Cray Wanderers 2 Ashford Town 5
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
After Saturday’s dreadful performance at Walton Casuals, Ashford really needed to bounce back this evening, against a Cray Wanderers side lying in sixth place in the table, and with the confidence-boost of a 1-5 win at Molesey at the week-end behind them. Bounce back ? Tonight the lads redefined the term “Bouncebackability” ! This performance was every bit as good as the Walton effort was awful. This was a scintillating performance, and one which ranks right up there with the 2-4 victory against Kingstonian at Kingsmeadow a few years ago.
To fully understand the huge transformation there has been since Saturday, you really have to consider the marked difference in the standard of the opposition in both matches. Three days ago, Walton Casuals looked a poor side, and they looked poor whilst they were in the process of beating us, very comfortably, by a 2-1 margin. In contrast, Cray looked very good throughout the 90 minutes. They played with a very high tempo, had strong, athletic players all over the field, and looked full of goals, with their skillful forwards, and midfielders who knew how to deliver a telling ball – yet Ashford matched them in every department this evening, and tore them apart, with three goals in the first 24 minutes. If Saturday had been like watching relegation scrappers, tonight we saw a high-quality game of football.
So why the big change ? There are many possible theories. Maybe we just like it at Hayes Lane. Last season we probably played our best football here, being deservedly 0-2 up in a game that was abandoned at half time, due to a torrential downpour, and then winning the rearranged game 0-4; so we won that particular match 0-6, on aggregate. In contrast, we rarely get anything from Franklyn Road, with results against Walton Casuals, since their promotion from the Combined Counties League in 2004-5, being 1-0, 1-1 and 2-1. Some people might point to the fact that Clive Walker reverted to 4-4-2 – that old chestnut about keeping it simple, and allowing players to play in a system they are familiar with. Was it the changes is personnel that did the trick ? Hardly. The starting line-up showed only three changes from the side that took the field against Walton Casuals: a straight swap of Aron Freeman for Nathan Simpson (one excellent left-back for another), Barry Gardner in for Walid Matata (due as much as anything else to Walid having not turned up for training the previous evening) and Jimmy Bottle for Charlie Glyde. Some eye-witnesses will say that, yes, Jimmy did make all the difference – and more about him later ! – but Ashford had actually looked an entirely different team before the ball got anywhere near Jimmy. Maybe it was something to do with the full moon that illuminated a cloudless sky this evening ?
I prefer the theory that came straight from one of the horses’ mouth this evening. I spoke briefly to one of the players who had been involved in the Walton debacle, and asked a question along the lines of “What on earth was going on, on Saturday ?”. I didn’t actually expect an answer – just a sheepish shrug of the shoulders and a shuffling of feet, in response to my merciless interrogation. I was pleasantly surprised that he came straight back at me with a frank and honest response: “A lack of passion and commitment”. That probably tells the story, as there was no shortage of that on this occasion. In fact, if we’d played anything like we had at Franklyn Road, then this Cray side would certainly have murdered us. I later learnt that Tim Thorogood had taken the training session on Monday night, and had “got into them a bit” – Q.E.D, M’lud.
I was quite amazed at the frantic pace with which the game began – led by the home side. I’ve never seen anything like it at this level. It was like watching a match in Fast Forward. Even the normally laconic George Fenwick was like a tap dancer on speed, with quick lay-offs and darting runs. It was as if Cray were attempting a mugging, but our defence was superb during this hectic opening period – everyone was alert, focused and quick to the ball. And it was just as well.
Then Jimmy Bottle announced his arrival to the Ryman League. Four touches is all it took: one to control, another to stick the ball in the back of the net; another to control, and another strike to make it 0-2. This was an exhibition of natural goal-scoring ability that few of us have seen in semi-professional football – a rarer sight still in a green shirt !
