Chatham Town 0 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
So the journey began on Saturday. Ashford Town kicked off one of the most eagerly-anticipated seasons for many a year – and the reason for the wave of optimism and high expectations has been the arrival of Don Crosbie and Tony Betteridge, with their ambitious plans for the Club, and the all-important financial resources to fuel those ambitions. Based on the solid foundations laid by the toil and dedication of Tim Thorogood, Mark Jenner and several others, Don and Tony’s investment over the Summer has shown immediate and tangible improvements to the Homelands pitch and to the facilities, even before a ball had been kicked on Saturday. To remind me that the Promised Land is indeed in sight, I had my first glimpse of our very own A-list celebrity – Director of Football Strategy Ian Wright. It happened to be on the back of a box of Coco Pops, but it was good of Wrighty to put in an appearance at breakfast time.
Our new friends and benefactors seemed to be rewarded with an encouragingly large crowd of 411. Although it’s a little early for an Anorak’s Corner, I’ll point out that this is our best opening-match crowd since I’ve been keeping a record of such things, (and I’ve been sad enough to do so since the 1999-2000 season). It was also the biggest crowd in Ryman Division 1 South on Saturday, and I’m pretty sure that we never achieved that last season.
Unfortunately, (and here’s the “but” phrase, as early as the third paragraph of the season), things didn’t go according to script on the pitch, and a 0-2 defeat at the hands of (an admittedly useful) Kingstonian side did more than merely manage expectations down a bit. I won’t comment on a match that I did not see, and I don’t want to draw too much from second-hand descriptions of the performance – but let’s just say that our shiny, new, green & white Formula One car rather stalled on the grid. Nevertheless, I, for one, refuse to be down-hearted. We have 41 league matches ahead of us, and, in Clive Walker, we have a Manager with a proven track record at this level, probably for the first time since Neil Cugley – (with the greatest respect to the sterling efforts of those who have taken on the job in between). Furthermore, (speaking of sterling), he has a Board behind him that can and will support him with the tools for doing the job; in fact, within days of Saturday’s defeat, Don Crosbie has been reminding us all that at least four new, quality players are in the process of being added to the squad.
There has certainly been a substantial turnover of playing personnel over the Summer, and even The Legends that are Adlington and Ross haven’t been spared. Only two of Saturday’s line-up, Joby Thorogood and Anthony Allman, featured in the opening match of the 2006-7 season, (which was also against Kingstonian). Some people will be amazed that the figure is as high as two, given the changes that there have been over the past twelve months. What is even more surprising is that fact that tonight there were no fewer than FOUR survivors in the Ashford side of the team that played Chatham Town in the corresponding fixture in 2003-4: Barry Gardner, Rob Gillman, Joby Thorogood and Danny Lye. (Tommy Adlington and Simon Glover both played in midfield that day).
One survivor from the corresponding fixture at Maidstone Road last season, back in January of this year, was Rob Denness, but this time he was playing up front for Ashford, not Chatham. His strike partner was Steve Sodje, (who also started in the match eight months ago), in a reversion to a 4-4-2 formation. Jake Whincup was again in goal, having had an uncomfortable match on Saturday, behind a back-four of (from left to right) Daniel Brathwaite, Nicky Humphrey, Rob Gillman and Tony Browne. Danny Lye, who had impressed in pre-season, returned for his first competitive start, lining up in central midfield alongside skipper Lee Spiller, with Folkestone Invicta loanee Charlie Glyde on the left, and Barry Gardner, operating largely as a right winger, on the right. The substitutes bench comprised Kevin Lott, Anthony Allman, Joby Thorogood, Nick Fenwick and Lee Ealham. To complete the roll-call, Graham Porter and Joe Hitchings were on holiday, (separately, probably), and Walid Matata was unfit. Speaking of fitness, it was good to see Adrianho jogging around the pitch before the game – but this did look ominously like long-term endurance work, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing our Brazilian striker in action in the near future.
So it was a return to Maidstone Road for both former Manager Clive Walker (looking very German in his light leather jacket) and Rob Denness, and it was young Rob who carved out the first chance for his new team. In the 4th minute, with his back to goal, just outside the area, he turned and broke through two or three tackles, before pulling a shot just wide of goal. Rob showed great strength and made a nuisance of himself to the Chatham defence throughout the first half, but rather faded away after the break.
Two minutes later, a foul on Barry Gardner gave Lee Spiller the chance to put a cross into the Chatham box. The skipper’s free-kick was floated almost under John Whitehouse’s crossbar, but Danny White did brilliantly to acrobatically hoike the ball clear.
The Chats suffered a bit of a reverse in the 15th minute, when Steven Best had to go off injured – he was replaced by the aptly named Adam Boots; (yes, honestly).
