Tooting & Mitcham United 0-2 Epsom and Ewell FC. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Saturday 14th September 2024.

After a horrible start to the season with five straight League defeats, it appears that we have now turned the tide as we recorded our third win in a row, all of which have come without conceding a single goal. This 2-0 win at Tooting & Mitcham United’s Imperial Fields was arguably the best all round performance under Warren Burton’s reign, as we nullified any home threat in the opening half an hour before going on to take control of the remaining sixty minutes and leaving the mostly home crowd of 177 severely subdued by the final whistle.

As always, there are some good stats we can pull out of this fine victory. This was the first win for our club on this day since a 6-0 home London League win over Carshalton Athletic in 1938, and it was also our first ever away win on 14th September in our history. Additionally, this was our fourth visit to play Tooting & Mitcham United since they left Sandy Lane and they have yet to beat us there. Finally, the last time we recorded three straight League wins without conceding was in January 2020.

We made two changes to the line up from Saturday’s late win at Camberley Town with Callum Wilson being replaced by Stefan Aiwone and Luke Taylor replacing the injured Axel Kodjo. For the home side, under the Management of former Salt Jamie Byatt and Club Captain Alex Penfold, we came up against two other former Salts in the starting line-up in Mario Quiassaca and Toby McKimm.

The opening exchanges were slightly in favour of the home side, but consisted mainly of long range efforts clearing our crossbar. Toby Young blocked an early strike that looked like it was on target, but by and large our keeper Dan O’Donovan had very little to do between the posts. We may have been nullifying the home attacks, but weren’t creating too much of our own to start with, but that all changed just after the half hour mark when Ali Fofahan did well down the left before pulling the ball back to Carl Oblitey whose powerful shot from twelve yards was kept out well by McKimm. This heralded the start of a good spell for us and Adam Green cleverly set up Luke Miller down the left, where his pull back to Oblitey was also struck on target, although he was denied by McKimm again.

A Green corner bounced off the top of the Tooting & Mitcham crossbar and away, and whilst the home side forced some corners too, ours looked more dangerous. McKimm dropped a deep delivery at the feet of Aiwone, but was able to collect the loose ball before our man had realised what was happening just behind him. Then Ethan Brazier got away on the overlap and his right wing cross was met by the head of Oblitey who saw the ball tipped over the bar by McKimm. I don’t think the header was going in, but it could have gone anywhere if it had struck the bar, which it looked like it might, so it was an important intervention by the home keeper. Our opponents fashioned a couple of dangerous moves just before the break, but Kionte Gillfillian-Waul was there in time to clear a ball in from the left before it would have been tapped in at the far post. Then a short corner and delivery to the near post was headed just wide of O’Donovan’s right hand post, but it would have been harsh had we gone in trailing at half time, which ended goalless.

We had completed the opening forty-five minutes in the ascendency, even though our failure to score in the first half has now been extended to eleven matches; one short of our club record set in 1981/82. Still, the players had only been back on the field for just ninety seconds when we broke through. Fofahan sent an aimless looking throw towards Oblitey, who was well marked, but he out-jumped two defenders to head the ball back to Green. He then gave the ball back to Fofahan out on the touchline, from where he ran at goal, beating a man on the way and then drilling a low shot just inside McKimm’s right hand post from the edge of the area in the 47th minute.

O’Donovan had to make a fairly comfortable save from distance, but we were soon back on the attack and in the 57th minute we extended our lead after one of our corners wasn’t properly cleared and the ball pinged around in the penalty area before striking Fofahan and looping up kindly for Oblitey to nod the loose ball past McKimm from just four yards to claim the goal his performance deserved and to give us a decisive two goal cushion.

Although the scoring was finished for the day, we continued to press. On the hour Miller put Green through on the left, but McKimm was out quickly to block his shot on goal with Taylor firing the rebound wide from just inside the area. Then Green picked up what looked like a harsh yellow card, although it might have been for persistent fouls. From their subsequent free kick, a deep delivery was headed back into the path of a striker, but from twelve yards he scuffed his shot and the grateful O’Donovan was able to make the straightforward save.

We should have scored a third goal after Gillfillian-Waul and Fofahan combined well on the left, with the delivery being side-footed wide by Green from only eight yards before Fofahan intercepted a pass moments later and set up Oblitey who laid the ball into the path of Miller whose powerful shot was directed straight at McKimm, who blocked it up and away.

The game started to get a little niggly and a couple of yellow cards were waved in the direction of frustrated home players for lunges and their day was summed up around ten minutes from time with a shot on goal that was so high it cleared the stand roof. If you’ve been to Imperial Fields, you’ll realise how high that is!

I’ve referred before to there being very few substitutions in recent matches, and again we went for over 80 minutes with the starting eleven, but we made a couple in the closing minutes with both scorers being taken off in order and being replaced by Ethan Nelson-Roberts and Sean Anderson respectively. Nelson- Roberts then sent over a left wing cross, but his delivery was just ahead of Miller and he couldn’t keep the shot on target. In the final minute of injury time Anderson sent over a good deep cross and Miller’s header was inches away, nestling in the side netting.

It didn’t matter though and after five minutes of injury time the whistle blew to confirm a very strong performance from our team. There was more good news today as our former Manager Adrian Hill was present at the game and was able to confirm at the age of 79 that his health is a lot better than it was a couple of years ago. He looked much stronger after going through some difficult days, as indeed did our team!

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Ethan Brazier, Kionte Gillfillian-Waul, Adam Green (c), Toby Young, Stefan Aiwone, Luke Miller, Craig Dundas, Carl Oblitey, Luke Taylor, Ali Fofahan

Subs: Ethan Nelson-Roberts for Fofahan (84), Sean Anderson for Oblitey (87)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Camberley Town 0-1 Epsom and Ewell FC. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Saturday 7th September 2024

In my preview for this match, I wrote that on this day in history we had played a club record of 21 matches without a draw, but that sequence came under serious threat at Krooner Park where we required a 91st minute winner from Ali Fofahan to break the stalemate and clinch all three points with the only goal against Camberley Town.

On a personal note, this was my thirty-fourth visit to Camberley Town’s ground, and the 66th time I had watched these two teams do battle. These clubs have now met each other on 95 occasions, which by some distance makes the Krooners our most regular opponent. However, it has been a long time since we had been this superior against them, as the last dozen or so results hadn’t been great, with exception of a 2-1 win here last February. More relevantly, this win was our second in a row and also our second clean sheet in a row, which we had not achieved in the League since October of 2022.

Warren Burton made just one change from the eleven that defeated Chipstead on Saturday with Fofahan returning to the starting line up on the left hand side of midfield after being absent on Tuesday. Stefan Aiwone made way, although he was unavailable for this match, so it isn’t clear whether he was injured, or indeed, whether he’d have made way for Fofahan had he actually been here! Kionte Gillfillian-Waul moved from the left wing to left back with Toby Young moving into the centre of defence as we unsurprisingly retained the same formation that had looked so solid against Chipstead.

