The Homelands Stadium, basked in glorious early March sunshine, played host to an Isthmian League encounter which started at 100mph. The first chance came for the Hill as Martyn Box whipped a brilliant, first time cross which was met by the head of Ben Pope who could only thunder a header over the hosts crossbar. The home side responded with their first chance, Gary Lockyer played in teammate Waldock but as he raced clear down the right, he fired harmlessly wide of Slav Huk’s goal. 3 minutes later, Slav Huk was required as a Ashford man got in behind but a heavy touch allowed Slav to pounce and snuff out the danger. The Hill won a free kick which Box swung in, Marcus Allen flicked it on and it fell to Bobby Price at the far post but he, nor any other Hillian, could force it over the line. The opening quarter of this match was incredibly back and forth and it continued as Ashford burst down the left and crossed the ball in for an unmarked man to thankfully, head straight at Slav Huk. The best chance of the game so far came for Hill as Bobby Price cut inside from the left and from 20 yards, curled a delicate effort which curled, but not enough and just zipped wide. We were not to be denied much longer as Dan Perry marked his return to the 11 in style as he opened the scoring. A long ball was played over the top of the back 4, central defender and goalkeeper left it to each other to deal with and the hesitation allowed Perry to nick in and beautifully dink the ball over the GK to cause huge celebrations with the travelling faithful. The Hill had their tails up and almost made it 2, some lovely football eventually saw the ball come to Perry who tried to double the lead but was met by a very good save from the home shot stopper. That save looked even more important when in the 4th minute of first half added time, Ashford levelled it up. The hosts won a corner and danger man Gary Lockyer was left unmarked to nod home the leveller.

HT: 1-1.

Burgess Hill were dealt a double blow as they lost CB Ryan Worrall at HT and other CB Marcus Allen just minutes into the second half. Hill had the first chance of the half as Ben Pope headed just wide from a corner. From that moment on, the visitors started to get on top and the makeshift Hill 11 started to lose their way. More aerial threat caused Hill problems as a cross came in and was again met by a free header but straight at Slav again. In the 66th minute, the pressure paid off for the hosts as a cross came in from the left and Michael West was, again, unmarked at the back post to simply nod past a helpless Slav Huk. Truth be told, Hill never recovered from the 2 defensive injuries and we were indebted to Slav Huk for making 2 fantastic fingers tip saves to keep us with a sniff of equalising. The best chance Hill got was when Ben Pope was set away over the top but as he raced through on goal, a fantastic last ditch tackle from Will Moses thwarted an threat and led Ashford to comfortably seeing out the win.

FT: 2-1.

The long unbeaten run for the Hillians comes to an end. A big thank you to the masses of travelling Hill support who made the trip to back the boys. Up next, we welcome Hythe to Paradise next Saturday, 3pm KO.

Hillians: Slav Huk, Bobby Price, Hamish Morrison, Harry Lawson (Joe Overy 58), Ryan Worrall (Alex Malins 46), Marcus Allen (Brannon O’Neill 49),  Reggie Ward, Kieran Rowe, Dan Perry (Noah Hoffman 73), Ben Pope, Martyn Box. Subs not used: Charlie Bonwick-Adams.