Waltham Forest 1-1 Ashford Town

Ashford Town ended their  losing run on Saturday, although they were unable to settle their FA Trophy tie at Waltham Forest on the day, writes Will Sun.

Marc Cumberbatch headed the Town into an early lead from Ian Ross’ corner, but assistant manager Victor Renner’s stunning 30-yard drive levelled the game to set up a Tuesday night replay.

Ashford Town made two changes from the defeat at Godalming, with Joff Thorogood replacing Kenny Jarrett-Elliott, and Marc Cumberbatch coming in for Stuart Playford who has now left the club. Ashford also welcomed back George Fenwick, but he could only find a place on the bench.

The visitors nearly got off to a dream start when Anthony Allman delivered a pinpoint free kick to Joby Thorogood, but the diminutive midfielder wasn’t aware of the time and space he had and only managed to poke the ball wide.

Moments later it was at the other end that the Stags first tested Simon Overland. Andy Thomas fired a venomous right-footed shot goalwards, but the visiting keeper made a comfortable save.

However, Ashford Town did take the lead on 21 minutes. Ross’ inswinging corner drifted perfectly into the path of Cumberbatch, who made no mistake in heading in unchallenged from six yards.

Simon Glover could have made it two soon after, but his attempted lob was expertly tipped to safety by Jason Willis.

Ashford Town continued to threaten the visitors goal, as the Stags found it difficult to deal with the quality and precision from dead ball situations.

Joby Thorogood even had the ball in the net when he nipped behind the defence to turn in Allman's free kick, only for the linesman to rule the goal out for offside.

Although what ever manager Danny Honeyball said at the break certainly did the job, as his side came out in rejuvenated fashion. Renner missed a great chance to equalise with a free header from four yards, before forcing Overland to save with a low drive.

But the Ashford keeper couldn't do anything about Renner's 30-yard strike just before the hour mark. With the visitors' midfield sitting back, Renner took it upon himself to advance and unleash a rocketing shot that flew into the bottom right hand corner.

Ashford looked as though they had clinched the tie 12 minutes later, when Glover flicked the ball in from another sublime Ross free kick.

Although the assistant referee proved that lightning does strike twice, when he raised his flag again to chalk off the Ashford goal.

As the game eased into the final stages, Ashford never gave up, but were hit by some petty refereeing decisions that haulted the flow of the game. Joff Thorogood was unfortunate to pick up a late booking, before he was later replaced by Kenny Jarrett-Elliott.

Nevertheless Waltham Forest held on for the draw, in front of a measley 45 spectators at the Armadillo stadium.

Waltham Forest: Jason Willis, Matt Waldron, Liam Baptiste, Ryan Oliva, Sid Nelson, Darren Duporte (Ryan Hall 50), Liam Sango, Andy Thomas, Danny Gabriel, Victor Renner, Afolabi Orilonishe.
Subs: Danny Lodge, Danny Kenny, Jan Sotak, Nicky Muir

Ashford Town: Simon Overland, Tom Adlington, Ian Ross, Dan Tanner, Marc Cumberbatch, Gary Clarke, Joby Thorogood, Anthony Allman, Simon Glover, Simon Glover, Richard Sinden (George Fenwick, 63), Joff Thorogood (Kenny Jarrett-Elliott, 85).
Subs: Joe Hitchings, Barry Crawford