Egham Town 3 Molesey 0

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2012
EGHAM TOWN 3 (2) Dale Marvell (10), Brendan Matthew (45 + 9), Matt Grave (90 + 4)
MOLESEY 0 (0)

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
TUESDAY 17 APRIL 2012
EGHAM TOWN 3 (2) Dale Marvell (10), Brendan Matthew (45 + 9), Matt Grave (90 + 4)
MOLESEY 0 (0)

So which Egham Town would turn up tonight? Would it be the one that played with verve and conviction to beat Guildford City, recently installed as CCL Premier Champions for the second year running, or the one that failed to do themselves justice for most of the time since, winning only one in five? One of the problems facing Egham is their inability to keep a clean sheet, with only three at home and one, in a 4-0 win against Mole Valley, away.
I wrote that intro before the match. Home clean sheet number four and three goals to take us to CCL club record 99 (with two games left) later and it was clear that this Egham squad still had some idea where they had left their mojo.
Brendan Matthew started the match in place of Matt Grave, and in the first minute won a corner kick. It was already a brighter start than in quite a few recent games, but Molesey also had a chance, Joseph Grant heading a decent chance over the bar off their first corner. When Molesey beat Egham 3-1 the Egham goal was scored by Matthew, after Wester Young in the Moles' goal could not hold Jamie Houghton's shot. Tonight Houghton's shot again bounced out of Young's hands, giving Dale Marvell the chance to slam home from a sharp angle for a 10th minute lead. Former Egham man and current Molesey skipper Andy Graves hit a 30 yarder that Paul Borg held comfortably and then came the reason why, as shown in the timing for Matthew's goal, so much extra time added on. The game had started in good light, without the floodlights on, but shortly after they had been turned on they failed. It takes some time to allow them to reset, which meant that a five or six minutes were added to the first half. Shortly after the lights failed the match had to stop, and when it resumed it looked as if Molesey had taken the unexpected break to regroup. Egham held them off, and Molesey started getting frustrated, instigating a ridiculous fracas which saw Egham's Tom Hedges flattened, hit and then, ludicrously, booked even though he was the innocent party. The visiting bench did their usual scalded banshee routine, which impressed no-one. Egham just carried on playing, Dale Marvell pulled a superb cross back from the byline into the Molesey box and Matthew converted from a yard 54 minutes after the game started.
A 2-0 half time lead was certainly a tonic, especially as the match at Walton Road had been so poor for the Sarnies, who had been put to the sword by a very fine Will Marlowe hat-trick. The home defence, even in the continued absence of skipper Aarron Taylor-Ives, who is ill, generally held firm this time round, once they had had Borg to thank for saving Ross Chalke's shot in the first minute of the second period. Molesey's managerial trio went ballistic again after a routine and far from dangerous foul by Houghton on James McShane, who recovered quickly enough, and later did the same for an equally average challenge by Luke Muldowney. What an excitable bunch they are. A shot across Egham's goalmouth caused some alarm, off the subsequent free kick. Matthew, leading scorer for a youth team who on Wednesday face Redhill in a Southern Youth League Cup semi-final and then Molesey away in the League on Saturday, showed just how much his game has improved over the season with his hard running, forcing mistakes from Molesey's far more experienced back line. He went off, in a reverse of the John Hamsher default sub move, Grave coming on, half way through the second period. Enrico Rossoni, who I am sure joined the club as a forward, has turned into a damn fine midfielder with an eye for goal, and he made a welcome return after injury to replace Mo Harkin. After 75 minutes Luke Muldowney came close to hitting goal 99 for the league campaign but his header off Marvell's free kick struck the post, and from the rebound Rossoni just failed to get enough purchase on the ball for a decent strike. Then, with four minutes of injury time on the watch, Egham, through Rossoni, broke down the left flank. The young Italian looked up, hit a perfect pass for Grave, haring down the middle, and Young, again, was not able to cope with the shot that followed. The ball dropped right back to Grave and was walloped past the Molesey keeper. The win keeps Egham's late season battle to hold on to third place alive, with Hanworth Villa beating Farnham Town, who play at the Runnymede Stadium on the 28th, by 4-1.
Egham go to Sandhurst Town, the first club in the division to concede 100 goals this term, on Saturday. There is absolutely no chance Egham will take either game lightly now. The bit is firmly between their teeth.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Lee Pasmore, Alex Rodrigues, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Mo Harkin, Dale Marvell, Brendan Matthew, Tom Hedges. Subs: Matt Grave (Matthew, 67), Enrico Rossoni (Harkin, 79), Tom Brunton, Louis Chandler-Joseph.