Kentish Express Ashford & District
Positives taken from home draw
Jason Whitmore admitted it was two points dropped for Ashford United after they drew with rock-bottom East Grinstead.
The Nuts & Bolts had to come from behind at Homelands, where Stuart Zanone made his return to the club as one of five new signings.
Tommy Cooney cancelled out Charlie Postance’s fifth-minute strike but the home side, for all their pressure, couldn’t find a winning goal.
“It was two points dropped,” Whitmore said. “We were the better team.
“We conceded in the first five minutes but other than that, we limited them to few chances whereas we had clear-cut chances.
“They didn’t carve us open but we carved them open.
“We should have won it right ASHFORD UTD E GRINSTEAD at the death but the new players all did well, so I take that as a real positive.
“Having more senior players around will help the boys. Young Aaron Lee-Wharton in goal didn’t do anything wrong, he wasn’t at fault for the goal, so there were a lot of positives considering we’ve had a few negatives lately.”
Lee-Wharton was beaten by Postance from close range when he got on the end of a right-wing cross.
However, it was all square on 11 minutes when Cooney’s low free-kick evaded everyone and ended up in the back of the net.
Kyle Spence beat Charlie Dickens and brought a good save from Lee-Wharton but Ashford finished the first half on top. Matt Day combined well with Zanone before working Grinstead goalkeeper Oshane Brown.
Tyrell Richardson-Brown had an effort cleared off the line after half-time although Lee-Wharton had to be out quickly at the other end to thwart the dangerous Marcus Elliot.
Ashford piled on the pressure in the closing stages and Richardson-Brown, Pat Kingwell and substitute Gareth Williams all went close before Michael Phillips missed with a header from Cooney’s last-gasp cross.
Lee-Wharton, A Phillips, Dickens, Healey, Bingham (M Phillips 87mins), Kingwell, Cooney, Davisson, Zanone, Day (Williams 77mins), Richardson-Brown. Subs not used: Humber, Difford, Woodcock. 260.