The opening exchanges were fairly even as we kicked off heading up the Krooner Park slope. The hosts had a first chance as early as the eighth minute when Stan Jones ran onto a ball over the top of our defence, only for Gillfillian-Waul to get across and block his shot. Then Camberley’s Captain Regan Hitch got on the end of a Luis Hamblin free kick at the far post, but his header was easy enough for Dan O’Donovan to field without undue alarm. O’Donovan was looking confident after recording his first clean sheet for the club four days previously and was often out to claim the ball with minimal fuss.

Our first real opportunity came just after the twenty minute mark when Adam Green’s free kick was headed out by the first man to Axel Kodjo whose strike was not far wide of Ben Grummitt’s left hand post from twenty yards. This heralded the start of some good Epsom pressure and Gillfillian-Waul and Fofahan produced some good interplay, ending in a shot from the latter that was blocked by a defender, with Green’s follow-up being deflected wide. From the corner Green received the ball back and his shot from an angle was on target, only for another defender to get in the way.

Green appeared to be pulled back in the area, but the referee wasn’t interested, although Luke Miller was then fouled in a similar way just outside the area, which was given in our favour. However, Green’s free kick cleared the crossbar by about a yard. During this time though Kodjo picked up an injury and had to limp off, being replaced by Luke Taylor.

Grummitt punched clear a Salts corner which then led to a Camberley break, but Gillfillian-Waul did well to recover the situation before it got too serious. Our new signing has looked most impressive in recent weeks, particularly in the first half of matches, and it is almost easy to forget that Ethan Nelson-Roberts has been missing for these last three games. We also looked dangerous on the right wing with fit again Ethan Brazier linking well with Miller who sent a ball right into the danger area, where Taylor and Carl Oblitey were inches away from turning it into the empty net, although the Assistant’s flag was up for offside anyway.

Craig Dundas picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away and we had one final scare in injury time when O’Donovan came out of his area to clear and instead of putting it in row Z, he struck it against Hamblin and was most fortunate to see the ball rebound off him and out for a goal kick. Moments later, he showed he had learned his lesson as he sent the ball flying way over the Krooner Park clubhouse as the referee blew the half time whistle!

This was our tenth match of the season and it is important to note that we haven’t scored in the first half of any of these matches! For those who love a stat, this is now our joint second longest run in club history, matched in 1972/73 and 1992/93 and only exceeded in 1981/82 when we went for twelve matches without scoring in the opening forty-five minutes. Strange really, as we had arguably the strongest team in modern times at that point, and matches against reigning non-League Champions Altrincham and Quadruple winners that season, Leytonstone and Ilford were both part of this twelve match run.

Going down the hill in the second half Louis Lindsay picked up a yellow card for a similar offence to that of Dundas in the first half, although Dundas then did it again moments later and despite the protests from the home team, he was fortunate indeed not to pick up what would have been one of the softest dismissals of his career. However, the game gradually began to tilt in our favour and although Fofahan and Hitch picked up yellow cards for the dictionary definition of “handbags” we were creating most of the pressure, but with one issue; we weren’t actually causing Grummit any trouble in his goal. In fact the hosts probably should have taken the lead in the 68th minute when a left wing cross was flicked on to Hamblin at the far post, but he got it all wrong, spooning the ball over our bar from close range. Maybe emboldened by our escape, we were back on the attack soon after and Taylor made a good overlap on the right, although Oblitey was unable to get his header on target from Taylor’s delivery.

The temperature of the game went up a few degrees in the 74th minute as a long ball down the right found Miller and his ball across goal was turned into the net from twelve yards by Fofahan, but celebrations were then muted by the raising of the offside flag. There were a few Epsom supporters in different places who thought the decision was a wrong one, but none were level with the incident, which the Assistant quite clearly was. However, a cringe worthy episode then followed as both our Vice-Chairman and Chairman, who were also out of line, both literally and metaphorically, were both clearly heard giving a lot of grief to the Assistant about his decision, followed by that feeble plaintive shout we’ve heard before of “we’ve got the video”, almost as if they thought the referee would turn around and say, “you know what, thanks for this, you’re right, I’ll just allow the goal!” Memo to our people who really should know better, it won’t happen, stop embarrassing yourselves and set a better example!

Fortunately, the incident didn’t stop our momentum as we were in full flow by now although another contentious incident followed when Grummitt punched clear after a collision with his own player, only for the free kick to be awarded against us! Still we attacked and Oblitey sent his header from a Miller cross wide. O’Donovan had to be alert to come out of his area to head a break off, literally, with his head before Camberley sent a header wide at our far post. It would be their last opportunity and in the first minute of injury time Miller’s low ball in struck Oblitey and fell kindly for Fofahan to stick the ball away at Grummitt’s near post from eight yards out to register his first goal for our club and clinch the points.

Maybe the goal had a touch of fortune about it, but it was a deserved winner and we now sit in sixteenth position, level with the recently vanquished Chipstead, who only sit above us on goals scored. I’m still a bit puzzled about our lack of substitutions at present, with just three made in three matches, but the early season form that left us at the foot of the table has now been netted off with these two wins and to use a football analogy, we are back in the game. Saturday’s trip to Tooting & Mitcham United; a team that haven’t beaten us at home since they were playing at Sandy Lane, are on paper, a better team than Camberley Town and will provide a better idea of how good we are currently, but for now we are outside the relegation positions for the first time this season, which is pleasing to report!

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Ethan Brazier, Kionte Gillfillian-Waul, Adam Green (c), Toby Young, Callum Wilson, Luke Miller, Craig Dundas, Carl Oblitey, Axel Kodjo, Ali Fofahan

Subs: Luke Taylor for Kodjo (29)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Epsom and Ewell 2-0 Chipstead. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Tuesday 3rd September 2024

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, at times it was quite attritional, but it was also a deserved first three points of the season as we defeated our former landlords Chipstead by two goals to nil at the KGF. It was also a first clean sheet in the League since 16th December as we found a way to get ahead and then showed good game management to see the match out, confirming our superiority with a late second goal.

For our boys, Toby Young came back into the starting eleven after suspension and he was joined by Craig Dundas who had been rested on Saturday. Ali Fofahan and Sean Anderson were both missing, requiring Kionte Gillfillian-Wual and Axel Kodjo to play further forward than they had against AFC Whyteleafe. Ethan Brazier kept his place on the right, meaning that Young played on the left of a back four with Callum Wilson and Stefan Aiwone partnering up in central defence.

Chipstead came into the match on the back of a win at Horley Town, although that had been only their second win of the season. This meant that this game took on extra importance as our opponents became one of the teams just above us that we needed to close the gap on, having already gone into this match four points adrift of safety at this admittedly early stage of the season. For such a big match it was a shame that only 51 people were counted as being in attendance, marking our lowest home crowd since our move here. Please do not believe the club’s wildly inflated “official” attendance figure of 83. It was nowhere near that and it is really sad that they have to resort to these sort of things. Just because something is quoted by our club as “official” doesn’t mean it is accurate.

