Ashford Town 3 vs 1 Chessington & Hook

A game that saw a number of current Chessington players and the manager returning to their former club.

On a terrible surface credit should go to both sides who attempted to play a passing game most of the time, although on occasions that just was an impossible tactic and a more direct style became the order of the day.

Ashford started the brighter and took the lead after ten minutes, when slack marking and a well-placed pass allowed the attacker time to lift the ball over the advancing Michael Sharpe.

The early setback if anything galvanised Chessington, and although our hosts were a constant threat, we began to enjoy a little more of the ball and created a couple of openings none of which were converted.

Having reached the break just one behind all was still to play for, and certainly our start to the second half was encouraging enough to the point where in the opening exchanges we looked the more likely. However we never really created as much as we should and genuine opportunities were a rarity. The two most notable chances being well saved by the home keeper, one in particular from a well placed lob which was brilliantly palmed away.

Midway through the half though and out of nothing, we fell further behind when a mis placed clearance resulted in a fine finish from left of the penalty box.

With a mountain to climb we threw caution to the wind and should have been rewarded immediately after the restart, when a blatant handball was somehow overlooked by the assistant referee when he was perfectly placed to see the offence. However within two minutes we did get a spot kick. Jimmy Brazil’s persistence caused sufficient problems for McCarthy in the home goal who pulled him back when clear. Red Card? Almost certainly should have been, but somehow you don’t expect to see that in this situation. Nick White converted coolly to renew hope as we entered the final stages.

With the momentum now with us confidence was high, but just two minutes after reducing the deficit we conceded again, when Michael Sharpe lost his footing when catching a routine cross to gift a tap in to the grateful Ashford forward. Still we pushed and a quite amazing block on the line from a Matt Holley effort from just two yards out was our final effort.

Despite battling manfully to the end we missed out as another campaign came to an end.