Ashford Town & Ashford United
Ashford Town/United's history in the competition
The Kent Senior Cup is a prestigious county competition that Ashford has competed in throughout its history. Below are details of Ashford's appearances in Kent Senior Cup finals, including match reports, lineups, and historical context.
Ashford has won the cup on four occasions (1958/59, 1962/63, 1992/93, and 1995/96) and been runners-up three times.
Date: May 6, 1996
Venue: Central Park, Sittingbourne
Report to follow...
Date: May 3, 1993
Venue: Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
Report to follow...
Date: April 12, 1982
Venue: Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
Report to follow...
Date: April 20, 1981
Venue: Maidstone Stadium, Maidstone
Ashford appeared in the first final for 18 years at the Maidstone Stadium on a warm and sunny day against the Alliance side Gravesend and Northfleet. A goal early in each half ensured Gravesend would lift the trophy, but Town could hold their heads high with a very spirited performance against the higher ranked side.
Charlie Pooley scored Gravesend's first goal on 4 minutes, a deflection taking the ball past a stranded Peter Carman. Ashford didn't let their heads drop and the back line of Tim Hogben, John Barrow, Peter McRobert and Clive Hickson stood firm and looked comfortable against the Gravesend attack.
The killer blow came 7 minutes into the second half when Garry Aldous headed in Gravesend's second goal. There was no way back for Ashford after the second goal.
Date: May 11, 1963
Venue: Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
Ashford reached their 3rd final in 5 years, and beat their Thanet opponents to lift the Trophy for the second time.
The omens were not good for the Town, they had faced Margate on 5 previous occasions during the 1962/63 season, losing all 5! Surely this game was just a formality for Margate?
It was reported that the majority of the 2500 crowd were cheering for the blue of Margate, but the atmosphere was lacking due to the small crowd compared to its capacity. The Priestfield could hold over 25,000 at the time!
The first 25 minutes were all Margate as expected, but slowly but surely Ashford worked their way into the game whilst keeping Margate at bay. The Thanet Times reports that forward Lawrie Thompson was outstanding for Ashford, causing Margate's famous defender Bob Harrop all sorts of problems.
Ashford's only goal, and winning goal came 8 minutes from time, the Margate defence only partially cleared an Ashford corner and it fell to Brian Dellar on the edge of the area who controlled the ball superbly before firing into the bottom corner. Margate created little after the goal and Ashford became cup winners again.
Date: August 20, 1962
Venue: Cheriton Road, Dover
The 1961/62 replayed final was concluded early into the following season (62/63) at Folkestone's ground. Dover's Jones and Rowan both scored twice against a shaky Ashford defence. The Kent Express reported the ineffectiveness of the Ashford forwards in front of goal. Joe White scored Ashford's goal.
Date: May 12, 1962
Venue: Essella Park, Ashford
The second leg of the Final produced another 1–1 draw, this time at Ashford in front of 2,430 supporters. The Kentish Express reported that everyone of those supporters who turned up on the wet and cold afternoon could not have failed to be impressed with Dover's forward Alan Jones.
Jones almost scored twice in the first half after giving Ashford's centre back John Harris the run around, but was denied by goalkeeper Brian Hall, who had a very good game. Jones did however score Dover's goal 12 minutes into the second half. Ashford equalised from the resulting kick off through their forward Ron Clayton.
The game finished 1–1 at 90 minutes, extra time was needed. No further goals were forthcoming, but Jones almost won the tie and cup in the last minute of extra time with a rocket only for Hall to be Ashford's hero once more!
Date: April 23, 1962
Venue: Crabble, Dover
A healthy crowd of 3,783 watched a poor Dover performance in the first leg of the Kent Senior Cup Final. Ashford seemed happy not to lose, where as perhaps they should have pushed on to exploit the poor Dover performance, reported the Kentish Express.
Although Dover started poorly, they did in fact take the lead through Alan Jones two minutes before half-time. Ashford equalised two minutes after the restart through Jon Shepherd.
As well as the goalscorer Jones, Dover could also thank goalkeeper Roy Marshall for making several top class saves to keep them in the tie.
Date: March 30, 1959
Venue: Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham
Ashford won their first Kent Senior Cup by beating Southern League Tonbridge in what was described as one of the most exciting finals in the 80 years history of the competition.
Ashford went ahead in the 34th minute, when Jimmy Jenkins (TBC) scored from a short corner. Tonbridge piled on the pressure in the second half, but against the run of play, leading goalscorer Ron Vigar let fly from close range after a pass from Don Rossiter to make it 2–0 to the Town.
Tonbridge were awarded a lifeline in the 74th minute when Ashford fullback John Hamblin brought down Angels Joe Ball in the area and a penalty was awarded.
Penalty missed! Austin Dunne hits the post and Ashford are reprieved, but only for a minute as John Walsh pulls a goal back in the 75th minute — this was the only goal Ashford conceded in the entire competition.
Ashford held out in front of the 5,061 crowd to lift the Cup for the first time in their history.
| Season | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1995/96 | Winners | 3–0 |
| 1992/93 | Winners | 3–2 |
| 1981/82 | Runner-up | 0–3 |
| 1980/81 | Runner-up | 0–2 |
| 1962/63 | Winners | 1–0 |
| 1961/62 | Runner-up | 1–4* |
| 1958/59 | Winners | 2–1 |
* After two 1–1 draws, Ashford lost the replay 1–4