The opening exchanges were mostly in favour of the visitors who made early inroads, particularly down their right wing where Young looked uncomfortable to start with playing in a less familiar position. Dan O’Donovan was called into an early save, although we had our own attack moments later with Adam Green firing just over the bar with a powerful shot that pinged off the corrugated roof at the Tolworth end of the ground and actually burst the football!

Green was involved again in the 13th minute with a free kick that Carl Oblitey headed just wide of the post and Kodjo was also not far away from 20 yards out. As we began to gain a real foothold in the match Oblitey headed wide from a Green corner before a Brazier delivery was met by a downward header from Kodjo that bounced up kindly for Sam Carman in the visitors goal to handle. Green was having one of his best games for us and saw his shot deflected wide for a corner that we were unable to take advantage of, despite Carman flapping at the ball and falling over. However, we hadn’t really tested their keeper too much until Gillfillian-Wual was set up by a clever pass from Oblitey and he ran in at goal in the 39th minute, shooting from an angle, but Carman was equal to it. Another delivery from Gillfillian-Wual zipped across the Chipstead six yard area as the seconds ticked down and we went in at the break looking quite good, but without having made the break through. In fact, this was the ninth match in a row where we have failed to score in the first half!

Of course, regular readers will be aware that we have had similar situations frequently this season, failing to take advantage of them or making a crucial error at the wrong time, but this time we started the second half strongly. Young saw his header from a deep Green free kick saved by Carman at his far post, and we looked more confident. In fact, I was just about to say to supporters around me that we looked like we might score shortly, when we did exactly that in the 51st minute; a low left wing ball in from Gillfillian-Wual required Carman to stretch to reach it, but he couldn’t hold on and Oblitey reacted quickly to force the loose ball over the prostrate keeper and into the roof of the net from four yards out. This was the first time we have led in a League match all season!

The visitors stepped up their efforts for a while and we found ourselves pushed back as Chipstead tried to force an equaliser. A long shot deflected kindly for O’Donovan but we had the biggest scare of the match on the hour when our keeper was unable to hold on to a fairly routine shot and the ball bobbled away from him in a similar manner to how our goal came about. However, Michael Dixon snatched at the shot from just twelve yards and fired it straight back at O’Donovan who redeemed for his error by gratefully reclaiming the ball.

This was a major let off, and maybe you would now be reading about a different ending had they levelled up the score at that point, but the miss knocked any momentum they were trying to build and there was very little of note to concern the home supporters as we began to see the game out in a fairly comfortable manner. Slowing the game down well and breaking up play almost seemed like second nature to our players, as if we did this sort of thing regularly. With ten minutes left Callum Wilson went down with cramp. I’m not sure about you, but isn’t it surprising how players rarely, if ever, go down with cramp when their team are losing!

Either way, it was great to be in that sort of position after weeks of being behind in the closing stages. Wilson picked up a yellow card for a foul out on the touchline, but in the 91st minute Green’s corner was flicked on by a defender to the far post where Young was waiting to volley the ball into the top corner of the net powerfully from eight yards out to confirm the destination of the points. But could we keep that first clean sheet in the League? Only just, as it turned out, as the visitors broke through in the 94th minute and rounded O’Donovan, but somehow the shot went wide of our post.

This was a determined performance from our boys in a match we really needed the points from. Some might think that describing this win as attritional isn’t very fair, but actually it is a compliment. We looked much tougher to beat in this match than in recent contests and were able to see the game out in a confident manner, which is ultimately all that really matters in our current position. We now need to take this performance into our trip to Camberley on Saturday and start to build some momentum in an attempt to get away from the foot of the table. We took one step towards this last night as we leapfrogged Spelthorne Sports.

I have two further observations from this match. Firstly, we made no substitutions until the 96th minute when Luke Taylor came on for his first minutes of the new season, having only made one sub in our previous match against AFC Whyteleafe too. Although this happens from time to time, it is unusual, particularly in this era of multiple substitutions and it might indicate a lack of depth on the bench. We’ll see how that develops. Secondly, it is interesting that we won our first league match in the 2023/24 season under Steve Springett with four at the back, after playing the first seven matches (all lost) with three at the back, and although this wasn’t the first time this season that we have played “a four” the preferred formation appeared to involve three at the back. Maybe that will change now! In the meantime though, it was a very welcome and necessary three points.

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Ethan Brazier, Toby Young, Adam Green (c), Callum Wilson, Stefan Aiwone, Luke Miller, Craig Dundas, Carl Oblitey, Axel Kodjo, Kionte Gillfillian-Wual

Subs: Luke Taylor for Dundas (96)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Epsom and Ewell 1-4 AFC Whyteleafe. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Saturday 31st August 2024.

Although the result of this match may give the impression that we were well beaten by AFC Whyteleafe at the KGF on Saturday, this match was still in the balance as we reached the ninety minute mark, only for two injury time goals; one dreadful and the other one quite special, to confirm a 4-1 win for the visitors.

For the greater part of the match we made this a competitive contest, although we were just lacking a bit of quality that might have turned the game in our favour. On the subject of quality, former Salt Mike Hill was in the opposition line-up. I once wrote that Hill was the best player that played for us in our Step Six years and after a slow start, he began to become more influential in this Step Five encounter. What our team would give to have a player like that in Epsom colours once again. Another former Salt in the all green kit for this match was Sirak Negassi, who only left us a few weeks ago. It is interesting to see that he now makes the squad for a club sitting at the top of our division, when he wasn’t deemed worthy enough to start for us that often.

We had a debut in our line up as the newly signed Kionte Gillfillian-Wual was at left back in place of the absent Ethan Nelson-Roberts. Ethan Brazier was back in the starting eleven in place of Felipe de Lima, while Axel Kodjo came in for Craig Dundas who was rested and spent ninety minutes on the bench. Up front Will Kendall remained absent and this won’t be a short term situation as he is getting married in Hawaii and will be away for a few weeks! Finally, Sean Anderson came in for his first start alongside Carl Oblitey with Mohssine Sabek dropping to the bench after making his debut five days previously.

We nearly had a bizarre start to the match in the 8th minute when the AFC Whyteleafe keeper James Shaw held on to the ball too long and suddenly found himself closed down by Oblitey about a yard out from the goal line. Shaw managed somehow to get the ball out for a corner from which Ali Fofahan saw his shot go straight at the relieved keeper.

In the early part of the match it appeared that Ryan Gondoh was involved in a personal mission against our defence. He had a low shot across goal that Dan O’Donovan did well to keep out, although the ball was recycled and fed back in again, where Gondoh then saw his next shot blocked by a defender. On the 20 minute mark his shot deflected up off another of our defenders, looping over O’Donovan and coming back off our crossbar!

At the other end Anderson sent an Adam Green free kick straight at Shaw, but on the half hour Gondoh managed to ride a challenge and made for goal, only for the whistle to blow for the award of an AFC Whyteleafe free kick, which angered him. Clearly the referee should have played the advantage, but Gondoh ‘s reaction might have earned him a sin bin on another day and I’m sure the only reason he didn’t go, was because the referee recognised his error and didn’t want to compound it further.

