The long awkward drive, the cold wet weather and the lousy showers couldn’t dampen a sunny performance from Ashford as they grabbed another 3 points.

Chichester until recent weeks had been on the tails of Fareham for promotion and looked a well organised and talented team coached by ex England International, Ben Barnes.

Neither side created much in the opening salvo’s, Chichester with nothing to play for looked good but not hungry. Ashford were a little tentative which meant that the opening 25 minutes was littered with individual errors by both sides with very little creativity.

This changed in the 30th minute as a careless pass by Olly Smith was intercepted easily and as Chichester counter attacked, Smith, in trying to recover possession committed a foul, which resulted in a flick. Barnes punished the mistake with a bullet of a flick into the top corner which keeper Fry didn’t even have time to flinch for.

Minutes earlier Fry saved a certain goal as the Ashford defence caught flat left him as the last ‘defender’. He managed to charge out to the edge of the D, diving to cut out a strike. His momentum took him outside the D which the umpire punished with a yellow card for handling outside the D. Fortunately for Fry and Ashford even the opposition coach implored the nearside umpire to help out, particularly as he had a clearer sight of the incident.The yellow was reversed but a short corner conceded which was cleared.

At the end of the first half there was only the flicked goal separating the two sides and the 2nd half was full of possibilities. Ashford grew in confidence and just 7 minutes into the second half Ashford equalised. Jody Smith hit a pinpoint pas to Andrew Webber on the right of the D who squared it to Barlow in front of goal to make it a well-worked equaliser.

Granger, who looked out of odds as the high striker in the first half, looked a danger in the second as he started to exploit the Chichester defence with his pace and aggression. His unpredictability has a knack of working for Ashford and just 3 minutes after the equalizer he beat two players on the right, worked his way into the D and won a short corner. Jimmy Webber decided to go low and to the keepers left with his flick and the ball sailed in to make it 2-1 to Ashford.

The second half was starting to look good.

Chichester realized that defeat was staring them in the face and increased the tempo and pressure on Ashford. This resulted in 5 short corners in quick succession. A combination of fine saves and dogged defending kept Chichester out. Meanwhile Ashford looked to counter attack and played some of their best hockey of the season as slick and fast passing penetrated the Chichester flanks.

The final whistle was a welcome relief especially for the heroic defence who had put body and soul into preserving the lead. Olly Smith more then made up for his one error and he Sazegar, Bryant, Meers and Fry all contributed to a feisty and formidable performance which lifts Ashford to 8th place.The drive back from Chichester was a lot more pleasant.