NORTH GREENFORD UNITED 1 EGHAM TOWN 3

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
TUESDAY 17 MARCH 2015
NORTH GREENFORD UNITED 1 (1) EGHAM TOWN 3 (2)
Vianney Kokolou (44) : Basram Pashaj, Brendan Matthew 2 (11, 80)

Brendan Matthew’s first double strike in four years saw Egham complete a season’s treble against (almost certainly doomed) North Greenford United, and give the new bosses a first win on the road. Matthew’s last brace was in a League Cup match against Guernsey in 2011-12; Egham edged past NGU in two tight home games, in the league and in the League Cup quarter-finals. Since the latter, on 10 January, both sides have undergone an overhaul. The Blues, bottom for most of the season, managed to beat Daventry Town (Egham’s next opponents, away, on Saturday) 4-2, so the Sarnies knew they were in for a difficult evening.
So it proved, though thankfully by the time the difficult bit came Egham were two goals to the good. Only six minutes in Egham moved purposefully forwards, Jordan Carter slipped the ball in to Basram Pashaj and the former Staines man, from 25 yards out and with no back lift, steered the ball in to the bottom left hand corner of Christian Pal’s net. It was a pretty impressive way to open his account and gave Egham the confidence to press forward. Five minutes later Josh Andrew made his way to the byline and sent in a perfect cross for Matthew to nod the ball home. North Greenford were not, though, about to give Egham the easy ride they had last season in a 5-0 win at Berkeley Fields and George Moore forced Jamie Cunningham, still in for Jamie Norris in the Egham goal, to make a superb save, diving to his left to get the ball out of harm’s way. Moore was thwarted again by Cunningham off a looping shot, and when the ball fell at the feet of Anton Robinson the Greenford man shot wide when well placed. Egham replied in kind, Pashaj’s corner being cleared off the line by Charlie Mitchell. Greenford did not clear the ball properly, Carter slipped the ball in for Luke Neville and the defender forced a save from Pal. Neville, back in his central defensive berth, won the ball from then lost it to Moore, who missed his third chance of the half with a shot that skewed off target. A two goal cushion at half time would have been a welcome return for a hardworking display but that was spoilt when Vianney Kokolou’s 40 yard shot dropped in over Cunningham. The generous view is that the scorer meant it.
That reply meant that the Blues had something to fight for in the second half, which they most certainly did. They were helped to a large extent by Egham losing a lot of their cohesion, misplacing passes and not being able to mount anything that resembled a threat between minutes 46 and 75. Five minutes in Egham skipper Troy Ferguson lost the ball in midfield and could only watch as Robinson advanced before shooting high over Cunningham’s bar. Robinson then managed to force Cunningham into action after a corner. There was a small row between Andrew and Kokolou which saw the home side awarded a free kick. When the ball fell to centreback Yannis Ambroisine two yards out from an open goal Egham’s luck was certainly in as he lashed the ball over the bar. It all but gave Egham the win as with ten minutes left, and after a brief period when they had managed to exert some pressure on the home back four, Pashaj’s corner was nodded on by Neville and Matthew steered his header past Pal. NGU were not finished, with Marlon Kabi trying another long range shot. Cunningham cleared, the ball came back and Danny Williamson capped another impressive performance with a goalline clearance. In injury time Andrew went on one of his slalom runs and seemed about to hammer in a fourth when a bobble changed his mind and instead the guided the ball to the corner flag to guarantee Egham’s first away win under the Dumbuya/Norris management.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Cunningham, Danny Williamson, Mitchell Gutteridge, Troy Ferguson, Yanki Salami, Luke Neville, Josh Andrew, Jordan Carter, Danny Bassett, Bajram Pashaj, Brendan Matthew. Subs: Ben Hunter (Gutteridge, 62), Haluna Masembe, Seb Castello (Pashaj, 88), Wilson Gondwe (Carter, 80), Esteban Salgado.