Polytechnic Veterans vs Ascot United 2nd XI Veterans

Ascot United’s second string made it three wins on the bounce in what was ultimately a convincing performance against Polytechnic. The Yellas came out of the blocks quickly, and raced into a four goal lead. Poly, to their credit, did come back into it, but in truth Ascot were on cruise control mode long before the ref blew the final whistle.

“We saw a few rarely spotted beasts today” mused gaffer Steve Dando to ESPN after this WLVFL Div 1 contest “but the most notable of them was definitely the ‘Andy Lunn Dink’”. Dando was not wrong. In a sterling second half cameo Lunn did all that you’d expect of him; held the ball up well, brought others into the game nicely and generally made life nightmarishly difficult for those marking him.

Yet what will stay longest in the memory was the surging run from the halfway line, the coolness of the way the keeper was placed on his derriere before Lunn then cooly dinked the ball gently over him. That left foot isn’t just a hammer, it’s a wand…..

Talking of left food wands, the two players that were very much at the heart of Ascot’s free-flowing first half attacking play were Dan Wing and Adam Fennell. So it was that after ten minutes both were involved in the move that saw Phil White fire a shot goalwards. That effort was parried by the ‘keeper, but only to the lurking James Niknejad. The big number nine made no mistake, and the Yellas were on their way.

Wing then kept causing bedlam down the left, jinking around his full-back for fun. Indeed, he was heavily involved in standing up crosses that Adam Fennell – twice – rose to thump into the back of the net. 3-0 and the Yellas were flying.

That became 4-0 when Fennell was fouled 25 yards out. He stood up, brushed himself down and curled an absolute jaffer of a free kick top bins. Magnificent stuff.

Poly did nonetheless come back into it. A fortuitous penalty saw the score click to 4-1, but Lunn’s dink soon pushed the Yellas back up to four in front. A calamitous mess of a corner saw poor old Eryk Nawala nutmegged – back to 5-2, before Islam Hussein arrived fashionably late to slam home a(nother) excellent Dan Wing corner.

In truth, the second half was much more messy than it should have been. Not that Ascot ever looked like losing, but they did lose a bit of the fluidity that they’d had in the first 45 minutes. No matter. Steve Dando was excellent in the middle of the park, as the Yellas showed some much needed steel in winning the ball back. Phil White and Loz Stephenson also caught the eye, putting the miles in and creating plenty of opportunities going forward.

The travelling band of Ascot United fans were not, however, 100 per cent content with what they’d seen. Adam Fennell, for example, was reminded by one of the younger Yella Ultras that he had a perfect hat-trick on a plate there for him today. Alas it was not meant to be. Fennell had been well and truly told……

Be that as it may, an excellent performance from the Yellas. Three points on the road and some great goals to toot.

Good work one and all.

Team. Eryk Nawala, Loz Stephenson, Karl Small, Darren Lewis, Ed Dubois, Steve Dando (c), Dan Wing, Adam Fennell, Phil White, James Niknejad, Islam Hussein, Dan Hough, Andrew Lunn

Goals. Adam Fennell (3), Andrew Lunn, James Niknejad, Islam Hussein