Ascot United 1 – 3 Hanworth Villa
Great Scott! Yellas welcome back goalkeeper Mark
With Kie Plumley still recovering from a dislocated finger, manager Gavin Smith was quick to lure Mark Scott back to the team, and he would go into the starting line-up.
But in his side’s opponents Hanworth Villa lay a team that had an eight-point in the play-off zone, and had become something of a bogey side for the hosts in recent seasons. The question was whether they could repeat their fine home form, particularly against high-flying opposition.
NLP Report Submission (edited):
Early goals in each half were enough for play-off chasing Hanworth Villa to ease past Ascot United. Both teams had early strikes chalked off for offside either side of Ben Mulley’s thumping seventh minute strike that gave Villa the lead, and Ascot’s cause wasn’t helped by two injury-enforced substitutions before half time; one of them – George Franklin – himself replaced by Lanseny Traore.
Andrio Brandao’s fourth minute effort fell foul of one flag for Ascot, before Marco Haigh suffered the same fate at the other end just after his side had already taken the lead.
After the break, Liam Ferdinand volleyed home at the near post 14 seconds into the second half – completely unmarked) before side-footing home number three two minutes later when his side broke from an Ascot corner routine that went disastrously wrong. Lucias Vine reduced the deficit on the hour mark, cutting the ball home via defender Marco Correla’s boot, before Khalid Simmo missed the chance to set up a grandstand finale when he rounded Tyla Dickinson and fired over midway through the half.
Dickinson then denied Vine with a flying save late-on to ensure there would be no late drama.
Entertainment: 3
Star Man: Liam Ferdinand (Hanworth Villa)
Ascot United: Scott, Sankoh, Rohart-Brown (Franklin 22’ (Traore 35’)), Fraser (Dehghani 78’), Edwards, Allsopp, L. Vine, Brandao (Q. Vine 69’), Le Paih, Pache (Osbourne 46’), Simmo.
Venue: The Racecourse Ground, Ascot
Attendance: 231
Weather: 3c, partly cloudy
Reporter’s star man (AUFC): Luis Le Paih (pictured, shooting-stars.co.uk)
Entertainment: 3
Away fans estimate: 40
One-word summary: Clinical