Our best chance came on the 35 minute mark when the ball went between two defenders and fell nicely for Fofahan, although he chose to take a touch when he might have been better advised to shoot straight away, and by the time he finally struck at goal he was at a wider angle and could only find the side netting from twelve yards.

We were very much in this game though, which made it even more disappointing when we conceded just before the break. With the clock showing the 43rd minute O’Donovan made a good first save, and then made another from a close range header, but we were still unable to clear the ball which was then forced in from close range by Omari Delgado. We had one more chance before the break with some good interplay between Callum Wilson and Oblitey who flicked the ball on for Axel Kodjo to strike, but again the ball was too close to Shaw who made a routine save.

At half time supporters were bemoaning the similarity of this match to some of our recent ones, in that we were as competitive as our opponents, but we seemed to find a way to concede every time. Unfortunately, a second goal then followed in the 52nd minute after Hill weaved through our defence, only to square the ball for an unmarked tap in from Delgado to score his second on the day.

Not for the first time in recent matches, we faced a mountain to climb, but our next chance came from an unlikely source as Stefan Aiwone showed great skill in the penalty area to beat a number of men and get a shot on target away, but Shaw had closed the angle down well and made the block. A couple of minutes later Oblitey intercepted a pass and set up Anderson, but his shot from just ten yards out was too close to Shaw who made the block with his feet and then also held the follow up drive from Luke Miller. This was probably our best chance of the entire match and we have to start taking these.

Next up for us was Green’s clever pass to Miller, but he struck across goal, missing the far post and then having the front to blame Anderson for not getting on the end of his shot! We had a lucky escape when Hill broke through, only to fire straight at O’Donovan and then the visitors had a shout for a penalty when the ball appeared to strike Brazier’s hand at the far post, but it was clearly accidental and fortunately the referee agreed! In the 83rd minute we had a goal back, although it was a bit of a gift as Shaw kicked the ball straight out to Miller, waiting in a central position and he simply ran back in with the ball and drove his shot low past Shaw into the net, glancing off a defender’s leg on the way from twelve yards.

At 2-1 down we now had something to aim for and pushed for an equaliser, but any momentum we were trying to build was obliterated by a piece of Sunday League defending as a long goal kick from Shaw was controlled in stride by the unmarked Aaron Watson and he flicked the ball past O’Donovan into his bottom left corner in the 92nd minute with our defenders nowhere. It was a horrible goal to concede, although two minutes later a rather stunning volley from twenty-five yards by Daniel Bennett flew past O’Donovan on the bounce for a fourth goal.

It seems to be a familiar story these days as we seem to be the equal of our opponents for large parts of the match, only for individual errors, or blown marking assignments to hurt us every week. We remain pointless and with two clubs going down this season we are already four points adrift of safety and have not had a clean sheet in a League match since December of last year. It was also a little strange that we only made one substitute in the entire contest at a time when something different needed to be done, even if it were only for fresh legs. These are concerning times for Salts supporters, and whilst it is still fairly early in the season, we really need to start picking up points urgently. Maybe on Tuesday at home to Chipstead?

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Ethan Brazier, Kionte Gillfillian-Wual, Adam Green (c), Stefan Aiwone, Callum Wilson, Luke Miller, Axel Kodjo, Carl Oblitey, Sean Anderson, Ali Fofahan

Subs: Felipe de Lima for Kodjo (75)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Epsom and Ewell 1-2 Corinthian-Casuals, Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Monday 26th August 2024.

A late rally almost enabled us to take something out of our first Tolworth based local derby, but we were ultimately unable to force an equaliser and had to accept defeat to our landlords and visitors Corinthian-Casuals by two goals to one at the KGF on Monday.

Our club will tell you that we had a good, if slightly inflated attendance of 224 in an attempt to justify switching this match to an afternoon kick-off, but the simple truth is that they still missed out on hundreds of pounds in gate revenue. By moving this match from the original 11.30am kick off, we missed out on at least fifty more spectators, as there were very few morning kick offs around in our area. Our match would easily have been the most interesting of those early kick offs, but instead we had to compete with an almost full Isthmian League programme, including the Kingstonian v Raynes Park Vale derby, plus home matches for Dulwich Hamlet and Horsham, not to mention National League teams Woking and Dorking Wanderers. Not a smart move, but they’ll still try to justify it! Quite simply, our club needs to learn to leave our rare 11.30 matches alone and if they are genuine about getting more supporters in, then to consider different kick off times to the masses on more regular occasions, not less. Running out of programmes half an hour before kick-off won’t endear the club to “floaters” either!

Our line up was still missing Toby Young who completed his three game suspension in this match in addition to the injured Reece Tierney and Fabian Nunes, while Will Kendall was also absent. Carl Oblitey came in up front in Kendall’s position and played alongside Ali Fofahan who had made a promising debut at Sandhurst Town on Tuesday. Felipe de Lima continued in place of Nunes as he had done on Tuesday, while Ethan Brazier was moved to the bench with his place being taken by new signing from Guildford City, Sabek Mohssine, who had a fairly uneventful hour before being replaced by another debutant in Sean Anderson.

In truth this match followed a similar pattern to many of our others this season, in that we have competed fairly well against opponents, only for errors to cost us, and this would be the case again in a match that was niggly at times, but swung both ways and was entertaining with lots of half-chances. We had the first of those when a hopeful ball was dropped into the Casuals penalty area, where their keeper and a defender almost left to it to each other, but instead the ball fell to Callum Wilson, only his shot at a half vacant goal from just eight yards was scuffed and easily cleared by the covering defender. The ball was only half cleared to Fofahan whose strike skimmed inches over the crossbar from 18 yards.

Although we had chances, our opponents had the greater share of possession, particularly in the opening half and they responded with a low shot just wide of Dan O’Donovan’s goal, before a free kick from Diogo Da Silva was straight at our man between the posts. He was in action shortly afterwards as a deep delivery was punched away from an unmarked Casuals player waiting at the far post before Jonathon Gjoshe sent a shot in that just cleared our own crossbar.

In response Oblitey produced a good run and low shot that was a couple of feet wide of the near post before an Adam Green free kick was cleared away which led to a counter attack from the most dangerous player on the pitch Shea Cascoe-Rogers, but Green had recovered well to make the tackle back. Fofahan was then booked for a foul on Cascoe-Rogers and we nearly conceded from a deep free kick when two of our defenders combined to get in each other’s way, luckily knocking the ball out for a corner, just wide of our own post. However, in the 42nd minute we went behind. The visitors advised that the goal was scored by their number 4 Tommy Castelo, but it was actually headed past O’Donovan by our own number 4, Adam Green from close range, giving him no chance!

It had been coming though, as they were finishing the stronger of the teams and although Fofahan had his shirt pulled in the visiting penalty area, nothing was given, before a Luke Miller header was then caught at full stretch by Murillo Bernardes and we went in at the break a goal down.

