Windsor 4 v 1 Egham Town

Tuesday 27th December 2011
Combined Counties League Premier Division
Stag Meadow, Windsor
Admission: Free
Programme: £2.50
Attendance: 806
Match Rating: 4

For my latest festive bank holiday football fix, I went for "a right royal day out", with a trip to Windsor, attracted by the club offering free entry to all spectators for today's match, which was appealing enough in itself, being a local derby between two of the better sides in the Combined Counties League Premier Division.

This is Windsor's first season in existence, formed after the winding up of the previous club Windsor and Eton. They have taken over the former club's ground at Stag Meadow, which is located about a half hour walk from Windsor and Eton Riverside station. The walk is certainly very pleasant, as one passes close by Windsor Castle and then through the town centre. Stag Meadow is located on the edge of the Great Park, and is neat, tidy and well maintained, but it will not live long in the memory of my groundhopping travels. The ground is very open, with a small old-fashioned all-seater stand, dating back to the 1940's, straddling the half way line on one side, either side of the stand are uncovered terraces, whilst on the other side of the pitch, cover is extended along the middle three quarters of the length over a few terrace steps. Behind both goals are again a few terrace steps but uncovered. A tea bar is located in one corner just after one enters the ground, whilst on the other side of the main stand is the clubhouse and as this was designated a "Family Fun Day", a hog roast was offered together with face painting and various other attractions. A special edition of the programme was produced, for 50 pence more than normal, today containing 48 pages in full colour. Plenty of interesting articles and stats to read. A slight criticism might be that the editor tried to be a little too funny on too many occasions, although in fairness perhaps regular fans would have "got the jokes" more than a one-off visitor.

Considering Windsor had to start from scratch at the start of this season, it is to their enormous credit that they found themselves in second place going into today's game, three points behind reigning champions Guildford City. After an understandably slow start to the season, they have been in electric form recently, winning their last four league games and are unbeaten in their last ten league games, stretching back to mid October, and over the season, their stand out results have been 11-0, 10-0 and 7-1 victories. Today's visitors, Egham Town, are doing better than they have in recent years, in fourth place, eight points behind Windsor but with two games in hand. They also have been in very good form, losing just once in their last 13 games.

On an incredibly mild afternoon for a festive fixture, the opening exchanges pointed to an even match, yet on eight minutes, Windsor opened the scoring when a surging run from the right towards the goalkeeper by Ryan O'Toole ended with the ball being played along the six yard line for Joe Chandiram to fire home. Windsor dominated the rest of the half and missed at least three glorious chances to extend their lead, although this was more a reflection of how well Windsor were playing - credit to Egham for always looking to play football and they showed enough with intermittent attacks to suggest that the game was still very much in the balance at half time and Windsor may yet regret missing those golden chances.

The second half started off as evenly as the first had, but on the hour mark, Windsor increased their lead when Michael Chennels fired home from close range following a good run into the box and cut back by Yashwa Romeo. Five minutes later and it was game over, when Ben Porter showed good trickery before laying the ball back to to Romeo to tap the ball into an empty net. A minute later and the scoreline became very harsh on the visitors when O'Toole worked some space before curling a peach of a low shot into the corner from the edge of the box. The home side took their foot off of the gas after this, which allowed Egham to come more and more into the game, and they got the goal they deserved on 86 minutes when Dan Hartlebury curled a lovely shot just out of the reach of the keeper and into the net. They had a couple of chances to make the scoreline more respectable, but the match ended 4-1 to the home side. Egham could count themselves very unlucky to be on the end of such a scoreline - a similar performance against most other teams in the league would probably yield three points, but today they were simply blitzed by an electric spell from the home side in the space of six second half minutes.

It was a brave decision to allow free entry for a match that probably would have attracted a reasonable crowd anyway, being a festive fixture against a local team also going well this season, but it was pleasing to see the club rewarded for the big efforts that had been put in to make the day a success with a huge attendance, who not only got their wallets out for refreshments, but the town was very much sent the message that their team is alive and kicking again after the demise of the former club, and on today's showing, Windsor will run Guildford very close for the title and a return to the Southern League looks a distinct possibility.