Jimmy opened the scoring in the fifth minute. After surviving The Wands’ early frenzy, Ashford launched an attack down the left flank, with Aron Freeman. Aron moved the ball on to Joby Thorogood, who in turn touched it to Jimmy, who now had a sight of goal, just outside the penalty area. Probably without thinking about it too much, Jimmy shot low, into the corner of the net. His second goal came in the 14th minute. This started with a clearance, from deep, by Danny Lye. Rob Denness was on his own up front at the time, and flicked the ball on into space, with his head, and gamely chased after it himself. Rob caught up with the ball in the left wing position, pulled the ball back to Jimmy, who was just inside the penalty area, and the ball was soon nestling in the same corner of the net that it had been in, just nine minutes earlier. So it was 0-2 to Ashford, and we now have a new hero.
Jimmy is tall, and quite slightly built – very much in the mould of Simon Glover – but has the natural ability to glide across the surface, with the ball, at high speed. He’s reminiscent of a young Peter Barnes when in full flight, and his work is invariably clean and neat. Even without the eye-catching stuff, he linked up well with his team-mates tonight, always picking out a green shirt, with a crisp, first-time pass. It would almost be an insult to refer to it as “genius”, as Jimmy has obviously been extremely well coached from an early age. There’s also something of the waif in him – which reminds me of how Chris Waddle used to be – and he has a modest, understated demeanour, which suggests that he’s probably unaware of how good he really is. The players around him certainly know what we’ve got – and there’s at least one experienced right-back in the squad who’s glad that he doesn’t have to play against him ! It’s early days yet, and he’s still only Joe Hitchings’ age remember, but my immediate impression is that Jimmy Bottle might be the best player that we’ve had at The Homelands for many, many years.
But this was by no means a one-man show, as there were good performances throughout the team. With Walid Matata on the bench, it was Rob Denness and Joby Thorogood who provided the two-man attack; Steve Sodje was not included in the sixteen, having also missed Monday training, but was at the ground looking very dapper in a dark suit. In central midfield we had The Estate Agents (Lye ‘n Lott), with Jimmy Bottle on the left and Barry Gardner on the right. The back four, in front of Sam Moore, was Aron Freeman (a former international gymnast, apparently), Rob Gillman, Nicky Humphrey (the captain) and Tony Browne. Completing the contingent of substitutes were Charlie Glyde, Joe Hitchings, Graham Porter and Jake Whincup.
One feature of the defeat to Walton Casuals was the obvious uncertainty in central defence, but both Nicky Humphrey and Rob Gillman were solid and flawless this evening – and they had to be, against this lot ! Humphry had to be on his toes, in the 18th minute, when Junior Baker chased a through-ball, in the inside-right channel, but the skipper got in a good saving tackle, chasing back. There was soon some more defending to do, however, when Jamie Wood crossed the ball deep into the Ashford area, from a free-kick. Danny Lye somehow hoiked the ball over his own head, and over the bar, to clear the danger. The resulting corner was also cleared.
There was soon another chance for Ashford, playing in their green & white home strip this evening, as a contrast to the amber and black of Cray, in the 24th minute. Jimmy Bottle again demonstrated some sharp skill when he played a brilliant one-two with Rob Denness, which sent him off down the left flank, but his attempted cross was deflected behind for a corner. The ball refused to settle in the area, but the defensive clearance fell to Jimmy, whose side-footed pass found Rob Denness, just outside the area. Rob took a shot early, and my first impression was that he had rather snatched at the opportunity, but the ball was soon in the back of the net, to The Menace’s obvious delight, and it was 0-3. In truth, goalkeeper Glen Knight didn’t cover himself in glory with this one, as the ball went under his arm, but let’s not take anything away from Rob, as he struck his shot firmly. This was certainly the best game that I have seen Rob play, in an Ashford shirt.
Wanderers have two very big, and very sturdy, centre-backs in Ryan Royston and Julian Curnow. They are typical of the breed at this level – brick heads, good in the air – but they’re not really equipped to deal with a flying machine running at them with the ball at his feet. We saw this demonstrated on the half-hour mark. Royston made the initial gaff by passing the ball straight to Jimmy Bottle, who was inside the centre circle, with acres of space ahead of him. Jimmy was immediately into his stride, floating over the damp turf, with Julian Curnow in line to be his first victim. So dominant and powerful when challenging for high balls, the defender now looked like the proverbial rabbit caught up in the headlights of the approaching car. To give Curnow some credit, he summed up the situation very early, and was very quick to raise the white flag – he knew that the most likely scenario was for the ball to end up in the back of the net, and, for him personally, for egg to end up on face. He actually paid Jimmy the biggest compliment possible, by ending his run with a blatant body-check. Of course, we would have preferred to have seen the ball in the back of the net, for Jimmy’s hat-trick – but I almost had some sympathy for the defender on this occasion. It was an easy decision for Referee Mick McCoy to put J.Curnow in the book.
