Match Report by Rick Howe
Photo's by Denys Clarke
Our Referee Today was Simon Bingham from Kent.

By any measure this was a disappointing result for the home side, which had on paper, fielded one of its strongest selections so far this season.
In contrast Ashford had arrived at Steel Cross in buoyant mood determined, to reverse previous under-performances.
From the outset, the large Ashford pack kept the ball tight, driving through the home pack, and sucking in the ‘Boro defence. When ‘Boro had over committed their resources to the forward battle, so Ashford moved the ball wide accurately kicking deep for position.
Ashford were first on the scoresheet when the visitors pack simply bulldozed the ‘Boro defence over the line between the posts for a converted try. 0-7
Crowborough have had real difficulty all season in selecting a settled back line, and before even the first whistle Harry Marchesi had to withdraw with a strained calf, to be replaced by Gus Weir who himself had to replaced by Jonah Houghton, when he was on the wrong end of friendly fire, with a badly gashed head wound.
With little familiarity of play, ‘Boro resorted to some aimless kicking, then committed the cardinal sin of not chasing the kick , and in not doing so handed the attacking initiative back to the visitors.
In previous weeks ‘Boro’s line speed has been impressive as has their first up tackling, but this week the visitors were strangely unchallenged, as they got up a head of speed as the ‘Boro defensive line remained static. Expecting the attack to continue down the left, Ashford reversed the attack with the impressive #9 taking the inside pass to sprint the final 20 metres to score once more under the posts for yet another converted try 0-14, leaving ‘Boro and the large crowd stunned.
Crowborough were by now operating as two separate units with little discernible game plan. The ‘Boro forwards battled their large opposition, and when they did manage to break through, the ball carrier was often isolated and robbed. The ‘Boro backs by contrast, were getting little effective ball, and with Ashford’s impressive line speed, what ball they did get was wasted and the opportunity lost.
With half-time approaching, the official in the centre finally penalised Ashford, who in their determination to cut down any ‘Boro attack, were constantly breaching the off-side line and Ashford were down to 14 men.
From a scrum on the right, Jared Hermann slung out a long pass to Josh Jarvis who straightened the line before releasing Sam Skinner to cross over in the corner for the try. 5-14HT
As the second half resumed, a serious leg injury to the Ashford centre, (13) saw the game halted for some seven minutes.
The game was restarted with a ‘Boro scrum on the Ashford 22, and with Jared Herman and Ed Croft working the ball wide Johan Houghton got to within 5 metres of the line where the ruck was set up. As the ball was worked back Dave Bennett arrived, scooped it up and reached over the line to score an Ed Croft converted try. 12-14
Although back within two points, there seemed little conviction in Crowborough’s performance, and as Ashford put together an impressive 15 phase drive down the centre of the park, the collective defence appeared to have stemmed the drive, but when ‘Boro ran out of defenders the inevitable converted try was scored under the posts 12-21
To their credit, and with time running out, ‘Boro did not give up, and although unable to match the visitors off-loads in the tackle and support play, they managed to stop their line being crossed as the game came to an end.12-21.
With the next League game being away to 3rd Placed, Deal and Betteshanger on 8th November, there are a couple weeks to work this result out of the system, and prepare for a full collective and focused team performance going forward.