Hanworth Villa 2 - 0 Egham Town

COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
MONDAY 30 MARCH 2011
HANWORTH VILLA 2 (0) EGHAM TOWN 0 (0)

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Egham Town will be hoping next season that the August Bank Holiday fixture will be anything other than Hanworth Villa at The Ranch. Last season a below par performance ended with a 3-1 home win; this wasn't a lot better, especially as a missed second half penalty could have given us the lead and, perhaps, enough of a lift to add to the unexpected point gained at home to Saturday. Still missing centre backs Ken During and Aarron Taylor-Ives, manager John Hamsher was also without Lee Pasmore to partner Paul Bartholomew for a makeshift centre back partnership, so he called on Marcus Moody to do the job instead. It worked well in a first half that saw both sides miss chances, with Egham relying on Brendan Matthew's pace to keep the home defence on its toes, and Dale Marvell testing Terry Buss with a free kick on 21 minutes. In the 28th minute Matthew, Marvell and former Villan Matt Grave were crowded out before Villa got the ball down the other end to threaten Paul Borg's goal. Former Sarnie Charlie McCarthy's 33rd minute shot beat Borg but was hacked clear by Moody. Louis Dixon was causing Egham problems with his power and forced Borg into a good save with his feet, five minutes before the break.
The home side collected two yellow cards in the first three minutes of the second half in a derby game that was never dirty but contained some robust challenges. On 52 minutes Scott Todd wriggled his way into the box before being sent sprawling in the home penalty box. Dale Marvell had taken Egham's only spot kick this season, a successful conversion against Mole Valley SCR; today Grave took it, hit it high to Buss' right and Buss stopped it. That miss cost Egham very dearly; four minutes later they were behind. Dixon took advantage of some awful defending to cross low for Duane Antonio to score from a yard. Bartholomew was replaced by Jake Joslin immediately afterwards; I have no idea if the two were connected. Marvell tried a 25 yarder which was parried; Grave's 18 yard shot seconds later had the same luck. Will MacDonald, another of the Youth team, replaced Todd halfway through the second period. Egham never really looked likely to score, unlike the home side who, after missing an absolute sitter, got their second with the sort of goal that will give the Egham team cold shivers. Villa had a corner, it was cleared, a defender miscued his volley back from 45 yards out to the left wing, the ball was hit first time into the area and tucked in from close range, and all in less time than it takes to read this description. Seven minutes were left, which was time enough for Borg to be forced into making another splendid save and Wayne Noad to replace Jamie Houghton, who had taken a knock after a heavy challenge.
Egham now have a League record of two wins, two draws and three defeats, and have dropped to 13th place, but the season is still young.

EGHAM TOWN: Paul Borg, Dan Hartlebury, Jake Galbraith, Paul Bartholomew, Marcus Moody, Luke Muldowney, Jamie Houghton, Brendan Matthew, Dale Marvell, Matt Grave, Scott Todd. Substitutions: Josh Henry, Jake Joslin, (Bartholomew, 57), Wayne Noad (Houghton, 88), Will MacDonald (Todd, 67).