On the 13th day of the month Egham Town recorded their 13th draw of the season and remain in 13th place. Spooky, eh? Even for those not suffering from triskaidecaphobia (the irrational fear of the number 13), and who witnessed this 90 minutes they will never get back again (but will soon forget, hopefully), this was an unlucky day to make the trip in to the Buckinghamshire countryside for this goalless nothingness, memorable only for an odd incident at the end..
Chalfont St Peter, second from bottom, are in danger of dropping to Division One, have four games left and have a minus 28 goal difference. Egham Town had lost their previous four games, so a clean sheet is nice, but they have scored only four times in the seven games following a 3-3 draw at Wembley. On a Sunday morning I get the Non-League paper and one of the things I look for is absolutely horrendous thrashings, such as the 17-0 that Biggleswade Reserves handed out yesterday to AFC Kempston Town Hammers in the Bedfordshire Premier. I feel sure that had the “Hammers” faced either the Sarnies or the Saints instead the margin of walloping would have been lower, even though the Bedfordshire League feeds into Step 6.
The problem for Egham is that, of the two recognised strikers in the squad, neither Luke Maguire nor the man who subbed for him in the 77th minute, Billy Murphy, is fully fit. Mr Murphy Snr even said, while the aforementioned Wembley game was underway, that his son has “legs made of chocolate”. From the off the home side huffed and the visitors puffed, but Egham had a great chance as early as the 4th minute when Junior Ferreira de Paiva’s shot was deflected by a defender’s boot into the path of Callum O’Keeffe, who failed to take advantage of a clear opening. In the last minute of a very scrappy first half Maguire was fouled, Ben Jordan swung in a decent free kick and co-manager Adam Humphries headed wide from close range. Mr CSP chairman opined that Egham were slightly better than his team, which they were, given the amount of possession they had – until about 25 yards from goal. There was no width, little pace, and home keeper Fin Purcell could have sat in his goalmouth listening to the entire works of his famous composer namesake and scarcely be troubled.
Four minutes into the second period O’Keeffe again had a presentable chance to open the scoring but seemed caught in two minds, shot, and from the ensuing corner, headed wide. The Saints had been, from the off, arguing the toss with the officials about every single perceived injustice and finally referee Gifford Manyange had had enough and sin-binned Samir Shaffi. It was hard to tell that Egham had a man advantage until the sixth minute of sin-bin time when, finally, some football broke out. Maguire did well to control a bouncing ball in the CSP box and fired the ball across for someone, anyone, to get a touch. O’Keeffe arrived a fraction late. Two minutes later more pressure on the home rearguard saw a hasty clearance to Sarnie right back George Tucker, who, 30 yards out, hit the only real shot of the whole game with power, accuracy and straight at the keeper. Costa and Maguire then combined well, Purcell pushing Costa’s shot clear. When the other full back, Rodney Dos Santos, tried to show the forwards how to shoot, his effort thudded onto the cross bar.
Then came one of the most ludicrous things I have ever seen in a football match. The other co-boss, Ben Peden, had already been cautioned when he was in the same space as a home player who chose to fall over. Mr Manyange gave the home side a free kick and, because Peden expected a second card, he took his top off. Mr Manyange had forgotten about the first caution, and was only alerted, it seems, by the sight of Mr Peden’s enviable torso. Mr Manyange then booked Peden for the foul, showed him a red card and, inevitably, added another booking for the shirt removal. As the game drew to a merciful close Deante Gibson made his way down the Egham right, cut in and shot over the bar, and Ben Bell was booked for diving in the Egham area.
Egham go to Reading City on Thursday, have no game on Saturday, have their last home game on Tuesday 23 April against Wokingham & Emmbrook and finish a frustrating season on Friday with a game against Hilltop, at Beaconsfield Town’s Holloways Park stadium.
EGHAM TOWN: Lewis Gallifent, George Tucker, Rodney Dos Santos, David Lopes, Adam Humphries, Ben Peden, Deante Gibson, Callum O’Keeffe, Luke Maguire, Junior Ferreira de Paiva, Ben Jordan. Substitutes: Armando Pires Costa (de Paiva, 70), Billy Murphy (Maguire, 77), Dan Brown, Armani Morris, Luke Daley (kpr).