Cray faced the free-kick with a three-man wall. Kevin Lott touched the ball to Barry Gardner, who completely miss-hit his shot, which was totally out of character with the Ashford performance overall. Barry also let the side down a bit by being the only one to wear a long-sleeved thermal vest under his shirt. Wimp !
In spite of being 0-3 down, the home side always looked very capable of scoring a goal, and certainly piled plenty of pressure on the Ashford defence during the last 15 minutes of the first half. Eventually, they broke through, in the 42nd minute – and I was secretly quite pleased that it was George Fenwick, Ashford’s top scorer last year, with 18 goals, who scored with an excellent header. The chance was made by the skillful Tyrone Sterling, who was raiding down the left. He pulled the ball back to Mark Willy – and I can’t resist pointing out that Cray have a Willy and a Lover in their squad at the moment – whose curling cross found George Fenwick at the far post; George got up well, and headed the ball down, into the net.
That goal would really have set things up for a close second half, but Ashford restored their two-goal advantage almost immediately. Joby Thorogood did well to win a corner, on the right-hand side, in the 43rd minute. Joby then took up a position beyond the far post, and the ball was allowed to reach him, sailing over the ruck of players in the centre. Joby’s header for goal was blocked, and the ball rebounded to Barry Gardner. Barry this time made good contact, with a clean shot that was deflected to Joby, who planted the ball into the net with a firm, left-footed strike.
So it was 1-4 at the break, and, for the first time that I can remember, the team marched off at half time to a standing ovation from the Ashford contingent in the main stand. It had been a devastating first 45 minutes, and one that I’ll remember for a long time.
It was good to see some old friends during the interval. John Cumberbatch, a resident of Bromley, had sauntered over to Hayes Lane, to have a look – now shorn of the trademark dreadlocks, but an unmistakable figure, nevertheless. John was able to scotch any slanderous rumours about his son Marc being responsible for Molesey’s recent defensive nightmares – Marc has actually been playing for Leyton, in the Ryman Premier Division, along with former Ashford right-back Jamie Smith, and is doing well with them. Simon Glover was another welcome sight. Ironically, after his epic season with Ashford, during which he played in almost every position, and for almost every minute of every game, Gloves has actually played very little this season, due to a groin injury. Lee Spiller and Adrianho, both on the injury list, were also in attendance – Adrianho is still limping heavily, but tonight did not need the crutches he was using at Walton.
The second half was rather different, as I think that Clive sent the lads out to hold on to what they had. Inevitably, Ashford sometimes showed a tendency to defend too deep, which could only invite the home side to come forward, but Cray are a potent side in attack, and they would have thrown men forward anyway. In fact, Manager Ian Jenkins had earlier already made his intentions clear, when he replaced right-back Aaron Day (who will probably curse the name of Jimmy Bottle, and all his children, for ever more) with striker Michael Power, as soon as Joby Thorogood had scored Ashford’s fourth.
Generally, the boys succeeded in smothering the threat from the home side, and it was probably not by accident that we conceded a succession of free-kicks early in the second half. There was certainly plenty of defending to do during this period, and, in the 49th minute, Sam Moore had to get down quickly to his left, to stop a shot coming in from the left flank, from an acute angle. Sam failed to gather the ball, though, and was perhaps a little fortunate that the ball broke to Danny Lye, in the centre of the penalty area, who was able to clear.
Cray actually had the ball in the back of the net, on 54 minutes. A chipped free-kick, expertly delivered by Jamie Wood, as ever, was met by a good header from imposing No.3 Colin Luckett, but the Lino’s flag was up very early, for off-side.
