Ashton Prime 2-2 FC Revolution

Saturday 17th April 2010, Bayham Recreation Ground

Prime rounded off their season by hosting FC Revolution at Bayham on a sunny Spring afternoon. The Numbers were missing the front 3 from last week - Excell, Carl Barker and Joe Walker - but Skovborg-Hansen, Davis and Sander returned to the starting XI, with Goldsmith pushed up-front. Goulding, Garside and Postlethwaite also returned to the squad, but they all started from the bench.

Revolution won the toss and chose to kick up the slope in the first period and they did most of the early pressing and Kerton had to be alert to punch clear from some dangerous crosses.

But Prime fell behind on the 10 minute mark when they failed to clear and the Revolution striker slotted home from an acute angle.

With the visitors having already scored 100 goals in their previous 19 games, Prime might have feared the worst, but cheered on by their biggest crowd of the season (about 10!), they started to come into the game.

Walters had taken to his unfamiliar central midfield role like a duck to water and he and the ever-impressive Abu were keeping wraps on the Revolution engine room.

Flamank was a constant outlet down the left wing and his trickery was often too much for the Revolution right-back.

Prime won a series of corners and with Goldsmith and Matt Walker's aerial presence - they looked a real threat - but it was from open play that Prime deservedly levelled on the half-hour mark.

Walters broke away down the left after Prime cleared a Revolution corner and his pin-point cross picked out Skovborg-Hansen who controlled with his thigh before coolly slotting home through the keeper's legs.

The game was very even with Revolution doing most of the attacking, but Prime's impressive defence held up well and their midfield 4 were working hard to close down and force Revolution into mistakes.

Up front Goldsmith was starting to win the majority of the flick-ons - despite for once coming up against an even taller opponent. Skovborg-Hansen's pace was clearly worrying the Revolution centre-backs who were holding a very deep line.

Prime went in level at the break, knowing that they had the hard work still to do, with the visitor's enjoying the advantage of the slope in the second half.

Predictably Prime were penned back into their own half, but with Barnham and Davis both having excellent matches and Mazurkiewicz and Matt Walker winning every tackle, Revolution were getting frustrated.

When they did fashion a shooting opportunity, they found Kerton in superb form between the sticks.

After weathering the storm at the start of the half, Prime started to play some good stuff, with Walters, Abu and Flamank at the heart of most of it.

Flamank won a throw-in down the left wing and the quick-thinking Goldsmith used Flamank's run down the line as a decoy to throw the ball between the Revolution centre-backs for Skovborg-Hansen, but his attempted lob lacked power.

Goulding came on for Goldsmith with 25 minutes to go and Prime continued to look dangerous when Sander raced down the right-wing but he picked out the only Revolution defender in their half, with Skovborg-Hansen bearing down on goal.

With 70 minutes on the clock, Revolution looked to have snatched the win after their striker found space inside the box to fire a fierce shot into the corner of the net, despite Kerton getting hands to it.

Prime responded by sending on Garside and Postlethwaite and their fresh legs provided The Numbers with new impetus.

Mazurkiewicz was pushed up front for the last 10 minutes and the gamble looked set to backfire as the Revolution midfielder exploited the lack of defenders to find space, but after Abu fantastically blocked his first shot, he shot woefully over from the rebound with the goal gaping.

This proved a crucial turning point as Prime broke away as the clock approached the 90 minute mark. Abu played the ball over the top for Skovborg-Hansen. The Revolution centre-back mis-cued his header and Skov nipped in to exquisitely lob the stranded keeper on the half-volley from fully 30 yards.

Prime survived the remaining moments without any major alarm to pick up arguably their best result of an up and down season.