Moneyfields v Ascot United Men

Report

TEN-MAN ASCOT DRAW AT MONEYFIELDS

 

Yellamen escape with point in dour affair

 

Ten-man Ascot United held on for a one-all draw against Moneyfields on Saturday, in a game marred by a serious injury to home striker Jaffer Mahammadkier. With the game goalless and approaching half time, Mahammadkier suffered a horrific leg injury in a challenge with Chad Goulter leading to a near one-hour delay, before both sides scored after the break to share the spoils.

 

Yellamen look for return to winning ways

Having lost at home against Moneyfields’ Hampshire rivals Horndean one week earlier, this was a chance to get back to winning ways against a side who they beat in the reverse fixture. However, the home side would surely be thinking the same having failed to win in their last three outings after a run of eight consecutive wins had threatened to propel them into the play-off mix.

 

Ben Harris returned to the starting line up after injury and suspension; Kickie Dzimba making way up top after his delay en-route to Portsmouth.

 

Shocking first half marred by serious injury

The first half was a poor spectacle with both sides repeatedly gifting possession to their opponents. And, there were only three notable incidents with Ascot ‘keeper Mark Scott racing from his line to clear at Mahammadkier’s feet after the striker had run onto Laurence Cooper’s through-ball, before home ‘keeper Callum Smart tipped Ben Harris’s direct free kick around a post at the other end.

 

Both of those chances came inside seventeen minutes, and after a tepid twenty further minutes there was drama in the third incident when Goulter was shown a red card for a tackle on Mahammadkier. Sadly for Mahammadkier, it resulted in a serious leg injury that required an ambulance, and the game was held up for almost an hour before an even more stale final seven minutes of the half resumed.

 

Yellamen dig in for second half

Following the earlier injury, both captains had been consulted in making a decision about whether the game should continue – and continue it did – not that it improved much after the break.

 

But in a rare moment of quality Ascot earnt – and took – their only chance of the half; seven minutes after the restart Connor Holland nipped onto Khalid Simmo’s pass, ghosted into the area and drifted around Smart, Smart pulled him back, and a penalty was the result.

 

Up stepped Anas Igozouln, and he rolled the ball into the bottom right to make it 1-0.

 

Ascot Manager Jamie Tompkins made all five substitutions before the 72 minute mark, although prior to that Scott was alert to one of the hosts’ replacements – Harry Thorne – by beating his stinging effort away from a tight angle.

 

But just as Harris was walking around the touchline following his 69^th minute exit, he and the smattering of hardy away fans were bemoaning the home side’s equaliser barely a minute later. Stretched at the back, Josh Edwards raced to cover on his own left wing, Laurence Cooper nipped in and past him, and Cooper squared to James Franklyn, whose shot squirmed home low into the net.

 

The proverbial kitchen sink that the hosts might have thrown at Ascot never really materialised, and their last meaningful effort came when Harry Grant’s foul outside the area enabled substitute George Barker to take fire from distance, although Scott tipped his free-kick around the post in the 81^st minute.

 

It wasn’t one for the purist and indeed tended more towards the poorest, but all thoughts are with young Eritrean Mahammadkier as he begins what will be a much longer road back that the Ascot fans; their long day paled into insignificance.

 

What’s next for Ascot?

The Yellamen are back at home next weekend for the visit of play-off rivals Uxbridge in what is certainly a proverbial six-pointer.

 

Ascot United: Scott, Goulter, Jones (Mason 62’), Fraser, Edwards, Simmo (Rogers 55’), Igozouln (Payne-James 72’), Grant, Harry (Butler 62’), Harris (Dzimba 69’), Holland.

 

Entertainment: 1

Reporter’s Star Man: Connor Holland (Ascot United)

Away fans (estimate): 10