Egham T 3 Colliers Wd Utd 3 report

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER 2011
EGHAM TOWN 3 COLLIERS WOOD UNITED 3
Egham Town scorer: Tom Hedges 3 (5, 27, 45+1)

In an eventful match Egham Town had the joy of seeing winger Tom Hedges notch his first hat-trick as a Sarnie, the disappointment of throwing away a 3-1 lead and, once all the results were in, the pain of slipping to 4th place in the CCL Premier Division. Egham have trouble with Colliers Wood; one win and four draws in 12 CCL games tell their own tale. (Strangely, Colliers Wood v Egham Town in cup matches: two games, two Egham wins.) Earlier in the season at The Wibbandune the score was 2-2, the Egham goals coming from the now departed skipper Marcus Moody (who has joined the Spencer Day Roadshow at Farnborough) and the man who has now taken over the armband, Aarron Taylor-Ives. In that match the centre back's header had given Egham the lead at 2-1, so giving away points twice against Wood is particularly galling.
It all looked so different at 3-1. Egham had bounced back from going a goal down in the 6th minute as Mario Embalo charged the ball down before racing down the right before squaring the ball for Matthew Tanton, who was given far too much room before he guided the ball into to Paul Borg's bottom left hand corner. Within two minutes the score was 1-1, Dale Marvell (still leading scorer despite suffering a bit of a goal drought after a spectacular start to the season) had a volley blocked but Hedges was alert to the half chance and hammered the ball past Daniel Burnett in the Colliers Wood goal. In the twelfth minute Jake Galbraith fouled Ortiz Johan Bernal seconds before a ball across the Egham box led to Wood calling for a penalty. Referee Dele Sotimirin contented himself with booking the Egham left back. Marvell curled a shot wide from a Matt Grave pass and Hedges cut down the right before seeing his shot turned onto the right post by a diving Burnett. Hedges has the ability to conjure chances from very little and showed it superbly after 27 minutes with another burst of speed and a well placed shot that gave Egham a 2-1 lead. With Egham finding holes in the visiting defence for Hedges to feed Marvell for a shot that deflected wide and then Marvell returning the favour for Hedges to fire in his third, and his 12th of the season, for what should have been a good enough lead with seven minutes of the first half left. Egham got to the end of normal time but in injury time they cracked, allowing Harold Odanetey the time and space to turn and score from the edge of the box.
Early in the second period Marvin Alebiosa twice looked likely to put Egham 4-2 up but the cutting edge of the first half seemed somewhat blunted. Odanetey went on a 60 yard scamper down the centre of the pitch before Borg was able to do what his outfield team mates hadn't, and snuff out the threat. Grave gave way to Brendan Matthew, who had a half chance created out by Hedges snuffed out. Then Taylor-Ives conceded a stupid free kick and James Davies arrowed home the sort of free kick that Marvell was making his speciality earlier in the season. There were still 17 minutes to go, and Hedges was still the main hope of another score, either as provider or marksman, but from another of his passes Marvell's attempted curler of a shot was turned wide by a defending leg. Marvell went off, for Steve Elpenyong. The next chance for Egham came off a Jamie Houghton throw that Luke Muldowney headed backwards and on target to force Burnett to bend his back as he leapt to turn the ball over. From the corner Muldowney was again denied as his shot, deflected by a defender, was similarly dealt with. Off went Houghton, for Enrico Rossoni for more forward momentum, and with 88 minutes gone Alebiosa had a shot blocked on the line. Even to the end Hedges was doing his damnedest for his side, but his frustration was apparent when, with seconds before the end, another excellent run and cross was not met by any team mate despite there being five of them in the box. After the match Luke Muldowney blamed stupid mistakes in defence for a disappointing result and he wasn't wrong. I suppose it is raised expectations that mean that slipping to fourth is considered a misfortune. Under Steve Baker the best Egham finished was fourth, and before his tenure such elevated positions were only to be dreamt of. That's one side effect of management – the more we get the more we want.
Next up is a home game on Tuesday, against former Egham Town boss Steve Webb and his resurgent Molesey side. In August Scott Todd lit up his debut with a sparkling performance that lay behind a frankly surprising (but nonetheless welcome) 3-0 FA Cup win. Molesey are 8th after beating Banstead Athletic 4-0. Egham did that to Banstead on 10 September, and will be hoping to complete a double on Saturday with a visit to the coldest ground in the CCL with the weather forecast not exactly promising.
EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Ken During, Aarron Taylor-Ives (captain), Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Marvin Alebiosa, Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Tom Hedges. Subs: Tom Brunton, Brendan Matthew (Grave, 62), Enrico Rossoni (Houghton, 83), Steve Elpenyong (Marvell, 82), Louis Chandler-Joseph.

This is the link to the Colliers Wood United report:
http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/collierswoodunitedfc01/126383/Matches/report/2806385