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Sat 03 Jan 2015 · Division 1 Central
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Rugby Town 6 Egham Town 0
Tempest Ward4 Jan 2015 - 01:42
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Egham given a lesson or two...
EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE CENTRAL DIVISION
SATURDAY 3 JANUARY 2015
RUGBY TOWN 6 (2) EGHAM TOWN 0 (0)
Burns 16, Grocott 26, Piggon 53, McBride 64, Marsden 73, 74
On the Southern League Central division results page there it stands, alone and unwanted – Rugby Town 6 Egham Town 0. With every other divisional fixture falling victim to the atrocious weather Egham travelled to Rugby wanting the game to go ahead, because no-one fancied doing the 180 mile round trip on a Tuesday night. On arrival the pitch looked unplayable but the ground staff worked miracles, the rain stopped and the playing surface was never a crucial factor in this drubbing, the first time Egham have lost 0-6 since doing so at Merstham in the Combined Counties League on 1 September 2007. That led to Jack McKinlay resigning as manager. There is no suggestion that such action need take place after this heavy defeat that sees Egham stay in 9th place with 36 points from 24 games. What the size of the loss does do is wipe out the +6 goal difference they held after beating AFC Hayes in their last game and pose quite a few questions.
It’s nice when your side hammers the opposition. It hurts, really hurts, when the opposition do it to your side. To try to prevent such mishaps it helps if your team does all it can do from preparation via on-field adjustments to the right managerial decisions. Egham made the journey up the M1 with a squad light on numbers. Joe Chandiram’s form has improved markedly since Luke Muldowney took over the reins at Runnymede Stadium and his midfield industry has been a crucial ingredient in recent good form, but he cried off sick. Jake Galbraith is on holiday, Naseem Dukali nowhere to be seen, Dwayne Antonio injured and although Mo Harkin was named as a sub he is still recovering from a groin strain. That meant that Egham had two fit men on the bench, Ashley Quashie and Wayne Jackson. The former’s form is fitful and the latter – well, this scribe is still not convinced. That meant another start for Brendan Matthew, who here was, to say the least, ineffective, not least because he did not seem to know if he was an auxiliary striker or a midfielder and consequently did neither, meaning Egham were a man down before they started. Rugby’s footballing qualities were known to the Sarnies; they romped to a 4-1 win at the Runnymede Stadium on 4 October, impressing with their pace and cohesion, and they repeated the trick here. I know that quoting myself can come across as a peculiar kind of onanism but in my match report for the 1-4 I wrote: “Last season both games against this opposition showed that they can play fast, efficient and effective football. It is a benchmark for this level and Egham fell well short.” Egham failed utterly to match Rugby for skill, speed of thought and deed, organisation and, crucially, creating and converting chances.
The opening quarter of an hour saw the Warwickshire side soften their victims up with some lusty blows and then, on 16 minutes land the first of six punches in the Sarnies’ collective solar plexus. Attacking from the kick off, they penned Egham back and all too soon the match took on the air of a training ground attack-v-defence drill. Robbie Burns hit the foot of keeper Jamie Norris’ left post after six minutes and following a Matthew foul on Richard Blythe Egham failed to clear and Lewis McBride drove his shot wide. Norris saved from McBride and leapt spectacularly to his right to push Blythe’s 20 yard piledriver to safety. The pressure had to tell and Burns was the man to open his side’s account with a simple tap-in from a right wing cross. Egham had managed to relieve the pressure all too briefly before the first goal, Josh Andrew using his pace to break free and deliver a decent cross aimed towards Dan Read, but the ball was cleared. Richard Morris, the home keeper, punched a dangerous cross from Danny Williamson clear as Egham looked to get the goal back, but once Will Grocott had slammed the ball into the top left corner of the Egham net with 26 minutes played the game was all but up. The problem was clear; stood, far too frequently unchallenged, in the middle of the park was former Under-19 Wales representative and Aston Villa youth player Richard Blythe who dictated play throughout the match, and no Egham man did anything to stop him until, too late, Quashie came on and at least gave some sort of attending presence. By that time Egham were four adrift. The second goal had come about because Blythe was able to pick out McBride on the right wing with a perfect long range pass and from McBride’s cross Grocott picked up the pieces. Why was he allowed so much time and room to set up attacks? Norris was again Egham’s saviour, denying Burns, then the pace relented a tad and in the last minute a corner by Muldowney found Ryan Lake at the back post for a shot that just cleared the bar.
