The Men’s First Team drew 2-2 with Littlehampton Town despite being reduced to ten players in the 38th minute after Reuben Collins was shown a second yellow card.
Ashford dominated the opening half-hour of an entertaining and occasionally frenetic match and were rewarded with two spectacular goals from Arif Bala. The young winger opened the scoring in the tenth minute, cutting inside before blasting the ball into the top right corner. Bala’s second was equally spectacular and arrived in the 28th minute after the wide man created space for himself and hammered another high shot beyond visiting goalkeeper Billy Collings.
Littlehampton were gifted an opportunity to reduce the deficit in the 36th minute. Collins picked up his first caution for an obvious shirt-pull on the right flank. The Golds used the subsequent free kick to pin Ashford back and when a shot hit a defender on the hand referee Jackson awarded a penalty. Whether the decision was correct in law – the pace of the shot meant there was no time to move the hand away from the ‘natural position’ it was in – is irrelevant now. Harry Heath took the spot kick, blazing it over Liam Allen’s crossbar.
Two minutes later, Collins stopped another Littlehampton attack by using his body to impede the run of a visiting forward. The referee had no hesitation in issuing a second caution and therefore sending off the defender. The Golds enjoyed a spell of pressure as half time approached but didn’t trouble Allen’s goal. Littlehampton then made a double substitution at the interval, replacing Nolan Egny and Charlie Robinson with Kyle O’Brien and Marcel Powell.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Ashford started the second half brightly and had an early effort cleared off the line before Jack Arnold drew an excellent save from Collings. Arnold then turned provider, cutting the ball back for Zidan Akers, whose shot was blocked. Ashford were unable to take these opportunities and after Littlehampton made their third change, replacing Matthew Daniel with George Gaskin, they enjoyed a purple patch.
Their first goal was as special as the two Bala efforts; Marshall Ball met a teasing cross with an overhead kick which flew past Allen. This shifted the momentum of the match and within four minutes a sweeping move created an opportunity for visiting skipper Dion Keanu Jarvis, whose tidy finish levelled the match.
Littlehampton had the ball in the net for a third time in the 83rd minute while substitutes Jaiden Celestine-Charles (who replaced Zidan Akers) and Aiden Payne-James (the replacement for Jack Arnold) both tried to score a winner for the home side but the match ended deadlocked.
After the match, manager Luke Morgan-Tuffs was in reflective mood:
Attention now turns to Tuesday’s fixture away to AFC Stoneham who are enjoying a spectacular FA Cup run and who bowed out of the FA Trophy on Saturday. The line-ups, key match incidents and programme from Saturday’s match are all available in the Match Centre
In addition, club photographer Rafal Bak has put together an album of images from the match, which you can browse through below.
