EGHAM TOWN 2 HANWORTH VILLA 1

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
SATURDAY 23 FEBRUARY 201EGHAM TOWN 2 (2) HANWORTH VILLA 1 (1)

Egham Town scorer: Arran Taylor-Ives 2 (13, 16)

An ugly win against rugged opponents maintained Egham Town’s fine form this season, and came with the visit of Guernsey on Tuesday an important step towards securing a top two place. A quick fire brace from Sarnies’ skipper Arran Taylor-Ives turned things round after a poor start that saw Villa take a third minute lead with a drive from Steve Loveridge. The hosts were shaken but after Jamie Read had fired a free kick wide the tide began to turn. A corner was cleared, for another one, from which Jim Ward’s header hit the bar but fell nicely for Taylor-Ives to stick a leg out to steer the ball home. It was Joel Jacobs’ corner that had done the damage and the dose was repeated after 16 minutes, Taylor-Ives being left alone to thump his header past keeper Louis Dixon. That was about it for goalmouth action in the first half, and there was not much in the second either until just past the hour. Tommy Hedges wriggled past two defenders and hit a shot that was deflected onto the Villa crossbar, a fate which met Luke Muldowney’s header not long after. Egham had so much of the ball it was like an attack v defence training ground exercise at times, but the Sarnies weren’t quite able to find a route through for a nerve settling third. Late efforts by Alex Rodrigues and Reis Stanislaus were blocked as the temperature dropped and then time ran out.
The win took Egham to 57 points in 24 games. Epsom & Ewell (won 3-2 at Raynes Park Vale) have 62 from 28, and Cove (4-1 at home to second bottom Hartley Wintney) 53 from 27. Molesey did the leading pack a favour with a 1-0 at 4th placed Windsor, Badshot Lea’s terrible recent form continued with a 0-1 home reverse against Camberley Town and Guernsey , who have a massive 12 games in hand over Windsor, won 3-0 at home to Wembley.

Stats: First double over Hanworth Villa. Taylor-Ives’ first goal since 8 September and first brace since Badshot Lea (h) last season. 95th and 96th goals this season (all competitions).

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Alex Rodrigues, Joel Jacobs, Arran Taylor-Ives, James Ward, Luke Muldowney, Luke Craig, Tom Hedges, Brendan Matthew, Jamie Read, Kemo Maphela. Subs: Reis Stanislaus (Maphela, 55), Patrick Craig (Matthew, 76), James Houghton, Tim Pitt.