“We didn’t deserve anything “, was the forthright comment from Faversham manager Ray Turner after seeing his team fight back to earn a
1-1 draw, and a replay against Egham Town. But, it could have been decided today had George Monger not blazed a penalty out of the ground in the dying moments.
Egham, who had two ‘goals’ disallowed in the first half, took the lead nine minutes into the second period with Brendon Matthew tapping in
after good play from Zac Joseph had carved through the Lillywhite’s defence. Skipper Ryan Cooper levelled on 76 with a powerful header, but the game should have been sealed on 87, but for a moment Monger will want to forget.
Turner admitted “I thought it was a poor performance from us. I’ve told the boys that as we didn’t express ourselves as we wanted to. We
waited for them to go in front before we reacted. I wasn’t happy at all and think we got away with it today. It wasn’t the type of performance we wanted for that great support today.”
“We are at the same level (as Evo-Stick Southern Division One opponents Egham), but it was as though we couldn’t handle the occasion. We seemed to be too slow, more playing their game rather than ours, and we didn’t move the ball well enough. I think we deserved to go behind, and my assessment was that we didn’t deserve to win the game.”
“You would expect us to be more of an attacking threat, but credit to them, they defended really well. We had to change the formation to get
more width into the game, but we’ll see what we can come up with for Tuesday.”
Both sides, at this stage of the FA Cup for the first time, played some attractive football in the first half, looking to attack through the channels between the respective full-backs and centre-backs, but all too often, there was no end product.
Egham twice had the ball in the net through Brendan Matthew, but on each occasion, the assistant’s flag came to Faversham’s rescue. First,
from a corner that was only cleared to the edge of the home area, Wes Daly clipped a ball back over the defence for Matthew to apply a
composed finish past Will Godmon, but the forward hadn’t retreated from the initial set-piece quickly enough. Then, Chris Moore was allowed to turn on the right edge of the box, but Matthew had gone too early to glance his header home.
Faversham’s best chances early on came from Ryan Cooper long throws that almost landed at the feet of Dean Grant. But later in the half,
direct running by Josh Stanford earned a free-kick that Kieron Campbell curled into Jamie Norris’ arms.
With their first chance of the second half, Egham hit the front. Zak Joseph and Romaine Walker exchanged passes on the left – Walker’s
splitting the Faversham defence to allow Joseph a free run – and the winger’s ball across the goal was inch perfect for Matthew to finally
register on the scoresheet.
Despite changing their formation, it was Egham who still looked the more threatening as Ryan Cheek had to deflect a shot over from Reece
York, and it took until the last 15 minutes before Faversham applied any concerted pressure.
Josh Stanford’s free-kick found the head of Daniel Carrington, but the header deflected off the advancing Norris. Stanford took the
responsibility for the corner and his ball into the middle was met on the run by Ryan Cooper to level proceedings, just as the heavens opened.
Egham changed their entire front line with five minutes remaining, but it was Faversham who broke quickly from their next attack. Stanford’s ball into the left channel released Grant, whose run into the area was crudely ended by a sliding challenge from Norris. George Monger stepped up to try to fire Faversham into the next round, but his spot kick sailed over the bar and into the car park.
Egham almost stole the match deep in stoppage time as Bajram Pashay seemed to be distracted when Cooper misjudged a header, and the
substitute stabbed his volley across goal and wide.
The teams will reconvene on Tuesday night and, unlike the previous round, when he had to listen to the game via his phone, Ray Turner has
changed his shifts to ensure his presence. By then, both will know who awaits in the 4th Qualifying Round.
FAVERSHAM TOWN: Will Godmon, Ryan Cooper, Renford Tenyue, Daniel Carrington, Matt Bourne, Bola Dawodu (Ryan Cheek 53), Kieron Campbell, George Monger, Dean Grant, Luke Harvey (Sam Bewick 70), Josh Stanford.
Subs not used: Oliver Wells, Kieran Scantlebury, Stephen Ratcliff, Jamie Maxted.
Goal: Ryan Cooper 76.
Cautions: Josh Stanford 38, George Monger 58.
EGHAM TOWN: Jamie Norris, Callum Webb, Romaine Walker, Reece York, Luke Neville, Wes Daly, Elliott Carey, Jordan Asanlekoko, Chris Moore (Chris Henry 85), Brendan Matthew (Aaron Berry 85), Zak Joseph (Bajram Pashay 85).
Subs not used: Hassan Sulaiman, James Reading.
Goal: Brendan Matthew 54.
Cautions: Elliott Carey 75, Reece York 83.
Attendance: 426
Referee: Mr Maec Meeton
Assistants: Mr Lee Martin Cramp and Mr Jamie Collumbell