Egham Town 1 Wembley 2

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
TUESDAY 23 AUGUST 2011
EGHAM TOWN 1 (1) WEMBLEY 2 (0)

Egham Town scorer: Marcus Moody (9)

It is, I hope, just one of those things, but for the second Tuesday in a row Egham Town took an early lead yet still lost. Feeling good after their FA Cup success at Molesey, Egham used with the same starting line-up as they did at Walton Road and for the first half it looked as this particular XI would secure the three points. The game was only seconds old when leading scorer Dale Marvell dipped a volley just over Ini Ameebe's bar, and only nine minutes had elapsed when Scott Todd and Marcus Moody took advantage of a loose ball in midfield for the latter to advance before curling his scoring shot into the bottom right corner of Ameebe's net. Five minutes later Todd had an angled shot saved, recovered the ball after a defender tried to clear the keeper's parry and saw a second effort also pushed away. With Marvell and then Jamie Houghton testing the Londoners' defence Egham keeper Paul Borg was having a quiet night until Hector Gutierrez angled a shot from the right just wide of the left post. Wembley were showing more determination than they did in the last trip to the Runnymede Stadium when they were hammered 7-1; led by stalwart Ian Bates in midfield this perhaps was part of the team talk beforehand. On that day Aarron Taylor-Ives scored on his debut; tonight his commanding play had helped keep the increasingly confident Wembley attack at bay but at half time he had to go off injured, to be replaced in the centre back slot by Luke Muldowney, with Lee Pasmore in Muldowney's place. At the same time Wembley made the first of the substitutions that were to turn the game, Gutierrez being replaced by Densal Davidson. And from now on Egham spent an inordinate amount of time getting caught offside. Given the official in question it is not guaranteed that he was always right, but perhaps learning the lesson after the first few times would have been beneficial. Meanwhile Egham were conceding ground and Bates was knocking in free kicks that were becoming increasingly problematic, particularly after 59 minutes when Tony Webb's header was only inches wide from his skipper's dead ball kick. Things were not going too well for Egham, so John Hamsher took off Todd for Matt Grave, who with virtually his first touch, from a dangerous right wing cross Moody, blazed the ball over the bar from about one yard. Seconds later sub Adrian Dinham raced in on Jake Galbraith and crossed in for Jumo Mitchell, who headed in from close range under pressure from Borg. After 79 minutes Ross White was replaced by Brendan Matthew, who had not had time to touch the ball before a defensive lapse let in Mitchell for what proved to be the match winner. Seconds from the restart Borg had to leap to turn Dean Linton's shot over the bar. Egham were looking to Marvell to conjure something special up from a dead ball, as he did against Ash United; in the last second of the match his whipped free kick smacked against the right post. On balance 2-2 would have been a fairer reflection of the game.
Egham again need to regroup, with Guildford City coming to the Runnymede Stadium on Saturday.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Ken During, Aarron Taylor-Ives, Luke Muldowney, Ross White, Jamie Houghton, Dale Marvell, Scott Todd, Marcus Moody (capt.).
Substitutes: Brendan Matthew (White, 79), Jake Joslin, Matt Grave (Todd, 64), Josh Henry, Lee Pasmore (Taylor-Ives, HT).