All of the attacking continued to come from the visitors, and we had our best chance to date in the 16th minute. A pass from midfield put Steve Sodje through on goal. He touched the ball past John Whitehouse – too far it appeared at first – but Sodj managed to catch up with it, and had a decent chance to slot in from an acute angle. Unfortunately, his shot was weak, and the trickling ball was easily cleared off the line. Two minutes later, a kick-out from Jake Whincup was collected by Rob Denness, who squared the ball to Charlie Glyde, for what was just about his first touch. Charlie showed a good technique to strike the ball cleanly, but his shot was always swerving wide of goal. Then, in the 21st minute, Rob Denness stuck another cross right under John Whitehouse’s crossbar. John’s handling was, as ever, clean and secure, but Steve Sodje nearly did “a Nat Lofthouse” on him, his aerial challenge almost knocking him into his own net.
So it was all Ashford for the first quarter of the match, with the home side having no more than a couple of speculative, off-target shots to show for their efforts.
In the 23rd minute, under heavy, grey skies, Daniel Brathwaite launched a long throw towards The Chats’ near post. This was bundled behind for a corner, on the left. This was taken, right-footed, by Lee Spiller, who again curled the ball into the near post, resulting in another corner. This time, Spiller’s cross was headed away by the near-post crowd, but only as far as Barry Gardner, just outside the area. Barry’s shot was blocked, and went spiraling over the home defence. Steve Sodje was the first to react, but he fluffed his attempt to direct the spinning ball towards goal, from about six yards out.
In the 31st minute, Rob Denness and Steve Sodje once again linked up well. Denness’s flicked header found Sodje, who returned a pass and then ran on into the penalty area. Rob then found Sodj with a cross from the edge of the area. Sodje had time to control the ball and put in a firm shot, which was saved on the line, and Rob’s angled shot from the rebound was also saved.
Ashford, playing all in yellow, took what turned out to be a decisive lead in the 32nd minute. A Daniel Brathwaite throw, from near the left corner flag, was allowed to bounce in the Chatham area, but a firmly-struck shot was brilliantly saved by John Whitehouse. Nevertheless, Charlie Glyde was there to nod the bouncing ball high into the net, from about two yards out.
There was relief, as well as delight, from the entire Ashford team, as the goal got them off the mark for the season. The celebrations were soon muted, however, as Daniel Brathwaite went down injured, feeling his knee, and an ice-pack was called for. As he is a player who has twice dislocated his knee, some of us feared the worst as he was stretchered off. The news, however, is not as bad as it might have been – he has strained ligaments in his “good” knee, and it looks like he’ll probably be out for about four weeks. The immediate problem was that he couldn’t bend this left knee, so was unable to drive home to Hemel Hempsted. Fortunately, there were two Ashford fans who were travelling back that way, so Daniel was chauffeur-driven to Hemel. The price for Daniel was that he was subjected, for nearly two hours, to a monologue on Ashford Town Football Club, so now knows everything there is to know about the history of the Club, (even if he didn’t want to know) – but he’s a nice lad, and never complained, and the information will stand him in good stead for the rest of the season. (By the way, commuting all the way from Hemel to Ashford three or four times a week, and to Dover before that, to play and train – now THAT’S dedication !).
Daniel’s replacement was Anthony Allman, who took up a position on the left side of midfield, with Charlie Glyde dropping back to left-back.
Ashford continued to play with a good rhythm, and at a fair tempo, and created two more chances before half time. In the 39th minute, Rob Denness let the ball run through for Steve Sodje, and Sodj’s cross-cum-shot was almost intercepted by Danny Lye before being collected by John Whitehouse. Then, two minutes into first-half injury time, a throw-in found Steve Sodje in the penalty area. Sodj turned and shot in one movement, and his powerful effort skimmed off the top of the crossbar.
In truth, the whole of the first half belonged to Ashford, so it’s something of an understatement to say that they deserved to go in at half time one up; in fact, they really should have been more clinical with their chances, and had a more comfortable lead. Whilst Jake Whincup, in the Ashford goal, saw very little action, he looked confident and assured in whatever he had to do. Tony Browne, Rob Gillman and Nicky Humphrey also looked very solid at the back throughout the game.
In the 52nd minute, as wet mizzle drifted across the ground, Ashford very nearly went two goals up. A cross from Barry Gardner, on the right, was met by Steve Sodje with a spectacular diving header. This was initially well saved by John Whitehouse, but the ball appeared to squirm from his grasp and trickle over the line, at the foot of his right-hand post – but the lino on the far side was already flagging for off-side. The former Ashford ‘keeper was called into action again, three minutes later, when Charlie Glyde struck the ball well, from 25 yards out, but John made a good save, falling to his left.
