Harrow Borough v Ascot United Men

Report

YELLAMEN EARN PRICELESS HARROW WIN

 

Ascot secure rare win on road

 

Ascot United earnt what could be a priceless victory in their quest to avoid relegation with an impressive win at Harrow Borough on Tuesday evening. Having taken two of their three chances to lead 2-0, they were forced to fend off a late comeback after the home side scored a penalty in injury time, but held on to win for the first time since mid-December.

 

Do or die for Yellamen?

With nine games remaining, Ascot realistically knew that they would need in-or-around five wins to drag themselves out of the mire. Four of those would surely be winnable home games, but with a winless run stretching back thirteen matches, nothing seemed winnable at this point.

 

The home side – seventh – would pose another stern test for Ascot, although their play-off hopes were surely gone, barring an almost perfect run-in for them.

 

Babs set piece illuminates otherwise tepid first half

The first half was an uneventful affair with Harrow enjoying most of the possession but failing to make it count.

 

And, the first and only clear chance fell to Ascot in the 27^th minute. Tyrese Osbourne had been crudely challenged just outside the box – up stepped Babs Dehghani – and he curled a fine free kick over the wall and into the bottom left-hand corner.

 

When Harrow did threaten meaningfully just after the half-hour mark, Henry Curtis bailed out fellow defender Josh Edwards with a fine covering tackle to thwart Dernell Wynter. And, Edwards would himself brilliantly deny Yoan Edoukou in the 41^st minute, throwing himself in front of the striker’s thunderous goal-bound effort.

 

Ascot survived a succession of late corners and took their slender lead in at the interval.

 

Yellamen show great resolve after break and take their chance

After the break, Ascot soon found themselves 2-0 ahead via an unlikely source. Osbourne won a fifty-fifty challenge outside the area, and when the ball broke to Curtis, he threaded a curling effort around a sea of players and into the bottom right-hand corner.

 

At the other end, Kie Plumley acrobatically turned Edoukou’s free kick away which was destined for the top right-hand corner, but in Ascot’s only other clear-cut chance, Jaheim Kamara stabbed just wide of the post – albeit under pressure from the covering defence – after David Oupoh had tricked his way to the by-line and hammered a low cross into the six-yard box.

 

After that, Harrow huffed and puffed but were desperately poor, although they were handed a lifeline in the second of six added minutes with a penalty awarded for hand-ball; somewhat harsh given the speed of strike and proximity to defence. Wynter stepped up, drilled the spot-kick just left-of-centre, and although Plumley guessed correctly and got something on it, it had enough power to set up a grandstand finale.

 

But the Ascot defence stood firm – Edwards and Curtis stand-out performers on the night – and The Yellamen held on to move within two points of the safety mark.

 

The sight of Rudi Pache walking off with arm in a sling – seemingly a serious shoulder injury – was an unwelcome sight, and overshadowed the introduction of another Under 18 protegee in Finley Brooks, who entered the action in the 84^th minute and ran his socks off.

 

That’s one of the possible five down. The challenge is to repeat it on Saturday against one of the sides Ascot could realistically catch.

 

Ascot United: Plumley, Sankoh, Pache, Edwards, Curtis, Allsopp, Oupoh (Wynn 87’), Dehghani (Brooks 84’), Rice (Stewart 77’),  Osbourne (Edwards 66’) Kamara. Sub unused: Swyer

 

Venue: Earlsmead, Harrow

Attendance: 123

Weather: 10c, partly cloudy

Ascot United MOM: Henry Curtis

Entertainment: 3

Away fans estimate: 7

One-word summary: Resilient