Details
| Date | Time | League | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30/11/2024 | 15:00 | The Pitching In Isthmian Football League - South-Central Division | 2024-2025 |
Ground
| Racecourse Ground 3G 11-a-side |
|---|
| Sunninghill and Ascot, Ascot, Windsor and Maidenhead, South East, England, United Kingdom |
Report
ASCOT FIGHT BACK TO BEAT RAYNERS LANE
Sean signs off with stirring display
Ascot United legend Sean McCormack signed off his stint in yellow with victory over Rayners Lane on Saturday. The hugely popular winger made his 166th and final appearance ahead of his move overseas, contributing two assists in a 3-1 win that earnt him a man-of-the-match award, and a sixth consecutive win for the home side.
Poor first half – and that is an understatement!
The first half was a fairly drab affair with the home side labouring at the back, and they were undone in the 12th minute when Rio Connell pounced to play captain Frank Keita in, and he slotted past Mark Scott and into the bottom right.
McCormack almost levelled the scores three minutes later when racing onto Chad Goulter’s ball over the top, although the angle was against him as he shot and visiting ‘keeper Charlie Crowley tipped the ball wide for a corner.
Connor Holland then missed a sitter for Ascot when he rounded Crowley and fired wide from a narrow angle – albeit one he would have expected to make – but after that The Lane looked more likely to score again as Scott saved Germain Dua’s header before Keita missed a sitter when skying over the crossbar unmarked after more dismal home defending.
Crazy second half sees Ascot storm back
In a proverbial game of two halves, the second period pretty much had it all.
The home side finally revved up their engines ten minutes into it when the excellent Goulter teed up Ben Harris, only for Crowley to stand up excellently to block Harris’s attempted cut-back.
But barely a minute later, Ascot levelled with a fantastic goal started – and finished – by Khalid Simmo. Simmo drifted across midfield and picked out Morgan, Morgan helped the ball onto McCormack, and he delivered a brilliant cross from the right that Simmo slammed first-time into the net.
Substitute Anas Igozouln made an immediate impact when he picked up Goulter’s intelligent overlap on the hour mark, and Goulter delivered a cross from the McCormack school of deliveries, that left Connor Holland with the easiest of tap-ins to make it 2-1.
Incredibly, Goulter, McCormack and Simmo linked up for the latter to convert in the 70th minute only for an offside flag to ruin the party, but the game was as good as over when Ascot scored a third with thirteen minutes remaining. Joe Gater’s brilliant pass out of defence got his side moving, Taylor’s dink to McCormack down the wing was exquisite, and McCormack – now writing his own script – swung in another cross that Igozouln converted at the far post.
McCormack’s field day continued with another delivery that Igozouln could – and probably should – have converted rather than scuff, before twice then trying his own luck but finding Crowley’s palms equal to his efforts.
‘Lane rarely threatened and their plight worsened near the end when defender Lauran Luke’s late tackle on Goulter earnt himself a straight red card, but the limelight remained fixed on the home fans’ hero.
And, the final word goes to the player who sent Ascot to an FA Vase Final at Wembley by scoring his side’s decisive penalty in the semi-final shoot-out, before then providing the assist for Kai Walters to head home the only goal against Newport Pagnell Town at the home of English football. That display in front of 4,500 Ascot fans and the BT cameras earnt him the man-of-the-match award. But to his adoring fans at The Racecourse, he his simply ‘Sean’; a man who sets the bar high and then constantly jumps over it, but all of it mixed with humility and honesty.
For that, as he left the field to a guard of honour, there was the ultimate respect.
What’s next for Ascot?
Ascot United are back on the road at Harrow Borough next weekend.
Ascot United: Scott, Butler, Jones (Payne-James 89’), Gater, Fraser, McCormack, Goulter, Harris (Igozouln 58’), Holland, Simmo (Lahtinen-Kalsi 76’), Morgan (Harry 81’). Sub unused: Swyer
Entertainment: 4
Reporter’s Star Man: Sean McCormack (Ascot United)
Away fans (estimate): 6