Egham Town have sprung back into life. After looking moribund for so long this season the club have now collected seven points from the last nine and, although still stuck to the bottom of the table there is hope that something might come out of this wretched season after all. Whatever Carl Palmer and Francisco Ramos have done or said to the players seems to be working. Perhaps it’s the closing of the transfer window, ensuring that the next team selection can’t have three or four strangers randomly brought in, or maybe a desire to help the club out of a very sticky situation; either way, the fans aren’t complaining any more. That includes me, your programme editor and match report writer, who couldn’t see anything other than, at best, a point from this match with Bracknell Town sitting in second place. What was most surprising was just how ordinary the Sarnies made the Robins look.
It was pretty evident from the start that Egham were up for this one. The win at Northwood and the late equaliser at home to Bedfont Sports showed a developing sense of unity and purpose. Nine minutes in Kiemon Robinson started the move that gave that purpose some form, Brandon McCarthy and Anthony Thomas playing a magical one-two before Thomas rolled an angled shot with just enough behind it to see the ball roll inside Mark Scott’s left post. Bracknell were shocked and pushed hard for most of the rest of the half for an equaliser. With the threat coming mainly from Sean Moore down the Egham left and, less frequently, Sebastian Bowerman on the other wing the defence stood firm. Ryan Sandford saved well from Bowerman’s 19th minute shot and, four minutes later, the same man’s powerful header. The expected danger from Liam Ferdinand and Adam Cornell was not much seen, so well were they policed.
A previous iteration of Egham Town went down 1-7 at Larges Lane on 23 October. The only Sarnie playing then and now was McCarthy. He, like his team mates, really put a shift in tonight, and needed to as the visitors came out for the second period looking to turn things round. Straight from the kick off Tristan Toney’s brilliantly timed tackle prevented Ferdinand getting a shot off, then on the break both McCarthy and skipper Ashley Carew saw shots blocked. Another fine save by Sandford from Ferdinand was followed by another Egham chance, Toney nearly scoring after pinball in the Bracknell box after a corner. Ferdinand lifted a presentable chance over Sandford’s bar, and then came one of those misses that almost invariably precede disaster as an Egham move that could hardly be described as fluent somehow presented Robinson with an open goal that, from six yards out, he failed to take advantage of, hitting the bar instead. Sure enough, Bracknell levelled, Matthew Day getting the decisive touch after a corner was not cleared. Bracknell sub Ashleigh Artwell pulled another decent save from Sandford, who had to recover smartly as Ferdinand closed in. Samir Bajja, who had replaced Greg Wright at half time, picked up a knock and was in turn subbed by Alexandre Miranda Antomim. Within seconds he had a chance to run at the Robins’ defence but instead passed to Thomas, who was offside. Carew, from 40 yards out and hugging the right touchline, tried to lob Scott, who was not too comfortable in dealing with it, and it was not long before he was caught out again. A long ball from midfield found Robinson on the left. He left his marker flat footed, cut into the box, seemed almost to over-run the ball, Scott dithered and Robinson rounded him before thumping in what proved to be the winner. Bracknell rallied and shots came in at all angles but the Egham defending, from front to back, was magnificent. In the 90th minute Robins’ keeper went up for a corner without making any contribution, before McCarthy broke free to end a 40 yard run with a shot narrowly wide. Two minutes later Scott went up again and rose for a thumping downward header that Sandford saved superbly with a dive low to his left. Bracknell fired three or four more shots, all off target before referee Stu Kyle blew the final whistle.
EGHAM TOWN: Ryan Sandford, Kildane Tesfu, Joseph Adoo-Peters, Luke Randall, Tristan Toney, Greg Wright, Brendan McCarthy, Ashley Carew (Captain), Anthony Thomas, Connor Channon, Kiemon Robinson. Substitutes: Jack Hatcher, Joseph Morrison (Thomas, 89), Samir Bajja (Wright, HT), Alexandre Miranda Amorim (Bajja, 67), Morgan Cooper.

Mark