The second half continued in a similar fashion, concentrated mostly in midfield and Sabek picked up our second yellow card for pulling back an opponent before being replaced by Anderson. However, seconds later with the clock showing the 62nd minute, a straightforward long ball went over Wilson and with no cover, Raf Barbosa had the simple task of squaring the ball to the far post where Reyon Dillon was able to tap the ball into the net from a few yards out to give Corinthian-Casuals a two goal lead.

We weren’t quite done yet though and began to push the “visitors” back on their home patch. In the 72nd minute I’m still not sure how we failed to get the ball in the net after Miller knocked the ball through for Anderson who lobbed the ball over the advancing Bernardes. Oblitey got to the ball in first, some four yards out, yet his touch then knocked the ball onto the shoulder of Marcos dos Santos and looped just over the bar like a Olympic high jumper. In fact, the only thing in the net after this was dos Santos who required a bit of treatment!

For some reason and despite Dos Santos being off the field after the treatment, we chose to take a short corner. It wasn’t a good one and led to a counter-attack which required O’Donovan to keep us in the game with a good save. The next time, the ball got past O’Donovan, although Ethan Nelson-Roberts was there instead to clear the danger. Casuals chances kept coming though and in the 81st minute Frazier Osunkoya struck a shot against our bar with the ball coming down and being cleared. However, it then came back in and a cross from the left to the far post was met by a powerful close range strike from Cascoe-Rogers, but O’Donovan made another fine save to keep the ball out.

Opportunities were coming for our boys too as the game began to get more stretched, and a nice pass from Wilson put Anderson through one on one with Bernardes, but his touch was heavy and the keeper was able to clear. We then lost De Lima temporarily with what appeared to be something in his eye, but even though we were down to ten men at this point, we then pulled a goal back as a ball over the top was latched onto by Miller as our opponents appeared to stop, and he ran in on goal from the left before cutting back onto his right foot to take the keeper out of the equation before firing into the roof of the net from eight yards in the 88th minute.

This goal led to our opponents getting a little twitchy and they picked up a yellow card for delaying a throw in before Bernardes got another for wasting time himself. Time was running out, although we had a final chance when Fofahan put Oblitey through to find the bottom corner, only for the Assistant’s flag to be raised against him for offside. After seven minutes of injury time the whistle blew to confirm that the points had been lost.

So it’s now a fourth straight League defeat and Spelthorne Sports’ draw with Knaphill leaves us alone at the bottom of the table once again. We could argue with some justification that we were worth a draw in both of our recent losses, but blaming the referee for our League position as our unknown club reporter does is disingenuous and we will need to find a way out of this before we find ourselves in a similar position to last season when we lost our opening seven League matches of the season. Two tough home matches are up next, so we quite simply have to improve or that dreaded “R” word will start cropping up again in supporter conversations.

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Stefan Aiwone, Callum Wilson, Adam Green (c), Felipe De Lima, Craig Dundas, Luke Miller, Sabek Mohssine, Carl Oblitey, Ali Fofahan, Ethan Nelson-Roberts

Subs: Sean Anderson for Mohssine (61), Axel Kodjo for Dundas (73)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Sandhurst Town 4-1 Epsom and Ewell. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Tuesday 20th August 2024.

We crashed to a 4-1 defeat in our latest League match at Sandhurst Town on Tuesday evening at Bottom Meadow in front of 86 spectators on a chillier than anticipated August evening.

Let’s get one thing straight here though. We did not deserve to lose this match, particularly by such a heavy margin. In fact, some of our passing was the best I’ve seen all season. However, we didn’t help ourselves either by failing to take chances and then by collecting a couple of sin-bins that really hurt us, just when we looked like we were about to take control of this contest.

We made four changes following our F.A. Cup loss to Hayes and Yeading United (who now travel to Margate in the next round by the way). Faebian Witter was absent and replaced by Dan O’Donovan, while Ethan Brazier replaced the suspended Toby Young. Further forward, Kenny Antony and Axel Kodjo dropped to the bench, with their places taken by Adam Green following his suspension and debutant Ali Fofahan, who started out on the left wing.

We made a bright start and Ethan Nelson-Roberts, making his fiftieth appearance for the Salts, was just over the bar with an early strike, before a Green corner led to a shot from Fabian Nunes that was dragged wide from the edge of the area. We had a scare at the other end after the Sandhurst right winger got past Nelson-Roberts and O’Donovan too, but could only find the side netting with his shot. They then attacked down the left and Shane Qoloni got past Ethan Brazier, only to then go down after a collision, with the referee deciding to award a penalty. We’ve seen them given before, and no doubt will do again, but it was definitely in the soft category. Regrettably, Elliott Miles then dispatched the penalty in the 24th minute, although O’Donovan did manage to get something on the shot on its way in.

This was harsh. We had been doing most of the work to this point and we nearly equalised on the half hour when a Nelson-Roberts cross caused panic in the Sandhurst penalty area and Luke Miller and then Fofahan saw their shots blocked by defenders in quick succession. Our next corner was met at the far post by Callum Wilson, but his header back towards goal took a touch off a defender and fell kindly for the keeper to fall onto.

By this time Fabian Nunes had been replaced after suffering a groin injury, but his replacement Felipe de Lima had only been on for about a quarter of an hour when his ill-advised back pass was intercepted by Tshin Kumuaro who ran in and beat O’Donovan with a clinical strike in the 39th minute. Nelson-Roberts then had to be alert to block a shot for a corner as did Stefan Aiwone on the other side of the goal as Sandhurst threatened a third goal before the half which fortunately did not come.

At half time it was hard to comprehend how we could be behind, although to this point we hadn’t forced the keeper into a save, so we could hardly complain just because the other side had taken their chances. Fortunately, we got a goal back quickly and it was Craig Dundas who got on the end of a Green free kick to knock the ball in from eight yards for his first goal for our club, just six minutes into the second period. Both myself and a supporter next to me were certain that it had been knocked in by Dundas’s hand, but no one complained and the referee seemed happy too, so we were back at 2-1 with a long time left to play.

And play we did. We took the game to Sandhurst for a while with wave after wave of attacks. Corner after corner followed as we pushed for an equaliser and it seemed like a matter of time before we would be level. Dundas set up Kendall with a great tackle, but our striker shot straight at the home keeper from just inside the penalty area, while moments later De Lima missed a good opportunity to head at goal from another Green free kick, but in the 65th minute Wilson said something to the referee and was promptly sin-binned in the 65th minute. In that moment all of our momentum was lost.

The pattern of the match changed and we stopped creating opportunities, while the home side tried to take advantage of the extra man and a cross was well cut out by O’Donovan before Nelson-Roberts was adjudged to have brought his man down in the corner of the penalty area. It was a long way away from us, so it was hard to see whether this one was equally soft. Strangely, even with their first penalty taker still on the field, their number 16 chose to take this one in the 77th minute and O’Donovan produced a good low save to his right to keep the ball out, and although the loose ball was turned in by another player, he was deemed to have encroached and the free kick went our way. Wilson returned to the field of play and maybe we could start to press again.

