A useful work out saw Ashford losing 2-3 away to CCL favourites Chertsey Town on Tuesday evening.  Several of the players who started against Bradford City were rested at the start of the game, whilst both Rico Morris and Billy Jeffreys were missing, with mild knocks.  Under 18 players Rob Curtis and Mark Bitmead started the match, whilst Dane Buss was in goal.

Ashford actually made quite a lively start but Chertsey soon showed why they are hot favourites to win the Combined Counties League especially down the right flank where Danny Byron found the tricky Tom O'Reagan to be quite a handful.  The only goal of the first half saw Chertsey’s Dean Papali crash home an unstoppable shot just eight minutes before the break.  In all honesty Chertsey should have had two but referee Readett called play back for a free kick to the home side just as the attacker was about to plant an unmissable effort past Buss.

Ashford’s line was more familiar in the second half with Russell Canderton and Scott Weight joining the fray and Lee Pearce taking over in goal and within two minutes they were level through Jones Awuah.

Chertsey went ahead again though on 58 minutes with a goal that would have caused considerably more protest had it not been a friendly.  Ashford’s habit of trying to play passing football right from the back caught them out once again but the situation seemed to have been rescued by a decent tackle, only for referee Readett to call it a foul.  The subsequent kick then took a wicked deflection to leave Pearce with no chance.

Russell Canderton, struggling to contain the effervescent O'Reagan then conceded a penalty to give Chertsey a 3-1 lead but Ashford new comer Jordan Kiffin, quietly impressive throughout, pulled one back, also from the spot following a clear foul by the home keeper.

Manager Jamie Lawrence, who played a full 90 minutes, will still be evaluating his squad, much changed from last season.  Jim Mann at the back looks a solid acquisition, as indeed do Kiffin, Yassa Arafat and Kien Millington but they still need to be moulded into a solid team unit and the remaining friendlies will be vital in doing that.