Egham Town made little impression on this season’s League Cup as they slid gently out of the competition in the first round, wholesale changes to team composition the key element. New signings, one back from a ban, and others who had either not had much of a run out or were making their way back from injury constituted 9/11 of the First XI. Only keeper Tristan Thomas and defender Adam Humphries (moved for this game into midfield) remained from the starting selection from the 2-0 win at CB Hounslow United on Saturday.
The two new players, Amin Belaid and Charlie Cahill, signed from Broadfields United, of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, where they lie in 8th place. They play at Harefield United’s ground.
Raynes Park Vale appear to have made four changes to their starting selection, with that cohesion apparent from the off. Were it not for some excellent tracking back and precision tackling from Kildane Tesfu in the first few seconds the visitors might have taken a very early lead. Early signs for the Sarnies were promising, but then some ropy defending allowed Seamus McKillop room down our right, and his cross found Sam Jordan for a simple conversion. McKillop shot wide before RPV doubled their advantage in the 24th minute, Nathan Lewis finding a gap that ought not to have been there and taking his time before scoring. Thomas saved well from Jordan, preventing this turning into a humiliation.
Egham did not exactly stretch Vale’s defence in retaliation. Even late on, when Belaid showed some useful looking pace, and substitutions gave the team a more solid feel the visiting keeper was not tested until he made a couple of handling errors in the dying moments of a cup tie that never ignited. The overall feeling from the Sarnies seemed to be that while it was understandable that so many changes were an option it was perhaps an experiment that hopefully won’t be repeated any time soon.
EGHAM TOWN: Tristan Thomas, Lekan Ejinwunmi, Amin Belaid, Charlie Cahill, Tommy Cole, Adam Humphries, Kildane Tesfu, Tyler John, Craige Tomkins (Captain), Jake Sobolak, Costa Rodrigues. Substitutes: Tristan Toney, Anthony Thomas (Tomkins, 72), Omar Hassan, Kiemon Robinson, Prince Mbengui (John, 69).