| After Tuesday's convincing defeat against Sutton, the reserves produced their most impressive performance of the season, beating high flying AFC Wimbledon 4-0, the team that had inflicted Sutton's first defeat of the season the weekend before. With the stinging criticism from the management team prior to kick off still ringing in their ears, the Tangerines looked a more solid outfit and were the dominant team from the start, although their passing wasn’t as crisp as it usually is. They were also affected by the early loss of centre back Oliver Blackman after a nasty clash of heads. His replacement, 17 year old Rob Curtis however, proved to be a more than capable replacement. The Tangerines were beginning to trouble the Dons' keeper with efforts from Junior Bushri, Ben Jones and Nathan Turner although each attempt lacked the killer instinct required to score. Ashford did finally opened the scoring when Nick Hardy found Enoch Ajosay on the right, and his cross landed on the head of Jones who guided it into the corner of the goal. More chances soon followed with the best one coming after another break from on the right by Ajosay but his driven cross arrived too quickly for Turner to guide it into the open net. Wimbledon now seemed very nervy in possession and after a reluctantly taken short free kick in their defensive third, Ajosay pounced, drove past the centre back and slotted the ball past the helpless keeper. With minutes of the first half remaining, Turner got what his hard work and endeavour deserved when he broke free in the box and curled a shot around the keeper to make it 3-0. The second half started with Wimbledon imposing themselves with more pressure now being placed on Ashford, but although the visitors were now dominating possession, the Ash Trees were restricting them to long range efforts that were comfortable for Lee Elliot to deal with. Ashford thought the game was finally over when Turner broke free on the left and crossed to ball to Bushri who swivelled and struck the past the keeper, however his effort was strangely ruled out for off-side. With Wimbledon pressing to try and score, there were plenty of opportunities for the Tangerines on the counter attack with the best one landing to sub Teddy Kimpamboudi whose first effort was saved by the keeper and his second after the initial save went over the bar. The game was finally ended as a contest when after another break, Jones cut inside the last defender and slotted the ball into the corner of the net to score his second of the game. A gritty and ruthless performance by Ashford with some stand out performance from several of the squad, who proved that on their day, if they play their football and keep their concentration levels high, they can convincingly beat anyone in their division. Team. 1. Lee Elliot, 2. Nick Hardy, 3. Chris Asante (Munir Dar 65mins), 4. Thomas Nyarko, 5. Oliver Blackman (Rob Curtis 7mins) 6. Ike Chuckwudum 7. Ben Jones, 8. Danny Byron (capt), 9. Junior Bushri, 10. Nathan Turner (Teddy Kimpamboudi 79mins), 11. Enoch Aojepone-Akosay. Sub not used, Josh Finch, Tommy Hedges. |
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
