EGHAM TOWN 3 HANWELL TOWN 0

SOUTHERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE TUESDAY 11 AUGUST 2015
EGHAM TOWN 3 (2) HANWELL TOWN 0 (0)
CASTELLO (26), MATTHEW (35), HIPPOLYTE (90 + 1)

Egham Town won their first home game of the new season with a superb win over Hanwell Town. The Sarnies recovered from an uncertain start to get in amongst a creaky Hanwell back four and took advantage with two brilliantly worked goals. They then showed remarkable resilience against a fired up opposition and hit them at the end with another fine strike.
Sporting their new kit Egham were slightly changed from Saturday, with Jordan Carter coming into midfield instead of Tarome Hemmings, who had moved into Wilson Gondwe’s slot further back. Once the home side had ridden the opening storm that saw early Hanwell dominance they moved up a gear. Carter crossed for Brendan Matthew, who volleyed over, and Seb Castello damaged the “Egham Town” signage at the clubhouse end with a thunderous shot. His next effort found a better target as Matthew set off down the right, crossed for Hemmings and from a touch on Castello (pictured) rifled in his first ever Egham Town goal. It could have been two three minutes later but Louis Chandler-Joseph’s overlapping run and cross just beat the inrushing Danny Bennett. Josh Andrew had the right side of the Egham attack as his own personal fiefdom and was constantly blocked and fouled, but on 35 minutes he evaded another lunge by Hanwell centre half Kieran Gradwell, cut into the box, looked up, found Matthew and the ball was sent flying past keeper Cain Davies. Not so long ago Egham had a wonderful player called Tom Hedges who seemed to attract the very worst tackles from opponents, and now it seems that unwanted mantle has been passed to Danny Bassett, who had some hefty challenges to overcome at Aylesbury. Another one, from the lumpen footed Gradwell, earnt the Hanwell man his warranted caution. From the free kick Hemmings’ free kick and shot off the rebound fell to Andrew, who saw a goalbound effort saved by Cain.
The second half was witness to a more determined performance by the visitors. Egham started well, Bassett skipping past four tackles before finding Castello, whose angled volley was saved by Cain. From the corner Luke Neville was on the point of celebrating a goal when his header was cleared off the line. After 51 minutes Egham had a chance to go 3-0 up but Andrew, having worked his way into a shooting position, chose not to pass back to Matthew even though his team mate was both calling for a pass and unmarked six yards out. Just before the hour Bassett’s shot was spilled by Cain but cleared. Hanwell tightened up and restricted Egham to only the occasional foray up front. They managed for some fairly long spells to pen the Sarnies into the first 30-35 yards of their own half, but even so rarely threatened Jamie Norris in the home goal. Excellent defensive work by all the team restricted openings. Trevor Norris and his colleagues have assembled a youthful side with a couple of older heads. Of the latter, though, Troy Ferguson is recovering from injury and Wilson Gondwe and Tom McGarry were on the bench, so this disciplined and determined performance is a credit to those in red. With 70 minutes gone Bassett was replaced by fellow striker Jonathan Hippolyte, who hardly saw the ball until the dying stages of the game as Egham were hemmed in. Then, a minute into injury time, Egham found a way to the Hanwell goal as Castello broke through and passed to Hippolyte. The young striker slipped past two tackles and rattled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. It might have been 4-0 but Matthew saw a powerful shot go just wide. League tables mean little at this stage of the season, except when you see your side rocket from 19th to 6th. Egham face Leighton Town on Saturday and then on Tuesday make their first ever journey to Kings Langley.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Mason Welch-Turner, Tarome Hemmings, Mitchell Gutteridge, Luke Neville, Josh Andrew, Jordan Carter, Danny Bassett, Brendan Matthew, Seb Castello. Subs: Jonathan Hippolyte (Bassett, 70), Wilson Gondwe, Tom McGarry, Haluna Masembe (Andrew, 88), Nadeem Fosu.