Ashford’s Under-18s continued on their merry way, winning at Northwood on Thursday evening by three goals to nil.

It only took until the second minute of the game for Ashford to take the lead when Rinor Sopjani scored from close in.  The visitors continued to enjoy the bulk of possession but a lot of passes were going astray and Ashford failed to capitalise upon the early goal.  Nevertheless, the general impetus was very much with them and Rron Nurkolari (yes, there are two ”R”s) doubled the lead soon after the break with arguably the goal of the game, sending an exquisite chip over the somewhat eccentric Northwood keeper, who had presented him with the ball straight from a goal kick.

There were some spasmodic attacks from the home side but at times the only question seemed to be whether or not Ashford could whip up enough enthusiasm to be bothered to score again.  They finally did so in the 82^nd minute when sub Connor Molyneaux taking a free kick from an acute angle, sent the ball into the top corner of the net.

This sealed a satisfactory three goal winning margin but one suspects that Ashford may have to be more on their game next week, when they travel half way round the M25 (Junction 25!) to meet Enfield 1893 U18’s in the 2^nd Round of the Middlesex Senior Youth Cup.  Why Middlesex County FA cannot introduce a policy of regionalization in the early rounds of competitions like this beats me. For example, whilst we are trekking round the M25, Enfield Town will be making the opposite journey to play Hanworth Villa.  It’s just daft for this level of football.

Anyway, the match is next Tuesday 8 November, the same night as our 1^st Team play at home and the winners will play away to either Uxbridge, the only team to beat us this season so far, or Bedfont Sports in the Quarter Final.

The 1^st Team now look forward to tomorrow’s FA Trophy 2^nd Qualifying Round match away to Chertsey Town, kick-off 3.00 p.m.  For anyone who has not been to Chertsey’s ground, parking is tight to say the least and the surrounding roads are invariably clogged, so leave plenty of time.  The ground address is Alwyns Lane, Chertsey, KT16 9DW.  One man who will be looking forward to the match is our Chairman, Dave Baker, who actually managed Chertsey at one time.

Since we beat them in the League by five goals to four in an extra ordinary match back at the end of August, Chertsey have generally gone from strength to strength and now sit in eighth place in the table, five positions above Ashford.  With that and their home advantage, they are clearly the pre-match favourites but they will hardly be tougher opposition than Maidstone or St. Albans and this is a competition Ashford have excelled in recently, so who knows.  Should the scores be level after 90 minutes, there will be a replay at Short Lane on Tuesday, which would necessitate re-arrangement of the scheduled home game against Wealdstone in the Middlesex Senior Cup.

Finally here are the Sunday junior fixtures, as supplied by Kelvin Poulter:

ASC (Smaller Pitch)
Under 12s v Leatherhead Colts KO 10:00 (Gary\Jason)
Under 13s v Kempton Park Kingstonian KO 11:15 (Nick\Mark)

ASC (Larger Pitch)
Under 15s v (Opposition TBC) KO 10:30 (Dave\Phil) (SPL)
Under 15s v AFC Westend KO 12:00 (Jamie\Mike\James) (SPL)

ATFC
Under 11s v Old Isleworthians KO 10:00 (Steve\Lee\Conor)
Under 11s v Barnes Eagles KO 11:00 (Marco\Richard) 

ASC Mini Soccer 7-a-side Pitch
Under 10s v Hampton KO 10:00am (Glen\Julie) 

Away
Under 10s v Epsom & Ewell (Scott\Jackie) Cup
Under 11s v No Fixture (Kevin\Steve) (SPL)
Under 13s v No Fixture (Mick)
Under 14s v Royals Elite (Mark\Chris) – Cup
Under 16s v Chertsey (Phil\Bryan)
Under 18s v Junior Bees (Kelv)