The return of Jordan Berry to the Runnymede Stadium has galvanised Egham Town, on and off the pitch. With a good series of performances in the warm up games, the club are in fine fettle for their competitive bow, next Saturday in the Extra Preliminary Round of the Emirates FA Cup. The Sarnies will be travelling to Kent to take on the well- supported Isthmian South East side Ashford United, whose nickname is The Nuts and Bolts. If there is a replay it will be at Runnymede Stadium on Tuesday 6 August. Alternatively, with a result either way, the Sarnies could be heading to North Greenford United, who face Corinthian-Casuals in the Cup.

Egham played Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday in their final warm-up game, and despite a bit of a shaky start, won by an impressive 3-0. These are the results for the six warm-up games:
Arlesey 2-0 Egham Town
Chipstead 0 – 1 Egham Town (Harlem Hale)
Uxbridge 5 – 3 Egham Town (Reece Mitchell 2, Zac Hawker)
EGHAM TOWN 5 – 1 Tadley Calleva (Ed Clements, Reece Mitchell 2, Danny Campion, Kristian Swaby)
Abbey Rangers 2 – 1 Egham Town (Nippy Winger)
27.07.24 CORINTHIAN-CASUALS 3 – 0 (Ed Clements, Luke Heneghan, Montel D’Angelo Brown)
The make-up of the squad is remarkable for the number of players returning to the club. Led by skipper Reece Yorke, the list so far looks like this:

Marley Anderson-Richards (new)
Montel D'Angelo Brown (new)
Daniel Campion (returner)
Edward Clements (new)
Nuno Cook (new)
Harlem Hale (new)
Zac Hawker (new)
Luke Heneghan (returner)
Samad Kazi (returner)
Reece Steven Mitchell (new)
Alexander Nolan (returner)
Ben Peden (returner)
Ethan Sennett (new)
Samuel Charles Shaw (new)
Kristian Swaby (new)
Aryantaj Tajbakhsh (new)
Tyler Dean Tobin (new)
George Leonard Tucker (returner)
Kyle Watson (returner)
Reece Yorke (returner).

Dependent on FA Cup results, Egham may be starting their Cherry Red Records Premier League North campaign with a home game against the newly promoted British Airways on Saturday 10 August. On 13 August they are at home again, against Broadfields United. Should the Sarnies prevail against the Nuts and Bolts they will away to Harrow Borough in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup, an intriguing possibility given that Mr Berry and several players left Egham Town the season before last to go to Harrow. He, Yorke, Reece Mitchell (Harrow’s top scorer last season) and Tyler Tobin (formerly at Ashford Town (Mx.)) will doubtless relish a return to Earlsmead.

Mark