Not this time though. We let the ball go out of play carelessly and from a throw in, allowed to be taken further up the field than it should have been, the home side broke away and Maurice Black smashed the ball past O’Donovan just two minutes after the penalty to make it 3-1. Things got worse a few minutes later when Nelson-Roberts was sin-binned too and as the wheels came off the ten man cart, O’Donovan was alert to make a good save from a one on one situation as we parted at the back. Debutant substitute Joel Onu had a smart shot on the turn in the 90th minute that was well saved, but from the keeper’s clearance they broke straight through and whilst O’Donovan again did well to keep the first shot out, he could do nothing about the loose ball which was fired in from close range to leave the final score looking extremely harsh.

As it turned out, Spelthorne’s 5-0 loss at Cobham ensured that we actually climbed a place in the League table after this defeat, but this was a harsh loss to take. We played really well at times, and yes, a couple of rather odd refereeing decisions didn’t help us, but there were still self-inflicted incidents that let us down and we really need to learn that being reduced to ten men for a throwaway comment is such a severe penalty that it must be avoided at all costs. I am absolutely certain that we would have scored an equaliser in this match had we kept eleven men on the field midway through the second half and may well have gone on to win from there, but the harsh reality is three matches, three defeats, two red cards and two sin-bins. We need to keep working harder, but also work smarter too, if we are to avoid another serious relegation battle.

Epsom & Ewell: Dan O’Donovan, Ethan Brazier, Ethan Nelson-Roberts, Stefan Aiwone, Callum Wilson, Craig Dundas, Luke Miller, Adam Green (c), Will Kendall, Fabio Nunes, Ali Fofahan

Subs: Felipe de Lima for Nunes (25), Joel Onu for Brazier (78)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Epsom and Ewell 1-3 Hayes & Yeading United. Emirates F.A. Cup Preliminary Round. Saturday 17th August 2024.

We were defeated in our latest F.A. Cup match by Step Four Hayes & Yeading United FC at the KGF on Saturday, but I couldn’t help wondering how different this match might have been, had we not had such an awful start to the contest.

In terms of personnel, Craig Dundas returned from honeymoon while Adam Green was suspended after his Guildford indiscretion, so Callum Wilson took on the Captain’s armband for the first time in twelve months. Up front Kenny Antony came in for Carl Oblitey who was on the bench. On a hot day, a decent cup tie crowd of 160 were present to watch the action as we kicked off towards the Chessington end of the ground with a switch to four at the back for this match, maybe respecting the level of our opponents, or maybe just due to player availability, as yet again we failed to name a full bench.

The visitors started off with an early sighter from the edge of the penalty area that was just wide of Faebian Witter’s left hand post, but the next chance fell to us in the sixth minute, and it was a really good one. Will Kendall robbed a defender and Fabio Nunes sent the loose ball into the stride of Antony. Arguably he had too long to think about it though and sliced his shot high and wide from just twelve yards.

When playing a team from a higher league, it is not rocket science to suggest that we must take the chances we get, as we may not get many. This was clearly highlighted within seven minutes by which time we had conceded twice! The first goal in the tenth minute was a real morale sapper as a harmless ball in from the right wing should have been gathered by Witter, yet despite being under no pressure, somehow the ball rebounded off him and worse still, it went behind him and into the net! The visitors credited the goal to their man Adrian Clifton, so we’ll leave it at that. Three minutes later there was no disputing Clifton’s second goal as he took a nice touch and followed it with a clinical volley from twelve yards that gave our keeper no chance.

It would be easy to think that this was game over, just thirteen minutes into the match. Indeed, after missing a chance and then conceding in such bizarre circumstances, morale could drop here, but to our credit we continued to work hard. However, maybe unexpectedly, we then had two more great opportunities within a matter of minutes, firstly when the visiting keeper Juliusz Pazio kicked the ball straight out to Luke Miller, just twenty yards out, who inexplicably couldn’t control the ball and ended up knocking it straight back to the keeper!

A pair of cards, one for each team, followed midway through the half as both teams battled for the middle ground before Antony sent a good cross over, but with no one there to finish it off. As we approached the 40 minute mark Miller put over a great cross to the far post, but Antony’s volley, with his admittedly weaker foot, flew into the side netting from twelve yards out. Witter was being kept busy too and he had to come out of his area to chest the ball clear, but the final Epsom chance came in injury time when Antony did well to rob his man and square the ball to Kendall, who got there first, but a defender was there just afterwards and his contact slowed the ball down on its way, allowing Pazio to clutch the ball, almost in slow motion, just a couple of inches from the line. We had created four great chances, yet were 2-0 down at the interval!

The second half was a little quieter in terms of real chances and our only real opportunity in the opening twenty minutes came on the hour when Miller did well on the right but the pull back to Nunes was met by a slice that a golfer would have been unhappy with, as the ball skewed across goal and out for a throw!

The visitors then extended their lead in the 63rd minute with a corner that was met by a strike from Adam Martin, only for Hani Bircheche to get a close range touch to the shot, giving Witter no chance. This was a little harsh on our boys and we deservedly reduced the deficit in the 74th minute when Nunes played a one-two with our newly introduced substitute Fabian de Lima and finished off the return pass into the left hand bottom corner from twelve yards. It was such a simple goal, but the first one in competitive action at the KGF in nearly four matches. De Lima looks quite a lively player and he had a great twenty minute cameo on his debut.

Witter made a smart near post save as time ticked down and ultimately we were unable to threaten the visitors further in this match. However, you couldn’t help but wonder whether this match might have ended with a different winner if we hadn’t started so badly. Ultimately, we never got the chance to see what our opponents would have done under a bit of pressure, but make no mistake, we will have to start taking our chances, starting on Tuesday at Sandhurst Town, who also lost in the F.A. Cup this Saturday.

Epsom & Ewell: Faebian Witter, Toby Young, Ethan Nelson-Roberts, Stefan Aiwone, Callum Wilson, Craig Dundas, Luke Miller, Axel Kodjo, Will Kendall, Fabio Nunes, Kenny Antony

Subs: Felipe de Lima for Kodjo (61), Carl Oblitey for Dundas (75), Ethan Brazier for Aiwone (78)

Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk

Epsom and Ewell 0-2 Jersey Bulls. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South – Tuesday 13th August 2024.

Jersey Bulls are not the sort of team you want to face, having just been hit for five goals in our previous outing. However, we acquitted ourselves fairly well on the day and a two goal defeat, the second of which came quite late, was a lot better than I had feared it might be. An attendance counted at just 84 was a disappointing one, considering the opposition.

In terms of personnel, Callum Wilson and Carl Oblitey returned to the starting line up, although Craig Dundas remained absent and Thompson Adeyemi was also missing, while Reece Tierney’s head injury ensured that he would not be available for selection either. Stefan Aiwone made his first start, while Kenny Antony was on the bench, but would join the fray later.

