Army Crusaders Veterans v Ascot United 2nd X1 Veterans

Report

The Ascot United Vets’ Second XI put in arguably their best performance of the season on 12 April 2025, coming away from Aldershot with a 3-0. A nice ping from Leon Palmer-Wilson from a well-worked corner – take a bow Steve Dando – saw the Yellas go one up, before Karl Small beat the offsidetrap to slot home the second. Leading scorer Jon Bennett then added a third from a corner with the clock winding down at the end. Decent effort one and all.

 

Army Crusaders came into the game very much in the promotion hunt. Previously, they’d won nine of their eleven league games and that left them in third place breathing down Latimer Road’s respective necks.

 

Furthermore, the Crusaders had shown what they were about when they visited the Racecourse to take on the Yella 1st XI in the League Cup. Sure, the Yellas came through, but the Crusaders bagged four impressive goals along the way. Throw in a big, no, huge pitch and a rock hard surface (no fault of the hosts – rain most definitely needed) and the Yellas knew they would need to stand up and be counted.

 

And, that they did. The early loss of Ed Dubois (scurvy, small pox or a tweaked calf, it wasn’t clear which of the three had laid him low) could’ve thrown the Yella planning into chaos, but the midfield troika of Dando, Everest and Palmer-Wilson did an excellent job of shielding Ascot’s back four.

 

Indeed, all three tried to put their foot on the ball and keep Ascot moving forward. With Andy Lunn a menacing presence up front and Alex Markarian and Jon Bennett pests on left and right, it soon became clear that Ascot possessed a genuine goal threat.

 

Half way through the first half that threat became a reality, skipper Dando picking out Palmer-Wilson on the edge of the box. A step to the left and then a swing of the new £160 left boot and Ascot were one up.

 

It didn’t take long for the lead to be doubled. Ascot cut open the home defence nicely, although the furthest man forward, Jon Bennett, was clearly off side when they did so. He wisely stopped, put his hands in the air and let the ball run. Karl Small, however, did no such thing; he raced passed Bennett and indeed everyone else to calmly slot home at the keeper’snear post.

 

Drinks breaks and indeed the half-time interval came and went, and the Crusaders subsequently tried to grind up the tempo. Multi-ball football became a thing, largely as every time the ball went out it bounced 50 metres away and over the running track. Stan and Vince Hough took up the challenge of being ball boys behind the goal, although their speedy returnsweren’t going to push either Ryan Rose or Eryk Nawala into doing anything particularly quickly.

 

That being said, Nawala was most definitely on his toes when forced into making a number of smart saves, whilst Darren Lewis and, as the second half wore on, Adam Abusweder in particular put their bodies on the line to stop the Crusaders from getting through.

 

Ascot did nonetheless still look lively on the break. Islam Hussein came on to lead the line, whilst both Bennett and Markarian weren’t scared to run at their defenders. It was nonetheless sensible passing football down the right (through Abusweder) that led to a Yellow corner. Dando swung it in, Bennett stood their unmarked and calmly nodded it over the ‘keeper and into the net. 3-0 and the job was done.

 

The Yellas showed decent shape, a sharp eye for a goal and impressive stickability throughout the whole game. Indeed, all 14 players stood up and were counted. That led to what was arguably the best 90 minute showing of the 2nd XI’s season so far.

 

The win does absolutely nothing for the Crusaders’ promotion hopes, meaning that the two sides are now pretty likely to lock horns again in 2025-26. No bad thing as far as Ascot are concerned, an excellent venue to play at and a team that plays it the right way. All good.

 

Team. Eryk Nawala, Dan Hough, Karl Small, Leon Palmer-Wilson, Ed Dubois, Darren Lewis, Steve Dando (c), Tony Everest, Jon Bennett, Andrew Lunn and Alex Markarian

Subs. Ryan Rose, Adam Abusweder, Islam Hussein.

Scorers. Leon Palmer-Wilson, Karl Small and Jon Bennett