Egham Town 0 Epsom & Ewell 2

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 14 APRIL 2012
EGHAM TOWN 0 (0) EPSOM & EWELL 2 (1)

With what was certainly one of their worst performances this season Egham Town still managed to hold on, with a weakening grasp, to third place. That this game saw goals scored by an Egham player and from the spot indicates fairly eloquently how this one went.
Egham have spent large parts of this season weaving pretty patterns 25 yards from the opposition goal, seemingly unwilling to shoot, which seems weird given that they have, with 96 goals, their second highest ever total in this league. On Saturday the pretty patterns unravelled like bad kniting; Epsom & Ewell keeper Nick Taylor-Graves had a very quiet afternoon. He was not troubled at all with shots that curled wide, flew over or were easy catching practice. Nonetheless it looked as if, on balance of play, Egham would prevail, because the Es had offered nothing to speak of themselves, but their first serious testing of home keeper Paul Borg, who parried Jamie Cottee's shot from a Nathan Ayling pass, was already more direct and dangerous than anything the Sarnies had managed. Sure enough, after 37 minutes a cross from the right, on the break, deflected off Jamie Houghton and gave the visitors the lead.
Mark Jarman missed a chance to give Epsom & Ewell what would, on this limp showing, a winning advantage. There was no sign of Egham rallying from 0-2 as they did against South Park. Their hero that day was Aarron Taylor-Ives, who was not available again. Soon after Jarman's missed chance Alex Rodrigues, who recently signed for Egham from E & E, handled in the area, and Ramzi Bedj-Bedj rolled in the spot kick. Manager John Hamsher made his default setting substitution; off went Matt Grave and on came Brendan Matthew. It made no difference – an initial injection of urgency soon fizzled out after Marvell, later heard to express in layman's terms what the game looked like from the sidelines, had a shot blocked by the Es keeper. He had the right to expect that seeing the ball loop up out of Taylor-Graves' grasp would elicit some kind of response but none came; Wayne Noad accused the team of giving up. Houghton picked up a caution for dissent after a late foul on Luke Muldowney in an attacking position went unpunished.
Despite losing four out of their last five Egham have held onto third place, but that position is now under threat. Molesey, who beat Egham 3-1 seven days ago, visit on Tuesday, and form with Hanworth Villa a twin threat that could see Egham finish as low as 6th if Camberley (beaten 2-1 by Molesey) find some late season form. Hanworth let a lead slip in a 1-1 draw at Dorking, which came as some relief. Egham Town, Hanworth Villa and Molesey have all played 39 games and have, respectively, 73, 72 and 70 points, while Camberley Town, on 40 games, have 67. All have a better goal difference than Egham, who have let in eight goals in their last three games. I know I have said all this before so apologies if it sounds like a broken record (younger readers, ask your parents) but it is still a measure of how much this club has improved that the biggest worry is whether or not we will finish third. There are three matches in which Egham can match the club CCL scoring record, and even the club's seasonal total. I had the camera ready.

Remaining games:
17 APRIL MOLESEY
21 APRIL Sandhurst Town
28 APRIL FARNHAM TOWN

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Alex Rodrigues, Lee Pasmore, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Mo Harkin, Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Tom Hedges. Subs: Ken During, Tom Brunton, Brendan Matthew (Grave, 62), John Hamsher, Louis Chandler-Joseph.

Mark F