7 minutes of heaven

Ashford 2s have realised how serious their relegation battle has suddenly become. With three, potentially four teams getting relegated from MBBO Division 1 this year we were up against it. Currently sitting in 10th and two off the bottom, we are still to play both the teams below us and the one above us. Things are starting to get serious!

With these worrying words still ringing in our ears, Ashford went out and started by far the stronger of the two teams. A beautiful, weaving run saw young superstar Sam Betts cut inside of two Bicester defenders before finishing across the keeper. 1-0 up after the opening minutes we continued to pile on the pressure. Bicester were unable to cope with this added pressure as we frequently won possession of the ball high up the field. A crazy short corner let to our new stick stopper, Adam Husband freshly back from his skiing trip, forgetting how to use his stick. A quick injection from Rob Grant was calmly stopped with the bottom of Adams foot. Bicester went to take the quick free hit but were unable to get past the man mountain David Eastbury. A quick ball into the D saw the ball bounce around the keeper before Adam Husband lifted the ball over the logged Bicester keeper - taking him from zero to hero!

The game then became a lot more open with both teams missing countless chances in front of goal. Bicester had a flurry of powerful short corner drag flicks which were comfortably coped with by Andy Ritchie. Andy made a number of great close range saves including a last ditch double save, diving low to his right covering the shot from the baseline. Bicester grabbed a goal against the run of play and brought the score line closer at 2-1 with the home side still ahead. Latest recruit Pavi Aulakh linked up well with midfield regulars David Eastbury and Paul Neyton (Shar) to deal with the Bicester threat to avoid overloading the defence. Pavi was later voted MoM with a unanimous victory which reflected his performance accordingly.

With the momentum, Bicester kept pushing and driving deeper into the Ashford half. Wingbacks Stephen Law and Darren Cole provided both a defensive and attacking threat. Stephen with his direct runs and linking up with the midfield whereas Darren relied more on the long hard ball down the line.

Bicester grabbed two late goals and celebrated as if they had won the league. Despite playing well and showing great resilience, we just didn't have luck on our side. Ashford now face a very tough Tring side away from home next week before going into five winnable games - in which we must now grab some points to move up into 8th / 9th position.

Photo credit goes to Steve McCarthy from Soccersnaps.