Lake was unlucky to be the catalyst for the third goal, booked for a soft challenge after 53 minutes. Sam Youngs hit the bar from 25 yards with his free kick, and Mitch Piggon headed in the rebound. Read and Reis Stanislaus combined with the latter seeing his shot blocked but Egham’s resistance was by now only token in nature. McBride was found down the inside right channel, Norris came out, the Rugby man sidestepped him and rolled the shot into the net.
When Luke Muldowney was appointed as manager he in turn chose Richie Byrne as his right hand man. Muldowney was on the pitch so it was Byrne therefore who decided to leave the by now nigh-on invisible Matthew on the pitch and take off Lake, an experienced central defender. Quashie came on, and to his credit at least gave some bite to the Sarnie midfield. Wilson Gondwe prevented McBride scoring with a well-timed challenge and then Byrne subbed Andrew with Jackson. It must have been that Andrew had taken a knock because tactically it achieved absolutely nothing, the square root of nada, save for lessening the number of men with at least a scintilla of a chance of getting something out of this sad and sorry affair. The proof? Two more goals, both by Justin Marsden, in the 73rd and 74th minutes, both originating in the midfield area in which the home side had had the upper hand throughout. Matthew had just missed his kick when well placed after decent approach work and a cross shot by Quashie, thus seeing off the last hope of a “consolation”. McBride raced down the Rugby right and found Marsden free at the back post for his first, and minute later Grocott supplied similar service with an identical end product. Rugby seemed sated, thankfully.
As said, this hurt, but one thing in particular added to the pain; pity from the home fans. It was they who, as the goals flew in, called out “Come on Egham!” They wanted to see some kind of fight but Egham didn’t really offer any. The side is packed with decent players who can produce some outstanding football, so it remains to be seen how they will react to this setback.
Egham go to Burnham on Tuesday in the 3rd round of the Red Insure Cup and then face on Saturday a home game against Bedford Town, to whom the Sarnies lost 0-1 with one of this season’s collection of utterly dreadful performances. Bedford are 18th and unbeaten in their last four games. On 17 January Egham travel to Kettering Town, who are top.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Daniel Williamson, Sebastian Castello, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Ryan Lake, Wilson Gondwe, Joshua Andrew, Luke Muldowney, Daniel Read, Reis Stanislaus, Brendan Matthew. Subs: Mo Harkin, Wayne Jackson (Andrew, 70), Ashley Quashie (Lake, 64).
SATURDAY 3 JANUARY 2015
RUGBY TOWN 6 (2) EGHAM TOWN 0 (0)
Burns 16, Grocott 26, Piggon 53, McBride 64, Marsden 73, 74
On the Southern League Central division results page there it stands, alone and unwanted – Rugby Town 6 Egham Town 0. With every other divisional fixture falling victim to the atrocious weather Egham travelled to Rugby wanting the game to go ahead, because no-one fancied doing the 180 mile round trip on a Tuesday night. On arrival the pitch looked unplayable but the ground staff worked miracles, the rain stopped and the playing surface was never a crucial factor in this drubbing, the first time Egham have lost 0-6 since doing so at Merstham in the Combined Counties League on 1 September 2007. That led to Jack McKinlay resigning as manager. There is no suggestion that such action need take place after this heavy defeat that sees Egham stay in 9th place with 36 points from 24 games. What the size of the loss does do is wipe out the +6 goal difference they held after beating AFC Hayes in their last game and pose quite a few questions.
It’s nice when your side hammers the opposition. It hurts, really hurts, when the opposition do it to your side. To try to prevent such mishaps it helps if your team does all it can do from preparation via on-field adjustments to the right managerial decisions. Egham made the journey up the M1 with a squad light on numbers. Joe Chandiram’s form has improved markedly since Luke Muldowney took over the reins at Runnymede Stadium and his midfield industry has been a crucial ingredient in recent good form, but he cried off sick. Jake Galbraith is on holiday, Naseem Dukali nowhere to be seen, Dwayne Antonio injured and although Mo Harkin was named as a sub he is still recovering from a groin strain. That meant that Egham had two fit men on the bench, Ashley Quashie and Wayne Jackson. The former’s form is fitful and the latter – well, this scribe is still not convinced. That meant another start for Brendan Matthew, who here was, to say the least, ineffective, not least because he did not seem to know if he was an auxiliary striker or a midfielder and consequently did neither, meaning Egham were a man down before they started. Rugby’s footballing qualities were known to the Sarnies; they romped to a 4-1 win at the Runnymede Stadium on 4 October, impressing with their pace and cohesion, and they repeated the trick here. I know that quoting myself can come across as a peculiar kind of onanism but in my match report for the 1-4 I wrote: “Last season both games against this opposition showed that they can play fast, efficient and effective football. It is a benchmark for this level and Egham fell well short.” Egham failed utterly to match Rugby for skill, speed of thought and deed, organisation and, crucially, creating and converting chances.
