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Ashford Town (Middx) 0
Hayes & Yeading Utd 7
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Hayes & Yeading’s new Academy side continued their fine start to the season with a seven goal demolition of Ashford Town (Middlesex) at Short Lane on Wednesday evening.
United got off to a great start, taking the lead in just the third minute. Matt Marques’ cross from the left was only cleared as far as Prince Mbengui but he was denied by the first of many fine saves from home ‘keeper Aidan Bishop who pushed his shot around the post. The resultant corner from Jack Thomson-Wheeler was met at the near post by Ben Slade who glanced his header past Bishop into the far corner.
Play then settled into a midfield tussle and while United dominated possession, very little was being created to test Bishop further until the 17th minute when Mbengui collected the ball and ran at the middle of the home defence before picking out Matt Sinclair who saw his 20 yard drive fly past Bishop only to cannon back off the crossbar.
Within a minute Bishop had denied Mbengui’s low shot from 15 yards before another lull in chances took us to first half stoppage time where United scored the second that their territorial advantage deserved. Nat Mensah collected a Shariff Wilson throw-in and centred to the far post where Marques arrived and hooked the ball home from close range.
Half-time injury forced changes for United saw Thomson-Wheeler and Mensah replaced by Jake Rigby and Quinn Bredin respectively, leading to a re-shuffle at the back with Wilson moving up front in place of Mensah.
Despite the changes, United came flying out of the blocks again in the second half with home skipper Gabriel Bediako clearing a Josiah Benjamin header off the line just 5 minutes into the half before a goal glut saw United strike four times in just 12 minutes.
First to hit the target was Slade who fired his second low into the bottom corner having taken possession 20 yards from goal. Two minutes later he almost had a hat-trick when he ploughed through the middle of the defence and despite being tripped was allowed to continue only for Bishop to block at his feet with the loose ball being cleared off the line.
It was not long though before the fourth arrived as Marques headed a deep centre back into the mix with Sinclair completing the move from close range. Slade soon did have his hat-trick as he moved onto a pass through the centre and neatly lifted the ball over the on-coming Bishop into the now vacant net.
Despite being beaten five times already, Bishop was actually in fine form, denying United a six after Marques had cut inside and curled a shot that looked destined for the top corner only to be tipped away by a full stretch dive from the home ‘keeper.
In the 69th minute though he was beaten again, but only after pulling off a stunning save initially to deny Wilson only for Marques to ram the ball between ‘keeper and defender on the line for his second of the game.
Two minutes later United were denied a seventh twice in quick succession by the impressive Ashford custodian. Marques and Sinclair combined to set up Slade who saw his shot pushed away by Bishop with Kane Mason’s follow-up being deflected wide by a well timed defensive interception. The corner was played to Slade who hit a shot from just inside the box that was acrobatically tipped over by Bishop who denied Wilson in the same fashion just a minute or two later.
With a minute of the 90 to play United did get number seven as Wilson ran in to fire home a Marques cross from the left side giving the unprotected Bishop no chance.
The home side finally got a decent chance of a consolation in stoppage time when Rigby was adjudged somewhat harshly to have brought down Jahmaan Francis in the box and referee Bloom pointed to the spot after consulting his assistant. Francis himself took charge from 12 yards only to see the pretty much redundant George Upton guess correctly and push away his spot kick to maintain a deserved clean sheet.
Report by Kevin Watts.
United Man of the Match: Matt Marques.
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Ashford Town (Middlesex) |
Hayes & Yeading United |
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Josiah Benjamin 
