Egham T1 Aylesbury Utd 2

CALOR LEAGUE DIVISION ONE CENTRAL
SATURDAY 16.11.13
EGHAM TOWN 1 (0) AYLESBURY UNITED 2 (1)
Egham Town scorer: Reis Stanislaus (72)

Two in and one out at Runnymede Stadium, but the (recent) song remains the same. Centre back Chris Ellis has left, again, and midfielder Marcus Moody has come back, again, for his third stint in Egham’s colours. Joining him is striker Reis Stanislaus, who tried his luck at Hampton & Richmond Borough but came back, like Moody, into the starting line-up of a side looking to stop their recent bad form. It didn’t happen because twice Egham made mistakes that gifted their opponents goals.
The first mistake came in the 19th minute, and killed off a promising start with Egham dominating possession and pushing their guests back into their own half, albeit without actually threatening Alex Tokarczyk in the Aylesbury United goal. Then “The Ducks” created their first meaningful attack which should have ended with a safe header by the usually reliable Jim Ward to keeper Gary Ross. Instead the ball fell short and Dom Petrucci was alert enough to stab the ball home from close range. Tokarczyk repelled the Egham riposte, a 20 free kick by Joe Chandiram, with a diving save, two minutes later. Adam Barnard, making his home debut after his move from Burnham, needed a fuller contact with his diving header off a Jake Galbraith cross ten minutes before the break.
The Egham fightback took 20 minutes to materialise and it was Ward whose header forced Tokarczyk to tip the ball over. Five minutes later Ryan O’Toole, replacing Louis Chandler-Joseph, pulled the ball back from the byline for skipper Luke Muldowney, but the shot lacked power. Finally, off an O’Toole pass, Stanislaus got past his marker in the left side of the box, and steered his scoring shot in off the inside of the far post. So, at least a point then, perhaps? No, because once Kyle Anthony had picked up a caution for being in the vicinity when Jason Blackett decided to fall over, it all went wrong again. The free kick came in, should have been cleared by Josh Andrew, wasn’t, should have been cleared by Josh Andrew, wasn’t, again, and when the ball was knocked back in Blackett was left unmarked to thump his header past Ross. O’Toole almost bagged a second equaliser with a well hit free kick that struck the left post, then Ross pulled off a great diving save from Zac Reynolds. With seconds left Barnard curled in a cross that beat both O’Toole and Stanislaus at the far post.
The league position is the 16th it was before kick off, but the task does not seem to be getting any easier. Saturday sees Lee Passmore taking his charges to North Greenford United, whom Egham Town have never beaten, but that was in the Combined Counties League. In the Calor One Central the Middlesex side are 20th, with 11 points. Their three League wins were over Ashford Town (Mx.) and Chertsey Town, who occupy the bottom two places, and, notably, Dunstable Town in late September. Then come three home games against Northwood (6th), St. Ives Town (9th) and Rugby Town (3rd). Egham are more than capable of getting something from all of these games, as the squad does not have a bad player in it, but at the moment something is missing.
EGHAM TOWN: Gary Ross, Josh Andrew, Jake Galbraith, Kyle Anthony, Jim Ward, Luke Muldowney, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Marcus Moody, Reis Stanislaus, Adam Barnard, Joe Chandiram. Subs: Ryan O’Toole (Chandler-Joseph, 56), Brendan Matthew, Jamie Read (Chandiram, 85), Jacob Lambe, Andy Crossley.