The hosts came out of the starting blocks quickly, with Joel Greaves one on one with the Epsom’s goalkeeper Paul Borg but finding him equal to his shot. Ben Camara then slammed a shot against the keeper and the rebound was crossed into the box. Jaydon Gibbs arrived at the far post to slam home the opening goal after three minutes.
However, it was the visitors who looked threatening after this. They got their reward in the 27th minute when Anthony Panayi met a flick on from a corner to bring Epsom & Ewell level. An even passage followed with neither side creating clear cut chances. With four minutes until half time, Joel Greaves prodded a foot out to steer a cross past the helpless Borg and put City ahead.
Kevin Rayner’s side were not going to rest on their laurels in the second half and immediately had an excellent chance to extend the lead when Ben Rayner struck a powerful drive over Borg that cannoned back off the crossbar. Minutes later, Greaves headed down to Ben Camara who slammed a half volley into the back of the Epsom & Ewell net to claim the goal of the game.
City were happy to sit on the two goal advantage and mopped up Epsom’s attacking threat, with Kyle Hough managing only a couple of half chances. Elvis de Freitas was very sharp to deny some promising breaks down the left wing, and Ben Camara was dropped deeper into the midfield role in which he excelled against Molesey the week before.
Quarter of an hour remained when Epsom’s Ben Hayward made a rash challenge on Simon Cooper, the referee producing a red card to reduce the visitors to ten men for the remainder of the game.
