Egham Town 4 Chertsey Town 1

CALOR LEAGUE DIVISION ONE – MONDAY 26 AUGUST 2013
EGHAM TOWN 4 (1) CHERTSEY TOWN 1 (1)

Scorers - Luke Craig (9), Jamie Read (55), Patrick
Craig (70), Reis Stanislaus (85)

In a local derby that varied wildly in quality Egham prevailed thanks to a superb performance by former Chertsey keeper Craig Ross, some luck and some fine finishing. Buoyed by a fine performance in winning 3-0 at Aylesbury on Saturday Egham took the early initiative and skipper Luke Muldowney, off Chris Ellis’ throw, forced a fine save from Stuart Norman with a powerful header. The Sarnies went 1-0 up with Luke Craig's goal 9 minutes in. Jamie Read tried a shot from the edge of the box, the ball deflected to the Egham wide man and he had time and room to drive the ball across the keeper and into the bottom right corner. Chertsey levelled with Andy White's breakaway goal 8 minutes later, taking advantage of a lapse of concentration in midfield before racing through on goal and finishing smartly. Thereafter the standard of football from both team was at the level of Division One – CCL Division One. A litany of wrong decisions poorly executed made the remaining 30 minutes of the half almost unwatchable. There were flashes of inspiration; after 23 minutes Luke Craig played a 1-2 with Read and forced a good save from Norman with a fierce shot. As the break beckoned Ricky Hogsden broke clear but shot over Ross’ bar and with seconds left Stanislaus drilled a cross towards, but too strong for, the inrushing Read.
The standard of play lifted considerably in a second period that was two minutes old when White netted but was denied by a raised flag. The Chertsey fans were taunting Egham’s new keeper with chants of “Chertsey reject” but saw what they were missing when Ross dived full length to turn Tom Betts’ shot for a corner. Jacob Lambe replaced Jamie Houghton after the flag kick was put out for a goal kick and made an instant impact. He went haring down the right before he crossed, and when the ball came out to Andy Crossley (on at half time for Muldowney) the midfielder’s shot was deflected in by Read diverting the shot off his chest. Crossley did not last long on the pitch, limping off to be replaced by Junior Wright. John Flood twisted round a strong tackle by Wright to fire a shot that brought a splendid stop from Ross. Twenty minutes remained when Egham made it 3-1 when Stanislaus raced onto Luke Craig’s pass and saw his shot go towards the Chertsey goal. It may or may not have crossed the line under its own volition but Patrick Craig raced in to chest the ball over the line. Immediately Chertsey hit back and Joel Jacobs had to head the ball off the line from a corner, and then the hosts went on the attack again and Read’s cross shot bounced off the top of Norman’s bar. John Pomroy was making his first appearance of the season for Chertsey, having been suspended for a dismissal in the last campaign, and the one season Egham hitman (25 goals) was the next to be denied by Ross’ excellent goalkeeping as he raced from his line to gather the ball off the striker’s toes. The next major incident was the unfortunate dismissal of Steve Brown for a second caution. Egham sealed this unexpectedly comfortable win with five minutes to go, Wright hitting a long pass to Read, who found Stanislaus for a straightforward conversion of a chance made all the easier for not being defended – at all.
Egham move to 9th place after this second win over the August Bank Holiday weekend, showing, it is to be hoped, that they have identified where they went awry in their opening brace of defeats against Royston Town and Beaconsfield SYCOB and have rectified those mistakes. Lee Passmore’s men have also managed a statistical anomaly, having scored 1, 2, 3 and 4 goals in their first, second, third and fourth games respectively.
EGHAM TOWN: Gary Ross, Josh Andrew, Joel Jacobs, Chris Ellis, Richie Byrne, Luke Muldowney (Captain), Jamie Houghton, Patrick Craig, Reis Stanislaus, Jamie Read, Luke Craig. Subs: Andy Crossley (Muldowney, HT), Jacob Lambe (Houghton, 53), Brendan Matthew, Junior Wright (Crossley, 61).
On Saturday the Sarnies travel to Nailsea, Gloucestershire, to tackle Calor One South & West side Shortwood United, who went down 3-6 at home today versus Paulton Rovers and now sit in 8th place. Should the game go to a replay it will be on Tuesday 3 September. In the same competition Chalfont St Peter, scheduled to visit the Runnymede Stadium on that date for a league match, are at home to Ascot United so there may be no game at all.