Ashford Town stop the rot with vital point

Feb 5 2009 By Terry Ryan, Staines News

RYMAN PREMIER Ashford Town........1 Carshalton Athletic................1

Ashford Town ended their torrid run of games without a point as they shared the spoils with Carshalton Athletic at Short Lane on Saturday.

The Tangerines remain without a win since December 6, but thanks to man-of-the-match Paul Burgess in goal they earned a sacred point in their battle against the drop.

Byron Harrison opened the scoring for the Tangerines before they were pegged back and conceded through the league's most prolific striker, Richard Jolly.

Burgess was a constant throne in Jolly's side as shots rained in on the Ashford goal, but the keeper was in outstanding form.

It took a magnificent looping header for Jolly to draw things level after a pin-point cross from former Staines Town midfielder Dwayne Clarke.

Ashford had come out the traps quickly and Harrison wasted an early chance, glancing Ricky Wellard''s cross wide, but a minute later he atoned for his miss by controlling Warren Harris's free-kick and clinically fired past Simon Overland in the Carshalton goal.

Burgess's attempts to preserve Ashford's lead were nothing short of heroic, summed up in a stunning double-save, first denying Jolly and then Clarke.

And while the home side threatened to capitulate under heavy pressure in the second half, Burgess didn't, denying Clarke's 20-yard piledriver with a finger-tip save and then Jolly for the ump-teenth time.

But it wasn't all one way traffic and Gavin Smith will rue spurning a golden opportunity late on, as Harrison beat the offside trap, only for Smith to agonisingly clear the bar with a header.