There were several more stoppages as the hour-mark came and went, which further stimeyed Wanderers’ charge forward. There was actually quite a lengthy delay after Rob Denness had received an arm, or an elbow, in the mouth, in the midst of some jockeying for position at a throw-in. They say that a smack in the mouth often offends, and Rob certainly wasn’t impressed with this one. He’s a big lad, and I’m certainly glad that it wasn’t my elbow that he’d kissed. In fact, it’s a good job that his Mum wasn’t there with her camera, as that would’ve been two of them for the culprit to contend with.
Still the home side persevered, keeping three men forward, and they had a great chance to pull a goal back, in the 68th minute, when a long ball into the Ashford penalty area was nodded wide, at the far post. The second Cray goal actually came three minutes later, and it came from a corner, after Aron Freeman had put in a good challenge against Junior Baker. Michael Power, who had looked Wanderers’ biggest threat since his introduction, came flying in to meet the cross, and powered a header into the back of the net. So both goals came from good headers, which confirmed the aerial threat carried by tonight’s opponents. I wouldn’t say that Sam Moore was at fault with either of them, and he seems to be pretty safe with his handling and kicking and all-round game, but he has yet to show that he has the same shot-stopping qualities that Jake Whincup has shown. (It’s also interesting to note that 19 year-old Sam has conceded two goals in each of the four games in which he’s played, whilst Jake has conceded exactly one goal per game, on average, this season).
So 2-4 it was, as Cray Wanderers continued to press forward. Ashford had a brief attack in the 77th minute, when a powerful headed clearance from Nicky Humphrey set Jimmy Bottle off on a run. Again it was Julian Curnow who was in Jimmy’s sights, but this time Curnow kept his composure and his dignity, and managed to get the ball out for a throw-in. A minute later, the home side had a great chance to narrow the deficit further. A through-ball put Michael Power in, with a sight of goal. With Aron Freeman snapping at his heels like a Jack Russell, Power curled his shot around Sam Moore, but also just around the post.
In the 81st minute, with Cray becoming increasingly committed upfield, Clive Walker instinctively knew that it was a good time to throw Walid Matata into the mix, in place of Joby Thorogood (who is yet to complete 90 minutes in a game this season), to try to exploit the increasing amount of space that was appearing in the home defence. And Walid had an excellent chance to make an immediate impact, in the 82nd minute. With Cray launching another attack, Sam Moore had to come out quickly to intercept a through-ball, and his hoofed clearance sailed all the way up the field to Jimmy Bottle, on the left. Jimmy carried the ball a few yards, and then delivered a cross to Walid, who had run into the penalty area – the substitute really should have done better, and could do no more than shin his effort wide.
Matata made up for the miss just two minutes later, when he scored the goal that sewed up the three points. Again, it was a chance that came after Wanderers had been on the attack. A clearance found Walid on the half-way line. He had no support, so, with four Cray defenders nearby, had no choice but to turn and make his way goalwards. Soon, though, Jimmy Bottle was in support, overlapping to his left. Walid fed the ball to him, and Jimmy’s square return pass was inch-perfect, so that it put Walid through with a one-on-one with the goalie. He had time to look up and pick his spot, and it was no surprise to see the ball hit the back of the net for Ashford’s fifth. There was a time, a few years ago, when it wasn’t particularly unusual for us to go and see Ashford Town score five goals away from home; in fact, I can vividly remember a couple of “fives” at Corby Town, and one against Burnham, but I can’t remember the last one.
The fifth goal just about put paid to Cray Wanderers’ challenge, and it was then just a question of whether we could put another one past a tired home defence – a sixth goal would certainly have flattered us, but 2-5 was entirely justified, with five good goals being scored by four different strikers. One thing I would be fairly confident about, having seen Cray, is that this will probably be their heaviest defeat of the season.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Bottle
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Saturday 22 September 2007
Walton Casuals v Ashford Town. Ryman League Division One South. 22nd of September 2007.
Walton Casuals 2 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Today’s game – the Club’s first away match for three weeks and a day, (which has seemed like a second close season) – was against Walton Casuals, at Franklyn Road Sports Ground, on the banks of the Thames; a little ground situated between the river and the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir, in West Molesey. Although it’s still very early in the season, this was still a very important match for Clive Walker and the boys. So far, in spite of having won both away league games to date, Ashford Town have barely looked the promotion contenders that many people have been expecting them to be. This has mostly been due to a very unconvincing track record at home, with only one point having been gained from a maximum of twelve.
