Last week the 1^st Team departed from the FA Cup following the lottery of a penalty shout-out:  last night it was the turn of the Under 18’s to suffer the same fate in the FA Youth Cup, losing 4-5 on penalties to Woking, who will now go on to entertain Dagenham & Redbridge in the 1^st Round Proper.

The match itself ended two apiece.  Although play was even enough, Ashford showed their visitors how to finish in the first half, with a free kick from Mark Bitmead finding the net to open the scoring, followed soon afterwards by a crisp effort from Lewis Wombwell that doubled the lead before half time.

Woking are a powerful team though at this level in every sense of the word and they took the match to Ashford for much of the second half to the extent that one would have to be blinkered to deny that they did not deserve the two goals that restored parity.  That said, Ashford were incensed that the equaliser was allowed to stand, following what looked like a clear foul (not the first vital decision to go against Ashford in recent weeks in various matches!) but referee Podsadny was unmoved.

Play was far more even in extra time with both teams now looking tired but there were no further goals and we proceeded to the dreaded penalty shoot out.  The first nine shots went in but then Joe Fleming saw his effort well saved by Woking keeper Matt Pegler to send his team through to the next round.  Ashford protested in vain that the keeper was well off his line but referee Podsadny, once again, was having none of it and that was the end of the matter.

Next week the U18’s will turn their attention to the Middlesex Senior Youth Cup, when they travel on Thursday evening to Yeading (not Hayes) to play Hayes & Yeading FC for the second time this season following a 2-2 draw in the League.  After the match, Ben Murray spoke to Gareth Coates and you can either download the interview or using the streaming player, below.

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