Epsom & Ewell 3 Frimley Green 0

Frimley came into this game hopeful of carrying on with their good form after two wins in their last
two games, but came up against and Epsom & Ewell side who themselves came into the game on
the back of a 4-1 win over Chessington & Hook in their previous league game.
20 seconds in and Frimley could have had the lead. Epsom & Ewell had the kick off in the game, the
ball found its way back to a defender, who was robbed by Ed McKinlay, who ran on goal, but his shot
across goal was saved by the keeper, but the referee gave a goal kick. After this, there were no
chances of note for either side for the first quarter of an hour, the game coming to life when
Epsom’s Reisse Griffin lunged into Sam Hamer, he received a booking for the late tackle. The
resulting free kick was lifted into the box and Zac Horkan headed over. The game started to liven up
and Epsom had their first significant effort of the game on 19 minutes.
Keeper Chris Harris’ clearance from outside his box found an Epsom Midfielder on the halfway line,
the ball was moved forward to Liam Roberts who tried lobbing Harris, but Abu Rayhan got back and
acrobatically cleared off the line. Not long after this, another defensive clearance was to the benefit
of Epsom as they took the lead, Striker Robert Hendry picking up a loose ball and running at goal,
before firing a shot from 20 yards low past Harris into the corner of the net. 1-0 to Epsom.
Straight from the kick off, Frimley managed to carve out a chance when Leo Medrado got forward
and laid the ball back for McKinlay, but his shot was saved by the keeper, which then led to a
counter attack for the home team, which ended with a shot going over the bar. A quiet period of the
game then ensued, the only action of note was Calum Nimmo picking up a booking for a similar
challenge Griffin had made for Epsom earlier in the game. Epsom had more control of the game and
were looking to build on their lead and came very close when Griffin’s shot from just inside the box
looped up over Harris but hit the bar and went out of play after the rebound.
The game started to get beyond the reach of Frimley on 41 minutes when a long clearance from
Epsom keeper Young looked to be sailing through to Harris in the Frimley goal, but Bennett managed
to get to the ball in front of him, with his touch taking him wide, he turned and looked for Hendry
with his cross, but the unfortunate Nimmo slid in to try and stop Hendry getting the ball, but could
only turn the ball into his own net. 2-0 Epsom.
The game petered out until half time, where the half finished Epsom 2-0 Frimley, on the balance of
play, the hosts deserved their lead and Frimley would need to threaten more going forward to have
a chance of getting into this. The players came out for the second half and a player of note missing
for Frimley was Nimmo, who had picked up a knock in the first half. He was replaced by James Vass.
Harris returned, although it had looked throughout the first half that he was struggling. He was a late
inclusion in the team and did well to start the game after illness.
On 50 minutes the task was made near impossible for Frimley when Epsom extended their lead. The
impressive Roberts managed to get past Horkan on the Epsom left, he then cut inside and ran on
goal, coolly slotting the ball past Harris into the far corner to make the score 3-0. After the restart,
Dan Bone was put through on goal, but Young in the Epsom goal saved. After this, Harris was
replaced due to his problems before the game, George Bowerman coming off the bench, with Dan
Bone going in goal.
Frimley were almost handed a lifeline next, when Medrado closed down Young’s clearance, but the
ball was to only ricochet of him on onto the top of the net.

On the hour mark, Frimley were then at a numerical advantage when Epsom’s Roberts broke down the wing into the box by the goaline, but
inexplicably dived over Horkan’s challenge and was quite rightly booked by the referee, this was his
second of the game after dissent in the first half which meant the red card was shown. The game
was then dominated possession wise by Frimley, but they were mainly limited to long shots as
Epsom were well organised with 9 men behind the ball, quite rightly holding on to what they had.
Medrado did get through on goal after a ball played forward by Hamer, but again Young in the
Epsom goal came out on top.
Epsom resorted to playing counter attacking football, one of these forays forward was broken up by
a Rayhan foul, the defender picking up a booking for his troubles. With the game in injury time, an
incident occurred which summed up Frimley’s day. A long ball forward saw Medrado win the ball out
wide ahead of Young who had came out of his box, the striker then got into the box, struck the ball
towards goal, but a mix of the back tracking Young and a defender on the line ensured Epsom preserved their clean sheet.
The ref then ended the game, Epsom 3-0 Frimley.

Frimley XI
Harris (GK) (Bowerman), Horkan, Trinder, Nimmo (Vass), Rayhan, Vasquez Rosero, Hamer, Dearlove,
Bone, Medrado, McKinlay
Epsom deserved the win overall, but with Frimley missing several members of the squad, better days
will be ahead when everyone is back fit and firing. Hopefully a run of successive games with a settled
team will help them to make inroads into the top 2 or 3 positions in the league.
Frimley will be hoping for some players returning, as they face step 4 Molesey in the Southern
Combination Cup at the Rec on Tuesday 6th November, before a league game against Dorking
Wanderers Under 23s at the Rec again on 10th November.

Thanks to our match reporter Alex Walker for the above summary