On Saturday afternoon Ascot United travelled to Vale Farm in west London to face Wembley in their first fixture of 2022. Going into the fixture the two sides were separated by two points and two places in the table with Wembley in 7th and Ascot in 9th, so a competitive fixture was expected writes Rob Davies in West London.
The Yellamen’s last two games had been cancelled due to Covid in the camp and they initially showed signs of rustiness as the home side started the brightest and had a few good chances in the opening 20 minutes. A mixture of some good saves from Sam Gray in the Ascot goal and poor finishing from the hosts kept the scores level.
Midway though the first half Ascot started to come into the game and threatened the home side’s goal for the first time with Chris Ellis heading over from a corner. This was shortly followed by Keaton August breaking down the left and cutting inside to beat his man, but the winger’s shot was just wide of the target.
The Yellamen broke the deadlock 5 minutes before the break through a fantastic bit of play from Taylor Morgan. The striker turned his man on the edge of the box, pushed forward and produced a superb finish with his shot going in off the bar from a tight angle.
Ascot were more competitive in the second half and doubled their lead on the hour mark when a corner found its way to Dan Bailey at the back post and the captain made no mistake sending a powerful header into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
In the last half hour the Wembley were pressing to try and get back into the game but the visitors were looking dangerous on the break. McCormack, Laflin and substitute Nortey all had chances to put the game beyond doubt but the home goalkeeper pulled off a string of saves to keep his side in the game.
With normal time up the home side got a penalty when Ellis brought down a forward in the box. The spot kick was converted but Ascot saw out the game to take the three points and leapfrog their hosts in the table.
The Yellamen now sit in seventh in the table and will have the opportunity to break into the top 6 next weekend when they host Edgware Town who currently sit one place above them.