitors St Ives Town, meant that for the first time in living memory the Runnymede Stadium had hosted, after the 0-0 with Hanwell Town, back to back goalless games. The glass half full bit of this is that Egham have not let in a goal at home for two games, but the glass half empty side is that Egham at the moment have lost a cutting edge that saw then put five past Barton Rovers, fours past Slough Town and Northwood, and four triples.
Once again the lack of continuity hit the team, with Jake Galbraith suspended, and Mo Harkin and Ryan Lake on a stag weekend. (Not, I would think, “together” – that would be a diversity and equality story to liven up non-league football). Egham gave a start to Seb Castello, who came on and looked decent at Bedworth United and recovered from a shaky start at Molesey – in this game his was a calm and assured performance in a defence that saw Muldowney with his boots on again, marshalling Louis Chandler-Joseph and the ever dependable Danny Williamson. Of Harry Frost, who played at Bedworth, there was no sign. St Ives, with four wins and a draw in their last six games, were clearly the side more in form, but were still below the Sarnies in the Central One table of the Evo-Stik Southern League. They took the early initiative with Kieran Fitzgerald forcing two good saves from home keeper Jamie Norris, and, were it not for some brilliant covering by the excellent Wilson Gondwe, Fitzgerald would have had another chance to test Norris. A brief comic interlude to allow one of the assistant referees to find flag that would stay in one piece was followed by Gondwe again outwitting Fitzgerald and Ives’ Scott Sinclair becoming the first of several of his side’s team members to see yellow. Egham were not creating chances, only Reis Stanislaus, heading a Joe Chandiram corner over the bar and Josh Andrew unable to capitalise on confusion in the St Ives defence after Brendan Matthew lobbed a presentable chance wide. Shouts for a penalty by St Ives were rightly ignored, appeals earning Ben Seymour-Shove a booking. As the half ended Gondwe was struck by a Fitzgerald shot but Norris was alert to the danger and saved comfortably. Read replaced Matthew after 67 minutes and instantly Egham looked more threatening. That is “looked more threatening”, not really become more threatening. Andrew’s 20 yard shot was capably dealt with by Tim Trebes in the visitors’ goal and Stanislaus shot wide off a Dwayne Antonio pass but there was always the fear that Egham would be caught out at the back so it was with a sense of relief that they saw Seymour-Shove shoot across goal. Read got a shot on target for the Sarnies after good approach work from Antonio down the left wing before the latter man was replaced by Nassim Dukali. The former Dulwich Hamlet and Carshalton Athletic man has pace and trickery and looks like a very useful addition to the Egham Town squad. He played well in the Molesey game, and in the limited time available to him showed up very well.
Next Saturday Egham travel to North Greenford United, where they won for the first time ever last season, and comfortably, 5-0. NGU have struggled at this level since their elevation as Combined Counties Champions in season 2009-10. Egham need to find their attacking mojo again and with the Middlesex men, who lost 0-4 at Rugby Town on Saturday and who sit in 21st place, they must still be favourites for the win against a team with three points from their last 27.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Danny Williamson, Sebastian Castello, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Luke Muldowney, Wilson Gondwe, Josh Andrew, Joe Chandiram, Brendan Matthew, Reis Stanislaus, Dwayne Antonio. Subs: Dan Read (Matthew, 67), Chris Smith, Wayne Jackson, Nassim Dukali (Antonio, 89).