Wembley 0 Egham Town 2

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2012
WEMBLEY 0 (0) EGHAM TOWN 2 (1) – Tommy Hedges (36), Reis Stanislaus (72)

Ah, 13 and 17 November 2012; the double “dubya” double. Having seen of Windsor in midweek with a superb performance there was still some trepidation before facing the usually robust challenge of Wembley on their own turf, especially with top scorer Jamie Read sidelined with full back Jake Galbraith, and midfield powerhouse Jamie Houghton on the bench, recovering from injury. Alex Rodrigues covered at full back, Junior Wright came in to the centre of defence and Steve Coultas slotted into midfield alongside skipper Luke Muldowney, with Jacob Lambe joining Reis Stanislaus up front.
The match was frenetic if predictable for all but the last ten minutes of the first half, a mad midfield muddle with both sides disagreeing vehemently with tackles and how the ref dealt with them. The home side felt the downside of this on 36 minutes. Daryl Atkins had, as he protested towards his masters, been detailed to keep a close eye on tricky winger Tommy Hedges. The foul he committed on him with nine first half minutes left saw the little maestro exact perfect revenge as the smallest man on the field obeyed Egham coach Neerav Patel’s barked instructions to get into the box, where Bradley Fraser’s expert free kick found Hedges’ head, for a two yard poach and a warranted lead. A later, more brutal assault on Mr Hedges went unpunished before half time.
Wembley are a side whose energetic robustness in the tackle means that the term “dirty” is never far from the lips of opponents. A flattening of Jacob Lambe on the hour showed the second half as a copy of the first. Fraser’s free kick was touched on to the bar by Bart Fogler. From a breakaway a foul in the penalty area gave a penalty kick award to the home side but Atkins’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Paul Borg, dropping to his right to smother the strike. On 72 minutes Houghton came on for Fraser, and made an immediate impact. Louis Chandler-Joseph, putting in another superb performance at right back, advanced before whipping in a cross met at full length by Houghton’s first touch, a flying header that hit the left post. The ball span across the area to the waiting Stanislaus for a comfortable conversion into a second Egham goal, and the striker’s second in Egham colours. Egham saw out the rest of the match, another assault on Hedges notwithstanding, and remain in top slot but with Guernsey lurking with four games to catch up.
Egham have no midweek game – up next is a home game against Horley Town on Saturday 24.11.12.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Alex Rodrigues, Jim Ward, Junior Wright, Luke Muldowney, Tommy Hedges, Steve Coultas, Reis Stanislaus, Jacob Lambe, Bradley Fraser. Subs: Brendan Matthew (Stanislaus, 85), Luke Craig (Lambe, 77), Jamie Houghton (Fraser, 72), James Brown.