Winning run stretches to nine

Ashford men’s 1st XI were up against local rivals Staines at the weekend. With promotion rivals Eastcote and Maidenhead facing off against each other, this was a good opportunity for the Red & Blacks to give themselves a bit of daylight at the top.

Facing a team that have yet to register a point, Ashford started the game thinking it would be a walkover, and were guilty of showing complacency. Once Ashford knuckled down, and started playing as a team, they soon scored the opener through box to box forward Jamie Hemphrey, his 10th goal of the season. Soon it was all Ashford, Shujah Ur Rehman, won and converted two short corners. After some good work by Tom Pitfield, who beat a couple of players and slipped the ball past the keeper, Alex Betts grabbed his trademark back post tap in. Staines were making life difficult for the home team, defending deep and in numbers, with all 11 of their players in their 25 yard line at times. There was still time for Pitfield to grab his first league goal for Ashford, from a short corner in which he injected, the ball was played at the top by Rehman to Andy Whiting, who slipped it back to Pitfield who slapped the ball in first time. Ashford missed another couple of opportunities to extend their lead in the first half, with Whiting hitting the post twice, and a couple near misses. Ashford were disappointed to only be 5-0 up at the break.

After a pep talk by Player/Coach Ravi Virdi, Ashford came out determined to better their performance in the first half. Two goals from Andy Whiting and one by Shujah Ur Rehman, all came within 5 minutes of the restart. Once again Ashford took their foot off the gas and allowed Staines to set their defence up deep and within their 25 yard line, making more goals hard to come by. After some good work from Joe Lewis, winning the ball high, Ashford played a quick ball into the D, which took and deflection over the Staines defence and straight to the back post where Betts was once again on call to deflect a difficult chance in. There was still time for Rehman to grab his fourth and fifth goals of the game, one coming from a short corner and the other coming from a hellacious reverse stick strike from the top of the D, which now take his tally to 40 goals in 14 league matched this season.

Ashford next face 3rd place Maidenhead, who beat Eastcote 1-0 at the weekend, meaning Ashford currently sit three points clear at the top of the MBBO Regional 1 Division.

Photo credit goes to Steve McCarthy from Soccersnaps. See the link below for more high quality photos from this game:
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/soccersnaps/collection?album_id=3994905259