Ashford Scorers:
Adam Smith, Dave Greenfield
As the light over Short Lane faded and the temperature plummeted, the Men’s 5th XI took to the pitch to face second place Eastcote Eagles. Our faithful crowd had long since sought shelter from the harsh condition, favouring the warmth of the clubhouse. With a bare XI, Ashford took heart in welcoming back Scott “the Aussie” from his travels and midfield rock Sandy Bedi, sporting a rather dynamic pair of lyrca shorts. The other appearance of note was the return of ex-Ashford 1st team keeper Mark Smith, who had kicked off his slippers (well, umpiring slippers anyway) to come back out of retirement and take to the field.
The game started passionately with both sides playing some quick and direct hockey. Eastcote took the lead early on when a through ball found their star player, a known Middlesex half-pint dynamo, in acres of space. There was then nothing Ashford could do but watch as he calmly passed the ball round Mark, who had unfortunately had a moment of indecision (I’m afraid to use the words “senior” moment), and into the goal.
This was not the start Ashford had hoped for, but the Red and Blacks didn’t let their heads drop and battled on regardless. A trademark Adam Smith free hit just outside the D was carefully deflected by Matt Chapman but the effort went narrowly wide of the left-hand post. With Ashford piling on the pressure the Eastcote defence showed signs of cracking when a short corner given against them resulted in a war of words and ended in some regretable verbal abuse from both sides. Umpires Dan Holland and Charlie Cottrell performed excellently the under pressure and slowly diffused the situation allowing play to resume. Ashford managed to convert the following short corner, but the ball failed to connect with the backboard as it deflected off the top of the keeper’s pads and was deemed to still be rising, giving Eastcote a 16 hit.
The break in play allowed Eastcote to gain possession as Ashford took their foot off the gas as half time approached. A crash ball through the middle to their centre-forward was skilfully laid off and the following shot did find the back of the net. However skilfully only described the way he used both feet to confuse the Ashford defence, and so the goal was disallowed once the Eastcote captain had owned up to the incident.
A rallying team talk at half time from a rather aggravated Dave Greenfield meant Ashford got off to a flying start. Piling on the pressure Eastcote conceded a short corner and the push out found Adam Smith who meandered his way through the oncoming runners with his usual deft stick skills and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner, past stranded keeper and the surprised defender glued to the post.
The Red and Blacks were on a roll and it didn’t take long for the pressure to pay off again when a fast ball into the Eastcote D found Dave Greenfield, Ashford’s answer to Robbie Fowler, who guided the ball into the back of the net with a neat deflection. Score: 2-1 to Ashford… what a turn around!
Now I’m sure that result would have made a few team captains in the league choke on their Monday morning cereal but unfortunately for Ashford Eastcote weren’t going to leave Short Lane with out a point. As the game entered its last minute another through ball found the Eastcote “Ronaldo” centre-forward who laid the ball back to their mini superstar, and with a lot of skill and a little bit of luck he scooted right, found an opening and scooped the ball off the deck, looping it just inside Mark’s left-hand post leaving him waving at thin air. Full time score: 2-2.
Looking at the league table, the Men’s 5th XI are now propping up the table due to Eastcote 8th XI stealing all three points against Bicester at the weekend. A good result against Bracknell next week is essential before hoping for another shock home result against league leaders Oxford Hawks in the last game before the Christmas break.
