Late penalty seals a win

Neil Hardy to the rescue

It wasn't a classic game - driving rain and windy conditions put paid to that. It was also the setting for deja vu....Cove opened the scoring on 10 minutes and whilst Kieran Williams got one back for Ash United on 28 minutes, in the 40th minute Cove had added a second. Score at half-time 2-1 to Cove.

The almost wintry conditions meant much of the same for the second half, with two substitutions by Ash after 51 minutes and Josh Kipping being unfortunate to collect a booking on 64 minutes - but the score remained the same; 2-1 to Cove and what was looking likely, as a first Cove win in the league, following 8 consecutive league match losses.

In what could possibly be described as a moment of inspiration, no sooner had the final Ash substitution taken place on 71 minutes, Neil Hardy had the ball in the Cove net on 72 minutes, to level the scores.

The conditions didn't improve, but Neil Hardy struck again, in the final minutes of the game. This time it was a penalty, after Jack Fitzgerald had been taken down by a Cove defender in the penalty area. Up stepped Neil, cool as ever, to drill home the penalty and send Ash United's supporters home happy that the team had snatched a late winner.

The first team now take a short break from league action and their next match is away against Tooting Bec, who play at Raynes Park Vale in South London, on Tuesday 16th October, in the Esoteric Division One Challenge Cup, with a 7:45pm kick off.