BEN Harris made an impressive debut for Ascot United when they drew 1-1 with Tuffley Rovers at the Racecourse Ground, writes Dave Wright.

The former Windsor striker, who has recently been playing in New Zealand, was soon involved in Saturday’s game, sending in a curling effort that was comfortably saved by the keeper, Eric Edge.

Then on 21 minutes he charged down a clearance from Edge and appeared to be clipped by the goalie as he raced towards the ball, but appeals for a penalty were turned down.

It was Harris who set-up the Ascot goal, crossing from the right for Josh Dillon to turn home at the far post in the 52nd minute.

Soon afterwards, he saw his header saved by Edge at point-blank range.

Harris was taken off 15 minutes from time and replaced by Matt Jones, who last week had made his return following a long lay-off due to a knee injury.

But Jones stayed on for just over 10 minutes as he was sent off after being shown the yellow card twice in quick succession for fouls, although both looked harsh decisions.

The Yellamen, who had seen Jonny Denton dismissed in their 2-0 defeat at Binfield earlier in the week, battled hard to hang on to their lead, but three minutes from time, poor defending led to Shayne Bradley being gifted the equaliser.

Despite dropping two points, it was still an encouraging performance by Neil Richards’ side, who make the long trip to Gloucestershire on Saturday to face Longlevens (3pm).

They even moved off the foot of the Premier Division table, swapping places on goal difference with Highmoor Ibis, who crashed 6-0 to Thatcham on Monday. Only one point separates the bottom four teams.

Unfortunately, Ascot United were denied a quarter-final spot in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup after a 2-0 home defeat to MK Dons on Wednesday night.

Hellenic Premier Ascot were massive underdogs going into the tie against opponents from League One.

But Yellamen put up a brave fight on the night before MK’s quality finally shone through.

The hosts had a goal disallowed early on for offside against Louis Bouwers then new signing Ben Harris tested Dons keeper Wieger Sietsma with a 40-yard wind-assisted free kick.

The visitors went in front in the 17th minute through Brandon Asante, but Ascot were denied an equaliser in the second half when Samir Regragui’s free-kick was expertly tipped over by Sietsma.

However, Asante sent Dons through to the next round when he scored his second of the game with 25 minutes remaining.

Nevertheless, Ascot will take plenty of confidence from their display against an MK Dons side who thumped Didcot Town 14-0 at the same stage of last year’s competition.