Ash United 2 Sandhurst Town 2

[Fizzer Fan]

Sandhurst returned to action after a dismal defeat at the hands of Reading Town on boxing Day. Ash United were the Fizzers' last opponents of 2007 and Peter Browning was hoping for a good end to an up and down year.

 

 

 

The game started well in Ash's favour and they had more of the ball and got in to more attacking positions then the Fizzers. On 8 minutes the home side took the lead when a throw in by Ash wasn’t cleared by the Sandhurst defence, the ball fell to Nick Sowden whose shot was going wide, but Brad Smith followed the ball & crossed the ball back into the six yard box where Gavin Evans reacted quickly to slot the ball home past Andy Ewen.

 

 

 

Soon after Ash netted a second with a good shot by Scott Holman as he bent a shot in to the top corner of the net leaving Ewen with no chance.

 

 

 

The Fizzers were left devestated as they found themselves 2 goals down so early in the game. Due to the home sides lead they began to relax and Sandhurst had a few chances to capitalize. Errol Hutchings chased down a backpass and blocked the clearance by Ash keeper Fitzpatrick, the ball was going towards goal but Fitzpatrick chased down the ball and pushed it away so close to it crossing the goal line.

 

 

 

After half an hour of play Sandhurst had an excellent opportunity to get a goal back as Danny Wilde was taken down in the penalty area. Karl Barrie calmly slotted home the spot kick leaving Fitzpatrick rooted to the centre of his goal.

 

 

 

 

 

You could feel the momentum change after the penalty and Sandhurst looked much better for the last 15 minutes of the first half but were restricted to a small amount of opportunities.

 

 

 

Ash started the better in the second half and only Andy Ewen kept the scoreline the same as he made to excellent saves.

 

 

 

The game began to open up and Sandhurst went looking for an important equaliser but Ash were quick on the attack and both sides had thier fair share of opportunities but only poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept the second half goalless.

 

 

 

Danny Wilde, who gave Ash the runabout for the majority of the game and he won another penalty for the Fizzers as he made a good run down the right and was taken down and the referee awarded a controversial penalty. Karl Barrie stepped up but this time Fitzpatrick did much better and made a good save but Wilde reacted the quickest and fired home the rebound to tie the score.

 

 

 

The Fizzers became rather defensive following the equaliser and looked to be content with taken a draw. The ball was in the Sandhurst half on a regular basis as Ash went looking for a winner.

 

 

 

As time went down Danny Wilde was dismissed for an off the ball incident. But soon after the amount of players of either side was, like the scores level, as Ben Stewart was also sent off for a late challenge on Jonny Fisk.

 

 

 

The whistle blew after a long spell of added time and the Fizzers were ecstatic with a great point away at local rivals Ash.

 

 

 

Hopefully this result will give Sandhurst a much needed boost to begin 2008 in good form.

 

 

 

PS not by myself, STFC match report