WE WON!!!
Thoroughly deserved win against an Arlesey side who played well but parked the bus after they equalised and gave away quite a few free kicks on the edge of the box, plus there were a few more the ref didn't give but should have.
Best Ashford display for a long while, with the team working as a whole and with some lovely interplay. We should have won by more, but a combination of easy saves and profligate finishing kept the score on a knife edge. Bayley gave us the lead with a 35th minute thumper from near the edge of the box, and we were on top until Arlesey equalised with their first meaningful effort of the game, despatched into the corner from ten yards out by Arel Amu in the 55th. Despite having few shots, Arlesey could have had a second when an askew back pass resulted in Russ clearing the ball off the line. We pushed, probed Arlesey's double back line and never gave up and got our reward when Tommy Brunton unleashed a corker from 15 yards out in the 74th minute. Hope Sammy's substitution was just precautionary - man of the match in my opinion.
Thanks to Simon Munns for sorting out the new mic at half time. Hoping to make Kempston Rovers away on Tuesday, providing some poor soul can give me a lift back afterwards!