Page 22 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.35 2022-23

It has been a marvellous season for Ashford United, in which they completed the League
and Cup double by winning the London & South East League Division One South title, as
well as the League Trophy.
Ashford United are managed by Steve Howard, with Yasmin Howard as their captain.
Becky Wyatt has had a very impressive campaign as leading goalscorer with a huge total of
51 goals across all competitions, finishing as top goalscorer in the league. In addition, Jade
Steadman was named as Kingsnorth Parish Council Player of the Season.
There have been so many highlights for the team this season, starting off with five
straight wins and in the month of October, they scored a total of 56 goals and only conceded
twice. For much of the season, it looked as though the title would end up as a straight fight
between Ashford and Hastings United, although Eastbourne United were amongst the
challengers during the early stages and Welling United nade a late run to finish third.
In the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, Ashford got to the First Round proper for the first
time ever, where they played away to Clapton Community and won 2-1, Jodie Cain scoring
the winning goal. The run came to an end in the Second Round when they were beaten 3-1
by National League side Actonians Ladies.
Ashford went on to meet Clapton again in the League Trophy Final. In the first half,
they secured what they thought was a comfortable 3-0 lead, only for Clapton to then
somehow bring it back to 3-3 at full time. After a big push, they rallied and finally won 5-3
after extra time.
More recently, the team has had some huge must-win games as they sought to land the
title. Firstly, they came back from 1-0 behind to Herne Bay with goals in the 90th and 94th
minutes to win 2-1, before following this up by beating then leaders and title rivals Hastings
United 4-1 at home. Despite a setback against Welling United, who ended up in third place,
a 3-1 victory away to Eastbourne United was the result which confirmed them as
Champions with one game left to play.
Ashford United squad: Danielle Alcani, Meadow Barton, Jodie Cain, Abbey Davies,
Emily-May Diamond, Holly Diamond, Sharna Greenaway, Lucy Green, Katie Hardaker,
Karis Howard, Yasmin Howard, Samantha Jackson, Rebecca Janes, Ronni Jeffrey,
Charlotte Marsh, Lizzie Mills, Jenny Newman, Frankie Stannard, Jade Steadman, Alex
Weston, Becky Wyatt.

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