Sun Sports 4 Chipperfield Corinthians 1               1988/89                    Aubrey Cup Final

The life of Brian! Ashby's sunshine

Young Brian Ashby could not have chosen a better moment to demonstrate his undoubted ability for Sun Sports.
the 21 year old scored twice, made the other two and looked star quality as Sun ended their 50 year wait for a major trophy in the Herts Senior County League on a sun kissed Bank Holiday Monday.
On a near perfect Leverstock Green surface, Ashby made sure that the Sun, who have been competing in the County League since before World War Two, ended their barren run in fine style.
Sun have won other trophies, of course, but the Premier Division Championship and the major cup competition have eluded them down the years and manager Dave Males was determined to set the record straight at the weekend.
Before a bumper holiday crowd, they started superbly and rocked their opponents, Chipperfield Corinthians, with three goals in the opening 29 minutes and never really looked back.
"Superb," enthused manager Males, "I just wished they'd play like that every week."
Chipperfield were certainly caught out by Sun's approach.
In the opening half an hour, Sun won every tackle, every header and every challenge.
Chipperfield seemed stuck in neutral while Sun were away and accelerating in fourth gear.
No one seemed more keyed up than Sun midfielder John White.
He set up the second goal after 26 minutes with a storming run from his own half.
He looked like Rambo bursting free from just inside his own box as he set off to feed full back Chris Price on the left who swung over a perfect cross for Mark Anderson to head in at the far post.
That goal came just 10 minutes after Anderson had put Sun in front.
Ashby wriggled clear of a tackle just outside the box and used his pace to get into the box where Lee Channer's outstretched boot sent him tumbling over.
Referee Brian Lennox - who had a fine game in the middle - had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
Any hopes Chipperfield might have harboured of saving the match that was slipping away from them at an alarming rate were dashed in the 29th minute.
Cox and David Pettifer deliberated about a back pass, Cox eventually took charge and slightly under hit it back to goalkeeper Gary Boarder.
The big Chipperfield goalkeeper was quick off his line but Ashby was quicker and managed to win the race for the ball and turned it into a gaping net.
As a contest, the game was over from that point.
Manager Pettifer managed to shake his side up at the interval and the second half was a much better battle but three goals proved too much for the village side and Sun added a fourth goal before Chipperfield scored their consolation effort.
It was Ashby again who proved a thorn in the Chipperfield defence.
The youngster who has had spells at Harefield and Hemel Hempstead latched onto a ball outside the box and raced away to chip another delightful goal past Boarder.
Chipperfield, who had been forced to pull off Martin Brown at the interval with a hamstring injury, scored their goal midway through then half.
Colin Smith got away on the left and put over the cross that Keith French headed beyond Sun goalkeeper Peter Lloyd.
Chipperfield boss Pettifer said: We showed no commitment in the first half. We had six players under par and we can't carry that many. I don't want to make excuses. They played very well on the day and I'm delighted fore their management team, they deserved it".
For Sun manager Males and the backroom staff at the club, men like Jim Kempster, John Perks, Dave Price, Rupert Brown, Bob Foster, Dave White and Laurie Marlborough, it was a marvellous day.
"Yes, we had a few drinks afterwards," said Males, "It was a tremendous performance."

Sun Sports: Lloyd, Price, Hows, Cripps, Spicer, White, Purkiss, Farrell, M Ashby, B Ashby, Anderson. Subs: Raw for Purkiss, Howard for Hows