Ashford Town FC
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Ashford Town 2 (Lovell 7, Murphy 61)
Chatham Town 1 (Wilfort 14)
ATT: 188
Man-of-the-match: Mark Lovell
Ashford Town secured salvation in Ryman South after a nail-biting victory over Kent rival Chatham Town at Homelands on Saturday.
Tom Murphy's clinical second-half finish secured the points for the Nuts and Bolts as Walton Casuals ended the season occupying the second relegation place just above Eastbourne Town . It was a win that Ashford deserved after creating the better chances in an entertaining clash.
Ashford started with the desire and passion required on their most important game for a few season's now and created two chances in the opening five minutes. Firstly Joe Fuller headed over a Chris Borchescu corner and then Ross Morley's long-rage effort screwed wide, however the Homelands faithful didn't have to wait long for their opener. A patient build up down the right culminated with Mitchell Sherwood releasing Borchescu; Chatham failed to clear his cross and Mark Lovell was on-hand to stab the ball home from close range. The pressure was momentarily released. The home side's joy was short-lived though as seven minutes later the Chats were level.
After Scott Chalmer-Stevens has smartly denied Ray Powell with his feet; the resulting corner was swung in by Ashley Proberts and lax defending allowed captain John Wilfort a free header at the far post to level up proceedings. Chatham took control after this as Powell continued to cause problems as his 18th minute header hit the top of the crossbar before he out-stripped the Ashford defence only to find Chalmer-Stevens quickly off his line to smother his effort. Just before the interval the Nuts and Bolts nearly regained their lead as Lee Hockey's long throw fell to Murphy but his rasping volley crashed against the outside of the post.
With a victory required to secure safety Ashford came out in the second-half with renewed vigour and they controlled the rest of the match. Lovell's long range volley flew just over before the striker headed over from six-yards after Borchescu had delivered another teasing corner - his delivery all match was spot on. Then, just after the hour mark, Murphy pounced to send the Homelands crowd into delirium. The superb Lovell was the architect, he took the ball down, dissected the Chatham defence with a pinpoint pass, Murphy raced through and finished into the corner with great precision. It was a superbly worked goal as Town could finally see salvation calling.
Chatham nearly hit back ten minutes later, but Chalmer-Stevens showed great agility to tip Brad Potter's header onto the post and no-one could finish the re-bound. Two more Borchescu corners created headed chances for Lovell and Hockey but they both flew over. The home side held on for victory though as they finally secured their Ryman League status on the final day of the season after a tough season at Homelands.
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