Ashford Town 3-1 Kempston

Rovers very nearly made the perfect start to the game as an early Jake Newman cross found Jamaine Ivy, nipping in ahead of the keeper, who returned the ball to Newman who saw his second minute shot come back off the post. Luke Heneghan curled a shot wide on the quarter hour from a poorly cleared free kick. But it was the hosts who took the lead with twenty five minutes on the watch, a superbly worked breakaway saw Mark Bitmead beat the offside trap and beat Carl Knox with a delicate lob from the edge of the area. Rovers nearly levelled immediately as a Seb Simpson free kick was flicked on and found Newman in the six yard box, but home keeper Tyler Tobin was swiftly off his line to block the effort. The hosts lead was nearly double just before the break, Dan Fleming found himself behind the defence and one on one with Knox, luckily for Rovers, the forward hesitated and turned away from goal rather than slip the ball past the keeper. Kempston defenders recovered and managed the clear the danger.
Early in the second half, Fleming again should’ve made Rovers pay, he was again through one on one. This time he did take a shot, but Knox was alive to the situation and rushed out to block. Ten minutes into the second half, the lead was doubled. A poor clearance from Alex Stoyles in his first game back from injury led to a cross into the box, swept home by Bitmead. Kempston pressed forward, but could not get a clear sight on goal. Their best chance of the second half fell to Newman, who was put through by a superb long ball from Fuller, only for the forward to have a tame effort straight at the keeper. With fifteen minutes left on the watch, a long Ashford ball found Fleming on the counter, this time he made no mistake as he finished low past Knox for three nil. On eighty minutes, things took a sour turn; Kempston had sprung the offside trap, as Sundire raced through, the linesman raised his flag against the retreating Sam Johnson, play seemed to stop as everyone looked the linesman. Quite rightly, Rovers questioned the call as Sundire had been clearly onside and Johnson not interfering with play. The linesman decided that these questions were “abusive” and asked the referee to dismiss Gary Flinn from the dugout.
Kempston were handed a lifeline with five minutes to go, a Ben Shepherd free kick was flighted in and deflected into the net by an Ashford defender. This sparked Rovers in to life as Sundire hit the post in stoppage time, as well as two half chances. After ten minutes of added time, the referee brought proceedings to a close. Three one the full time score.

Rovers line up
1 Knox, 2 Sundire, 3 Lyon, 4 Stoyles, 5 Simpson, 6 Goodman, 7 Heneghan, 8 Shepherd, 9 Ivy, 10 Newman, 11 Fuller
Subs 12 Boland, 14 Johnson
Attendance; a generous 85
Rovers man of the Match, Munashe Sundire