For the match Heath manager Chris Simmons made one change to the starting line-up with Under 23 striker Eugene Moteane coming in for the injured Adam Adam.
The visitor’s had a great start to the match and went ahead on seven minutes with the old ‘root one’ football when a free kick was awarded deep in the Ashford half and wide on the right, Matthew Bodkin pumped a long ball forward which was headed on by Harry Waldock into the path of Louis Collins who stabbed the ball past Heath goalkeeper Alfie Hadfield from 10 yards to make it 1-0 to ‘the nuts and bolts’.
Heath drew level six minutes later when Tolulope Jonah brought down Mark Goldson in the penalty area and the Heath striker picked himself up, dusted himself down and converted the resulting penalty kick with a right foot shot into the top right corner.
Heath had some great chances to add to their score with defender Shaun Terry in the thick of it, first when he struck a right foot shot from the ‘D’ straight at Ashford keeper Taite Holtam, then he headed a right wing corner narrowly wide of the goal before hitting another right foot shot just wide of the post but it remained 1-1 at the break.
The Bears took the lead five minutes into the restart when a Callum Dowdell corner from the left was played to the far post to Sal Marino who directed a header into the top right corner for his first league goal of the season. Heath continued to create the lion’s share of chances with Eugene Moteane going close minutes later with a left foot shot from 20 yards while at the other end a free-kick for Ashford was taken by Louis Collins but the ball flew high over the crossbar.
On 57 minutes another great chance for the Bears to add to their score when an exchange of passes on the right hand side of the pitch between Charlie Parmiter, Billy Fuller and Sal Marino ended with Louis Evans being put through on goal but the ball took a nasty bobble just when the midfielder was about to strike it and it flew high and wide of target.
Another Heath attack saw Callum Dowdell take the ball around a defender and the goalkeeper before striking a low right foot shot that hit the post and went out for a goal kick.
The Bears were punished for those missed chances when the visitor’s equalised midway through the half. Harry Waldock started the move when he received the ball in the middle of the park and played it out wide to Stanley Skipper who in turn played it into the path of Bodkin advancing down the right, the defender crossed it into the goalmouth to Gary Lockyer who converted at the second attempt to bring the score level at 2-2.
After that both sides had chances to win the game but none more so than when Heath were awarded a second penalty on 76 minutes when Bodkin brought down Callum Dowdell in the penalty area, an easy decision for the Match Referee to give, Goldson stepped up to the mark, struck the ball well enough but it crashed against the crossbar before being cleared.
In the dying minutes Heath had the ball in the back of the net through Sean Terry but to everyone's surprise a foul was given on the Ashford keeper with no Heath player any where near him!
A game the Bears should have won comfortably with the chances created but it’s goals that count and this one ended all square at 2-2.
MOM: Salvatore Marino
Simmo said afterwards: "The performance was excellent apart from not taking our chances and that's why the draw is so disappointing.We had enough chances to win 2-3 games and even when we did think we had a winner the ref disallowed it for a reason I still can't work out.
"The lads have done so well considering we are still missing Jamie Chesworth, Tad Bromage, Matt Penfold, Adrian Todd, Stan Berry, Mason Doughty and Adam Adam and we have only recently got Jamie Buchanan, Matt Hay and Louis Evans back from long lay-offs."
Team: Hadfield, Fuller, Terry, Marino (Hay 73), Sim, Peters, Dowdell, Parmiter, Goldson, Evans, Moteane.