Hard to See Any Silver Lining for Becks This Time

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 30 August at Eden Park Avenue
Result	Beckenham Town 2 Egham Town 3
Competition	FA Cup 1st Round Qualifying
Hopstats	Ground 805 on the lifetime list.
Context
Both teams play at Step 4 but in different divisions within the Isthmian League. Neither team has started that well in the league, with both looking for a first win, but in knockout games Beckenham won 1-0 at Hassocks in the preliminary round. This is Egham’s fourth FA Cup game of the season. They won 1-0 at Northwood in the extra preliminary round and then needed a replay to beat Corinthian convincingly 4-0 after a 2-2 draw. They are, however, already out of the FA Trophy after a home defeat by Margate.
Match Report
Spacetime is bent in Beckenham. You see the ground on the left as the train pulls into the station from London and when you turn left in the subway you’ll be on the wrong side of the tracks in suburbia. Never mind, just a slightly longer pre-match stroll as a result, and then you see how close the clubhouse is to the trainline. Nice ground, friendly welcome, printed programme, the comfiest clubhouse seats of all time, bit of a slope on the pitch. All good. I check the teams on soc med and note that Egham (The Sarnies) have a “Starting IX” which if true is going to make life difficult. Then the fun starts on the pitch. Grimly fascinating for this passing neutral but entirely frustrating for supporters of both teams. As an honest blogger, I have to record that this was technically the poorest game I’ve seen this season – so many unforced errors, but so many chances created. The xG calculators would be in meltdown. Not too much playing out from the back, but channels, aerial battles and second balls. Both teams have at least a couple of direct runners. Very hard-fought and competitive. Great stuff. Becks should have been more comfortably ahead at the interval. Tyler Tobin, in purple in the Sarnies’ goal, was busy. He made a great save with his legs on 16 minutes from Louie Theophanous, but it should have been a goal. Just before the half-hour Tobin was adjudged to have brought down an attacker at the byeline. He redeemed himself superbly by blocking both Theophanous’ spot-kick and Steve Townsend’s rebound. Although Egham fashioned their best chance just before the break with a glancing header from a freekick, instead of 2-0 it was still 0-0 when the whistle went. Becks made two changes to their lineup and then lost defender Mudiaga Wanogho to injury. Meanwhile, Egham had reminded us of their presence by almost scoring from a corner. On the hour, the first goal. Egham lost the ball in a central position and Theophanous found himself in the clear. This time he buried the chance. He would shoot wide on the break again before the equaliser came. The lead had lasted five manic minutes. Egham substitute Luke Hennaghan had a shot deflected just wide as the visitors responded. He then rolled in a penalty given for handball – there had been a goalline clearance but I think the offence must have been just before that, I can’t be certain. However, 1-1 and now a very open game, and just two more minutes this time before Hennaghan turned the scoreline around with a very cool finish. Now, with Becks having to press forward, the chance and unforced error count went even higher. An Egham defender completely missed a kick. Both teams fluffed one-on-ones. Egham’s Connor Cullen could (should?) have had a couple of goals as the home defence weakened, one effort shaving the post. Finally, with just a few minutes left he tucked away the third goal. We weren’t finished. Theophanous scored again as we entered stoppage time, and even then there was time for another half chance. Egham held on for the win. Both teams will feel that they should have won this more comfortably, it was that kind of game. I ended my day with a cross-London walk between my trains, as usual trying to think of the traditional pun for the post’s title. Decide to go with an obscure musical reference rather than something about takeaways and sarnies. Thanks, as ever, for reading. Follow @ModusHRandom for more of this stuff - current follower count stands at ... 1 ... after I abandoned my previous account on there.
So What?
Beckenham have a midweek league game before they go to Northwood in the FA Trophy next Saturday. Egham go into the proverbial hat for the next round and may not play again until mid-Sept unless something is rearranged.
Pix
Beckenham in Orange, Egham in Green.  First part of Tyler Tobin's double save to deny Becks The equaliser
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today Green played Purple. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? No % of correct predictions so far 48% (91 from 190) I'm not the only person ever to have looked at this, by the way. Here's the outcome of a cheeky post-match Google search ...
What Next?
The start of the Autumn term in the nation’s secondary schools, so I may have to concentrate on physics, chemistry and mathematics for a while! Many of my priority grounds involve long journeys so there will also be an element of weather dependence.