To convey the sense of déjà vu currently felt by many of the Ashford faithful, here’s an extract from my match report from last year’s corresponding fixture, which was played at a similar stage of the season: “In spite of the lack of encouragement from recent performances, today’s opposition, Walton Casuals, appeared to offer something of an opportunity, ……”. We managed a 1-1 draw on that occasion, having lost 1-0 here the previous season ! Although I hesitate to be disrespectful towards today’s hosts, I suppose one sign of the Club having made some tangible progress under the ownership of Tony Betteridge and Don Crosbie would be the ability to beat sides like Walton Casuals, who have tended to struggle in the lower third of this division. Having been in the bottom two or three for the majority of last season – along with us, it must be said – The Casuals have so far shown every sign of finding things tough this time around. At the start of today’s play, they were 20th in the table, with four defeats and two draws, from six games, and having bombed out of the FA Cup 1-3 at home to Sevenoaks. (Okay, I haven’t forgotten that we were also knocked out of The Cup by a two-goal margin by a Kent League side). Nevertheless, in spite of all the uncomfortable similarities between them and us, I make no apologies for once again describing this as a “surely-surely game”: surely, SURELY we can beat this lot !
Well, as it turned out, we couldn’t beat “this lot”, and those similarities between Walton Casuals and Ashford Town were compounded by a poor game in which both teams had the look of relegation strugglers about them. Ashford never looked remotely like winning this from the moment that a Nicky Humphrey cock-up gifted The Casuals an equaliser, in the 30th minute, and our hosts thoroughly deserved the three points.
The only mitigating factor on a pretty miserable afternoon for Ashford Town fans – who rather outnumbered the home side’s support in a sparse, season’s-low crowd of 55 – was the weather. With the expectation of weeks and months to come when we have to don three layers of clothing, the thermal brookies and a cap and a scarf, every afternoon that enables us to watch the footy in what the previous generation described as “shirt sleeves” must be recorded and savoured. As we drove along Upper Sunbury Road, past Kempton Park Racecourse, the temperature gauge in the car read “25ºC”, and we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon beneath blue skies and fluffy, cotton wool clouds.
A disappointment for many of us was that Jimmy Bottle, the highly-regarded left-sided player from the Reserves squad who announced himself with a goal with his first touch for the first team, against Tooting & Mitcham United, last Saturday, was unavailable, due to injury. There was, however, a welcome return for Charlie Glyde, on the left of midfield, with his suspension for a recent red card now served. This was to be Charlie’s last game of his current spell on loan from Folkestone Invicta, but the indications are that his stay is to be extended by another month. He lined up in a three-man midfield, alongside Danny Lye and Kevin Lott, in what was quite a fluid 4-3-3 formation. Walid Matata and Rob Denness were the two main strikers, with Joby Thorogood sometimes supporting them either wide-left or wide-right, and sometimes being the furthest man forward, in the middle. The back four consisted of the familiar figures of Tony Browne, Rob Gillman and Nicky Humphrey, but there was a new face (for me) at left-back – Nathan Simpson, who has signed for us from Ryman Premier club Harrow Borough. Sam Moore was in goal, confirming that he has now deposed Jake Whincup as Ashford’s No.1 No.1.
On the bench there was high-class central defensive cover in the form of Graham Porter, alongside Steve Sodje, Barry Gardner, Saturday’s Man of the Match Aron Freeman, and Jake. Joe Hitchings made the trip and took part in the half-time kick-about with the subs, but, in spite of reportedly being highly regarded by Clive, didn’t make the final 16.
There were a few players currently on the sidelines in attendance. It was disappointing to see Adrianho peg-legging around the ground on crutches. He recently had an operation to remove the screws from his leg, which will prevent Ashford Town’s only Brazilian from training for at least another six weeks. It was a similar story for Daniel Brathwaite (knee ligaments), who was there today with his little lad – Dan reckons that he’s probably about six weeks away from a return. Nick Barnes is also currently on the sick list, but it was good to see him at the ground, providing moral support.
