Egham cook up Creeksiders win with five goal display
By Connor Steel
FAREHAM TOWN FC were consigned to a sixth consecutive defeat within this Isthmian League South Central Division as they travelled to Egham Town on Saturday afternoon (January 24); comfortably succumbing to a overwhelming five-two loss against the mid-table opponents after a disappointing display in front of a small crowd at Runnymede Stadium.
The away side started quickly and saw a great opening in the fourth minute when Charlie Cooper had his drive cleared off the line as Joe Warren’s initial shot was played into his path by the keeper Michael Edegbe. The miss was punished when Egham netted their opener after seven minutes when a ball reached Connor Jeanes who fired into this far corner.
It was soon two-nil when the Creeksiders failed to clear a fast throw-in and it was headed off the crossbar; the rebound being tucked away by Omar Rowe as he was the quickest to respond under all pressure. Egham were shortly awarded a penalty in the twenty-sixth minute after a sloppy tackle inside the area, which was easily converted by Connor Cullen.
This third goal did appear to spark Fareham into life as a pass reached Harvey Aston and he made no errors in slotting home under the outrushing Edegbe, making three-one before the half hour. Cooper was then denied twice in this build-up to half time as Edegbe made two diving stops and Egham dealt with many resulting set-pieces to maintain this lead.
Egham ultimately killed this encounter within sixty-seconds of the restart when poor away defending saw the ball rolled into the feet of Bradley Clayton; the attacker simply guiding the ball home to make it four-one under no pressures. This may have worsened as Rowe went close to adding a fifth goal but was brilliantly denied by the hands of Charlie Searle.
Substitutions followed for both teams on the hour mark as Fareham found a second wind with interplay finding Cooper; the winger breaking inside the box and curling low past the goalkeeper to give them the smallest slimmer of hope. Dan Sibley soon went close with a shot across the face of goal narrowly past the sliding efforts of Cooper at the back posts.
The hosts did well to absorb these pressures, and they finally scored their fifth goal with twenty-two minutes left to play when Oliver Deurell Benito hit a low drive that rolled into the corner past Searle with a slow-motion finish. And this was the last notable chance as the proceedings appeared to drift to an inevitable conclusion with little attacking momentum.
Simon Woods’ team are still absolutely rooted at the bottom of these standings after twenty-three matches and now sit seventeen points away from safety going into a crucial run of fixtures at ‘home’. Due to a pitch problem at Cams Alders their games versus Littlehampton and Southall are due to be played on the artificial surfaces at Gosport’s AEI Stadium.
PICTURED BY FAREHAM TOWN FC MEDIA: Away attacker shapes to shoot despite effort of many Egham defenders.
