A busy midweek looms, with no less than three matches involving Ashford teams and all away from home.

On Tuesday evening, the 1^st Team, buoyed by successive away victories at Sutton and Tooting, travel to play Horsham, who now share at Horsham YMCA’s ground, which is just past the old ground.  Horsham are one place below Ashford in the table, four points behind but with a match in hand.  It goes without saying, therefore, that another tough game is in prospect.

Over the last two seasons, home advantage has secured victory and indeed, Ashford have yet to win at Horsham in six attempts so history is not on their side.  Last season Horsham, playing at Worthing, won the match by two goals to nil although Ashford took ample revenge with a three-nil home victory later in the season.

The Sussex side have lost their last two league games, by a solitary goal at home to Kingstonian on Saturday and more heavily by four goals to nil away at Boreham Wood.  Prior to that though, they had gone four games unbeaten, so as with most matches in this very tight division, anything could happen.  The uncertainty is emphasised by the statement on Horsham’s web site that long serving manager John Maggs was hoping to bring in some loan signings prior to the match to augment an apparently depleted squad.

Directions to Horsham, taken from their web site, are:  “on reaching the town centre, keep left in to London Road and then join up with the A281 towards Brighton. Go under the iron railway bridge and Gorings Mead is second on the right, with the ground at the end.”

Horsham will be playing in their traditional amber and green, so Ashford will be wearing their normal tangerine & white stripes.  Admission is £9.00 for adults, £4.50 for Senior Citizens, Under 18s and Students, and £2.00 for Under 16s.  Please note that there is little or no parking available at the ground and, just as importantly, kick-off is 7.30 p.m.

On Wednesday Ashford’s Suburban side have a far shorter trip, just down the road to meet Division One Combined Counties side, Bedfont Sports, in the semi-final of the Middlesex Premier Cup, when again, kick-off time is 7.30 p.m.  To get to this point, Ashford have accounted for Bedfont and AFC Hayes whilst Bedfont Sports have seen off Staines Lammas and Feltham.  The winners on Wednesday evening will meet the winners of the other semi-final, either Uxbridge or Rayners Lane, in the Final on Wednesday 24 March.  The Suburban side often have to soldier on alone, with all the emphasis on the 1^st Team, so this would be a good opportunity to support the management team of Wilson Frimpong and Mark Powell in their efforts to reach a final in their first season in charge.  If anyone doesn’t know, the Bedfont Sports ground is right next to Bedfont’s and there is ample parking available.

Finally, on Thursday, Ashford will be sending their youth side down to Crawley Down to fulfil their long outstanding 1^st Round Southern Combination Cup match.  It is understood that the Sussex side, who have their own fixture pile up, will similarly be fielding a less experienced team.  The winners will be at home to Westfield, from the Combined Counties League in the 2^nd round.

A close match in which fortunes ebbed and flowed, eventually saw Ashford take all three points thanks to a late winner from skipper Paul Johnson who was allowed to meander around the edge of the penalty area before unleashing a drive that eluded home keeper Dave King.

Fielding an unchanged team from last week’s win over Billericay, it seemed early on that Ashford would enjoy a slightly less laboured victory as they notched an early goal, thanks to goal machine Brian Haule, who has now scored in five out of the last six games, and then doubled it courtesy of a free kick by Johnson.  On the stroke of half time though, Tooting pulled one back from a free kick of their own and when they equalised early in the second half and continued to pile on the pressure for some time, the most likely option seemed to be that the three points would stay at home.

Ashford are made of strong stuff these days though and determinedly fought their way back into the game, with Jermaine McGlashan, despite some rough treatment not particularly well dealt with by referee Hillier, a constant threat. as was Warren Harris on the other flank.  At the other end keeper Paul Burgess belied his 40 years of age with some superb stops and it seemed, with less than five minutes left that the game was destined to finish all square.  Then though came the skipper’s strike and it was another three points in the bag.

Ashford will now head to Horsham on Tuesday night for what is bound to be another very tough match but Jamie Lawrence’s boys will be boosted by an undefeated run in the League that has now extended for twelve games, the last defeat being at Bognor Regis on 3 November, in the immediate aftermath of Mark Butler’s departure.

Full report to come from Terry Ryan.

The Reserves in the meantime found the boot on the other foot as they conceded a last minute equaliser to visitors Beaconsfield SYCOB, the match ending two apiece.  Further details to follow.