Ascot Not At The Races - Ascot United vs. Buckingham Town

Stand and clubhouse at the racecourse.

For the third weekend in a row I attended a cup game. After the goal feast in the previous FA Vase game I attended ( Colliers Wood 5 -2 Dorking ). I hoped for a similar afternoon with Ascot United vs. Buckingham Town. I'd been to a Racecourse Ground once before for Wrexham vs. Boston United a long time ago but this Racecourse Ground had a much more rural feel to it. Buckingham are a level bellow their Hellenic Premier Hosts and were yet to lose a game in the United Counties League Division 1. Ascot have had a mixed start to the season and were looking to progress in the vase after being dumped out of the cup by Wembley live on Facebook.

Ascot on the attack in the first half. Note the racetrack in the background.

Buckingham take the game straight to the hosts and appear to catch them a little by surprise. Both the right fullback and winger look impressive for the visitors. As the game wears on Ascot win a few free kicks but manage to completely fluff them all. Buckingham then have the best chance of the half when the midfielder fires wide from just outside the box. Ascot fail to heed this warning and a similar chance is buried a few moments later. This sparks Ascot in to life and the visiting keeper makes the first of several impressive saves to keep his side one up at the break. 

The Buckingham players celebrate the opening goal.

Buckingham attempt to continue the same tempo after the break but Ascot soon take a hold of the game. Depite this the Buckingham defence looks like they can cope with the threat of the homeside. When they do manage to get through they find the Buckingham keeper in fine form. When they do manage to finally beat him the posts comes to the visitors rescue. The home side become more frustrated as the game goes on and the keeper makes a brilliant double save in the final quarter. The home side win a flurry of corners in the final five minutes but the visitors hold firm and rightly celebrate at the final whistle.

The dugout side of the ground.

As my train was late, I went straight to the ground but I did stop for a drink at Jagz Bar before my train back. It is quite fancy and located right next to the station. The clubhouse has been recently renovated and is quite neat. It has a good selection of drinks and has Sky Sports. A uniquie point about the ground (other then being on a racecourse) is that there is a minture railway which runs along the track to the ground. Trains to Ascot depart from Waterloo on the hour and the journey takes just under an hour. The walk to the ground takes around half hour.

Ascot desperatly push for the equaliser.