This morning Charing Reserves took on Ashford Spartans in the first round of the Shebar Trophy at the Arthur Baker Playing Fields.

Coming off of a pre season defeat to Spartans, Charing looked to get revenge and spirits were high in the changing room. The game started very much in Spartans’ favour with Charing unable to get any control for the first 20 minutes however the defence managed to hold firm and keep the score level. Charing turned the game around as the first half progressed but one moment of confusion at the back led to Spartans going 1-0 up heading into the break.

At half time Charing knew the game wasn’t over and a few tactical substitutions were made to try and exploit Spartans’ back line. Instantly the Charing defence played some lovely football to get out of their own area and Dan Rogers found Tommy Osborne who dribbled the ball from his own half and smashed home to make the score level 10 minutes into the second half.

5 minutes later holding midfielder and manager John Marchant played a beautifully weighted pass down the middle of the pitch, finding the run of Charing striker George Atkins who was through 1v1 with the goalkeeper and calmly slotted the ball into the net to make the score 2-1 to the home team.

Things were looking up until Spartans won a penalty against the run of play, giving them a chance to level the score. Charing goalkeeper Ashley Robinson who has a brilliant penalty record stood tall however he wasn’t needed as the Spartans player fired the ball over the crossbar.

With confidence soaring, Charing carried on pushing for more goals until John Marchant pinged a ball over the top of the Spartans defence and somehow 3 Charing players were through on goal with Tommy Osborne firing home for his second goal of the match, putting Charing 3-1 ahead with 15 minutes to go.

With 5 minutes left to play and Spartans needing to score 2 goals to take the game to penalties they pushed forward and won another penalty which this time thet did convert to make the score 3-2. The Charing defence held firm and a triple save by Robinson in the dying minutes kept the score to a 3-2 win as the full time whistle was blown.

A brilliant showing from every player today has meant that for the second year in a row Charing Reserves have progressed to the second round of the Shebar Trophy where they will be playing Pristine, the undefeated leaders of the second division.