TEN GOALS AS ASHOVER STAGE COMEBACK

ASHOVER 5 HEMINGTON HAMMERS 5

MIDLANDS REGIONAL ALLIANCE DIVISION ONE AT MILKEN LANE

1 OCTOBER 2022 --- 2PM

ASHOVER V HEMINGTON THE VIEW

Sometimes you just witness a remarkable score line in a game and today at Milken Lane was undoubtedly one of those.  Ashover trailing 4-1 just short of the hour mark staged a superb comeback to lead going into the final stages only for Hemington to equalise to grab a point which in fairness was nothing more than they deserved for their contribution to this goal fest.

ASHOVER FC 2022/23 SEASON

Changes have been afoot at Ashover FC with the club having problems in travel and squad selection in The Hope Valley League they could not complete their last few fixtures of the 21/22 season and have joined The Midland Regional Alliance and start in Division One.  It will be a return to familiar territory for manager Don Carline who for those counting enters his 39th year in charge in February next year.  Its a tremendous achievement for Mr Ashover FC and it gets probably harder than the old days with player availability a major problem to keep the club running. 

AMAS ALI LATE EQUALISER FOR HEMINGTON

Having only covered one Ashover CC match this season and being limited to journeys this regular Ashover walk has become irregular so it was good to reconnect with the beauty of the lanes and fields surrounding this one hour stretch out to Milken Lane today. 

Visitors Hemington Hammers were unfamiliar to me and play just over the Derbyshire border in Leicestershire and very close by to East Midlands Airport so a good trip I guess up the M1 to reach Ashover

ALAN HAGUE [RIGHT] GETS THE PRAISE FOR THE FIRST ASHOVER GOAL

Upon arrival in Ashover the Festival of Light was warming up for the evening time and the village population had probably doubled with the caravan visitors for the event but so far all was very quiet.

There was an increasing wind on a sunny afternoon as Ashover found themselves two behind after twenty minutes.  First Subin Rai converted after the goal keeper miss kicked his kick and then Jason Ambrose-Jones converted a right wing corner.  The home side pulled a goal back on the half hour mark when Alan Hague saw his 20 yard effort deflected into the Hemington goal.  But the two goal cushion was restored on the stroke of half time when a repeat of the visitors second goal occurred and Ambrose-Jones had his second.

SECOND GOAL FOR SUBIN RAI AS HEMINGTON GO 4-1 UP

Just before the hour mark Rai got his second and Hemington's fourth with a lovely 25 yard strike, but for Ashover half time substitute Callum Gill was slowly getting a grip on the game and driving his side forward.  The comeback started on 63 minutes when Jack Mellor floated in a free kick off the right it evaded everyone and fell in at the back post.  With twenty to go Hemington failed to clear and Gill curled the ball back into the net from the edge of the penalty box and it was all level with a quarter of an hour to go thanks to a diving header from Danny Hartshorn.  Scenes of joy followed on 82 minutes when Gill struck a superb effort that soon nestled in the back of the visitors net and Ashover were in the lead for the first time in the game and had staged a fantastic comeback.

But this topsy turvey match had more to give, of course it did, when with four minutes remaining the exciting Amas Ali weaved through the left hand side of the Ashover box drew the keeper and slotted home to make it 5-5 and in all fairness for the enterprise of Hemington in the first half it earned them the point they deserved.

ASHOVER GET THEIR SECOND A FREE KICK FROM JACK MELLOR

Strange game and as ever with the amount of goals always a difficult exercise to write up reasonably concisely.  You can only work on clubs team sheets so hopefully accreditations have gone the right way.  

On the hour mark I was despairing at the Ashover performance as I'm sure was manager Carline but the come back was something else.  For Hemington they had played some wonderful football in the first half with a string of good performances that seemed to be challenged in the second half but the late equaliser was well earned it would have been very hard on them to have a lost a game they contributed so much to.

DANNY HARTSHORN LEVELS WITH A DIVING HEADER 4-4