Our keeper Faebian Witter was in action early, diving low to his left to keep out a low free kick from James Sunlay and another shot went just over our crossbar as the visitors tried to assert themselves. They probably should have scored in the 18th minute but Fraser Barlow scuffed his shot wide from in front of goal. We had showed fairly little to this point, struggling to get the ball up to our front two, Oblitey and Will Kendall. However, Luke Miller took a long pass in his stride in the 25th minute and made tracks down the right, only for his ball across goal to be spooned over the bar by Oblitey from eighteen yards.

The visitors were doing more of the work, but we were keeping them mostly at arm’s length. A free kick was sent into the wall by Barlow, before Sunray got down the right wing after some clever interplay, but there was no one on the end of his cross. They had a penalty shout in the 31st minute after Witter collided with a visiting player, but it looked ambitious and nothing was given. However, four minutes later they took the lead after a right wing cross was met at the far post by a header from Miguel Carvalho that Toby Young tried to keep out, but was unable to, with both he and the ball ending up in the net.

We had a decent chance in the 38th minute with a free kick. Adam Green’s delivery was flapped at by the Jersey keeper Evan van der Vliet under pressure from Oblitey and the ball was nodded back to Kendall whose header entered the net, despite an attempt to block it with the hand of a defender. Just as we were wondering whether the defender would be penalised for the handball, it transpired that the Assistant’s flag had already been raised for an offside against Oblitey and the chance was gone. Wilson then blocked a good effort just before the break and the teams went in separated by just the one goal.

The second half followed a similar pattern, although we did register a shot on target just after the hour mark when Fabio Nunes struck at goal from twenty-five yards, providing Van der Vliet with a comfortable save. Carlos Polo-Infante came on for Alex Kodjo but we never had the chance to see whether this would make a difference as in the 69th minute Young was sent off for a challenge on Carvalho that was extremely solid, but just a little high for the referee’s liking.

The extra man enabled the visitors to attack with a little more freedom and in the 78th minute they had a second goal with a move that started on the right and was finished off from a narrow angle by Jonny Le Quesne. Although we had battled well to this point, Jersey did deserve that two goal lead and despite a late cameo from Antony, which included one mazy run, there was more chance that we would concede again and Aiwone did really well to block a shot from Lorne Bickley who had scored both goals against us when we last visited the island in September of last year.

Witter made a good block from a volley at goal from the subsequent half cleared corner and the final whistle blew soon after. Whilst always disappointing to lose, it was maybe no surprise that we would concede twice as this was our fourth meeting and Jersey have scored two goals in each of them. No one could argue that the better side had won, but from an Epsom point of view, this was a marked improvement on our Saturday shocker against Guildford City and although we face another difficult match on Saturday, a hard working shift is the minimum requirement expected by the supporters. I believe we got that in this match.

Epsom & Ewell: Faebian Witter, Toby Young, Callum Wilson, Adam Green ©, Stefan Aiwone, Fabio Nunes, Luke Miller, Axel Kodjo, Will Kendall, Carl Oblitey, Ethan Nelson-Roberts

Subs: Carlos Polo-Infante for Kodjo (67), Kenny Antony for Oblitey (86)

Epsom and Ewell 0-5 Guildford City. Combined Counties League – Premier Division South. Saturday 10th August 2024. On Tuesday our club acclaimed a “great” performance in defeating Step Four Phoenix Sports; a club that faced severe budget cuts and a new Manager who started eleven new players against us in the first tie, and who will surely struggle this season at that level. I wrote at the time that it had been a solid performance but nothing more. Fast forward four days and I was proven right as we threw in a shocker to open our League season as Guildford City; one of the few teams to finish below us last season, handed us a five goal lesson at King George’s Field and provided a reminder that no club in this League will give us anything unless we earn it in every single game.

We were missing Carl Oblitey, Callum Wilson and Craig Dundas from Tuesday’s win, with Kenny Antony coming back in to the starting line up and at the back Reece Tierney made his first start of the season, alongside new signing Axel Kodjo. Just 93 were present, despite the sunshine, to witness this display which was probably just as well! It was also disappointing to note that our club have now increased adult prices to £9 and as a result we now charge as much as anyone in this division and more than most, which I wish they had been open and honest about, instead of sneaking it under the radar and hoping no one would notice. When considering our finishing position of 16th last season, it’s hard to see the justification for this increase at a time when they should be trying to attract supporters. A lazy “double-issue” programme priced at £2.50 didn’t help either. In fifteen years as programme editor, I only ever did that over Bank Holidays when printers were closed and can confirm from much experience in this area that the excuses provided within the programme for doing this were bogus. If our new Editor wants some help or advice, he only has to drop me a line.

We had an opening warning as early as the sixth minute when Manny Acheampong was left in a lot of space on the right, requiring Faebian Witter to make a really good low save to deny him from only twelve yards. However, we didn’t heed the warning and five minutes later they worked their way down the left, dragging our players across and leaving Darnell Jon-Peter with an easy finish when the ball was sent over to him on the right.

This was frustrating, but there was plenty of time left to rectify matters if we could improve, and to be fair things did get better for a while. Luke Miller combined well with Thompson Adeyemi to set up Antony, only for our striker to miss his kick completely from the edge of the area. Antony redeemed himself by hitting the target with his next effort after some really clever skill from Ethan Nelson-Roberts, but visiting keeper Jacob Terry made a good block at the near post. Then Miller sent in a good delivery that was flicked on and punched out off a defender for a corner, from which the ball was half cleared to Will Kendall at an angle and on the edge of the area, but his powerful strike cleared the bar by about a foot.

It was looking as though we were quite likely to get back into this match, but in the 34th minute the game took a fatal turn as a cross in from the left was met with a close range header that Adam Green did really well to tip over the bar. The only problem was that Green was not our keeper and his inevitable red card, followed by Jake Brown’s penalty conversion, left us in a mess. Some might say that his actions were instinctive and I’d agree with that if he were our keeper! In fact, I’d say it was a worthwhile thing to do, had we been defending a narrow lead towards the end of the game, but at 1-0 down, the handball was inexcusable. Green will also now have to serve a one match suspension, which I believe will be our next F.A. Cup tie on Saturday.

In difficult situations like this, you often find out how your players will react, but nothing really happened by way attacking threat, with our only chance coming in the third minute of first half injury time when a great pass from Nelson-Roberts was chested down by Miller and he was through on goal from a slight angle, but Terry stood firm between the City posts and Miller uncharacteristically put his shot into the side netting from ten yards. Had it gone in, maybe it would have given us a chance of second half redemption, but instead we went in completely deflated.

