NORTHWOOD 5 EGHAM TOWN 1

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
SATURDAY 24 DECEMBER 2015
NORTHWOOD 5 (2) Muir 16, 24, I Ehui 75, 90, Asamoah 90+3
EGHAM TOWN 1 ) (0) Williamson 86

Would the real Egham Town please stand up (and be counted)? This season has seen some excellent performances, and some utterly dreadful ones, and against Northwood one of each. Egham beat the Middlesex side 4-1 in September and although they have no given right to complete league doubles they should certainly have done considerably better than this woebegone showing. Luke Muldowney and Richie Byrne were not helped by the absence of Louis Chandler-Joseph, Ryan Lake, Mo Harkin and Dwayne Antonio, all of whom featured in Egham’s last match, 18 days ago, as they knocked Premier Division Burnham out of the Red Insure Cup. With three more men (Jake Galbraith, Ricky Farnden and Lee Morley) in and out of the picture the management decided to give Chad Goulter, making the step up from Sheerwater (12th in Combined Counties One), a debut. Things might have gone better for the Sarnies had Dan Read equalised rather than hit the crossbar off skipper Joe Chandiram’s cross when Northwood had a one goal advantage, but by then the home team had stretched the Egham back line with a couple of cross shots before Nico Muir scored with one. Muir doubled that lead with a screamer from outside the box so Egham needed to find a reply early in the second period, and would have had the opportunity had referee Neil Morrison not completely ignored James Burgess’ clear handball offence in the Northwood box after 47 minutes. Egham were not doing too much to unsettle their hosts, other than Ashley Quashie and Read combining to set up a Chandiram shot which was blocked. With 66 minutes gone Josh Andrew, who had scored the only goal of the game in this fixture last season, and who had been flattened in the first half by Omar Vassell, who was booked, stupidly did the same to Andy Lomas and received a straight red card. Coach Byrne’s reaction, kicking a spare ball against the perimeter fence, was understandable. That means an influential player will now miss three matches some time soon. With manager Muldowney playing, Byrne replaced Quashie with Nasser Dukali, clearly hoping that the young winger would use his speed to create problems down the Northwood right wing, but early promise soon dissipated. The small gathering of Sarnies supporters could only watch on and shiver as their team wasted possession time after time, which seems particularly hard to understand given the vividness of their lime green tops clearly not the same as the home side’s red. With fifteen to go Ismael Ehui tapped in off Muir’s cross, the latter having been allowed far too much room. Byrne replaced Reis Stanislaus with Brendan Matthew, which was odd given the relative scoring ratios of the two men. It took a marvellous, buccaneering run by right back Danny Williamson to prevent the unwanted statistic of conceding ten unanswered league goals as he went solo from 30 yards out, beat two tackles and hammered a rising shot into Berkeley Laurencin’s net. Instead that stat shows a nett loss of ten goals as Northwood added two more. Joakim Ehui missed a sitter before Ismael Ehui took a long pass in his stride, and with perhaps the benefit of an unraised flag, before lobbing the beleaguered Egham keeper Jamie Norris. Northwood rubbed salt into the wound when sub Nana Asamoah took advantage of a by now uninterested defence and angled a shot under Norris. Egham slip down three places to 13th. Next week they hope to do to Chalfont St Peter, who won 4-1 at Mill Meadow, what Northwood did to them.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Danny Williamson, Seb Castello, Ashley Quashie, Luke Muldowney, Wilson Gondwe, Josh Andrew, Joe Chandiram (Captain), Dan Read, Reis Stanislaus, Chad Goulter. Subs: Nassim Dukali (Quashie, 67), Chris Smith, Wayne Jackson, Brendan Matthew (Stanislaus, 75), Yinka Salami.