Jersey travelled to Ashford only a month and a day since Ashford won impressively 2-0 at Springfield. Following that Ashford had two more good wins only to lose their last two, the most recent at relegation threatened V.C.D. Athletic. Jersey had had three wins and a draw since losing to Ashford and were now up to 6th whilst Ashford were 13th with a record of 11-4-13 58-54. Jersey were missing Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, Jamie Watling and Lorne Bickley for that home loss but all were now present for the return.

Jersey made three changes with Jay Giles displacing James Carr who moved to the bench. Luke Campbell and Toby Ritzema moved in the reverse direction with Rai Dos Santos becoming a substitute and James Sunley not included in the squad. Ashford made two alterations. Miquel Scarlett displaced new signing Aaron Barnes, who was on the bench, and Mike West was upgraded from substitute to replace Sam Hasler who was sent off against V.C.D last week. Noah Carney took Matthew Bodkin’s place on the bench. Both sides altered their formations for this quick return. Jersey went more defensive with a 5-4-1 formation with Ashford changing to Jersey’s usual pattern of 4-1-4-1.

Ashford did most of the early pressing but an early half chance fell to Bickley when a Ritzema backheel put him clear but his shot from a narrow angle on the left byline was parried for a corner by Roshan Greensall the Ashford ‘keeper. In the 25th minute Jersey could have taken the lead in three separate incidents. A long ball forward by Giles was sliced up and over his own’ keeper by Will Moses and just dropped wide of the left post. From the resultant corner Campbell’s shot hit the right post and Le Quesne hit the rebound against the crossbar. Joe Lewis and Louis Collins were threatening down the right flank but never managed to produce any end product. A Miguel Carvalho bicycle kick was heading wide but Bickley latched on to it and flashed his header narrowly over only to see the offside flag raised.

Shortly after the break Miquel Scarlett and Ollie Bate opened up the Jersey defence and from the half clearance Ashford skipper, Gary Lockyer, curled his attempt just wide of the top right corner. An Ashford corner led to a scrambled clearance by Jersey but fortunately the ball did not fall to an Ashford player. Two minutes later the situation was reversed. Ritzema was fouled on the left flank and Giles swung in the free-kick to the far post. Greensall came for it but failed to reach it and the ball 2 / 3rebounded off a defender to Bickley only three yards out to give Jersey the lead.

Substitute Rai Dos Santos rattled the Ashford “woodwork” for the third time from twenty yards before Barry Fuller beat two Jersey defenders to the ball six yards out only to see Van der Vliet’s legs preserve his clean sheet as he dived to his left. With ten minutes left Jack Dixon attempted to replicate his Springfield “worldy” but this this time it fell well clear of the right post. Ashford gained a deserved equaliser just when Jersey thought they had held out for the win. A long ball forward was half cleared before being headed back in by Scarlett. Lockyer and Watling tussled for the dropping ball with Lockyer doing well
to get a toe in first and then hooking the dropping ball into the far corner as he turned and fell.

Ashford United – Roshan Greensall, Miquel Scarlett, Joe Lewis, Barry Fuller (wore 14), Will Moses, Harrison Hume, Mike West, Jack Dixon, Gary Lockyer (c), Louis Collins, Ollie Bate
Substitutes – 13. Harry Brooks (sub GK, not used), 16. Josh Chambers (for Hume 79), 17. Kai Garrett (for Bate 66), 18. Aaron Barnes (not used), 19. Noah Carney (for West 76)

Olive Green with White pinstripes on left, wider stripes on right/Olive Green/Olive Green; GK All Light Blue

Craig Stone (Manager), Matt Bodkin (Coach), Ben Coles (Medical)

Jersey Bulls – Euan Van der Vliet, Jonny Le Quesne, Jay Giles (wore 14), James Queree (c), Luke Campbell, Toby Ritzema, Jamie Watling (wore 15), Joe Kilshaw, Lorne Bickley, Luke Watson (wore 16), Miguel Carvalho
Substitutes – 3. James Carr (for Ritzema 78), 7. Fraser Barlow (for Bickley 81), 10. Rai Dos Santos (for Carvalho 66), 12. Adam Trotter (for Kilshaw 69), 21. Francis Lekimamati (not used)

Red/White/Red; GK All Yellow

Elliot Powell (Manager), Dan Garton (Assistant), Richard Hebert (GK Coach), Karl Benest (Kit), Nikki Nicolle (Medical)

Formations (R to L)
Ashford United (4-1-4-1) 1; 2-5-14-3; 6; 11-7-8-10; 9
Jersey Bulls (5-4-1) 1; 2-15-4-5-14; 6-16-8-11; 9

Officials – Liam Giles (Havering), James Perry (Southend) dug outs, Ellis Lander (Rochford) grandstand

Cautions – Will Moses (AU) 67, Gary Lockyer (AU) 89, Luke Watson (JB) 89

Corners – Ashford United (5) 10, Jersey Bulls (2) 2

Assist(s) – Jay Giles

3 / 3Player of the Match – Luke Campbell, honourable mentions Toby Ritzema and Lorne Bickley

Added Time – 1.00 & 8.15 (9.15)