| After a convincing win last weekend, Ashford were looking to carry on in the same vein against Uxbridge on their superb surface, and even with the setback of a harsh sending off, the Ash Trees did not disappoint particularly after a shocking start. After last week’s win there was an air of confidence in Ashford’ play straight from the first whistle, however with confidence sometimes comes complacency. With only five minutes gone, Ike Chuckwudum took one touch too many inside his penalty box, with this extra touch bouncing off the oncoming forward and freakishly past Lee Elliot and into the back of the net. This setback however, did add the urgency in Ashford’s play that was lacking before the goal and within minutes Ashford created a few chances themselves with Munir Dar and Jon Palmer going close. With the amount of possession Ashford had, it was hard to believe that Uxbridge were the team in front but eventually the constant pressure exerted by the Ash Trees resulted in the ever impressive Ben Jones breaking through the middle of the park to slot the ball past the helpless keeper. Ashford were now producing some of the best football they have played since the start of the season and with this came probably the best move they will produce all year when after Nick Hardy brought the ball out from the back, they played at least three one-two’s before the ball came out wide to William Joseph whose cross landed in the path of Jon Palmer who made the score 2-1 before half time. It was apparent that when Uxbridge came in the second half, that they would turn the encounter into a kicking fest so this was a time for cool heads. Unfortunately however, with only 5 minutes of the second half gone, Thomas Nyarko got involved in a tangle with another player who felt the need to lie all over him and not get off. When Nyarko raised him leg to try and get him off, the referee sent him off but only booked the player from Uxbridge, this was baffling to say the least. With tactical changes inevitable, the more physically imposing Nathan Turner replaced Munir Dar up front and it wasn’t long before after another great cross, Turner had the chance to kill the game, but his tame effort was cleared off the line. He did however make amends when he headed a Danny Byron cross into the roof of the net. Game over it seemed but as per usual Ashford made things difficult when a shot was parried by Elliot into the path of their forward to make it 3-2. Uxbridge did now dominate possession making the extra man count however Ashford always looked dangerous on the break with Turner again going close with the keeper pulling off a fine save from close range. With minutes left, after some good play on the right, Jones slipped a through ball into Turners path whom this time made no mistake and slotted it past the keeper. A victory this was, a well earned one at that especially as we played with 10 men for 40 minutes, with the boys showing fantastic character which pleased the management no end. Now for the task of beating Basingstoke on Tuesday. Team. 1. Lee Elliot, 2. Nick Hardy, 3. William Joseph, 4. Thomas Nyarko, 5. Oliver Blackman, 6. Ike Chuckwudum, 7. Ben Jones (Mark Bitmead 87mins) 8. Danny Byron (capt), 9. John Palmer (Daniel Crockett 77mins) , 10. Munir Dar (Nathan Turner 55mins),11. Enoch Aojepone-Akosay. Sub not used, Jack Taylor, Tommy Hedges. |
Saturday, 04 February 2012