Egham Town 1 v 2 Chertsey Town

Monday 25th April 2011
Combined Counties League Premier Division
Runnymede Stadium, Egham
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 150 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3

Bank holiday Monday can only mean one thing for me, a double bill of football action, kicking off with a match in the Combined Counties League, a league which can always be relied on for 11.30 kick-offs on Bank Holiday Mondays. I chose to head for a local derby that is always keenly contested, with no love lost between the two sides to put it mildly, with the added spice that the visiting team still had a chance of claiming the title.

Runnymede Stadium, home of Egham Town, is about a 20 minute walk from the town's train station, passing over the M25 en route. The stadium looks exactly what it is - the home venue of Isthmian League football up to a few years ago, the legacy of which is facilities superior to most grounds that one encounters in the Combined Counties League, but are looking somewhat unloved and have a "had better days" appearance. Stands are available along all four sides of the pitch. As one enters the ground behind one of the goals, there is covered stand with a couple of steps of terracing, behind the other goal is a much narrower stand also covering a couple of terrace steps, along one length of the pitch are three stands covering hard standing, and along the other length is a small, old-fashioned all-seater stand. The 16 page programme had an attractive card cover and served its purpose with providing basic facts and stats, but with little to retain one's interest for more than a couple of minutes. Credit though for only containing three pages of advertising.

Today's visitors went into this game still with a chance of claiming the Combined Counties League title, although in reality they appear to have "blown it", having challenged Guildford City for top spot in recent months, but two goalless draws away at mid-table Raynes Park Vale and then Cove have meant that destiny is no longer in their hands. Level on points but with an inferior goal difference with Guildford City, they would need to win today's game, their last of the season, and hope that Guildford could gain no more than two points from their remaining two games, both away, but against lowly Ash United and rock bottom Bookham. Egham Town found themselves down in eleventh place in the 21 team league and have a truly awful end to the season, having claimed just two points from their last eight games. When the two teams met earlier in the season, Chertsey won 3-1

On another beautifully sunny day but slightly cooler than of late due to a fresh breeze, the first half of this game was pretty much as one would have expected of a local derby between two clubs out of form, one with much to play for. Dull, with precious few chances, although Egham certainly matched Chertsey, and if anything possibly had the better of proceedings. The scoreline at half-time was goalless, and with news coming through that Guildford City were losing at Ash United, there was much motivation for Chertsey to push on to find a winner. They had a wonderful opportunity four minutes into the second half when they were awarded a penalty for a daft challenge by Nathan Blanks on Dean Papali when the Chertsey player was running towards the corner flag. Papali took the penalty himself and struck it well, low to the keeper's right, but the keeper Justin Gray pulled off a tremendous save to keep the scoreline goalless, to add to a wonderful point blank save he had made in the first half from a powerful header.A few minutes later and Chertsey were made to pay for missing the penalty as a well worked move ended with Matt Grave placing a shot under the keeper from 15 yards out to give Egham the lead. Given Chertsey's recent poor goalscoring record and their sporadic at best attacking moves in this match so far, one feared that the title race could be over, but they did manage to get back on level terms on 70 minutes when a corner was headed towards goal by Trevor Charlery and Phil Page tapped in at the far post. Just a minute later and Chertsey were suddenly in front, but what a gift it was, when a back-pass by Blanks was completely missed by the Egham goalkeeper and the ball rolled into the back of the net. An inexplicable mistake, under no real pressure and no bobble was apparent. From now on, Chertsey were in total ascendancy and several chances came and went, varying from the presentable to the "how on earth did he miss that?!" and tempers boiled over a couple of times - a mass brawl went completely unpunished, before another one a couple of minutes later resulted in Egham's Chris Robinson and Chertsey's Miles Smith being sent off. Apparently, Egham should have equalised with a few minutes remaining when a firm header crossed the line before being saved, but Chertsey it was who claimed the derby double. Chertsey's fans had been in fine voice all afternoon, and full credit to them for staying long after the match to applaud their players for a season's hard work as the players spread the champagne. This would not be to celebrate winning the title, as news came through that Guildford had overturned their half time deficit to triumph 3-2, and unless they lose by eleven goals at Bookham next week, the title will be Guildford's. But Chertsey seem to be very confident of gaining promotion after coming close for several years, confidence that may be misplaced as Guildford City have appealed against the decision not to allow them promotion due to their ground, and promotion of runners ups to the Isthmian (and parallel) leagues tends to be something of a lottery.

