We travelled the relatively short distance to Whitehall Lane for the FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay after our 2-2 draw at Cobham on Friday night. A big difference in the two games, with a competitive free flowing game to a nervous, touchy and sometimes fiery encounter under lights. Attendance was recorded as 209 so not quite as many as Friday but still a good crowd for a Tuesday evening.

No apologies again for mentioning our great victory here just a few months ago in the semi-final of the Southern Combination Challenge  Cup probably our best victory last season. Could we pull off another famous victory?

Max Johnson was forced to make a couple of changes, bringing in Niall Stillwell after he started on the bench last Friday to replace the injured Jason Bloor and Antonios Nazareth replacing Emmanuel Limpo in defence. Faebian Witter came back between the sticks in preference to Ben Grummitt, which was not a reflection of Ben’s performance on Friday.

He was also able to name 7 subs, so a strong bench. While Ben sat with the team, he was not actually named as a sub. Max might be happy with Adam Green’s previous cameo keeper performance to give us as strong a bench as possible and believe me, we needed them all.

Surprisingly, South Park did not come at us as they had previously, and we were able to pass the ball as well as get the tackles in. We took the lead in the 9th minute. A great tackle from Stefan in defence. He found Luke Miller who in turn fed Kingsley Anokye on our left wing. Kingsley then held the ball and returned it to Luke, who hit a lovely cross to the unmarked Niall Stillwell and he planted his header into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. 0-1 Epsom & Ewell.

We nearly increased our lead 2 minutes later with a great bit of skill from Luis Oliveiria, beating three South Park players before finding Tom Collins who in turn found a bit of space but his shot was weak and Danny Bracken in the South Park goal made an easy save. Tom then picked up a silly yellow standing in front of a free kick. After the game the referee said he warned him three times to move so had no alternative but to show the yellow card.

South Park No 7 Hamilton-Olise was then subbed. He has been injured in the tackle that led to our first goal and was unable to continue. No 18 James McElligott taking his place. On 36 minutes we were forced into our first substitution. Tom was injured in a tackle and the fact South Park sportingly put the ball out shows they knew something was wrong. Shame for Tom as he had only just returned froma previous injury. Kallum Peart came on.

There was not too much goal action for the rest of the half both teams having half chances although Adam Green had a snap shot from the corner of the box but it was too high. The Salts will be happy with the performance, although again South Park did have more of the play but for some reason didn’t really use No 11 Edwards as they had done to good effect last time out, most of their play going down their right hand side but we defended well again.

No subs this time from either team but we had reverted to a back 4 rather than 3 and 2 wing backs. The game continued like a chess game, The Sparks controlling the game, probing, looking for a way in but the Salts defenders getting in the challenges. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to keep hold of the ball for more than a few passses and South Park started to exert some pressure.

The equaliser came in the 56^th minute. We failed to clear our lines and Stefan was looking for a free kick but the ball eventually fell to No 8 Callum McAllister who slammed the ball into the top corner of our net. Great finish but probably should have got the ball away.  South Park Reigate 1-1 Epsom & Ewell.

The game had started to get a bit niggly with a lot of “crying out” when any tackle was made but neither team troubling the opposition keeper. The game changed, though, on the 60th minute Adam Green was fouled by the no 9 Brad Sweeney and as Adam fell to the ground the No 9 stamped on his chest right in front of the ref who had no hesitation (or option) but to show the red card. Unfortunately as he left the field there was a bit of a melee and Sweeney appeared to try and take one of our players with him and knocked into Luke, who did react by pushing him back, but fortunately was prevented from anything further. Referee took his time to let things calm down and showed Luke a yellow. Was this the advantage we needed? Luke was replaced on the 67^th minute by Obasanjo Akinniranye probably to prevent a second yellow.

We started to really get into the game but South Park also still dangerous as they had nothing to lose now. on the 79^th minute we had a let off, an attack on left ended with a ball hit towards the box hit Toby on the arm again. Referee seemed to take an age to make up his mind and the game continued and suddenly he whistled for free kick just outside the box with the South Park players and bench jumping up and down for a penalty. After the game the referee said he was not sure about the penalty but felt that Toby’s arm was outside the box though, which is why he gave the free kick. Fortunately for The Salts nothing came of it.

We continued to take control of the game and Obasanjo was causing trouble with his pace and skill on the right. On the 88^th minute he took a pass just inside our half and started a run taking out two defenders. Getting into the box the defender made a lunge for the ball and whilst he played it, he also took Oba out and the ref again took his time. This time pointing to the spot. The assistant referee also indicated a penalty.

Adam stepped up and hit the penalty low and hard to the keeper’s left but Bracken in the South Park guessed correctly. Fortunately though he allowed the ball to go under his body into the corner. 1-2 Epsom & Ewell, could we hold out?

We had 2 more subs after Kionte had replaced Naz on 74 minutes. Ethan Nelson-Roberts came on for Kallum to shore up the defence and Craig came on in 90 +2 for his 50th appearance for the Salts. He managed an excellent piece of skill, trapping a long high ball out of defence with one touch and then laying off to Oba on the right. Bracken in the SP goal eventually came up for free-kick . The ball was played in but easlit saved by Faebian. He may not have noticed that his fellow keeper had gone up as he fell to the floor to save a few more seconds. Realising that Bracken was out he quickly got up and aimed a long kick upfield but one of the South Park subs stepped in front of him to prevent the punt going anywhere and was booked for efforts. You might say he stopped a goal attempt with no one in the South Park half but that would be stretching things. We comfortably held out the 7 minutes of injury time and advanced into the next round.

After the final whistle there were some unsavoury scenes in the centre circle with tempers nearly boiling over. The referee showed a card to Kallum Peart for unsporting behaviour but fortunately everything calmed down as Max pulled his players away.

We now face another step 5 team Risborough Rangers whom we have never played before, apparently. They play their football in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division having previously played in the Combined Counties Premier Division North.

The game to be played at Cobham on Saturday 30th August KO 3pm we of course would love to see another crowd of 200+. In the meantime though we make to the short trip to Tolworth against our former hosts Corinthian Casuals on Bank Holiday Monday 25^th August KO 11.30.

The lads would love to see you there.