North Kent Non League
Isthmian League

Ashford United way to hot for Greenwich Borough

Ashford United showed that they are back to form as they claimed their second away win in a few days after seeing off Greenwich Borough 3-0 at the DGS Stadium.

Gary Alexander, his Management team and a few of the players were returning to their former side in a bid to claim the win that would return them to the top half of the table, and they did just that.

The visitors raced out of the traps and within the first 20 seconds Josh Wisson had already tested Greenwich keeper Tom McGill. Half-chances then came and went as Ashford found success down the right side but Jerald Aboagye, on one occassion and Clark Woodcock on another, could not pick out the correct final ball. Sam Corne and Harry Ottaway both then saw shots saved before we got the first goal of the game on 20 minutes.

Good work down the right by Woodcock saw him play in Danny Parrish who pulled it back for Ottaway to stab home. A nice team move down the right hand side again that this time ended with the perfect result. Nothing less than Ashford deserved. 0-1

Soon after, Ottaway went close with a header before Parrish missed a good chance to double the lead. The most successful route to goal was via an Ottaway flick on towards the on-running attacker. Sam Corne had nearly got on the end of one and this time Danny Parrish did. He probably should have done better but chose to lob the advancing keeper but could not execute the finish perfectly and McGill made the save.

Greenwich then had their only two attempts in the first half. First-up Mendy saw his shot clip the woodwork before a strong drive from Captain, Solomon Taiwo was well saved by Sam Mott.

Just before the break Ashford got their second of the night and once again it came from the dangerous Harry Ottoway. Danny Parrish had received the ball on the edge of the box and with luck fed the ball to Ottaway who took a touch and drilled it home into the bottom corner past the diving McGill. A deserved ending to a half dominated by the visitors. 0-2

New signing Toby Ajala made an appearance for the start of the second half and went on to show the Ashford fans that there will be good things to come from him this campaign. His attacking threat is not in doubt but I was quite impressed with his defensive work and his effort excerted throughout his 45 minutes.

It was Ajala that created the third and final goal, which came on the hour mark and was scored by the superb Sam Corne. Ottaway had knocked on Mott’s clearance to Ajala who then provided the perfect near-post cross to Corne who finished well. 0-3

Ashford went on to cruise through the second-half and although they had chances they could not add to the score any further. Corne, Parrish and Ajala all saw efforts miss the target.

Injuries and substitutions disrupted some of the flow of the game in the second period. Ottaway was fortunate to receive only a ticking-off for a poorly timed challenge and later Tom Carlse had to leave the field after sustaining an ankle injury.

The game drew to its conclusion and the 3-0 result was the right one on the night.

The hosts are struggling towards the bottom of the League and will need to improve quickly or they will have a tense finish to this season. Last month I felt they were impressive in defeat at Phoenix Sports but tonight there was little to be positive about. However, Ashford were good. They thoroughly deserved this win and from seeing it I do wonder how they had gone on such a poor run recently. Maybe the arrival of Parrish, to complement Ottaway, is the missing piece of the jigsaw and I fully expect them to now make a drive towards the play-off positions and become contenders for promotion as the season draws to a close.

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