It was another defeat in this God forsaken season but there can be no complaints  about the efforts of the patched up team that Ashford put out against promotion chasing Slough Town.  There was nothing to play for, except pride, but every single Ashford player gave his best and came close enough to getting something from the match.  Ashford are hardly in a position to criticise anyone’s pitch at the present time but let’s just say that Biggleswade will have plenty to say about last night’s surface when they visit Slough on Saturday!

Ashford lined up with none of the absentee regulars on show and were further depleted by the absence of Isaiah Rankin and Jermaine Brown, both missing from Saturday.  They joined the missing list of top scorer Jones Awuah, Jordan Kiffin, Oscar Lubwama, Kwasi Edusei, Tom Kanek (although he, at least, was present),and others ,with the chances of any of them being seen in an Ashford shirt again this season, through injury or otherwise, looking ever more remote.

As a result, in came Jim Mann and Mitchell Fountain, another excellent prospect from the Under 18’s, although he will start next season with a savage 35 day suspension for an ill judged remark to a referee in an Under 18 match recently.   With three big six footers at the back, Ashford coped without great difficulty against a not over-impressive Slough side, and with Christian Nanetti yet again weaving some magic down the touchlines, were always in the match.

The pattern continued in the second half but with the partisan home crowd only too ready to tell referee Forrester that “he didn’t know what he was doing” (when in actual fact he is one of the best referees around) it seemed almost inevitable that Slough would get a break and that is exactly what happened when Samad Kazi (not Russell Canderton as reported in some quarters) was adjudged to have committed a foul in the area, giving Danny Burnell the opportunity to put his side ahead.  Opposition players never miss penalties against Ashford and he duly obliged.  There was enough doubt about the award to make it contentious but referees don’t change their mind, so we got on with it.

The next significant incident saw Christian Nanetti going down  in the box under a heavy challenge, only for Mr. Forrester to decide he had dived.  Only Christian will know for certain but it was by no means clear cut and another referee might well have come to a different conclusion.  As the game reached its finale, Slough continued to do most of the attacking, although rarely looking that dangerous, whilst at the other end Fountain saw a header cleared from the line.

The final piece of the saga came though right at the death when yet another long boot down the middle finally caught the visitors’ defence out leaving keeper Paul McCarthy, who had been superb all evening, exposed and he grabbed the attacker with the inevitable consequences of a second penalty and a dismissal which will see him missing the opening match of next season.  On came Paul Burgess for his 683^rd appearance but Burnell’s effort was unstoppable to give Slough the winner.

The Under-18’s were also in action last night, and drew one apiece at Fleet Town, with several Under-16’s in the squad.