EGHAM TOWN 1 AYLESBURY UNITED 2

EVO-STIK SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2015
EGHAM TOWN 1 (1) AYLESBURY UNITED 2 (0)
Seb Castello (8) : Stacey Field (65), Danny Williamson (og, 87)

Change is afoot at the Runnymede Stadium with players coming and going. Dan Read, signed at the start of the season to replace Ryan O’Toole as Reis Stanislaus’ partner, has left to join Southern League Premier side Slough Town, while Dwayne Antonio has returned from whence he came, Hanworth Villa, fighting against relegation in the Premier Division of the Combined Counties League. Read scored 13 goals for Egham, Antonio 5, and another today for Villa, this tweet rhyming “train” with “Dwayne” giving the clue:
Welcome back "The Train" from 12 yds.
In came two young men from Staines Town, following the lead from skilful midfielder Troy Ferguson in making the hop across the river. In defence Luke Neville lined up instead of Wilson Gondwe alongside Yinka Salami, and up front the hole left by Read’s departure was filled by Danny Bassett.
Egham were heroic in defeat at Poole Town in the Red Insure Cup semi-final on Tuesday and started with the same high tempo and determination that saw them score twice at the home of the best side in the Southern League. It took only 8 minutes for them to take the lead. Josh Andrew faced up to Jake Bewley, beat him for speed on his charge to the byline, and although his cross beat Bassett it found Seb Castello at the back post for a touch in with his left boot. Three minutes later Andrew passed to Stanislaus, who threaded the ball down the middle to Bassett giving the former Swan a chance to double the home lead, but he never quite had control of the ball and was only able to force a corner off keeper Taji Bell. Aylesbury then showed that they could play too, Lewis Putnam running across the edge of the Egham box and, with defenders fearing to tackle him he passed to Lea Coulter, whose shot was deflected for a corner. From that Egham did not defend too confidently and Shane Wood would have levelled but for the latest in this season’s string of outstanding saves from Jamie Norris in the Egham goal. Bassett was clipped on his heels by United skipper Jack Wood as he raced again down the middle but referee Daniel Jaceko decided not to see the blatant foul. With play switching from one end to the other Gregg Williams lobbed wide of the Egham goal as Norris closed him down, Williams taking out his frustration by going in late and unnecessarily hard on Stanislaus, again without any real punishment from Mr Jaceko except for a free kick. Ben Hunter took it and Neville headed over. Just past the half hour Andrew scurried past Bewley to deliver a pass to Bassett, who was denied by Bell. When Putnam looked as if would help himself to the equaliser a combination of Danny Williamson and Norris thwarted the Ducks’ striker, Putnam then had another shot saved by the increasingly busy Norris, and from the corner Field’s shot either hit the post or was cleared by Hunter. [Ed. It was not exactly clear from where I was standing.] Andrew had Bewley in his pocket and ripped past him again, then Bill Morgan for good measure and drilled in another pass for Bassett but the young forward could not convert the chance.
There can be no doubt that luck favoured Aylesbury United in this game. For all that they are clearly a decent side they carried on getting away with their rough house tactics as Morgan needlessly upended Norris on 50 minutes, again without any official intervention. Immediately Egham were nearly gifted a second goal as Bassett’s pace took him into position for a cross for Ferguson, the midfielder scuffed his shot and Bell was extremely fortunate not to palm the ball into his own net. From the corner Bassett shot wide on the turn. United levelled after 65 minutes, breaking quickly and, after Putnam had seen his shot cleared off the line by Castello the ball fell to the only Ducks’ forward who could do anything with it, Field tucking the ball past Norris. Koo Dumbuya took off defender Yinka Salami for midfielder Wayne Jackson and Egham threatened again through Andrew, who saw his cross panicked away by Bell. Castello then gave way to forward Haluna Masembe, who had put in an eye-catching performance at Poole. Minutes later Morgan nearly scored an own goal, and with six minutes left Bassett nearly had the debut goal his hard work merited, but his shot was scrambled away. Then, to prove the point that fortune was smiling on the away side a deep cross from the Aylesbury United right was met with a powerful, keeper-beating header by Williamson to make the score 1-2. From the restart Egham responded. From a free kick, Stanislaus lifted the ball forward and into Masembe’s path, and the young striker beat the offside trap to fire goalwards, only for Bell to pull off a superb save, diving to his right. Five minutes into injury time, from a Jackson through ball, Masembe raced in on goal, shot and Bell saved again, denying Egham a point and sealing a double for the Buckinghamshire side.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Danny Williamson, Ben Hunter, Luke Neville, Yinka Salami, Mitchell Gutteridge, Josh Andrew, Troy Ferguson, Danny Bassett, Reis Stanislaus, Seb Castello. Subs: Haluna Masembe (Castello, 70), Wayne Jackson (Salami, 66), Wilson Gondwe, Brendan Matthew, Jamie Cunningham.