EGHAM TOWN 1 MARLOW 1

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2015
EGHAM TOWN (1) (0) HALUMA MASEMBE (81)
MARLOW 1 (0) DAN HICKS (84)

In his interview with Surrey Advertiser Sports Editor Clive Youlton the recently installed Egham Town boss Koo Dumbuya said: “The Chairman wants promotion, if not this season, then definitely next… but realistically it’s going to be very difficult. We need to win games against those in and around us…” His new charges entertained Marlow, one place and one point behind the Sarnies in the middle of Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central and this match illustrated Dumbuya’s point perfectly. Other clubs have the same objective. One key aspect of a push up the table is player availability and Dumbuya won’t have been helped by Simon Cox, signed from Farnborough Town, deciding, in the words of Secretary Danny Bennett, to “go to a higher rated club”. Cox, therefore, joins this season’s list of players with just the one appearance in an Egham shirt, most of them, like Cox, at centre back. (At least Cox can leave with a decent performance behind him; at least two of the others had shockers.) The four match ban imposed on key player Josh Andrew, dismissed in Luke Muldowney’s last match at Northwood, meant some adjustment of the team, including another new face. In came Haluna Masembe, from Hampton & Richmond Borough, and he gave a sparkling, man-of-the-match performance that included a well taken goal late in the second half. It was as well he did as he saw new team mate Wilson Gondwe sent off three minutes before the break, picking up a second yellow for a foul on Nathan Ashton not long after a harsh booking for an earlier misdemeanour.
Egham should have been a goal up in the first minute as Reis Stanislaus found himself with just keeper Nick Bennion to beat, but his recent strike rate of just two goals in his last nine starts perhaps influenced him snatching the shot and dragging the ball wide of the left post. Until Gondwe’s dismissal that was about all there was to report about the first half apart from some delightful approach play by Masembe, abetted by left back Seb Castello, but repelled by determined defending by a side Egham beat 3-0 on 11 October.
Masembe had a half chance seconds into the second half but Bennion won that battle. Dwayne Antonio, who had been sitting in a more restrained middle role than usual, was replaced by Brendan Matthew, who had scored one of his two goals this season with the first at Marlow. He came close to making it three with a well struck effort from a Stanislaus pass and Mitchell Gutteridge, up from the back, rose well to a Castello corner only to see Dan Hicks head the ball off the line with Bennion well beaten. When Dan Read played the ball forward to Masembe the young winger had a good opportunity to score but decided to square the ball to Matthew, whose shot was blocked, as was Masembe’s off the rebound. It looked as the new man had deferred to the more established one and in so doing the chance was lost. It gave Marlow some hope, Romone Rose trying his luck from distance and being denied by a fingertip save by Jamie Norris. When, though, Masembe had his next chance he deferred to no-one, taking Wayne Jackson’s forward pass in his stride, sidestepping a challenge and curling a low daisy cutter of a shot inside the right post. That came with nine minutes left and up to that stage the loss of Gondwe had not seemed to be any kind of hindrance at all to the Sarnies. Then, from a corner, it did, as Hicks rose to thump a header past Norris for an ill-deserved leveller. After the match the Egham boss was full of praise for his side: “You can’t fault their spirit.”
On Tuesday Egham entertain North Greenford United in the Red Insure Cup Quarter Final tie that was postponed on 3 February. The Middlesex side lost 0-4 at St Ives Town but in the previous round of the League Cup won 4-3 at Chesham United, then 10th in the Premier Division. Egham struggled in September against NGU, winning 2-1- with a Reis Stanislaus winner in the 100th minute. The winners will be praying for a home tie; the other six sides in this midweek competition are North Leigh, Swindon Supermarine, Corby Town, Royston Town, Poole Town and Truro City.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Danny Williamson, Seb Castello, Wilson Gondwe, Yinka Salami, Mitchell Gutteridge, Dwayne Antonio, Wayne Jackson, Dan Read, Reis Stanislaus, Haluna Masembe. Subs: Chris Smith (Read, 90), Brendan Matthew (Antonio, 58), Chad Goulter, Jamie Cunningham (keeper).