Chertsey Town 1 v 3 Egham Town

Monday 5th April 2010
Combined Counties League Premier Division
Alwyns Lane, Chertsey
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 200 (estimate)
Match Rating: 4

When comtemplating a Bank Holiday double-header, the Combined Counites League (as well as the Sussex League) is always a safe bet to provide morning kick-offs. and indeed, for this Easter Monday I headed off to the outermost fringes of south-west London for my first game of the day, with an 11.30 kick off. Alwyns Lane, the home ground of Chertsey Town, is located about a 15 minute walk away from the town's train station, via a walk through the moderately attractive town centre.

Alwyns Lane is certainly one of the better grounds in the Combined Counties League, some of which are quite woeful, particularly those clubs who have never been in a higher league. But this is testament to the 25 years that Chertsey played in the Isthmian League, but the ground is certainly showing signs of its age since those relative glory days. There is a main grandstand offering excellent views of the action, a long covered terrace along most of the opposite length of the pitch, and with covered terracing behind one of the goals, uncovered terracing behind the other. Trees lining the length of the pitch with the covered terracing ensures a pleasant, charmingly non-league feel to the ground, whilst retaining excellent facilities that would not look out of place at Ryman League level. The programme produced was of a good standard considering this was a Bank Holiday fixture (and again considering some of the abysmal, not even half-hearted efforts that I've encountered in the Combined Counties league. With informative welcome messages, recent match report and plenty of stats, there was more than enough to fully inform the neutral visitor about both teams and the league in general.

As well as being a Bank Holiday local derby, this was even more a must-win game for Chertsey were they to harbour realistic hopes of winning the league and getting promoted. They lay in second place in the table, four points behind North Greenford United and having played a game more, whilst Camberley Town were three points behind but having two games in hand on Chertsey. This would be a tough game for Chertsey though. Egham are a long way off the pace in terms of being in contention for the title, in seventh place, but were in excellent recent form. Having said all of that, of course league positioning and form tends to go out of the window in a local derby, particularly one like today which was well supported and with a strong and vocal contigent following the away team.

The match started off quite evenly, but it didn't take too long for the game to explode into life, sadly in a negative way. With just ten minutes on the clock, a goalmouth scramble almost of the goal line ended with a Chertsey forward stretching for the ball, but instead kicked the Egham keeper, which sparked a mass brawl involving just about everyone on the pitch, including the Chertsey goalkeeper who ran the length of the pitch to get involved. It should be stated here that the referee, Jim Patterson, did an excellent jon in the circumstances to diffuse the situation, taking his time before handing out five yellow cards and not seeing fit to send anybody off. This strategy worked well, as tempers barely flared up again and the remaining 80 minutes of the game was played with the full compliment of players.

Chertsey took the lead seven minutes later, when Dean Papali glanced a good cross past the keeper and into the net. It only took seven minutes for Egham to get back on level terms though, when Matt Graves took advantage of some uncertainty between the Chertsey keeper and defender to poke the ball home. For the rest of the half, Chertsey were very much in the ascendancy, but spurned some good chances that they managed to carve out.

Right at the start of the second half, Chertsey had a glorious chance to equalise, after which point Egham came much more into the game and it was difficult to see which way the game might go. Just as it was beginning to look like the spoils would be shared, Egham took the lead with a quite wonderful goal by Jamie Houghton, who powered an unstoppable shot into the top corner from outside the box. Egham then won the game with ten minutes remaining when Charlie McCarthy converted a low cross into the box.

As a result of this game, it looks like being another season of Combined Counties League football for Chertsey next season, particularly as both North Greenford and Camberley both won today. As for Egham, things are looking bright, and if they keep together the squad and make a couple of quality additions, they look well placed to make a stronger challenge at the top of the league next season.