Ashford, playing in their home kit of green shirts, white shorts and green sockies – as their all-yellow away kit might have clashed with Casuals’ tangerine shirts, black shorts and black sockies – did start off with some intent, with Rob Denness bullocking his way through the home defence in the opening seconds. He flicked the ball towards goal with the outside of his right foot, but this effort was beaten away by Paul Smith; Kevin Lott headed the rebound towards goal, but Smith was able to make a comfortable catch.
The visitors maintained the pressure for the first three minutes of the game, but this was generally a game in which both sides created very little. In fact, the opening 15 minutes were more notable for the fouls committed than for any constructive football. In the fifth minute, Casuals’ skipper Scott Harris went down in howls of agony after being caught late by Danny Lye, (and got very little sympathy from the Ashford players nearby). In spite of lengthy treatment to his lower right shin, Harris was able to get up and continue for the remainder of the 90 minutes. Three minutes later, Rob Denness was guilty of a late tackle, on the half-way line, which resulted in uproars of protests from the Walton Casuals players, and a stern talking-to from Referee Adrian Gillett. Home centre-forward Nana Badu then evened the score a little, with a late tackle on Nicky Humphrey.
Whilst Walton had their fair share of possession in the opening minutes, the only glimmer of a threat came in the form of Badu’s weak and speculative shot, which trickled to Sam Moore, in the 14th minute. Ashford did, however, look very shaky in central defence, with most uncertainty being caused by balls lobbed over the top, with Messrs Gillman and Humphrey turned to face their own goal. Whilst Sam Moore looked steady enough to me today, the central defenders don’t seem to have much confidence in him, with backpasses being used only as an absolute last resort. There were various alarms of this sort at the back this afternoon, so it appears that changing the goalie has not yet solved this defensive vulnerability. The first sign of trouble came in the 15th minute, when Rob Gillman let a long ball go over his left shoulder, presumably for Nicky Humphrey to deal with. Nicky tried to shepherd the ball back to the ‘keeper, but Jefferson Gowland nipped in between them, and nearly scored, but he slid his effort across the face of goal.
In the 19th minute, the home side really should have taken the lead, and this was again the result of some dithering between Nicky Humphrey and the ‘keeper. Humphrey was clearly hoping to shield the ball back to Sam, and this time it was Nana Badu who intervened, and rounded the goalie. It looked like he had the simple task of popping the ball into the net, but he failed to do so, from an acute angle, near the post.
An illustration of the sheer lack of quality from the two sides today was the fact that both first-half goals resulted from defensive howlers. The first, in the 21st minute, came from a woeful, long backpass from a Casuals defender, which went straight to Walid Matata. Walid, wearing the brightest yellow boots that I have ever seen, had as much time as he wanted to carry the ball up to the goalkeeper and dribble it around him. His shot, from an angle, was headed off the line. Rob Denness, twelve yards out, waited for the ball to come down, before showing good technique to hit his volley on target. The attempt was again stopped on the line, but by the defender’s arm, via his thigh. Referee Gillett had no hesitation in awarding a penalty, but took the view that the hand-ball had not been deliberate, so didn’t produce a card of any colour. Walid Matata himself stepped up to take the penalty, pausing in his run-up before smacking the ball into the top-left corner, to the ‘keeper’s right, to put Ashford 0-1 up.
Five minutes later, the visitors almost went 0-2 up, after Paul Smith had made a mess of taking a high, but fairly routine, cross – and not for the only time this afternoon. Walid Matata jumped a little early to challenge, and this appeared to contribute to Smith dropping his knitting; Walid reacted quickly, and thumped the loose ball into the net – but the linesman was flagging; not for a foul on the goalie, but for off-side.
Ashford’s defeats in their previous two league games had come after we had taken the lead, and the 0-1 lead this afternoon lasted for only nine minutes. It was again Nicky Humphrey who failed to clear the ball, in his own area, and this time it was Anthony Gale who capitalised, with the defender on the line only able to help Gale’s firm shot into the roof of the net. In spite of Casuals’ poor start to the season, this goal continued their record of having scored in every game so far.
