Egham Town 1 AFC Hayes 1

CALOR LEAGUE CENTRAL DIVISION
EGHAM TOWN 1 (0) AFC HAYES 1 (0)
Egham Town scorer: Reis Stanislaus (49)

When both of these sides were removed from this season’s FA Cup at the first hurdle AFC Hayes offered to play this fixture last Saturday. The offer was politely declined, and instead the Middlesex team went to Marlow on Saturday, and recorded a 3-0 win that flattered a very poor home side. The bounce given by that emphatic victory was evident in this match against an Egham side who had won their last four games and kept three clean sheets in the process.
The first half was well contested but without much style from either team, and the majority was forgotten by the time the half time whistle blew. The bits that did register were long range shots by Egham’s Jamie Houghton and Jacob Lambe, both failing to test Ben Goode in the Hayes goal. He was more than tested four minutes after the break, though, when Reis Stanislaus was found by Josh Andrew’s pass from the right. The striker steadied himself and then hit a 20 yard shot that dipped just in front of the keeper on its way into the net. Hayes had had the ball in the Egham net not long before, and the word from Jamie Read, warming up down that end of the pitch, was that the offside decision was incorrect. With almost an hour gone Jake Cass let fly from the edge of the box, Gary Ross turning the ball over for a corner, and Romayne Thomas missed a good chance to level with twelve minutes remaining. Who knows what might have happened had the loosely marked Read, now on as a sub for Ryan O’Toole, been found by Louis Chandler-Joseph after 84 minutes, and speculation is fruitless; four minutes into stoppage time were looking good for three points to take them to third place and then the visitors were level as with one last push they attacked, the ball fell for Walters and his finish from 18 yards found Ross’ bottom left corner. The timing made the draw feel like a defeat but Egham must regroup before a trip on Saturday to 8th placed Potters Bar Town. The squad continues to evolve, Joe Chandiram making a quiet debut from the subs bench, the former Slough and Windsor man replacing Lambe in the 82nd minute. Egham have also re-signed Charlie Muldowney, a talented striker who has been in and out of various Egham squads over the last eight years or so.
EGHAM TOWN: Gary Ross, Josh Andrew, Jake Galbraith, Kyle Anthony, Jim Ward, Luke Muldowney (Captain), Louis Chandler-Joseph, Jamie Houghton, Reis Stanislaus, Ryan O’Toole, Jacob Lambe. Subs: Jamie Read (O’Toole, 72), Brendan Matthew, Patrick Craig (Houghton, 89), Joe Chandiram (Lambe, 82).