AFC DUNSTABLE 0

WITHAM TOWN 1

FA Trophy preliminary round

SAM Ashford's solitary strike helped earn Witham Town a £3,000 payday as they advanced further in this season's FA Trophy with a 1-0 win at AFC Dunstable.

It was a strong performance from Witham that rewarded their fans who had made the trip to Bedfordshire on Friday night and Ashford celebrated his call-up for England international honours next month by firing home the goal that made it a pleasurable trip back to Essex.

Manager Mark Ashford said: "We had had a positive (League Cup) performance against Maldon & Tiptree and then some positive news about Sam Ashford's call-up for England to play in the Falklands next month and we followed that up with a really hard-working performance in the Trophy.

"It just carried on a good week for us and I was very proud of the players and the way they did against a very experienced and physically big AFC Dunstable side.

"I don't think we'll come up against a side as big as them again this year and we also had to contend with some difficult conditions, but we put in the sort of performance that people may not habe expected from such a young team.

"I was very proud of them.

"We could have been better in possession in the first half, but we ground out the result and sometimes that can be better than seeing free-flowing football as people may not expect young players like we have to be able to do that.

"We had a tiring two-hour journey at the end of a working week to get there so we had to be mentally right and I was very pleased to see how the young group we have handled it.

"I was also pleased for the supporters as we had a good number who travelled with us.

"It was great to see them all and pleasing that we could reward them with a game like that and a positive result.

"For them to see the players put so much effort in and come away with a 1-0 win was very good."

Ashford fired home the winner in the 71st minute after his initial penalty kick had been saved.

It proved to be enough to secure the win and a trip to Herne Bay in the next round and the Witham boss was especially pleased with the solid defensive display against a robust and experienced Dunstable line-up that allowed his team to hold on to their lead.

"The clean sheet was particularly pleasing for me as our keeper and back four were outstanding," added Mark Ashford.

"We knew how we wanted to manage the game and to see the players execute it was brilliant as everyone brought everything together - I was really chuffed for such a youthful group.

"Before the game, Dunstable's centre forward was handed an award as the club's record appearance maker as he'd made abut 360 appearances and scored 250-odd goals.

"I sought him out to congratulate him before the game as that's a fantastic achievement at this level, but it showed what we were up against.

"We had a defence of a 20-year-old Luke Mallett, 21-year-old Liam Whipps, Jack Kemsley, who is still in his teens and has come up from the club's youth structure, Pat Ahern, who is a bit older but still only 25, and a 19-year-old keeper in Luca Collins.

"Those five knew they were up against it against an experienced side, but they kept a clean sheet and I was really proud of them all.

"To restrict Dunstable, with all their experience, in the way that they did was something very special.

"I think our players earned the respect of the Dunstable players well before the end of the match."

Witham Town: Luca Collins, Luke Mallett, Liam Whipps, Danny Norton, Pat Ahern, Jack Kemsley, Johnny Ashman (Sam Owusu 75), Michael Osei (Elias Siligato 67), L’Heureux Menga, Shamido Pedulu, Sam Ashford (Andrew Tirivanhu 84). Subs not used: Jack Isherwood, Alfie Cerrulli.