On Sunday around 200 miles from the other big game that was being played up in Mansfield our under 13 side took on the cream
of the Southern Counties in the U13 mini-hockey tournament. We were in what was to proove to be ‘the group of death’ with Havant,
Reading and South Saxon, played in that order.

Our first game was a tight affair with Ashford having the better of the play. Dasmesh Sandhu managed to score the winning goal, however Havant had a great chance in the last seconds to equalise but they managed to put wide. A great start to the competiton, with South Saxon drawing 1-1 with Reading we were in the box seat at the top of the group.

Our second game against Reading was even tighter (if it could be), Phil Lewis put Ashford into a deserved 1-0 lead but Reading came back
strongly in the second half equalising and then taking a 2-1 lead that they held onto until the dying seconds when Ashford had a fantastic chance to salvage 3 points for a scoring draw. The chance squeezed agonisingly wide and the difference between us going into the final game on top of the table and in 3rd place was around the width of a post. At this point South Saxon narrowly defeated Havant in the other group game.

The final group game was against another good side in South Saxon, the winners of the Sussex county competition. South Saxon managed to take a first half lead and Ryan Croxon in goal managed to keep it at that along with some excellent defending from Joseph Muldoon and Harry Lee. A more even second half gave Ashford one exceptional opportunity that was well saved by the opposing keeper and the game ended 1-0 to South Saxon. With Havant beating Reading 2-1 Ashford now found themselves in 4th place in the group.

So Ashford had played 3 won 1 and lost 2, from being top of the group after the first game we found ourselves somewhat unfortunately in 4th place in the group. The games were so tight that the table could easily have been turned upside down, but we found ourselves playing Langley Park School in the plate competition in the 1/4 finals.

The game was another even affair with Ashford having the better of the first half and Blake Harris putting the Red and Blacks 1-0 ahead. Ashford continued to dominate the start of the second half and had two absolutely golden chances to go 2-0 ahead, with the defender making an exceptional clearance on one of them. As the day had gone before, Ashford could not hold onto the lead and Langley Park equalised taking the game to extra-time. Extra-time remained goal less and so once more Ashford were to be involved in a penalty stroke competition. Ryan Croxon made a couple of great saves, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be and we left the competiton having played very well at times but with nothing to show for the comitment, skill and desire that the boys showed.

A great season for the Ashford U13’s and U14’s, 2nd in our main 11 a-side league, 2nd in the U13 county mini-hockey tournament and a good performance in the south tournament. Hopefully the boys have learnt a lot from their victories and defeats as I have; we can take this forward improve our fitness, skills and decision making and have an equally good season next year.

Well done boys!!

Ian