Egham Town 3 vs 0 Chessington & Hook United

And although we lost our performance was far closer to the required standard.

If you believe our hosts report they will have you believe that we went there to do nothing other than kick our way to a result. A tad harsh, and an article presumably influenced by the lop sided number of cautions dished out to a competitive but fair Chessington side.

Bizarrely the referee brandished a token yellow in the final moments to the Egham right back, presumably to show his impartiality when it comes to punishment. On a final note for Egham and their reporting team, they may have to get used to sides battling away, as given that they are now top they are there to be got at and I cannot imagine many of their future opponents rolling over quietly.

In fact such was the pace of our start we could have scored twice in the opening five minutes, when chances that fell the way of Harry Smart and Sean Bradley were snuffed out. We had certainly achieved what we wanted with this positive opening.

Egham to be fair are well organised, and prompted by their management duo who influenced nearly every first half decision with their vociferous protests, began to settle into the game. Certainly they had the clearest chance after fifteen minutes when having rounded the goalkeeper Hedges, who was the star performer on the day, hit wide of the post.

The game was relatively even but Hedges threat was apparent and it was his incisive break and cross that set up the first goal on 31 minutes. A good goal to break the deadlock.

With that the only goal of the half thanks to a number of factors at both ends, sloppy finishing, good defending and good goalkeeping, we were still in with a shout.

What was now of the utmost importance was a good start to the second half and not conceding the next goal. In fact early on we were creating the better openings and only a fine acrobatic save denied Smart an equaliser.

Sparked into action by our positivity the hosts set about regaining their composure and some control, and just after the hour they scored a second. The similarities to the first were there for all to see and defensively we were found wanting as Hedges tormented our right side with another fine run and cross.

We stayed strong though and continued to press. No doubt the agenda now to score next and create a nervy end to proceedings. In part again we could not be faulted, as the additional attacker thrown on and a more expansive approach saw us have a couple of reasonable chances. Firstly Bradley’s cross come shot was cleared away from within the six-yard box, and then Heath had an effort cleared from the line.
To give us a glimmer of hope we needed one of these to go in for us but alas that didn’t happen.

In the final minute and with the game lost we momentarily lost our way and was punished with a third goal.

No complaints at the defeat and certainly something to build on in a match where a three goal margin slightly flattered the table toppers.