On April 7, Ashford United headed a mile down the road to play Kennington Juniors in a local derby on a very blustery day at Ball Lane.
The Ashford side started the game strong – dominating possession from the whistle and pressing the Kennington side. However, the strong backline of the home side was not giving Ashford the opportunity to get ahead. Noah Birley was strong up top – making a number of attacks to fight through the tough defence and was unlucky a couple of times to not get a shot away. Any runs they made at Ashford were quickly dealt with by George Bull and Will Luke.
The stalemate in the game came half-way through the first half, when Harlow Malcolm slipped though the defence with some fancy footwork to bring the visitors ahead.
1-0
The play traded back and forth for another few minutes – with the wind hindering both sides at times. It was a looping shot from outside the box that caught Ashford to bring the home side level. Marco Everett was unlucky not to get a hand to it, but the wind just seemed to carry the ball into the back of the net.
1-1
Although level, Ashford still continued to dominate, and were unperturbed by the physicality of the Kennington side. The midfield of Kuzey Bellshaw, Leo Jackson and Harlow Malcolm were passing the ball well, alongside Lian Panlilio and Charlie Parsonage who added strength to the attack.
The team made a number of skilful plays, with Zachary Nugent playing a lovely through ball for Mikey Sombie who made a great run but was stopped by the Kennington defence. Stanley Chatfield was unlucky not to hit the back of the net with an accurate free kick, which was saved by the Kennington number 1.
But it was the pace of Kennington’s winger who caught Ashford on the counter and took the hosts ahead.
2-1 Kennington
With half time looming, the Ashford side continued to press, but were just couldn’t bring any of their chances to fruition. Harry Bullen was unlucky not to get on the score sheet – with a cross field ball from Stanley Chatfield, falling to Zachary Nugent, who played a neat pass to Harry, who just kissed the cross bar.
HT
The Kennington side had some more fire in their bellies coming into the second half but were still not able to dominate Ashford. As the game progressed, Ashford made some good plays, passing the ball well and playing their football. One good chance came from Kuzey Bellshaw who played a great ball to Noah Birley – forcing the keeper to make a save. Gabriel King made a cracking first time shot on the edge of the box, again keeping the keeper busy. Captain Leo Jackson’s missile of a free kick made it over everyone in the box, to be caught by the Kennington keeper.
Although Ashford dominated, the Kennington side capitalized on their chances – with two counter attacks catching Ashford to bring the final score to 4-1.
Sadly, the score line did not reflect the level of possession and time spent by the Ashford side in the Kennington half.
Coaches Paul Bellshaw and Dan Jackson, along with Charlie Chatfield cheering the squad from work felt the boys deserved more from the game but was just one of those days where the chances didn’t add to the score line.
The team are always grateful to our sponsor Compliant Surface Finishing for providing the Home and Away kits for the squad.
COYNAB
