Man-of-the-match Lee Poulter opened the scoring after 15mins, but poor marking soon allowed the home side to equalise. A flowing move culminated in Ian Lennard’s fine finish from a Jeremy Capper pass to put the Ruts back in front, but Ashtead drew level following a controversial incident just before half-time. A goalmouth scramble in the Ashtead box resulted in furious appeals for a penalty, but the referee waved play on and Ashtead raced upfield to make it 2-2.

The second-half was an even affair, with no further goals added thanks to some wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping by Ruts’ keeper David Williams, who made a string of impressive saves.