Ashford were nowhere near as dominant as they were in the second half, and the home side gradually eased their way into the game. In the 57th minute, shortly after Chats’ Manager Phil Miles had replaced Mark Murison with Tyran James, Anthony Allman conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own area, as Chatham mounted their first sustained attack of the game. The main consequence for Ashford was that Lee Spiller got himself booked for dissent, as Darren Smith merely blasted the free-kick over the bar.
On the hour mark, the ball was again heading back in the opposite direction. Charlie Glyde cleared the ball into the Chatham half, from near his own touchline, and Steve Sodje showed a rare burst of speed to run onto what turned out to be a good through-ball. He was fairly cynically brought down by a defender whose identity escapes me – because the black number on the back of his red shirt was illegible to even the most eagle-eyed coal house rat. There’s no doubt that Sodje would have been through on goal if this last man had not upended him, so it was a bit surprising that Referee Hatzidakis only waved a yellow card at him. Charlie Glyde it was who took the free-kick, and his chip, over the Chatham wall, was a good effort, but the excellent John Whitehouse got down well to save at the foot of his near post.
Sodje blotted his copybook a couple of times, a few minutes later. In the 67th minute, he was booked for what the ref thought was an over-zealous tackle, and then, in the 68th, he missed an absolute sitter. A long cross from Barry Gardner on the right found Charlie Glyde in plenty of space beyond the far post; Charlie placed a header to Sodj, who was inside the six-yard box, but he somehow contrived to head the ball wide. In spite of missing a few chances – and not everything he tried this evening came off – this was easily the best performance that I have seen from Sodj in an Ashford shirt, and, whilst it is sometimes a difficult job to decide on a Man of the Match, he was the clear choice on this occasion.
As Sodje was still holding his head in anguish after that miss, Clive Walker sent Kevin Lott on in place of Lee Spiller – with Danny Lye taking over the captain’s armband. Seconds later, Patrick Bishenden was yellow-carded for clattering late into Nicky Humphrey.
As the match entered its final quarter, The Chats began to have more and more possession, and actually started to assert. After a succession of corners had been headed clear by the Ashford defence, one clearance, in the 76th minute, broke to Bishenden, outside the area, but his shot was always going well over the bar. The home side’s final throw of the dice was to put Mark Brooks on in place of Danny White, so forming a three-man attack. Almost immediately, they were rewarded with a corner, after Rob Gillman, whilst trying to see the ball out for a goal-kick, received a shove in the back and conceded a corner. This was headed clear by Steve Sodje. Two minutes later, a well-constructed attack through the inside-right channel was thwarted by a good covering tackle by Nicky Humphrey – and there was the added bonus of getting the nod for a goal-kick.
Things were getting a little nervy for the visitors, with defence fast becoming the main priority, but there was an increasing chance that Chatham, pouring forward, would be caught out at the back – and Ashford really should have taken at least one of several chances to make the game safe. With ten minutes to go, Steve Sodje picked up a clearance on the right flank. It looked as if he was going to merely hold the ball up and wait for support, but Sodj instead showed great pace and power to go around the outside of the left-back, and made it almost as far as the corner of John Whitehouse’s six-yard box before a covering tackle came in.
Danny Lye was booked for a two-footed tackle on 17 year-old full-back Bradley King, in the 82nd minute, before a tiring Sodje was replaced by Joby Thorogood, getting a good ovation from the knot of Ashford Town supporters behind the dug-outs, in the 84th minute.
Chatham continued to press for an equaliser right up to the final whistle, but made themselves increasingly vulnerable as a consequence – never more so than when John Whitehouse went up for a corner, with 90 minutes on the clock, (shortly after diving low to save a long-range shot from Danny Lye). The corner was initially headed clear by Rob Gillman, back towards the corner flag, and the repeat cross was again cleared, this time finding Joby Thorogood in the centre circle. With nobody at home in the Chatham goal, I don’t know why Joby didn’t attempt to lob the ball in from the half-way line.
Danny Lye then had an even better chance to make the game safe, in the 91st minute, when a square ball from Rob Denness, with the Chatham defence AWOL, left him with only John Whitehouse to beat, from twelve yards – but instead of passing the ball into the net, Danny hesitated, and John was able to come out and smother the ball. The angry reaction from Clive Walker and others in the Ashford dug-out betrayed the tension that had built up, but Referee Hatzidakis soon blew the final whistle, to give our boys their first three points of the season.
Of course, this was a hugely important opening victory for a largely new squad of players, and we can hope that it will settle them and help them to move on from here. Although this was, overall, a comfortable victory – Jake didn’t have a save to make – there is still room for improvement, particularly in front of goal.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Steve Sodje
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