27/4/01: Ryman League Division Three

Tring ended their run of seven games without a win in spectacular fashion on Friday night, putting a huge dent in Ashford's promotion hopes. The hero of the night was Mark Burfoot, who having not previously scored a first team goal for Tring in nineteen appearances, scored all four and even found time to miss a penalty as well.

The first half gave little indication of the excitement to come, as Ashford went into the break with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a close-range header by Lee Holman on 36 minutes.

Tring came out for the second half looking more fired up, and scored a deserved equaliser on 52 minutes. Burfoot was put clean through by a ball over the top, and where on Tuesday night he sent a similar chance way over the bar, this time Burfoot planted a perfectly-judged lob over the stranded keeper to put the scores level.

On 63 minutes Tring won a throw-in near the corner flag. Alex Kinsley's long throw was flicked on by Ashford defender Steve Scott onto his own crossbar, and the rebound fell nicely for Burfoot to tap in the goal that put Tring ahead.

On 71 minutes Burfoot received a pass from James Armstrong, and showed great determination to keep control of the ball despite the attentions of a defender, and eventually found the space to lift the ball over the keeper to complete his hat-trick and put Tring 3-1 up.

However, the home side were not going down without a fight, and on 79 minutes the Tring defence was sliced open by a ball that put Scott Todd clean through, and he finished well to pull back the deficit. But Tring restored their two-goal lead within a minute of the restart. Armstrong pressured a defender into giving the ball away in his own half, and squared for Burfoot, who again beat a defender before shooting home his and Tring's fourth goal.

Tring keeper Simon Bartley then became the hero as he produced superb saves to keep out two point-blank headers, and two minutes from time Tring had the chance to put the game beyond reach. Leon Hibbert was felled inside the area, and Burfoot took the spot-kick, but was denied his fifth goal by the crossbar.

That could have been a turning point, as Ashford won a penalty of their own in the final minute of normal time, when Antony Beamish handled the ball on the line in a goalmouth scramble. Beamish was unlucky as the ball came at him very quickly through a crowd of players, but having already been booked, a red card was the inevitable result. Todd made no mistake with his penalty to put the game back in the melting pot.

However, Tring's ten men held on through a lengthy period of stoppage time to record a notable victory despite a fighting finish by an Ashford side playing their third game in four nights.

Team: Bartley, J.Gibson, Harrhy, Bartlett, Underwood, Boad, Cook (Hibbert), Burfoot (B.Johnson), Armstrong, Kinsley (Walters), Beamish.