Ascot United slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Chertsey Town on Saturday in front of a partisan 1,122 crowd, writes William Powell. The hosts, who knew victory would guarantee them the league title, duly emerged with all three points on an afternoon where they were initially pegged back after going ahead.
The game started off lively and was evenly balanced. However, Chertsey took the lead in the 17th minute after Louis Degand bundled home from close range. Mark Scott came out to try and scupper the effort, but Degand just got there before the Yellas’ shot stopper to poke home.
Ascot quickly responded to the deficit when Liam Tack curled an effort into the top corner from distance. The move started from Oliver Lahtinen-Kalsi picking out a perfect pass to the feet of Ollie Harris, who drove at the Chertsey defence before offloading the ball to Tack, who emphatically found the top corner past Jupp in Town’s net (pictured celebrating, shooting-stars.co.uk).
However, the eventual champions just didn’t relent. Three minutes later, Conor Lee regained their lead. Lee, rather effortlessly, placed the ball into the bottom corner from a free-kick past the Ascot wall and goalkeeper.
Both sides went back-and-forth for the remainder of the enthralling encounter but the hosts led 2-1 at the interval.
Ex-Yellaman Oliver McCoy had a fantastic chance to extend Town’s lead moments after the restart but his headed effort flew wide. Chertsey, who had clearly come out of the blocks quickly, threatened again in the 50th minute when Gianluca Botti found himself one-on-one with Scott. As Botti looked certain to slot home, George Lock stuck a foot out and brilliantly thwarted his effort.
Moments later, however, Chertsey scored. Scott fumbled the ball from a corner, and Botti calmly slotted into an empty net. Chertsey continued to push on but Scott made some fantastic saves to keep their efforts out.
The corks popped for the hosts soon after – and congratulations to them. They will now be after two wins to reach the 100-point mark, a feat achieved quite recently by another FA Vase winning side not too far from the Surrey border…
