Barking 1 Ashford Town (Middx) 0

Isthmian League South Central Division, Tuesday 3rd November 2020 

Tuesday saw me over at Mayesbrook Park for an Isthmian League South Central contest as Barking hosted Ashford Town (Middx) and it saw a late winner from substitute Dumebi GB-Dumaka hand the hosts a deserved three points.

Barking came into this one having won two of their six league games so far and sat down in 15^th, whilst the visitors were nestled in 8^th spot after four wins from their seven games thus far in the league.

Those two league wins for the hosts had been their last two outings, winning 1-0 at Westfield before they swept aside league leaders Waltham Abbey 3-0 at Mayesbrook Park, so they were certainly in form after a four game winless start, so they were going for three straight wins heading into the month long lockdown.

Ashford them came into this one having lost 3-0 at home to Chertsey Town, although it was their away form that had been more impressive this term, winning three of their four games away from their Robert Parker Stadium, and were unbeaten on the road too, so they were hoping to continue that excellent form in this one.

Goals were probably not on the agenda though, as the hosts had on average netted just over a goal a game so far, with three of those coming in their last outing, whilst Ashford themselves had only netted eight goals in seven starts, and with both defences pretty watertight too, this is why I had come to that conclusion.

Barking started well and saw Junior Luke causing early problems down the left, and he had two chances, one a shot across goal going wide before another effort was put over the bar, and then Luke got down the left and crossed to the near post but Isaac Westendorf could only put the ball wide of the post.

Ashford saw a Brad Sweeney effort blocked down the other end but this was a rare forage from the visitors into the hosts third, and The Blues were the ones carving out the chances first half, and saw Paul McCarthy make a couple of decent saves to thwart the hosts the lead, and so despite a number of openings coming the hosts way, they went into the break with no goals to show for their dominance and a goalless score line.  Ashford certainly knew they needed to up their game.

Junior Luke had certainly been the main attacking threat down the left for the home side, but poor finishing from the hosts along with those two saves from McCarthy kept this one scoreless so far.

Half Time Barking 0 Ashford Town (Middx) 0

The second period began with the hosts on the front foot, much like the majority of the first period had panned out, and Luke again got in down the left and squared for Westendorf who missed his kick and saw the chance go, and then a ball into the six yard box saw McCarthy try and claw the ball over the bar but instead clawed it against his own crossbar before it dropped down into the six yard box and The Blues looked certain to poke home but the ball was somehow cleared off the line.

It was another terrific chance for Barking and you did start to feel it wasn’t going to be their night in front of goal, and as the half went on Ashford did start to get a foothold in the contest as the hosts attacking threat diminished the longer the half went on.

The visitors did have a couple of half chances but these were dealt with by the Barking back line who were having a bit more to deal with in this half, whilst Barking saw a couple of long range efforts fly over the bar as they began to run out of ideas it seemed.  You did feel that for all those missed chances one moment of lack of concentration at the back from the hosts could hand the visitors a smash n grab win, but a couple of decent balls into the home area saw keeper Manny Agboola claim well to thwart any danger.

A goalless draw looked likely though as we entered the final stages of the contest, but, in the 89^th minute the hosts finally grabbed a goal that would win the contest, when a loose ball inside the box was poked home by substitute GB-Dumaka and overall it was a well deserved lead too for the Blues who had huffed and puffed but failed to blow the door down until this moment.

There was still to be a good five or so minutes of stoppage time to go (not sure where the referee got these from but anyway!!!) and the visitors did fire an effort at goal but saw Agboola equal to it, whilst down the other end Barking so nearly put the result to bed with a second but another substitute Junior Dadson thundered an effort against the post.

But that late goal from GB-Dumaka turned out to be enough for Barking to make it three straight wins and lift them up three places to 12^th, whilst Ashford, who lost away from home for the first time here, stay in 8^th.  Both head into lockdown now like the rest of us.

Full Time Barking 1 Ashford Town (Middx) 0