Great win in the wind at home of leaders

CALOR ONE CENTRAL
SAT 8 FEB 14

DUNSTABLE T 0 EGHAM TOWN 1

MO HARKIN (83)

Under the astute management of Lee Passmore, aided by Jack McKinlay and Neerav Patel, Egham Town’s progress in their maiden Calor One Central season continued with this excellent win against Dunstable Town, who had started the day in pole position. Facing the divisional top dogs, who had won 2-1 at the Runnymede Stadium on 12 October, with a run of three clean sheets on the trot, the visitors were confident of getting at least a point but faced this task missing leading scorer Ryan O’Toole (injured), Jim Ward (working) and Jake Galbraith (suspended). This team is not just reliant on O’Toole, excellent as he is, though, and in horrible conditions all in red worked hard for this success. The first thing to do was to prevent Dunstable from getting on top, which they did so well that by half time the Bedfordshire side looked distinctly ordinary. In fact the home side, with 28 goal Lee Roache leading their line, barely presented a threat to Sarnies keeper Jamie Norris, who has settled in remarkably well after taking over from Gary Ross. The introduction of experienced campaigner Ryan Lake in defence has also helped. On a perfect playing surface – credit to Dunstable Town and their groundsman – in a shiny new stadium both sides had to find a way to cope with howling winds that made any cohesive football a rarity, but when Egham did get it sorted Josh Andrew and Andy Crossley had shots that went just wide and Adam Watkins momentarily bothered Norris. Late on Stanislaus niggled away at getting the ball away from Danny Murphy before his shot flew off target.
In the first half Dunstable’s Watkins had been booked for dissent and Roache for a foul– in the second half it got really silly. Egham’s Mo Harkin was booked for dissent on 56 minutes, and Roache got a second yellow two minutes later for a crude challenge. The loss of such a potent marksman clearly gave Egham a lift. Arran Taylor-Ives then collected a caution for the visitors, but saw Bernard Christie join him in the book when the home player flattened him with a late tackle. In the middle of all this was referee James Whittaker Jnr, a strange appellation not guaranteed to garner respect whatever may lay behind it. To be fair to him there was not a lot else he could have done with most of the decisions mentioned so far, nor with what followed. However, when the wind relented and Egham managed to get the ball near the home box Joe Chandiram was unable to finish the best passing move of the game with an accurate shot. In the next attack, though, came the only goal as more pressure on the home back line saw the ball break for Harkin, whose shot was described the home scribe, writing for the NLP, as “class” and a “pinpoint lob”. Mo has class, doubtless, but the goal was more prosaic; his low drive whipped up off a defender and looped over keeper Jamie Head’s dive on its way into the bottom far corner. More cards now: Stanislaus committed the venal and heinous crime of being brought down on the edge of the box and got booked; home sub Danny Ryan, not long on, who gave Calvin Thomas such a smack that even with the wind against us we Egham fans huddled in the stand behind the home goal could hear it, was shown a straight red; one of the home management team was dismissed from the dugout; Taylor-Ives saw a second yellow after a clash with another sub, Leon Cashman, who was cautioned and, finally, Lake was shown yellow for an accidental handball! Oddly, it never had the feeling of being a dirty game.

1. Jamie Norris 2. Luke Muldowney (Capt.) 3. Ryan Lake 4. Kyle Anthony 5. Arran Taylor-Ives 6. Mo Harkin 7. Josh Andrew 8. Joe Chandiram 9. Reis Stanislaus 10. Calvin Thomas 11. Andy Crossley. Subs: 12. Brendan Matthew (11/71 mins) 14. Richie Byrne 15. Nathan Busuttil 16. Louis Chandler-Joseph (10/90+3).