Supporters group get socially active after Fab Friday
Following Ascot United’s stellar 5-0 win over Merstham in the FA Trophy on Friday evening, The Yellafans’ supporters group were buzzing on socials on Saturday, lauding their team’s performance.
Whilst Merstham will look at their own performance as well below their own standards, take nothing away from Ascot whose high-pressing, ‘win every ball’ mentality ran the steam out of them after a dazzling opening forty-five minutes.
Whilst there is always a stand-out performer – once again Anas Igozouln for his brace and creativity that earnt him the man-of-the-match award – it was an all-round five-star team showing that sent Ascot in Monday’s 2nd qualifying round draw; a tie that will be played in two weeks’ time.
Manager Jamie Tompkins himself was more than satisfied, and speaking after the game he told ascotunited.net “very happy with the team performance with so many individuals playing well. I just want us to keep getting better with each game and we can certainly see that at the moment”.
The supporters were unsurprisingly aligned, beginning with Yellaman and fan Rob Saunders:
“It showed what they are capable of and let’s hope it’s a seminal performance in terms of the rest of the season. They looked like they had great fun, played with a lot of rhythm and cohesion. 4 wins on the spin and with winnable home games coming up we have a great chance to lay really solid foundations for a progressive season. To also time such a good showing on a night when there was a wealth of new or more infrequently seen faces in the crowd will also be helpful in growing attendance numbers”.
Jace de Souza celebrated the fact that the referee on the evening allowed play to flow, and added “[it] was good to see us play with such a high tempo and we punished their sloppy defence”.
Much has also been made of Ollie Mason, who thrived in a starting role and he caught the eye of Martin Fisher and Neil Richards. Martin said “Great to see Oli Mason, a young player who was at The Yella’s before going to Woking, developing into a quality footballer. Was outstanding last night” meanwhile Neil Richards simply said “For me a shout out to Ollie Mason.”
And yours truly continues to celebrate adding ‘George Mark II’ [Butler] at left-back. His addition has had an immediate impact, enabling the ‘Lock’ variety to pivot back and form a seemingly now well-drilled rearguard either side of Joe Gater and Josh Edwards.
The group, including Chris Bailey, were also quick to celebrate one of their former players and double-winning heroes, club legend Louis Bouwers who was in attendance on Friday evening ahead of what turned out to be a fantastic day for his side Flackwell Heath, who won 2-1 at Farnham Town in the Trophy later on Saturday. “UP THE BOUWERS” and “Super Louis Bouwers” were the posts; what price on drawing them on Monday?!
Elsewhere, in Women’s and Girls’ football, the Ascot United JPL side continued the free-scoring vein in winning 16-0 on Saturday, ahead of the senior side’s league match at AFC Portchester on Sunday.
And as this post is about the supporters, a final word to Merstham’s fans who were roughly one-fifth of the crowd on Friday evening having had a date with the M25 to get to The Racecourse and were still singing as their side went 4-0 down. Well done to them, and best wishes to them at Tonbridge Angels in the FA Cup next weekend.
Image is Ben Harris being mobbed after adding number 5 (shooting-stars.co.uk)