Egham Town 3 - 2 Ash United

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COMBINEWWW.PITCHERO.COM/CLUBS/EGHAMTOWNFCD COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
EGHAM TOWN 3 (3) ASH UNITED 2 (1)
9 August 2011
Egham Town scorers: Dale Marvell 3 (22, 31, 44)

A magnificent Dale Marvell hat-trick earnt Egham Town a morale boosting win over a dogged Ash United side at Runnymede Stadium on Tuesday night. Watched by former Egham Town player, skipper and manager Jack McKinlay, John Hamsher's men went behind to a well taken free kick by Jimmy Norman in the 16th minute, but by that time Egham had continued their recent pattern of hit the goal frame. In the last game of last season, against Badshot Lea, five shots hit the metal, and at least did the same at Farnham on Saturday. Four minutes into this game Matt Grave nipped in front of Ash skipper Phil Parsons and lifted the ball over keeper Dan Gowler but the shot clipped the cross bar. Marcus Moody found almost the same spot ten minutes later with an angled drive after a fine run and cross by Dan Hartlebury.
Egham levelled the scores on 1-1, a fine attacking move ending with the defence crumbling and Marvell continuing his run of scoring form. He added to his five pre-season goals with the equaliser at Farnham and then took centre stage with his next two. Before that Moody's flick from a Jamie Houghton cross forced Gowler into a fine save, then in the 25th minute a foul on Marvell brought sublime retribution with his 25 yard free kick, about ten yards from the left touchline, that he drilled to the far post, leaving the defence flat footed. That was a sighter for his third, from the right touchline but from at least 35 yards out and it flew into the goal. Utter brilliance like that is not the norm for Egham recently so let's hope it continues.
It was a somewhat different Egham that came out for the second half. Instead of pushing on and adding to their total they did little to test the Ash goalkeeper. Marvell showed frailty with a 53rd minute air shot from Moody's pass, and after Grave had been replaced with Ross White the pattern of Egham attacks floundering and Ash looking more dangerous culminated with the visitors scoring through Joe Loyzou with fifteen minutes to go. It got a bit frantic for Egham thereafter, the introduction of Matt Evans for skipper Moody notwithstanding. Ross White picked up a caution after the referee failed to communicate clearly with him as the Ash bench were screaming about a routine challenge being some kind of heinous offence. White then teed up Marvell for a curling shot which was held by Gowler, and Marvell then shot a free kick over the bar. Ash were looking capable of pegging their hosts back, Egham being thankful that a late surge that had the back four stretched came to a halt with an upraised flag. Four minutes of added on time stretched the nerves before the final whistle sealed a result that placed Egham Town in fifth place in the fledgling CCL Premier Division table.
Other results from Tuesday: Banstead Athletic 1 Hanworth Villa 3; Camberley 2 Badshot Lea 3; Dorking 2 Cove 0; Epsom & Ewell 3 Colliers Wood United 1; Horley Town 3 Mole Valley SCR; South Park 0 Molesey 3.
There were two postponements though, for the Chessington & Hook United v Farnham Town and Wembley v Windsor games. The Wembley match was called off because Windsor apparently felt unsafe venturing into London, while C & H had their game postponed late on because there had been some trouble in the Kingston area. While seeing a Chessington game called off is old news, and was not for the usual reason of “waterlogged pitch”, it was pointed out on the non-league forum that approximately 11000 people had successfully and safely spent the day at next door's Chessington World of Adventures.
EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Ken During, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Luke Muldowney, Lee Pasmore, Jamie Houghton, Dale Marvell, Mat Grave, Marcus Moody. Subs: Brendan Matthew,Josh Henry, Matt Evans (Moody, 75), Ross White (Grave, 58).