COMBINED COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION

EGHAM TOWN 2 (0) BEDFONT 3 (1)

It is a measure of how this season is an improvement on the last two that sitting in 10th place is considered to be a poor reflection on how Egham Town have been playing, generally. Any more performances like this one, though, and tenth will be a major achievement, because in the first half Egham were bloody awful. Not that Bedfont were any better, but they merited their lead by dint of constructing the only fluent move in the first 45 minutes and capped it with a clinical finish by Aaron Morgan on 24 minutes. That the move was assisted by little or nothing that merited being accompanied by "tackle" or "marking" from the home side was no surprise at this stage; passes were shanked, tackles missed, decisions wrong. Everything that clicked against Camberley and, in the second half, Sandhurst last Saturday, was missing. Only a long pass by Tom Martin, the midweek goalkeeping hero at Chipstead with Lee Pearce sick, to Frankie Driver, who shot just over Ryan Preedcy's bar, threatened to shift Egham out of their torpor before, in the final two minutes, Driver fed Karle Andrews, whose shot lacked meat, and, from Andrews, Anthony Oaks' shot which ballooned over the bar.

A more cohesive Egham started the second period well, Oaks having a goalbound shot blocked after good work by Martin and Luke Muldowney. The main talking point of the match came on 51 minutes as James Kelsh and Egham's top scorer Matt Graves went for the ball in the centre circle. Well, Graves did. Kelsh hit him hard, and was justifiably red carded on his way off for treatment, but Graves had to be stretchered off before being taken to hospital. Happily the news was better than expected; his leg was not broken and he is hopeful of returning in 2-3 weeks.

The injury shook Egham, who tried to get back into the game against ten men. In an effort to liven up the front line now missing its talisman, (with the industrious Charlie McCarthy on in his place), boss Steve Baker took Neerav Patel out of defence and replaced him with Adie Barrance, a forward with a great record. His goals helped Bedfont Green to rise from relative obscurity to Ryman One South. Then Egham let a goal in, which in itself followed a pattern: 4-0 up against Camberley, subs made, Camberley pulled two back; 3-0 up at Sandhurst, subs made, goal conceded. Just two minutes after Patel left the pitch Chris Drake broke through a ragged defence and scored with ease. So far so terrible but then the Sarnies showed excellent fighting spirit to claw back the two goals before throwing away the point they belatedly deserved against a club with a record in CCL Premier of just one point gained against Egham. McCarthy rose to flick a Luke Muldowney's free kick beyond Preedy's right hand on 72 minutes and with nine minutes left Barrance raced onto a long ball from defence to go one on one with Bedfont keeper, who went down to block the new man's first shot but was powerless as Barrance got off the deck to roll the ball in. Four minutes from the end the defence went to sleep and Lee Clarke was given time to turn and angle his shot past Pearce. It could have been worse but for Pearce's reflexes denying Morgan a second, and Clarke shot well over the Egham bar with an easy chance. Just for good measure James Shipperley flattened Barrance in the early part of the six minutes added on time necessitated by Graves' injury.

The arrival from Cove of towering centre back Jamie O'Keefe will certainly help shore up the back line for Baker's men, as well as potentially provide some threat from attacking set pieces and there is more good news with the prospect of midfielder Jamie Houghton making a return soon.

Next up is a trip to Guildford City at the Spectrum on Saturday 13 February. The next home game is on 16 February (7.45 kick off) against Colliers Wood United.

EGHAM TOWN: Lee Pearce, Paul Bartholomew, Neerav Patel, Wayne Noad (capt.), Tom Martin, Karle Andrews, Anthony Oaks, Jake Rowley, Matt Graves, Frankie Driver, Liam Muldowney. Subs: Charlie McCarthy (Graves, 55), Adie Barrance (Patel, 65), Jamie O'Keefe, Kian Siabi, Michael Carey.