At the start of another busy week, Ashford have three midweek matches to anticipate, the principal encounter being the 1^st Team’s trip to Harrow Borough on Tuesday (18^th) in the league. 

Ashford will come into the match with the memory of the heavy home defeat at the hands of Tonbridge now someway behind them, thanks to three consecutive victories since then, two in County Cups plus, of course, the emphatic 5-1 win over Billericay on Saturday.  In many ways it was a shame that Billericay suffered two dismissals as we were already two goals up before the first one and in actual fact, seemed to play rather better against eleven men than we did nine, although the result was never really in doubt after the second goal.  Some credit should go to Billericay (especially as there has not been too much forthcoming from their own supporters) maybe as, even down to nine, they made a game of it and it was not until the very last knockings when we scored two late goals that their heads finally dropped.  Man of the match in front of special guest Ray Dorset, lead singer of Mungo Jerry, and Ashford patron (and what a smashing gent he was) was Warren Harris who scored his first ever hatrick for the Club’s senior side at the age of 17. 

Harrow will also come into the match buoyed by a victory on Saturday when they won at troubled Margate by 3 goals to 2, when, for the second week in a row, Robin Shroot, scorer of a hatrick against us for AFC Wimbledon last season, hit the winning goal.  It does not seem though as if he will be playing on Tuesday as he has been called up for the Northern Ireland U-21 team who play Scotland tomorrow evening.

Although in general Harrow have not enjoyed much of a season so far and still occupy one of the relegation places, Ashford have never found life easy against them, especially at Earlsmead and will be aware that, with remarkable similarity to ourselves, Harrow have gone unbeaten for three matches since suffering a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Hendon. 

Entrance to Harrow on Tuesday is £9, with a concessionary rate of £5 for senior citizens and students and just £1 for children.  Programmes are priced at £2 and transfer to the stand is £2 for adults and £1 concessions.  Ashford will be playing in all blue. 

The Suburban team is also in action on Tuesday when they will be entertaining Staines Lammas from Division One of the Combined Counties League in the 1^st Round of the Middlesex Premier Cup, a competition in which Ashford reached the final last season.  Doubtless, Lammas, under the managership of Nathan Wharf will field a number of ex-Ashford players, possibly including Dan Cox who has just joined them, and they will be keen to end something of a barren spell that saw them losing 0-2 at home on Saturday to lowly Crescent Rovers.

Both matches kick off at 7.45 p.m.  The Under-18’s travel on Thursday to meet Hayes & Yeading U-18 in a Southern Youth League match and there will be more about that game in due course. 

The match at home to Horsham which needed to be re-arranged as both clubs were still in the FA Cup upon the scheduled date, has now been agreed for Tuesday 30 December.