Colliers Wood United 0 Egham Town 0

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
THURSDAY 4 APRIL 2013
COLLIERS WOOD UNITED 0 EGHAM TOWN 0

During the course of a season it is usually nice if your club starts setting records, even if they will eventually get lost in the murk of history. This was the fourth consecutive Egham Town match in which neither side managed to score in the first half. This may be another landmark. The problem for the Sarnies is that the last two of these have been followed by goalless second periods as well, and both against sides in the bottom four. That they were also away, on bone hard rutted pitches against sides trying to maintain their Premier Division status can be interpreted as a loss of four points. Neither Dorking nor Colliers Wood United had anything much in the way of a threat, and tonight’s opponents were definitely one trick ponies, their game plan consisting of lumping the ball forward and hoping for the pace and skill of Mario Embalo to cause problems, which he did, as he always does. Playing on awful surfaces and leaving unbeaten can also be regarded positively, especially when allied with the unexpected turn of events at The Ranch, where Hanworth Villa won 3-2 against second placed Epsom & Ewell. Of our other main challengers for the title there is more later. Of this game at Cobham’s Leg of Mutton Field ground there is little to say really about a performance as patchy as Lee Pasmore’s men have come up with lately, as uneven as the track to the club from the road. Certain tenets hold true at every level of football, and surely chief among them must be “If you don’t shoot you can’t score”. (Another might be “What use is a short corner?”) Suffice to say that save for some heroics by Tommy Hedges in midfield, trying to galvanise his team mates with word and deed, testing the home keeper with a clutch of decent, if not particularly threatening shots, there was little to warm the travelling support until Jamie Read forced a sprawling save with eight minutes left. Read, with two dozen goals to his name this campaign, was not on the pitch until the 72nd minute, front line duties having been allocated to Reis Stanislaus (10) and Brendan Matthew (15). Patrick Craig enlivened proceedings for the thirteen minutes he was on, replacing Luke Muldowney. Farnham Town are next – three games against them in two seasons have shown that they are awkward sods as well. Last season a 2-2 draw away on the opening day was an opportunity wasted as we took the lead after five minutes, and similarly on the last day, a 1-1 draw included Farnham’s late equaliser which denied us a 3rd place finish.
Eyes turn to the Channel Islanders Guernsey who take on three opponents in three days, fresh from whacking Windsor 6-1 at Stag Meadow. First up is a trip to South Park, handily placed for an overnight stay at Gatwick by the Islanders, who then have Cove on Saturday evening (immediately after the Footes Lane stadium has staged a rugby match) and then Camberley Town on Sunday. Seven players have been signed, says the GFC website. And no, I cannot remember the last time we drew consecutive matches 0-0.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Alex Rodrigues, Joel Jacobs, Arran Taylor-Ives, Jim Ward, Luke Muldowney, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Tommy Hedges, Brendan Matthew, Reis Stanislaus, Luke Craig. Subs: Jamie Read (L Craig), Jacob Lambe (Rodrigues, 90), Steve Coultas, Tim Pitt, Patrick Craig (Muldowney, 77).
Mark