20/3/99: Ryman League Division Three
Tring Town 2 Egham Town 1
Four defeats in a row had blown the black clouds of doom over Pendley again, but that run was ended with the best performance by a Tring side all season. Victory over eighth placed Egham was all the more remarkable given that Tring played for half the game without a recognised goalkeeper and went a goal down.
There was little goalmouth action early in the game, other than an Egham header hitting the post. Tring had to get past the formidable frame of ex-Wimbledon star Eric Young in the Egham defence, but gradually they began to get on top and created a string of chances that should have seen them go into the break in front.
On 25 minutes Gavin Hart was put clean through but shot into the side netting. Two minutes later Adam Dale's header from a corner was well saved, and on 29 minutes Dale's pass put Ben Williams through, but his shot was saved. On 32 minutes a dangerous cross from Dave Kearney forced another in a succession of corners, which Paul Turner headed over, and five minutes before the break Williams had another clear sight of goal but shot straight at the keeper from a narrow angle, leaving the game scoreless at half time.
Tring opened the second half in the same positive mood, but disaster struck after just five minutes. Tring's reliable goalkeeper Keith McLoughlin went up to catch the ball and came down in agony, having pulled a groin muscle.
With no substitute keeper, Tring had to put striker Ben Williams between the sticks. His place up front was taken by Tommy Evans, who has played for Sutton United and featured in Dennis Bainborough's first game in charge back in December, but had been out since with a dislocated shoulder.
Five minutes later things got worse when the visitors took the lead. A cross came over which McLoughlin would probably have come for, but Williams stayed on his line, leaving Darren Howell to shoot home from close range.
Most would have expected Tring to collapse from that point, but that did not happen. Such was the resoluteness of the Tring defence, so porous in recent weeks, that Williams did not touch the ball in open play for the next 20 minutes. The division's top scorer Clayton Whittle, who scored four times when the two sides met earlier in the season, did not get a look in this time.
Tring kept plugging away and almost got their reward on 76 minutes when Kearney's pass sent Hart clear, but he shot wide from a good chance.
However, the deserved goal arrived two minutes later. Evans kept the ball in play by the goal line and knocked it for Craig Foster with his back to goal at the angle of the six-yard box. Foster's overhead hook was intended as a cross, but instead it looped over the keeper into the far corner of the net.
Bainborough has high hopes for Foster, who played for Barnet earlier in the season before being forced out by injury. Before this match he had only appeared as a sub, but gave an encouraging performance in his first start,
There was more work to do yet, with Tring having to face a string of Egham corners late on. From the last of them, two minutes from time, they broke away and found themselves with five attackers against three defenders. Foster crossed from the right to Kearney on the edge of the area. Kearney could have passed to Evans, who had an easier chance, but instead composed himself and coolly slotted the ball low into the corner.
The final whistle sounded soon afterwards to complete a welcome and unlikely Tring victory.
Team: McLoughlin (Evans), Bainborough, Turner, Campbell, Condon, McKane, Hart, Dale (St John), Williams, Foster, Kearney