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Camberley Town came away from the
opening day fixture, disappointed with a 1-1 draw against Epsom
& Ewell at Merland Rise. Both teams arrived at the ground to
find the pitch in an unsuitable condition due to the length. It
had been left by landlords, Banstead. It looked as if an attempt
was made to cut it but not with a conventional lawn mower. The
match was still able to be played but prevented both sides from
playing their normal passing game and with the added rain made
the game the quality of football played suffered.
Camberley had the better of the play in the first half, conscious that Epsom had beaten us in all three matches played against each other last season, and did not want to lose again.There were few goalscoring chances but those created did fall to Camberley. New signing Joe Johnson had a driven shot across the Epsom goal which just missed the boot of Adam Cornell on 18 minutes. The best chance came on 29 minutes when new signing from Bracknell, John Swift, hit a swirling shot which Epsom & Ewell keeper Paul Borg tipped over his own bar. Camberley Town took the lead early in the second half. On 48 minutes, a cross from the right wing into the box by Gareth Evans caused problems for the Epsom defence and found Joe Johnson who forced the ball home at the back post. Camberley would have extended the lead had it not been for Epsom keeper Paul Borg who was forced to make a save to his left on 56 minutes off a Joe Johnson shot and then make a double point blank save from Danny Ker shortly after. Epsom & Ewell had an appeal for a penalty waved away following a shoulder charge by Dale Webb on Kyle Hough in the box after 72 minutes which the referee deemed legal. Epsom pressured for an equaliser late on and Camberley started to defend deeper and deeper. Ross Shoefield and then ex-Krooner Robbie Burns had chances which went wide of the mark. With time running out, an Epsom attack on 90 minutes saw Gary Dennis left unmarked at the back of the penalty area as a cross came in. His effort trying to beat Justin Gray on his near post saw Justin block but the ball returned to Gary Dennis, his pass along the edge of the six yard box found Kyle Hough who stuck out a foot to deflect the ball past Joe Paris and Darren Barnard on the goal line. Camberley still had time for two chances, both from corners and both went wide of the wrong side of the post. CAMBERLEY TOWN : Justin Gray, Dale Webb, Darren Barnard, Joe Paris, Ian Messenger, Julian Sills, Danny Ker, John Swift, Adam Cornell, Gareth Evans Joe Johnson : SUBS USED : Ben Cobbett, Jay Coombs |