Andrew winner continues good run

CALOR ONE CENTRAL
SAT 8 FEB 14
NORTHWOOD 0 EGHAM TOWN 1 JOSH ANDREW (70)

Egham Town carried on their recent fine run with another good performance and a fifth straight clean sheet (probably a club record) and showed in this match, as with the win at Dunstable Town, that they have now settled in at this level. Thankfully the well publicised flood damage does seem fixable, and the game at home to Kettering on 1 March could possibly be on but more will be known towards the end of the week. One effect of the Dunstable game was that the Bedfordshire side were so impressed by centre back Kyle Anthony that they signed him. Unfortunately his debut at Slough Town did not go well; ten minutes in he was sent off and Slough won 4-0. His loss meant that Ryan Lake and Richie Byrne were the centre half pairing at Chestnut Avenue. Egham began very brightly against a side who looked more than decent as they won 2-0 at the Runnymede Stadium. This time it was Egham immediately dominant, Joe Chandiram firing wide three minutes in and Ryan O’Toole having a 20 yard shot fumbled by keeper Dan Daggett. The Sarnies were able to hold Northwood with a battling midfield performance and stout defending and up front, despite two appallingly bad decisions by the referee seeing O’Toole and Reis Stanislaus booked, the two strikers worked tirelessly. Ten minutes from the break Josh Andrew battled by the left corner flag to best two defenders before his shot, on target, forced a corner from which Chandiram’s header struck the left post. Karl Oliyide, who had pulled an earlier chance wide, wasted a presentable opening after 41 minutes on one of the rare occasions the visiting defence was breached.
Understandably Northwood were more driven after half-time but there was not much to note until the 63rd minute when Oliyide slipped a pass in for Jerome Federico, whose angled drive was brilliantly turned away by Jamie Norris in the Egham goal. The save was crucial as seven minutes later Egham took the lead. There was a decision some weeks ago to move Josh Andrew from right back to right midfield, and it has been a successful transition. He took advantage of his forward position here as he pounced on a wayward defensive header, evaded a lunging challenge and slammed the ball into the Northwood net. Odd fact – this was the first goal scored by an Egham player in their lurid green shirts, which have featured in the 0-1 loss at Kettering Town and the goalless game at Leighton Town. Chandiram had to go off after picking up a knock and was replaced by Marcus Moody, who has not been available for selection in recent weeks. With nine minutes left Daggett made a very good save from Lake’s 25 yard free kick as Egham pushed on. In fact Moody could have scored, shooting over off an O’Toole pass and, five minutes into injury time, after Stanislaus had skipped beyond a row of challenges down the inside left channel and then down the byline, the sub could not quite get the right touch to the forward’s pull back.

1. Jamie Norris 2. Luke Muldowney (Capt.) 3. Jake Galbraith 4. Richie Byrne 5. Ryan Lake 6. Mo Harkin 7. Josh Andrew 8. Joe Chandiram 9. Reis Stanislaus 10. Ryan O’Toole 11. Calvin Thomas. Subs: 12. Brendan Matthew 14. Andy Crossley 15. Nathan Busuttil 16. Marcus Moody (8/78 mins) 17. Arran Taylor-Ives.

Pos. 10th

Mark