Based on the league position and recent form — SCR had lost four of their last five games — we believed we had a chance of getting a result here, but a hat-trick from Courtney Swaby in ten first-half minutes ended that and any chance of getting anything from the game.
We made two changes from the draw at home to Horley Town. Callum Wilson replaced Stefan Aiwone, and Luis Oliveira returned from injury in place of Shane Duffy. We had a strong bench too, and all signs pointed to a good result. Antonios Nazareth was making his 50th appearance for Epsom & Ewell.
From the start, Rovers attacked down the right, and Ayran was unable to deal with the pace and skill of Swaby. He cut inside him in the 6th minute, unleashing an unstoppable shot with his left foot. SCR 1–0 Epsom & Ewell.
The Salts had barely recovered from that attack when Swaby got the better of Kugathas again and this time slipped the ball past Witter in the 8th minute. SCR 2–0 Epsom & Ewell.
We thought we had held the onslaught but conceded a corner in the 15th minute. The ball was put into the middle of the box and, unfortunately, the referee noticed a handball and pointed to the spot without hesitation. We did ‘discuss’ it with him, but as you would expect, he was not changing his mind. Swaby stepped up and put the ball away for his hat-trick. SCR 3–0 Epsom & Ewell.
We had a couple of forays into the SCR half, but it all came to nothing, and Rovers continued their dominance. It seemed they could score with every attack, and on 29 minutes another move down the left from Swaby and a good cross found Harlem-Lee Bouchez rising above Nelson-Roberts at the far post and placing a strong header past Witter for the fourth. SCR 4–0 Epsom & Ewell.
It took until the 31st minute before we had a shot on goal — Limpo trying his luck from a good 20 yards outside the box, but it lacked power and was easily picked up by Olajide in the Rovers goal. We then lost Callum Wilson in the 33rd minute. The SCR winger went past Wilson and, as he tried to catch him, he fell to the ground clutching his hamstring. It looked very painful, and he had a fair bit of attention from the Salts physio before he was able to limp off, replaced by Toby Young.
Young had hardly any time to get going when Lee-Bouchez attacked him on the left again and put a ball into the box. It bounced around a little, but Bouchez, following up, backheeled it into the goal from inside the six-yard box, and it was five. SCR 5–0 Epsom & Ewell.
On 38 minutes, we did get into the SCR box again. Fofahan found Luis Oliveira, who in turn managed to put Limpo in, but his shot again went over the bar. We continued to press a little, and this time another run by Oliveira drew the foul, and a nice free-kick from Murphy McVey into the box was well defended.
There were no further scares at either end, and we went in 5–0 down for the second time this season, albeit the last time was against Step 3 side Farnham Town.
SCR made one substitution, but surprisingly, we sent the same side out. In the 50th minute, a good ball out to the left took Kugathis out of the game, and a great ball across the goal found Alex Body coming in, and he steered the ball past Witter. SCR 6–0 Epsom & Ewell.
Most people in the stadium wondered how many more SCR would score, but after three subs in the 55th minute — Jason Vincent, Niall Stilwell and Kionte Gillfillian-Waul came on for Kugathis, Limpo and Nazareth — we became more compact and looked like a team who had played together before. Niall was also celebrating his 50th appearance for the Salts.
SCR were still in control of the game and continued to look dangerous, but we started to find passes. Maybe the changes that placed players in their natural positions helped, or maybe SCR took their foot off the pedal — who knows — but we started to get into the game.
On 60 minutes, a great run down the right from Oba saw a ball into the middle; after a little scramble, Vincent hit the post from close range and the ball went off for a corner. On the 70th minute, Murphy also found some space and hit a shot, but again it flew over the bar. Fortunately, there were no further goals conceded, but our goal difference was eradicated to zero, taking away the advantage we had over the sides around us.
Full-time: SCR 6–0 Epsom & Ewell
What happened to us tonight, no one can really say. SCR looked like a top two or three side rather than one that has struggled to put results together. Our management team had no answers in the interview at the end of the night, but one thing is sure — SCR looked fitter and stronger than us and made us pay from the start.
That gave them the strength to pour forward, but I am sure even they did not expect to be three up after 16 minutes. Plenty of things for Max and Craig to think about for the next match away at Krooner Park v Camberley Town on Saturday, KO 3pm.
Let’s hope the lads can put in the performance we need to get the season back on track, or else we might find ourselves fighting amongst the lower end of the table again.
