A busy midweek looms, with no less than three matches involving Ashford teams and all away from home.

On Tuesday evening, the 1^st Team, buoyed by successive away victories at Sutton and Tooting, travel to play Horsham, who now share at Horsham YMCA’s ground, which is just past the old ground.  Horsham are one place below Ashford in the table, four points behind but with a match in hand.  It goes without saying, therefore, that another tough game is in prospect.

Over the last two seasons, home advantage has secured victory and indeed, Ashford have yet to win at Horsham in six attempts so history is not on their side.  Last season Horsham, playing at Worthing, won the match by two goals to nil although Ashford took ample revenge with a three-nil home victory later in the season.

The Sussex side have lost their last two league games, by a solitary goal at home to Kingstonian on Saturday and more heavily by four goals to nil away at Boreham Wood.  Prior to that though, they had gone four games unbeaten, so as with most matches in this very tight division, anything could happen.  The uncertainty is emphasised by the statement on Horsham’s web site that long serving manager John Maggs was hoping to bring in some loan signings prior to the match to augment an apparently depleted squad.

Directions to Horsham, taken from their web site, are:  “on reaching the town centre, keep left in to London Road and then join up with the A281 towards Brighton. Go under the iron railway bridge and Gorings Mead is second on the right, with the ground at the end.”

Horsham will be playing in their traditional amber and green, so Ashford will be wearing their normal tangerine & white stripes.  Admission is £9.00 for adults, £4.50 for Senior Citizens, Under 18s and Students, and £2.00 for Under 16s.  Please note that there is little or no parking available at the ground and, just as importantly, kick-off is 7.30 p.m.

On Wednesday Ashford’s Suburban side have a far shorter trip, just down the road to meet Division One Combined Counties side, Bedfont Sports, in the semi-final of the Middlesex Premier Cup, when again, kick-off time is 7.30 p.m.  To get to this point, Ashford have accounted for Bedfont and AFC Hayes whilst Bedfont Sports have seen off Staines Lammas and Feltham.  The winners on Wednesday evening will meet the winners of the other semi-final, either Uxbridge or Rayners Lane, in the Final on Wednesday 24 March.  The Suburban side often have to soldier on alone, with all the emphasis on the 1^st Team, so this would be a good opportunity to support the management team of Wilson Frimpong and Mark Powell in their efforts to reach a final in their first season in charge.  If anyone doesn’t know, the Bedfont Sports ground is right next to Bedfont’s and there is ample parking available.

Finally, on Thursday, Ashford will be sending their youth side down to Crawley Down to fulfil their long outstanding 1^st Round Southern Combination Cup match.  It is understood that the Sussex side, who have their own fixture pile up, will similarly be fielding a less experienced team.  The winners will be at home to Westfield, from the Combined Counties League in the 2^nd round.