Ringwood secured their four consecutive clean sheet on route to comfortably beating Ash United 3-0, leapfrogging the Surrey-based club into 14th place in the Wessex League Division One.
Ringwood secured their four consecutive clean sheet on route to comfortably beating Ash United 3-0, leapfrogging the Surrey-based club into 14th place in the Wessex League Division One.
The last time the two teams faced off it was Ash who took the spoils after a seven goal thriller at Long Lane ended 4-3, but goals from Harrison Fay, Harry Smith and Ryan Hamm meant Ringwood claimed all three points on Saturday.
There was a return in goal for Sam Reilly who replaced the injured Joel Hirdle after defender Callum Horton was forced to fill in in midweek.
Ash started the game on the front foot and managed to carve out an early chance within the opening few minutes. Zach Aubrey-Simpson used his electric pace to get in behind Ringwood right-back, Max Mason before pulling the ball back for Toby Bunce - vut the striker blessed his effort over the bar from 10 yards.The first saw both teams try to land a punch on each other with Ringwood’s Hamm and Fay having efforts of their own but were unable to trouble the Ash keeper.
Then, with half an hour played Ash’s Aubrey-Simpson burst through on goal but was denied by the legs of Reilly in what proved to be a crucial moment in the game.
With the half time break approaching, Ringwwod took advantage of a breakaway with Hamm one-on-one with the keeper but watched his shot parried into the path of his teammate, Fay, who promptly dispatched the rebound and give Ringwood a slender one-goal advantage at the break.
In what was a fairly even half, Ash will have been disappointed to be trailing at the interval.
As the teams emerged for the restart, Ash looked fired up and applied some early pressure to Ringwood’s goal but a shot from distance was never troubling Reilly.
Ringwood soon the game by the scruff of the neck though, with Jack Barton almost getting on the score sheet from a corner but his deflected effort rebounded up onto the bar with the away side claiming the ball had crossed the line.
Ringwood would have their second just minutes later. Smith latched on to a wonderful long ball provided by centre back Callum Horton and the striker calmly dispatched the ball into the goal claiming his 18th goal of the campaign with 50 minutes played.
Reilly was then called into action again with the clock approaching the hour mark. The Ringwood again denied Aubrey-Simpson with his feet to keep the score at 2-0 after the
striker had beaten the offside trap again with a ball over the top.
It would prove to be another crucial moment in the game as Ringwood now looked to go and kill the game off with a third.
A speculative effort from Fay whistled just past the far post before Hamm missed a glorious opportunity after Smith had laid the ball on a plate for the number nine.
Hamm would make up for his earlier miss just five minutes later as he latched onto to a brilliant long ball from Max Mason. The striker drove into the right side of the box and cooly slotted the ball into the far left corner and taking ingwood out of sight f theri opponents with 25 minutes still left to play.
Ash kept coming at Ringwood and had a great chance to pull one back as Aubrey-Simpson again got the better of Ringwood’s back line but watched his shot o well wide of the far post after breaking inot the left hand side of the box.
Ringwood created a few more chances via Hamm and Morgan Cole in the closing stages as the away side knocked the ball around with an air of confidence that has been missing throughout the season.
Ringwood are now undefeated in four games and won three on the bounce in all competitions and look like finishing the season strongly.
NERVE SPORT spoke to Ringwood goalkeeper. Sam Reilly after the game: “It was good everyone was passing the ball around with confidence which is something that has not been happening for about the last two months really.
“It was good for everyone to be popping it about and trusting each other. There has been a bit of hesitation around the camp from previous performances but everyone came together today especially after the good result in the cup in midweek and we can start getting a bit of momentum.
He continued: “At the start of the season we were aiming for top 6 that should be where we are at but obviously the way the team have started this season it just hasn't turned out that way.
“Obviously, we just have to blame ourselves and there are other factors as well - at the end of the day it just has to be up from here. We have a tough run of games coming up now so we just need to take it game by game, see how well we can perform and hopefully keep it up.
ASH: Heard, Green, A.Smith, Robinson, Devanney, Billingham, Cairns, Bale, Staines, Bunce, Aubrey-Simpson
SUBS: K.SMith, Garrett Skinns, Ochiltree, Rana, Butler
RINGWOOD: Reilly, Mason, Hitchings, Petty, Barton, Horton, Fay, Cole, Hamm, Harris, H.Smith
SUBS: Knight, B.Smith, Pemerie, Morse