FA Cup 2nd qualifying round played on Sunday 1st October 2023 on Lydd F.C. ground
Team: Jade Charlton, Gabby Howell, Meghan McKeag, Georgie Davis, Jo Woodgates,
Shannon Wason, Lizzie Adams, Emily Vaughan, Gemma Shepherd, Shauni Griffiths, Emily Read
Substitutes used: Nicha Dyett, Paris Smith, Hannah Thomas
Subs not used: Molly Hawkins, Naomi Nash, Kaylee Shurety, Charlie Torry
Goalscorers: Gemma Shepherd, Shauni Griffiths
Ashford United, in the first half assisted by a stiff breeze, were equal to Dartford in a very evenly balanced 45 minute and of the two good chances that came their way, the first was excellently saved by Jade at the near post and the second the striker was off target.
After five minutes Jo Woodgates sent a pass over to Meghan who in turn sent a great ball to Emily Vaughan with her back to the goal. She pivoted and sent in a strong shot that hit a defender and out for a corner.
In the next minute Gemma held the ball up and laid it off to Emily Read who put over one of her accurate crosses but the strong defence cleared it away.
Two minutes on from this, after Shannon had mopped up at the back of the midfield, she laid on a lovely pass to Georgie who herself sent a beautiful pass through to Emily Vaughan but she was robbed of a shooting chance near to the penalty spot when a last-ditch tackle kept the Ashford goal intact.
In the next minute it was Ashford’s chance of a scoring opportunity but a long hopeful shot flashed over the bar.
Next it was Dartford’s turn to attack with Meghan making a good few-yards and delivering an accurate pass to Emily Vaughan who played a lovely lay-off to Shauni who sent over a good cross But Ashford’s luck was in because their first defender totally miscued the ball but it eventually fell kindly for a defender to kick away.
On 18 minutes, there was another long range shot by Ashford but was carried by the strong breeze over the bar.
Just three minutes later, Ashford produced a real scare for Dartford as their left-winger got the ball close in on goal but with a tight angle tried to squeeze it past Jade but she made an outstanding save, palming it away for a corner.
On 25 minutes Meghan got the ball up to Shauni, but she was unceremoniously bowled over and Meghan lined up to take the free-kick. She delivered it high into the penalty area and Gemma won her arial battle but the ball just wouldn’t come down quickly enough for Emily Vaughan and as the defenders scrambled the ball away there came a massive appeal for handball against an Ashford defender, but the referee waved it away and from the clearance they mounted an attack. Ashford punched a long ball towards the centre, and being assisted by the wind, cleared the Dartford back line and fell nicely for an Ashford player. She had room in behind the Darts’ defence and had time to line up her shot but she made rather a hash of it and Darts were handed a reprieve.
A few minutes later the Ashford keeper made rather hard work of a straight-forward gather and her clearance was a poor one which fell to Emily Vaughan who tried to lob the goalie off her line but just had too much weight on the power and cleared the bar.
A few minutes before half-time, Darts’ produced their best sustained attack when they had three bites of the cherry in as many seconds. Lizzie Adams had regained midfield position and laid it back to Jo Woodgates. Jo brought the ball forward to the half-way line and delivered a great ball high into the penalty area where the ball bounced awkwardly on the dry surface. The first shot was charged down, the second hit a defender and Lizzie, slightly off-balance with the third shot tried to get it past the ruck of players but went just wide.
Two minutes into first half injury time, Georgie passed to Shannon who spread a lovely weighted pass out to Emily Read who produced a low cross for Gemma who played a delicate lay-off to Emily Vaughan and had the Ashford defence floundering before pushing Em to the ground. From the resultant free-kick, Shauni powered in a great shot, low to the goalie’s right, but the goalie somehow scrambled to reach it and managed to palm it away round the post.
HT 0-0
In the second half, right from the off, it was plain to see that Darts had upped their game and on four minutes Shannon sent a pass across to Gemma and a nice little touch edged the ball inside to Emily Vaughan, but her shot just skimmed the bar.