The opening quarter of an hour saw the Warwickshire side soften their victims up with some lusty blows and then, on 16 minutes land the first of six punches in the Sarnies’ collective solar plexus. Attacking from the kick off, they penned Egham back and all too soon the match took on the air of a training ground attack-v-defence drill. Robbie Burns hit the foot of keeper Jamie Norris’ left post after six minutes and following a Matthew foul on Richard Blythe Egham failed to clear and Lewis McBride drove his shot wide. Norris saved from McBride and leapt spectacularly to his right to push Blythe’s 20 yard piledriver to safety. The pressure had to tell and Burns was the man to open his side’s account with a simple tap-in from a right wing cross. Egham had managed to relieve the pressure all too briefly before the first goal, Josh Andrew using his pace to break free and deliver a decent cross aimed towards Dan Read, but the ball was cleared. Richard Morris, the home keeper, punched a dangerous cross from Danny Williamson clear as Egham looked to get the goal back, but once Will Grocott had slammed the ball into the top left corner of the Egham net with 26 minutes played the game was all but up. The problem was clear; stood, far too frequently unchallenged, in the middle of the park was former Under-19 Wales representative and Aston Villa youth player Richard Blythe who dictated play throughout the match, and no Egham man did anything to stop him until, too late, Quashie came on and at least gave some sort of attending presence. By that time Egham were four adrift. The second goal had come about because Blythe was able to pick out McBride on the right wing with a perfect long range pass and from McBride’s cross Grocott picked up the pieces. Why was he allowed so much time and room to set up attacks? Norris was again Egham’s saviour, denying Burns, then the pace relented a tad and in the last minute a corner by Muldowney found Ryan Lake at the back post for a shot that just cleared the bar.
Lake was unlucky to be the catalyst for the third goal, booked for a soft challenge after 53 minutes. Sam Youngs hit the bar from 25 yards with his free kick, and Mitch Piggon headed in the rebound. Read and Reis Stanislaus combined with the latter seeing his shot blocked but Egham’s resistance was by now only token in nature. McBride was found down the inside right channel, Norris came out, the Rugby man sidestepped him and rolled the shot into the net.
When Luke Muldowney was appointed as manager he in turn chose Richie Byrne as his right hand man. Muldowney was on the pitch so it was Byrne therefore who decided to leave the by now nigh-on invisible Matthew on the pitch and take off Lake, an experienced central defender. Quashie came on, and to his credit at least gave some bite to the Sarnie midfield. Wilson Gondwe prevented McBride scoring with a well-timed challenge and then Byrne subbed Andrew with Jackson. It must have been that Andrew had taken a knock because tactically it achieved absolutely nothing, the square root of nada, save for lessening the number of men with at least a scintilla of a chance of getting something out of this sad and sorry affair. The proof? Two more goals, both by Justin Marsden, in the 73rd and 74th minutes, both originating in the midfield area in which the home side had had the upper hand throughout. Matthew had just missed his kick when well placed after decent approach work and a cross shot by Quashie, thus seeing off the last hope of a “consolation”. McBride raced down the Rugby right and found Marsden free at the back post for his first, and minute later Grocott supplied similar service with an identical end product. Rugby seemed sated, thankfully.
As said, this hurt, but one thing in particular added to the pain; pity from the home fans. It was they who, as the goals flew in, called out “Come on Egham!” They wanted to see some kind of fight but Egham didn’t really offer any. The side is packed with decent players who can produce some outstanding football, so it remains to be seen how they will react to this setback.
Egham go to Burnham on Tuesday in the 3rd round of the Red Insure Cup and then face on Saturday a home game against Bedford Town, to whom the Sarnies lost 0-1 with one of this season’s collection of utterly dreadful performances. Bedford are 18th and unbeaten in their last four games. On 17 January Egham travel to Kettering Town, who are top.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Daniel Williamson, Sebastian Castello, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Ryan Lake, Wilson Gondwe, Joshua Andrew, Luke Muldowney, Daniel Read, Reis Stanislaus, Brendan Matthew. Subs: Mo Harkin, Wayne Jackson (Andrew, 70), Ashley Quashie (Lake, 64).
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