Egham Town 0 Cowes Sports 1

19/11/11

FA VASE SECOND ROUND
EGHAM TOWN v COWES SPORTS
Cowes Sports became the second Isle of Wight visitors in successive seasons to turf Egham Town out of the FA Vase. Unlike Newport, though, the Yachtsmen play at Level 6, one level below the CCL Premier, and while there was no fear of Egham taking their visitors lightly there was expectation that a side with enough firepower to garner 50 goals in 17 league games would be able to progress to the next round. Unfortunately for John Hamsher and Wayne Noad what happened instead was Egham fail to turn an overwhelmingly massive amount of possession in the visitors' half into clear shots on goal, and for that the Islanders must take full credit. If centre half Aidan Bryan plays this well on a regular basis what the hell is he doing playing at Level 6? Apart from one instance in the 63rd minute when Egham had strong calls for a penalty rejected by referee Kevin Norris after Bryan pulled back Marcus Moody in the box he did not put a foot wrong. Unfortunately for Egham the rest of the back line did their best to match his example, which they needed to do because Egham were camped in their half. With Tom Hedges, Matt Grave, Marcus Moody and top scorer Dale Marvell it was surely only a matter of time before even the most dogged of opponents would crack under the pressure, but by half time all Egham had mustered was a grab bag of blocked shots and two Marvell free kicks, one held by keeper Christopher Norris and the other off target.
At half time Matt Grave made way for Brendan Matthew, but that made no discernible difference to Egham's attacking edge. Egham thought they had finally broken through five minutes into the second half but Moody, poking in Jake Galbraith's cross, was flagged offside. On 65 minutes Cowes went into the lead, Gareth Bricknell launching a long range free kick from the left. Paul Borg came out to catch, missed, and the ball ended up in his net. Following on from his mistake last Saturday at Croydon this was extremely unfortunate, but hopefully he will recover his best form in time for next Saturday's trip to South Park. The response to the goal was to take off Moody and replace him with Enrico Rossoni, but after two impressive games in his first two appearances the former Eversley forward has failed to sparkle. Hedges did his best to lift the side with more hard running but as ever he found workable space at a premium as the Islanders held firm. The removal of Marvell for midfielder Max Galbraith was puzzling. There was an unfortunate run of yellow cards, Luke Muldowney and Dan Hartlebury for Egham and Darren Williams and Michael Herbert for Cowes Sports all cautioned for iffy tackles as panic began to set in for both teams. Finally there was one last half chance for Egham, Muldowney's free kick finding Jamie Houghton at the back post, and from his nod into the danger area Matthew headed over the bar. That would have taken the tie to an extra 30 minutes, which would have given Egham the chance to turn their pressure into something tangible.
Egham, as mentioned, go to South Park (who did get past FA Vase opponents from IOW with a 3-0 home win against Fawley) on Saturday. This is the first season for the Reigate side in the CCL Premier, after their promotion last season, and Saturday will see the first ever meeting between the two sides. Egham can have a peek at them on Tuesday when they go to Badshot Lea, who are struggling to find form. After playing South Park Egham will be entertaining Ashford Town (Mx.) in the Surrey Senior Cup on Tuesday 29 November.
EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Lee Pasmore, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Marcus Moody (capt.), Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Tom Hedges. Subs: Brendan Matthew (Grave, HT), Tom Brunton, Louis Chandler-Joseph, Enrico Rossoni (Moody, 69), Max Galbraith (Marvell, 82).

Other results for today: FA VASE Hanworth Villa 3 Deal Town 1, Lancing 2 Guildford City 1, South Park 3 Fawley 0. CCL PREMIER Camberley Town 4 Mole Valley SCR 0, Chessington & Hook United 1 Ash United 2, Colliers Wood United 1 Dorking 2, Cove 1 Horley Town 5, Epsom & Ewell 2 Croydon 1, Farnham Town 2 Banstead Athletic 0, Raynes Park Vale 2 Wembley 4.