Hanworth Villa 0 Egham Town 2

COMBINED COUINTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2012
HANWORTH VILLA 0 (0) EGHAM TOWN 2 (2) : CHARLIE MCCARTHY (3), ARRAN TAYLOR-IVES (43)

Egham Town sit in 4th place on 12 points with Windsor, Guernsey and Molesey, after this excellent win against in –form Hanworth Villa. Egham’s record at The Ranch, one point in nine, over the last three seasons, did not inspire much confidence, and the loss before the game of forward Brendan Matthew, midfielder James Brown and defender Junior Wright, the latter two in the warm-up, did not help. Alex Rodrigues made his first start for the season in central defence and Luke Muldowney, named, like Rodrigues, on the bench initially, went into midfield. Egham were missing strikers Shane Graham and Jamie Read, both on holiday, and have a wait of a couple of weeks before Jesse Atiase is fit after his injury in the loss at Guernsey. Villa had banged in seven in their last match, against Hartley Wintney, and 7 is the number of goals striker Levi King had scored for them in their opening five fixtures. This was an ideal platform then for Egham Town to show they have the heart and balls for the battle and this they did, becoming, thanks to some sterling defensive work, the first not to concede against the Villans.
Egham had the advantage early on, going ahead in the third minute. The first noteworthy action of the game saw Tom Hedges dance down the left wing and deliver a perfect cross for Charlie McCarthy to obey the immutable law of the ex and stick the ball in past last season team mate, keeper Terry Buss. McCarthy then went on to give his most complete performance this season, linking well with team mates and doing a sound job leading the line. There is always some undercurrent of unneighbourliness in games between these sides, particularly at The Ranch, and a few overly strong challenges led to a few yellow cards being shown to both sides before common sense resumed. Egham have plenty of pace in their attack and Anthony Joseph and Hedges kept the home defence fully occupied. James Woods hit Paul Borg’s left post with a 25 yard free kick, and from similar distance forced Borg into his one meaningful save of the afternoon. Seconds after the importance of that intervention was shown as Egham skipper Arran Taylor-Ives rose to head in a James McShane corner.
Matt Smith replaced James Walters , Joseph was subbed by Enrico Rossoni, making his season’s debut, and Louis Chandler-Joseph came on for McCarthy late on in a second half largely devoid of any notable action until a late break by Hedges gave him a chance that fizzled out with a weak finish from the supporting Josh Andrew.
Egham face Dorking at home next Saturday. There were only two other results in the league today – South Park 2, Wembley 1 and Windsor 6, Croydon 0 – as other CCL sides took their bow in the FA Vase. On 13 October Egham entertain the winner of the Lordswood v East Grinstead/Raynes Park Vale tie. Kent League side Lordswood won 3-0 at Warlingham, who face Egham Town in the League Cup on 26 September, while the other two sides shared eight goals and replay on Tuesday on the Vale slope.
EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Josh Andrew, Jake Galbraith, Alex Rodrigues, Arran Taylor-Ives (capt.), Luke Muldowney, James Walters, Tom Hedges, Charlie McCarthy, Anthony Joseph, James McShane. Subs: Louis Chandler-Joseph (McCarthy, 88), Matt Smith (Walters, 59), Enrico Rossoni (Joseph, 68).