Our Manager understandably made changes at the interval with Carlos Polo-Infante and Stefan Aiwone (called Hiwone by the club) coming on for Antony and Thompson Adeyemi respectively, but the visitors came out in confident mood against the ten men and extended their lead in the 50th minute with a strike that was at least twenty-five yards out and swerved viciously away from Witter who had no chance as it flew into the top corner. Even their keeper Terry said “he’ll never score another one like that again!” It was a wonderful strike, and nine minutes later there was another one of high quality, as Malachi Cole made it 4-0 when we were caught cold by a short free kick; the Guildford man cutting back and striking across Witter into the far corner from a narrow angle. It clearly wasn’t going to be our day today!

Things got worse still in the 67th minute after we again failed to react to a deep free kick to the far post that was put back across by Tobi Falodi with Young being unable to clear the ball off the line before it had crossed. However, the visitors X feed advised this as an own goal, so clearly it wasn’t quite as straightforward as I described. Either way though it was 0-5.

With fifteen minutes remaining Polo-Infante sent in a good cross from the right that was met by a bullet header from Kendall from just inside the penalty area that Terry reacted superbly to tip over the bar. This was a superb passage of football from both teams and we then saw Young’s header from the subsequent corner aim goalwards, only to hit teammate and debutant substitute Sean Omoigiade-Agun and rebound to safety!

Witter made two more good saves and we finished with nine men after Tierney suffered a head injury and had to leave the field in the 85th minute. Although the visitors then hit the post with a low shot in the 92nd minute, they were unable to breach our defences again and the referee helped us out here by only playing four minutes of injury time, despite there being closer to ten minutes expected in my opinion.

So what positives can we take from this defeat? As you might expect, not many. Witter did as well as he could and from where I was, I don’t believe he could have done any more with the goals. Kendall provided a threat on occasions, but the whole task was rendered impossible after Green’s unnecessary red card. With very difficult looking home matches coming up against Jersey Bulls and Hayes & Yeading United in the next seven days, it will take a monumentally better performance than this one if we are to get anything out of either of those contests. If we do, then they truly will be “great” performances.

Epsom & Ewell: Faebian Witter, Toby Young, Reece Tierney, Adam Green ©, Axel Kodjo, Fabio Nunes, Luke Miller, Thompson Adeyemi, Will Kendall, Kenny Antony, Ethan Nelson-Roberts

Subs: Carlos Polo-Infante for Antony (HT), Stefan Aiwone for Adeyemi (HT), Sean Omoigiade-Agun for Nelson-Roberts (62), Sirak Negassi for Miller (70)

_{Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk}

Phoenix Sports 1-3 Epsom and Ewell FC. Emirates F.A. Cup Extra-Preliminary Round Replay – Tuesday 6th August 2024.

Well this was a strange one! With just fifteen minutes remaining, we trailed Isthmian League Phoenix Sports and the match appeared to be petering out into a 1-0 defeat, but a Carl Oblitey flick on put Will Kendall through to equalise in the 77th minute and within eight minutes he had a hat trick as our opponents fell apart in the closing stages of our 3-1 F.A. Cup win!

On a warm summer’s evening in front of just over 150 spectators, even though Phoenix advised it as a suspiciously low 108, we made two changes from the eleven that had started Saturday’s goalless encounter, with Oblitey coming in up front for the absent Carlos Polo-Infante and Fabio Nunes taking the place of Kenny Antony who was on the bench. This required a slight change of formation with the two strikers up front, which personally, I am a fan of.

Despite this, the match started in similar circumstances to our first meeting, with the home side edging possession in the opening ten minutes before we grew into the match. Toby Young made an excellent early block, before Ethan Nelson-Roberts crossed in a low ball to Kendall, but his shot was straight at Rob Budd in the Phoenix goal. Then we probably should have taken the lead in the 15th minute when another great cross from Nelson-Roberts was met by the unmarked Kendall at the far post, but his header back across goal was inches wide of the far post!

The home side, who had a change of Management over the close season and had given eleven debuts on Saturday were forced into an early substitution, yet somewhat against the run of play they opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when a Jack Marney corner to the far post was met by an unmarked header from Marcus Travers into the top corner of the net from close range, giving Faebian Witter no chance. This was a little harsh on our boys, but the lead was nearly extended minutes later as a free kick just missed our far post. We then had a strange incident when Witter saved a low shot, only to get up and collide with Marney in the penalty area. Both players appeared unhappy with the collision, as was the referee who chose to book the pair of them.

Witter was out again to clear smartly, while at the other end Kendall’s header was on target, but was penalised for pushing. At the half, it had been a fairly even match to this stage. Clearly though our Manager Warren Burton wasn’t happy and you could hear him tearing into our players at the break even from outside the dressing room!

Whether this had any effect on the players is hard to say though, as the pattern of the game didn’t really change in the second half. Young set Luke Miller off down the right and his cut in and low shot was gathered by Budd at the second attempt, while Oblitey’s strike from twenty yards didn’t trouble him either. Maybe it was because we were behind, but it was clear that we were doing a bit more of the work as the ball started to spend more time in the Phoenix half. On the hour Kendall went up for a floated cross from Miller, although a subsequent clash of heads appeared to be accidental, and the foul awarded against Kendall seemed harsh from where I was standing.

In the 69th minute we withdrew Craig Dundas and brought Reece Tierney on at the back, which enabled Adam Green to move into the hole vacated by the former Sutton legend, but time was beginning to run out on our cup adventure. Then out of nowhere, it all changed. Kendall drilled the ball past Budd as described above and we were level out of nowhere. Within six minutes Miller cut in from the right and went down under a defender’s challenge. Our winger had gone down theatrically in the first half in similar circumstances, so I wasn’t expecting anything here but after a little thought, the referee awarded the penalty. It was a soft one, but we’ve had them awarded against us often enough before! Kendall put the ball into the top corner in the 83rd minute to give us the lead.

Whilst Budd might not have had a chance with the penalty, he will be the first to admit that our third goal was his fault as a long ball was sent forward and maybe distracted by both Kendall and a defender, he missed his clearance completely, leaving Kendall the empty net from eighteen yards in the 85th minute. It might take me some time to find out whether a hat trick in just eight minutes sets any sort of club record, but in that short time the result changed completely and we saw the game out with no further alarms.

So what actually happened here? I can only think of one similar turnaround like this in recent years, which was our very late 3-2 win over Larkfield & New Hythe back in 2021. Maybe we were fitter than the opposition and it told in the closing stages? Certainly this was something Burton was very keen on focussing on when he took over back in January, although there were no signs of a lack of fitness from Phoenix on Saturday. Maybe it was the substitution of Tierney for Dundas, but sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on why we suddenly took over. Either way, we knocked out an Isthmian League club for the second successive year and won £1,125 as a result. It is now Isthmian League Hayes and Yeading United who stand in our way of a further £1,444 in prize money and we will host them at King George’s Field on Saturday 17th August.

Epsom & Ewell: Faebian Witter, Toby Young, Callum Wilson, Adam Green ©, Craig Dundas, Fabio Nunes, Luke Miller, Thompson Adeyemi, Will Kendall, Carl Oblitey, Ethan Nelson-Roberts

Subs: Reece Tierney for Dundas (69)

^{Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk}

^{Fire image: Credit: Janne Karaste License details}