Kentish Express Ashford & District
Ashford back in the groove
but lacking an incisive cutting edge that would have converted possession into points.
Fifteen minutes into the game, Ashford opened the scoring when following some good driving play, scrum-half Ben Gray tested the home defence with a grubber kick to the corner, followed up and hassled the defending winger, forcing a spillage that Hall was on hand to touch down.
In the 25th minute, No.8 Dan Brown made a powerful drive that prised open the home defence before offloading to Cooper whose speed took him past the despairing defenders to score near the posts, making Gray’s conversion a formality.
Just before half-time, a break by hooker Dan Sherrin created the opening for Andy Ticehurst to run in the team’s third try, with Gray’s second conversion extending the visitors’s lead to 19-0 at half time.
With time, and the securing of a bonus point, slipping away from them, Ashford raised their game in the last quarter, with intelligent kicking from Alkin taking play deep into the home side’s 22.
After several drives, an opening was created from a drive on the right by Sherrin that was continued by Cooper and rounded off by Redman. Ticehurst’s conversion completed the scoring at 26-0 with Ashford securing a bonus point win.
The run-through to Christmas sees five games, three of them against teams in the top half of the league, and to maintain momentum the team will need to sharpen their act.
The team have a break from action this Saturday as the club host their fireworks display, but director of rugby Chris Dengate will be focusing efforts on on preparing his squad this week and next for their game against Uckfield on November 9.
Team: Hall, Kemp, Ticehurst, Cooper, Myezwa, Alkin, Gray, Brown, Knight, Farris, Knight, Redman, Norman, Sherrin, Huxted. Subs: Dengate, Colman, Sargent.