Ashford Scorers:
Ian McAllan, Adam Smith
Saturday saw the Ashford 5’s take on Eastcotes 8th team, with both teams languishing near (or at) the foot of the table already this game was set up to be a bit of a 6 pointer. The pre-match team-talk focused on the need not-to-lose, but the team felt confident that we were more than capable of winning our first 3 points of the season.
The game started brightly with Ashford seemingly taking an early grip on the game, some bright forward play from the debutant Shaun Smith set up a couple of bright moves for the Red and Blacks, although they came to nothing. Mid-way through the first half Ashford turned their dominance into a goal with a good move which was (eventually) bundled into the goal on the second attempt by the Ian ‘Coach’ McAllan, who, as it was later found DID NOT get snipered this week. A second goal soon followed from a short corner as Adam Smith recieved the ball then proceeded to make a couple of defenders look extremely ordinary with his skill, before producing a strong finish.
The second half continued as the first with Ashford playing all the hockey. Eastcote were restricted to a handful of chances which were dealt with very well by second debutant Ian Doggett, who looked calm and solid between the Ashford sticks and produced the 5’s first clean sheet of the season. Some great hockey was produced in the second half without a goal and none more so than the great interplay from the right hand side when superb composure and skill by young Freddie Cottrell produced an opportunity that was missed by millimetres. This capped a terrific performance from the young right-half and shows we’ve got another Cottrell who could potentially grace the higher teams.
A good display by all and a scoreline which didn’t reflect the balance of play - but a win is a win.
