Steamers out of shield

Kent County League

Ashford FC crashed out of the Kent Intermediate Challenge Shield at the quarter-final stage, going down 4-2 at Belvedere on Saturday. First-half goals from Jordan Griffin and skipper Kieran Shrimpton saw Ashford bounce back after falling behind twice to go in at the break level at 2-2.

Two unanswered goals from the hosts in the second period saw the hosts reach the last four where they join Thanet United, Metrogas and Farnborough OBG.

Belvedere took the lead after just five minutes when Ashford lost possession and quick thinking from the hosts saw them switch play with a cross-field diagonal ball to Luke Alliband, who cut inside from to slot home.

Ashford levelled just 90 seconds later when Jordan Griffin latched on to a through-ball from Ahmetaj to burst into the penalty area and place his shot low in the left-hand corner.

Belvedere went 2-1 ahead after 18 minutes when a long ball over the top caught Ashford napping as Darrian Neavin burst clear, beating the offside trap and away from goalkeeper Louis Burton to tap home from close range. Again Ashford came back to equalise midway through the first half as they broke on the counter-attack after clearing from a Belvedere corner.

The ball was played up the centre of the pitch for Riley Alford to brilliantly flick the ball into the run of Kieran Shrimpton, and the Ashford skipper sprinted towards goal before squeezing the ball under the goalkeeper.

With Ashford playing down the slope in the second half, the Steamers enjoyed a 20-minute spell where they dominated after the interval but couldn’t turn the chances they created into goals. Belvedere went ahead for the third time in the game with 20 minutes left to play when Bekim Ahmetaj got the last touch of the ball when attempting to block Alliband’s shot and turned the ball past Burton for an own-goal.

And with Ashford chasing the game looking for a third equaliser to send the match into extra-time, Belvedere sealed the victory three minutes into stoppage time as Alex Thompson popped up unmarked on the goal-line to bundle the ball over the line and make it 4-2 to the hosts.