Ashford leave it late to secure vital win against Oxford

Ashford Men’s 1st XI faced Oxford this past weekend in what was a 2nd vs 3rd encounter in the MBBO Regional 1st Division.

In what was a very wet day at the Lane, Ashford were being pressed right from the off, but remained composed at the back and midfield, keeping possession well. With a stable base behind them, Ashford started to convert their ball dominance into a territorial advantage and got their first short Corner of the match mid way through the first half. As he so often does, Shujah Ur Rehman stepped up and rifled the ball into the top left corner. Ashford looked after the ball well for the rest of the first half and went into the second half with a 1 goal lead.

Oxford came out of the blocks quickly and stepped up the pitch even further and really stretched out the game. This left gaps in behind their attack and midfield for the Red & Blacks to exploit, winning another short corner early in the second half. Rehman once again sent a dragflick goal wards, this time the keeper saved it, but could only palm the ball to Andrew Whiting, who was following in his injection. Whiting squared the ball across the face of goal, where Rehman followed up his initial effort and buried the ball from 1 yard out. 2 nil up, Ashford should have really looked to close the game out and not give their opposition a sniff. Unfortunately, Ashford were giving away too many short corners of their own, and although Luke Cottrell and Elliot Smith managed to scrap 2 of Oxford’s effort off the line, inevitably the visitors managed to pull a goal back with a dragflick of their own. Oxford were buoyed by finally being able to break through Ashford’s defence, and after being composed on the ball for large periods of the game, Ashford started to struggle to keep hold of the ball. As Ashford once again lost the ball, the visiting side were able to capitalise when the ball took a deflection over the top of the Ashford defence and their forward was on hand the take the ball down and wrong foot the onrushing keeper to equalise four minutes from time.

Ashford were frustrated that they let another lead slip, and ramped up through gears, with Shujah Ur Rehman winning a short corner almost straight from the restart. This time the keeper saved well to his right, but it was a sign of what was to come. Two minutes from time, Jamie Hemphrey was released down the right hand channel by the returning Joe Lewis, and managed to play the ball on to his opponents foot inside the D, winning Ashford a short corner with a minute to go. Rehman stepped up, round the first defender before unleashing a furious flick into the top right hand corner, giving Ashford a last minute 3-2 win against another promotion rival.

Not the best performance by Ashford, but another 3 points on the board nevertheless.