Brown stars as it’s all yellow
Ascot United came from behind to shrug off Clevedon Town’s dogged resistance in the FA Cup Extra Preliminary round on Friday night. Trailing 1-0 in an initially turgid affair, the home side – buoyed by stand-out-player Isaac Brown – eventually went through the gears to open up a 3-1 lead, before the visitors scored a late consolation.
Friday night under the lights signals start of hosts’ season
The Yellamen would open their campaign early due to Horse Racing at The Racecourse one day later; football and flat racing prohibited from co-existing. The game itself was one of nineteen extra-preliminary round ties played on Friday evening, and visitors Clevedon arrived having already started their own Step-five Western League campaign. The Seasiders had begun with three wins before Bridgwater beat them just 48 hours earlier, although the 360 minutes of competitive football under their belts arguably gave them an advantage against an Ascot side “a couple of weeks behind where they wanted to be.”
Pre-season had been a mixed bag, and it was a similar story with a squad that had chopped and changed and will surely continue to do so in the season’s opening spell; just five senior members of last season’s squad were on the roster for the start of this term.
Tepid first half ends all-square
A cagey, evenly matched first-half was almost devoid of action until Brown’s sharp one-two with Kai Zini ended with Brown’s rising drive sailing over the crossbar.
The Seasiders enjoyed a decent spell of possession midway through the half and they were rewarded when Laurent Davis-Wilson smashed low and hard through a crowd of players following a corner to give his side the lead.
But Ascot finally moved out of first gear when Brown’s excellent low finish levelled it up in the 38th minute with Fope Deru and Connor Richardson both involved.
Ascot grow into game and deserve win
After the break, Ascot were mostly on top, although Harry Haughton would be disappointed to screw wide for the visitors just before the hour mark – and then they saw an effort chalked off for offside.
After that, it was pretty much all Ascot, except for quite brilliant challenge from home defender Regan Clarke-Salter on Clevedon’s Jamie King – clean-through – when the game was still in the balance.
Brown slashed over at the 2nd attempt as Ascot went for the win, and just after Sam Swyer had parried Sam Westlake’s effort away for Clevedon, Harvey Platel put Ascot 2-1 up with an exquisite curling effort into the top right hand corner with eleven minutes to play (pictured, shooting-stars.co.uk).
Swyer still needed to be alert to keep out substitute Tom Chaplin’s low effort with his feet, but substitute TJ Mboge’s quick feet for Ascot would tee up his side’s third goal – ultimately feeding Quaye Vine from the right – and Vine did the rest with a cool finish into the bottom left.
Jamie King scored in the fourth of six added minutes for Clevedon to reduce the arrears to 3-2, but it was a mere consolation.
It’s early days, but The Yellamen are up and running.
Ascot United: Swyer, O’Neill, Richardson, Clarke-Salter, Pache, Allsopp, Deru, Brown, Vine, Zini, Platel. Subs: Green, Amiri, Long, Jama, Mboge, Shah, George.
Venue: The Racecourse Ground, Ascot
Attendance: 202
Weather: 23c, clear
Ascot United MOM: Isaac Brown (AUFC)
Entertainment: 2
Away fans estimate: 5
One-word summary: Encouraging