Swifty Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 A hard earned and deserved point, but frailties prevented us from getting more. A stressful and arduous journey to the ground, thanks to a mile long tailback before the Hatton Cross A30 lane closure and a broken down lorry at the approach to the A312 Parkway roundabout, resulted in the 12 miles taking me 75 minutes - and others suffered longer journeys. The lads started the match very brightly but fell away, allowing Hanwell to create the better opportunities and miss a couple of chances which could, and maybe should, have cost us. Just as we started to get back into the first half, Tyler appeared to drop and juggle an overhit cross in the 37th minute, which allowed the swooping James Simmonds to wallop the ball into the roof of the net. The ref had a good first half but a nightmare second, giving us four incredibly cheap bookings, the worst being for Russell, who stuck a foot out and was penalised when the Hanwell forward theatrically fell over without any contact being made. The most obvious foul of the game didn't receive a booking, when Bayley followed up a bar striking effort and was sent crashing. Bitz made sure with the 69th minute penalty. I wonder what the views were of the assessor, apparently now called an observer - mix the two and you get obsessor, which is probably more appropriate! Hanwell played well without testing Tyler (and, in truth, we rarely stretched home custodian Melvin Minter), but we were definitely winning territorially and offensively when, in the 83rd minute, a hopeful cross which Tyler came out to gather was headed by Romario into his own net from ten yards out under no pressure. Confusion then reigned over Hanwell's electronic scoreboard, which failed to start for the first three minutes of the second half then went three minutes fast for the rest of normal time. With Hanwell aiming to keep the points by timewasting and lumping the ball into our half, Max Webb crowned a man of the match performance in his 100th game for us by threading a wonderful ball through the defence for Bitz to run on to and calmly thump low past the advancing keeper and into the far corner from 15 yards out in the 93rd minute. If you'd offered us a point before the game I'd have taken it but, worryingly and annoyingly, we've shipped five needless and stupid goals in the last two matches which have stopped us from gaining the double digit points total we may have deserved by now on merit. On the plus side, we've played some lovely football and not resorted to anything cynical (and, in fairness, neither did Chalfont or Hanwell in the two league matches I've seen this season) and our tenacity and refusal to throw in the towel speaks volumes. It should also be mentioned that we scored as many against an organised Hanwell side as their previous three league opponents managed. The journey home was not only sweet but much quicker - just 30 minutes. Weird but nice to see Bedfont and Feltham's turnstile man Jim helping out (shame the women's beach volleyball finished as soon as we sat down at half time!), and thanks to the Hanwell fan who complimented me after the game for my encouragement. There were plenty of others supporting Ashford - they were just more thoughtful and not as conspicuous! One other point, albeit a daft one - it's taken the lads just four games to beat the points total we managed in our first 26 games in our last Southern League season. From what I've seen and heard thus far, this should be a happier campaign than last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatboyatmfc Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Defiantly kept going with our customary never say die spirit after going behind twice to a very well organised Hanwell team, who will be at least top six in my opinion. I felt we deserved a point and possibly the three I thought our overall play was bright again and the Hanwell contingent were impressed by our passing game. Bitz took last minute goal superbly and it felt like a winner! Well done All! Now let's go and enjoy the away day on Saturday! Tangerines on Tour!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevchenko Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Never got further than the traffic lights on the A312 parkway at 1933 hours and solid traffic ahead of me down to the M4... Had left Ashford just before 7pm and had taken that long just to get that far, turn around and headed home Anyway well done on salvaging a point lads.... I was all ready to update my football grounds visited profile as well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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