Attacking masterclass by dominant Ashford

After last week’s hard fought 3-2 win over Oxford, Ashford men’s 1st XI faced the proposition of a travelling Wallingford side who were sitting 10th in the League.

Ashford were composed at the start of the match as their opponents pressed high and tried to put pressure on the Red & Blacks. Ashford worked the ball in and out of their midfield and got a short corner within the first 5 minutes. Fresh off his hat trick last week, Shujah Ur Rehman rounded the number 1 runner and slammed the ball into the top right hand corner, to make it 1 nil to the home side. Within 5 minutes Ashford had doubled their lead, when a hit in was deflected goal ward by Tom Pitfield, with Rehman on hand to put the ball in from all of 6 inches. Ashford were well on top at this point and continued to carve out opportunities, with Jamie Hemphrey grabbing his 6th goal of the season when he finished off a fluid move on his reverse side. Ashford lead 4-0 going in to the second half, with Rehman completing his hat trick shortly before half time.

Spurred on by the opposition’s goalkeeper, Ashford continued where they left off and grabbed a 5th goal, again through a Rehman dragflick. Shortly after, good work from Adam Dunbavand and Pitfield on the right hand side opened up Wallingford and the latter squared the ball to a waiting Andrew Whiting who was on hand to prod the ball in from close range. Skipper Luke Cottrell registered his 2nd goal of the season, after Shujah Ur Rehman dribbled past 3 players and squared the ball to Cottrell who had the simple task of pushing the ball into an empty net. Ashford’s attacking display was unsurprisingly drawn to close by Rehman, who dribbled through two defenders and chipped the ball over the onrushing keeper from a narrow angle.

An all round dominant performance from Ashford, who defended as well as they attacked, not allowing the visiting side any shots on target throughout the 70 minutes.