Next, Georgie set up Shauni for a run at their defence and she beat her first ‘man’ and then took the ball inside before feeding it out to Emily Read. Em in turn got in a cross-shot that was on target but just whistled over the bar. A great effort.
Then a throw in from Meghan to Shauni led to a pass inside to Emily Vaughan and Em’s shot was goal-bound but a defender’s boot saved the day for the hosts.
Twelve minutes into the second half and there was some good sustained pressure by the Dart, but still they couldn’t force an opener. But suddenly a quick break by Ashford on the right beat the Darts offside trap and were in a one-on-one with Jade, but she came out well to pull off a truly great and important save.
14 minutes into the half and the ball was played forward to Emily Vaughan, who, on the half-way line, played it down the wing to Shauni. Immediately she had two players around her but still managed to win a corner.
Shauni played it to Meghan who was on the corner of the penalty area, and she put over a penetrating cross which the goalie could only flap at it before it reached Gemma who managed to force the ball over the line to give Darts the lead. Unfortunately, Gemma was injured in the process, colliding with the post, and after treatment was assisted back to the bench, unable to play any further part in the match.
Nicha came on and five minutes later Emily Read put over a great cross which the defence struggled to clear and were happy to concede a corner.
Emily Read now had some new-found space on the right and Gabby got many a pass to feed her with pacey balls down the wing.
23 minutes into the second half (68th minute), the build up to Darts second goal was very calm and collected:
Emily Vaughan gained control in midfield and played it back to Lizzie who in turns fed it out to Emily Read. Em played it back to Gabby who played a double return pass with Lizzie had Ashford chasing shadows. Lizzie then played a lovely ball out to Emily Read who sent over one of her best crosses of the afternoon which the Ashford defence barely managed to clear out of the 6-yard box, but the clearance only reached as far as Shauni just inside the penalty area, and she drove it decisively home to give Darts that bit of cushioning with the second goal.
Substitute Paris came on on the half-hour mark and some minutes later Hannah Thomas joined the fray.
Darts, now much more relaxed were passing with ease and basically every Darts player was involved in some form of accurate one-two’s, little triangles or sweeping balls up both wings.
Darts were playing some great team football and the variety of play they were producing was a joy to watch.
In the 84th minute Hannah sent over a lovely weighted cross with just the right amount of swerve that took the ball away from the keeper giving her no chance of intercepting, but Nicha was just unable to make contact.
Paris joined in the link up play from midfield to attack and seemed to enjoy the freedom of not being a ‘marked’ centre-forward and rarely did Ashford seem able to pick her up, let alone disposes her at any time and on 90 minutes play, a Paris stinging shot was only gathered by the keeper at the second attempt.
FT 2-0
Summary:
This game was very similar to the previous week’s home league match with Ashford, the host’s back four players were extremely well-drilled for playing the offside trap but their forwards did appear to have more space in the first half, but they rarely got forward in numbers.
The first half was a very evenly matched affair, and both sides had two or three good chances of scoring, with Ashford’s two chances being ‘one-on-ones’ where Darts owed their clean sheet to Jade.
Darts chances were similar but each time they were adjudged to be offside – both of them being close-run decisions.
Gemma continued her good work at winning a lot of the high balls but the lays offs to supporting forwards wasn’t quite working in the first-half.
The first half wasn’t so much a case of continual bombardment of high balls, both teams played some good football. Darts tried to vary their build-up play but when playing down the wings, but the Ashford full-backs were fast and efficient in closing down Darts’ wingers.
Come the second half though, and Darts, almost from the off, were much smarter and quicker to the ball and won a lot of 50/50 situations and quickly gained control of the midfield and posed Ashford’s defence many a problem.
Such was Darts’ possession and control of the game in the last ten minutes or so, that Ashford seemed unable to press Dartford onto the back foot and Jade, who had earlier had to save Darts’ bacon twice, now had next to nothing to do.
Report by Tony Brown
Photos by Taur Everard