Ashford Town 1 Walton & Hersham 2
Ashford Town’s winless streak in Ryman South was extended to 16 games after Saturday's narrow defeat against Walton & Hersham.
Once again Ashford found themselves chasing the game early on, falling behind after just three minutes. Town goalkeeper Scott Chalmers-Stevens’ clearance was charged down by Martin Grant and the ball trickled over the goal line and into the net.
Ashford responded and came close to an equaliser through Gillingham youth player Tom Murphy. The striker took on three defenders, before witnessing his powerful drive well saved by Delroy Preddie.
Just after the half hour mark Walton & Hersham extended their lead. Ryan Lake’s through ball found Grant, who rounded Chalmers-Stevens with ease before slotting into an empty net.
The home side fought back in the second half and hauled themselves into the game with a goal on 63 minutes when Matt Newman’s free-kick was headed home by Laurence Harvey.
Town pushed forward in search of an equaliser and in the dying minutes Preddie denied new loan signing Craig Cloke and Murphy, as the hosts ended the game with another defeat, leaving the club rooted to the foot of the Ryman South.
Ashford boss Steve Lovell felt the performance was a vast improvement after last Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat against Fleet Town, but remains frustrated by the lack of points.
He said: “It was an improvement and for large parts of the game there was nothing between the two sides. We gave away another silly goal early on and once we did we were always fighting an uphill struggle. The second half was better and it was hard to tell, who was the side fighting at the top of the division. However, it’s frustrating at the moment as we’re not getting any lucky breaks. Their first goal could’ve gone anywhere, but the deflection flew straight into our net, which is typical of our season.”
Ashford won’t have to wait long for another opportunity to claw the deficit at the bottom back, as they host relegation rivals Whitstable Town on Wednesday.
With the season entering the final third and Town six points adrift of safety, Lovell is fully aware how important a win against the Oystermen could be.
He said: “It’s a massive game for us and one we really have to win so we close the gap to [second bottom] Eastbourne. We just need to get a win and once we do that hopefully more will follow. We’ve got players coming back all the time so we could be in a much better position.”
POSTED: 08/02/2010 15:38:51
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