Yellamen withstand late pressure to beat Penn 2-1
Ascot United survived a late onslaught as they beat Penn and Tylers Green 2-1 in the Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round on Saturday. Leading 2-0 at the break, Ascot took their foot off gas in the second half and were clinging on after the visitors halved the deficit in the 75th minute.
Ascot with games under belt; Penn look strong on paper
The Yellamen came into the game off the back of their heroic midweek comeback draw against Kingstonian, and with three games now played they would surely at least be better prepared than they were in their opening round win over Clevedon Town.
Penn, however, have impressed in their debut season at Step five and took confidence from their shock 3-0 win over Step-four Beaconsfield in the last round; would they and their management team – including ex-Yellamen Chris Ellis in his coaching role – earn another scalp in what was the second of six rounds before the First Round proper?
Into the starting line-up came new signing Ricco Bullard-Jeffrey – a player who was with Ascot during pre-season and has now arrived from Uxbridge – whereas Cameron Rohart-Brown also made his first start of the season; Isaac Brown dropping to the bench in one of a handful of changes compared to Tuesday.
A tale of taken chances – and a wheel of fortune
The first half would ultimately end with Ascot ahead, but had Penn taken their chances, it could have been very different.
Ascot did show first when ‘keeper Carl Dennison saved with his feet to deny Kai Zini’s left-footed effort, but almost immediately his opposite number Sam Swyer got down well to tip away Freddie Pritchard’s daisy-cutter that was destined for the bottom left hand corner.
Ron Sturgess missed a sitter for the visitors – side-footing over from centre-of goal and close range when it looked easier to score – before Ascot punished them with a well-worked goal in the 24th minute. This time, Dennison got down low to his left to tip Quaye Vine’s effort away – Vine himself doing well to get his shot away as he went to ground – but Fope Deru was quickest to the rebound to fire across Dennison and home.
That said, the curse of the goalframe’s moveable wheel almost came back to haunt Ascot – as it did on Tuesday – as the ball struck it and bounced out. Fortunately, the linesman was up with play.
Pritchard then wasted another chance for Penn when he volleyed straight at Swyer at the far post, and the visitors were further dismayed when Jeff Fordjour and Aitor Pasantes linked up well for Lennon Moore in the box – he went to ground – and was ultimately booked for simulation.
Incredibly, the home side then made it 2-0 barely a minute after clearing off their own goal line in the 39th minute. New boy Bullard-Jeffrey dinked the ball into the space down the right, Deru raced onto it and cut the ball back to the near post, and Vine did what all good strikers do by attacking the space to side-foot past Dennison.
Ascot stave off second-half comeback
After the break, there was very little meaningful action until the 64th minute when Kai Allsopp picked out Vine, Vine’s touch took him slightly wider than he would have liked, but he still drew a good save out of Dennison via a powerful right-footed effort from right-of-goal.
After that, it was all about the visitors. Substitute Kajtel Halatyn slotted into an empty net with fifteen minutes remaining with Swyer stranded wide-left of his goal – new life now breathed into Penn – and they went in search of an equaliser.
However, man-of-the-match Rudi Pache would clear off the line when Pritchard looked to have squeezed the ball past Swyer and home, Bullard-Jeffrey capped a fine debut with a brilliant block in front of Joel Ellis’s thumping effort and Pritchard ghosted onto Ellis’s cross in added time only to crash his header over Swyer’s crossbar.
You have to take your chances – Ascot did – and are in the hat for Monday’s draw. On this showing, Penn will be in the end-of-season Step five promotion mix, but as with the FA Cup, there is a long, long way to go.
Ascot United: Swyer, Bullard-Jeffrey, Rohart-Brown (O’ Neill 69’), Clarke-Salter, Pache, Allsopp, Deru (Amiri 62’) Long, Vine, Zini (George 69’), Platel (Mboge 46’). Subs unused: T. Green, Brown.
Venue: The Racecourse, Ascot
Attendance: 221
Weather: 23c, sunny
Ascot United MOM: Rudi Pache
Entertainment: 3
Away fans estimate: 40
One-word summary: Nervy