We only made one change to the starting 11, with Ethan Nelson-Roberts replacing Saturday’s man of the match, Shane Dunne (who was unavailable last night). The team positions were juggled around a little to accommodate the setup.

It is difficult to say if it was a poor performance after Alton had gone down to 10 men on 27 minutes, following an off-the-ball incident between their No. 10, Alex Macallister, and our No. 5, Toby Young. Macallister appeared to throw a punch as Young ran past him, getting back to defend. The referee did well to spot it. Alton’s defence was disciplined, solid, and stood up to practically everything we threw at them.

The first chance fell to Alton on 4 minutes when their No. 7, Joshua Millo, found himself inside the corner of the box on their right-hand side and, with a little bit of trickery, managed to find some space and hit a shot low and hard, which Faebian, in the Salts’ goal, punched away for the first corner of the game. On 13 minutes, we nearly got away down the left when Ethan found Jason Vincent, but he was grabbed by the Alton centre-half and stopped in his tracks. We expected the referee to show a yellow card for the challenge, as Jason was definitely free if he had not been grabbed. He just gave a foul, but the referee did show a yellow to the Alton captain, Alex Merrifield, and I can only think it was for something he said.

After 16 minutes, Millo again caused trouble on our left, but this time his shot was blocked by Nelson-Roberts. The ball fell to their No. 9, Adam Poynter, who brought another good save from Faebian down to his left, and he was able to collect it this time. We had our first major attack on 18 minutes when Vincent drove into the box and went down the goal line, but it was well defended for a corner. The corner, though, was poor and sailed high over the box for a goal kick. It was in the 24th minute when we had our first shot on goal, when Luis Oliveira caused trouble on our right and found Brendan Murphy-McVey on the left. Taking the ball into the box, McVey had space, but his shot lacked power and was easily saved by Ashby-Hammond in the Alton goal.

It was then that Macallister had his moment of madness, and we again found ourselves playing against 10 men inside the first half. Would we be able to get 3 points this time? On 34 minutes, we made it difficult for ourselves. Callum Wilson was wrestling with their big No. 19, James Liddiard, at the next corner and was eventually adjudged to have brought the big man down. The referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty, which Poynter dispatched to Witter’s left side. Alton 1-0 Epsom & Ewell.
Wilson may have been lucky to get away with just the penalty.

The Salts tried hard to find a way through the defence but, as I said at the start, Alton were disciplined, keeping The Salts at bay and forcing them to go side to side trying to find a way through. We eventually succumbed to playing long balls over the top, but the ball just skidded off the surface if it wasn’t hit behind or too far in front of our wide players. Just on half-time, we did create an opportunity with some good passing, and the ball came to Ali Fofahan, who has been on a good scoring run, but this time his shot was well over the bar and only just stayed in the stadium. HT Alton 1-0 Epsom & Ewell.

The second half resembled the first, with Alton showing little ambition in getting forward and Epsom & Ewell huffing and puffing, trying to find a way through. It seemed that every time we got close, the final ball was poor or a defender managed to get his foot in the way. On 57 minutes, we made two changes: Obasanjo Akinnaranye came on for Callum Wilson and Connor McShane replaced Ethan Nelson-Roberts. The management obviously felt we needed a bit of impetus up front, as Alton seemed to be happy encamped in their own half. On 58 minutes, we had our first shot on target in the second half when some good close passing found Naz on the left, and he hit a curling shot which was heading for the far corner, only for Ashby-Hammond to get down and flick the ball around the post.

Alton were dangerous on the break and nearly made it 2 in the 68th minute when one of their players went on a fine run into the box on the left-hand side, beating four tackles — defenders probably not wanting to give away another penalty — but his shot (or cross) went harmlessly across the face of the goal. Maybe an 11th man would have been there to tap it in. On 72 minutes, McVey gave way to Jason Bloor. Teddy Ralph then replaced Luis Oliveira in the 81st minute. Just after that, Ayran Kugathis came on for Emmanuel Limpo. We still couldn’t find a way through, although Oba, who had been instructed to hug the touchline, had a couple of good runs down our left and into the box, only for the final ball to go amiss.

Alton then broke away again in the 84th minute with some good work down their left side. This time, when the ball went across, there was a spare player — No. 17, David Garlinge — who came onto the ball and passed it into the right-hand corner. Alton 2-0 Epsom & Ewell.

It is often said that games change on one incident. The Salts kicked off, the ball was played back to the defence, and a sharp ball found Bloor just inside the Alton half, and he, in turn, placed a great ball between the centre-half and full-back for Kugathis to run onto. Ayran controlled the ball and then slammed it into the roof of the net. Alton 2-1 Epsom & Ewell.

Referring to our previous point about one incident: did the second goal disrupt Alton’s concentration? Having been under the cosh for nearly an hour, they got a second on the break and the whole team ran the length of the field to celebrate. Had they not scored, would they have kept us out because their concentration would not have been broken?

The game then got delayed for “handbags”. Teddy Ralph, whilst shielding the ball out for a throw-in, shrugged off an Alton player who was hanging onto his back. Unfortunately, the momentum sent the Alton player into the fencing. It sounded bad due to the nature of the adverts and, of course, set off the Alton players, feeling Ralph had deliberately shoved him. Fortunately, there was no injury; the Alton player got up and carried on. The referee took his time, consulting with his assistants, before booking their No. 4, Josh Stepney, and our own Jason Bloor. He also booked Ralph but surprisingly restarted play with a throw-in to us — so no foul — much to the anger of the Alton bench. Was the referee tempted to even up the game 10 v 10?

Referring again to our previous point: had Alton lost their discipline? Five minutes into the extra 10 minutes signalled by the referee, Oba again found his way down the left-hand touchline. He beat the full-back and then moved along the goal line before finding Bloor just outside the six-yard box. He managed to lift his shot past the keeper and over the head of a defender on the line. Alton 2-2 Epsom & Ewell.
Callum Wilson received a yellow card for “over-celebrating” in front of the Alton bench.

We still had five minutes to play, and could we find a winner as Alton looked shot? However, they picked themselves up and forced two corners at the end. The first one had been cleared, but the ball was put back across the goal and appeared to strike the upright before going off for the second corner. This time Witter “flapped” at the ball but did enough to clear it, and we managed to get the ball away before the referee blew for full time.
It ended Alton 2-2 Epsom & Ewell.

In another old cliché, two away games against two good teams higher in the league — would we have taken draws last Saturday? Of course, we would, but the nature of the results feels like four points dropped. It could be considered our worst performance of the season, but did we just face a very good, disciplined Alton side who made it difficult for us to break them down? We lacked composure at times, trying to find “a killer pass” early on, and also some very poor passing, it has to be said. We then just got frantic trying to force an equaliser, but we got there in the end. Attendance 104.

We return to Chalky Lane on Saturday v Horley Town, KO 3pm, and then a quick turnaround to Monday night v Sutton Common Rovers at the War Memorial Sports Ground (home of Carshalton Athletic), KO 7.45pm. Horley are two places below us on 15 points, having played one game more, and SCR sit one place below us with a game in hand, also on 15 points, so it would be good to put some daylight between us.

As always, your support would be most welcome. Keep an eye on our social media for some Halloween fun on Saturday with a nice prize to boot!!