Egham Town 1 Rugby Town 1

The third of three consecutive tough home games saw Egham Town facing, at least as far as league position would indicate, the most difficult of the trio. Rugby Town came with the second most potent attack behind Dunstable Town and two dangerous forwards, while Egham were looking to recover after the St. Ives Town debacle. This they did with a spirited performance that for the whole of the first half kept the visitors at bay. For the first 33 minutes there was not a great deal to note apart from some wastefulness in front of goal by the twin strike threat of David Kolodynski and Seb Lake-Gaskin. Kyle Anthony, back alongside Arran Taylor-Ives in central defence , worked tirelessly but, as for the whole match, it would be wrong to choose any individuals for particular praise as the whole team strove to show that they can play well at this level. Once Marcus Moody had bent a shot just wide of Niall Cooper’s right post in the 33rd minute the Sarnies took that as a cue to put more pressure on the visitors’ defence. Moody, nine minutes later and from Jake Galbraith’s pass at the end of a flowing move, clipped in a shot from outside the box, Cooper matching the shot with the quality of his save. With a minute left of normal time Rugby skipper Alex Gudger was tempted by Ryan O’Toole into an injudicious challenge and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. O’Toole did well to keep his concentration as he had to wait two minutes for a Rugby player to be treated before he rammed his penalty through Cooper’s attempt at a save.
The first 20m minutes of the second half were like the first half hour of the first, full of competitive midfield challenges, shots not troubling either keeper and from both sides passages of intricate passing that pleased the eye. The first real chance came Egham’s way, Moody taking the ball down the inside left channel before drilling in a low cross that Reis Stanislaus stretched for, and reached, but the ball skewed off his foot for a goal kick. Soon after a massive scramble in the Egham area was, eventually, sorted out, then Kolodynski tested Gary Ross with shot that Ross dived to his left to save. Unfortunately the next incident was an injury to Justin Marsden, the Rugby no. 11, who dislocated a shoulder after a coming-together with Adam Bernard. We hope he makes a speedy recovery. O’Toole twice tried to add to his one goal, finishing a 20 yard break with a shot that Cooper reached with an upstretched arm and turned onto his crossbar. Then, after a one-two with Stanislaus, he drove just wide, as did the advancing Josh Andrew a minute into injury time. Then the sky fell in, again. We had possession of the ball at a throw in, which was not taken properly, the referee awarded that throw to Rugby, and from it and a scramble in our box that this time was not cleared the final touch, in the 93rd minute, came from Ellis Myles. It will take me a long time to forget the look on O’Toole’s face, a look of “f*ck it” that said it all. However, given the standard of Egham’s play, and knowing that this team is more than capable of playing this well regularly, more satisfying results must be on the way soon.
Team: Gary Ross, Josh Andrew, Jake Galbraith, Arran Taylor-Ives, Kyle Anthony, Mo Harkin, Adam Bernard, Marcus Moody, Reis Stanislaus, Ryan O’Toole, Jacob Lambe. Subs: Jim Ward, Ashley Quashie, Andy Crossley, Brendan Matthew.
No substitutions.