Walton didn’t manage their first corner until the 36th minute – and this resulted from Danny Lye intercepting a James Crowe cross. The home side also collected their first booking, after John Ambridge was penalised for a foul on Sam Moore, after Moore had flicked the resulting corner away. Ambridge wondered, aloud, whether the ref was actually watching the effing match – Mr Gillett showed that he was both watching and listening, and showed the Walton No.3 a yellow card.
It wasn’t until the 45th minute that Ashford actually got the ball down on the deck and put together a recognisable passing movement – up to this point, we had seen little more than balls lobbed forward, misplaced passes and head tennis. But this was a good move, with the classy Charlie Glyde at the centre of it, which flowed to the left of the field, and then all the way across to the right. And, guess what ? It earned the boys their first corner of the match. This gave Nathan Simpson, who looked a very capable footballer, the first opportunity to send in an in-swinging, left-footed cross, from the right. Nathan’s delivery was excellent, curving with a low, fast trajectory to Joby Thorogood, at the far post. Joby did everything that was required of him, heading the ball down, from about four yards out, and reacted with disbelief after Paul Smith had made a miraculous save from point-blank range.
So 1-1 it was at half time, and the most depressing thing about the first 45 minutes was that it was as if we’d moved through a time-warp, and we were once again witnessing a relegation scrap between two poor sides – I thought we’d left those days behind. (I think I’ve already mentioned déjà vu; have I ?).
There were no Ashford changes in personnel at half time, but there was a subtle change in formation, with Denness The Menace tending to drop back into a right-midfield position, so that the set-up had more of a 4-4-2 look about it.
In the 48th minute, Nathan Simpson again showed some quality, when fancy footwork took him past his man, near the left touchline. He fed the ball forward to the silver-booted Joby Thorogood, but Joby’s right-footed cross from near the corner flag curled just beyond the far post. There was another delay, two minutes later, when Rob Gillman had to have some treatment from Mo Alvi, after Nana Badu had caught him late, after Rob had effected a clearance. The next goal scoring opportunity, however, fell to the home side, and this resulted from a free-kick rather harshly awarded against Tony Browne, in the 53rd minute. Ashford faced the danger with a four-man wall, but Anthony Gale’s left-footed attempt, from about 25 yards, was always sailing well over the bar.
Whilst very few chances were carved out at either end during the second half, it was the home side that did the carving. On about the hour mark, Nana Badu gave himself a clear sight of the Ashford goal, after a neat one-two – but his decent, low shot was well saved by Sam Moore, diving full-length to his right. In the 63rd minute, Craig Lewington tested Sam with a low, long-range shot, but this was more comfortably saved. Unfortunately, our 19 year-old goalie had no answer in the 65th minute, when Walton Casuals deservedly wrapped up the points, with the best move of the match. After sweeping the ball out to the right wing, a crisp, square pass put Nana Badu in on goal, and he slammed a low, first-time shot past Sam Moore. In spite of having a Christian name which is a French slang word for “tart” or “broad”, this didn’t prevent Badu from scoring his third goal of the season.
Clive Walker’s reaction was to immediately substitute Joby Thorogood with Barry Gardner, with Barry taking up a position wide on the right. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Luke Dowling replaced David Ocquaye with Carlton Murray-Price.
It’s fair to say that Ashford showed plenty of energy and urgency in search of an equaliser – but it must also be said that their efforts lacked any quality, and we rarely threatened. The Walton Casuals defence didn’t have to play like heroes, but they were quite comfortable in patting away any attacks that were launched. There were, however, one or two anxious moments for Paul Smith, in the Walton goal. In the 67th minute, he dropped a deep cross from Kevin Lott, under a challenge from Walid Matata. The ball was scrambled behind for a corner, but no foul was given.
With Steve Sodje having replaced the hard-working, but ineffective, Rob Denness, in the 71st minute, our boys did manage to put sustained pressure on the tangerine defence during the final 15 minutes, winning a number of corners and free-kicks, but without really troubling the ‘keeper. All crosses into the Walton box appeared either to be comfortably headed clear, or to sail through the ruck of players with nobody getting a touch.
Ashford’s best, and final, chance came in the 91st minute, when Danny Lye rather “bought” a free-kick when he flopped to the ground, just outside what the French call “the big rectangle”. This was just to the right of centre, and Nathan Simpson stood over the ball, faced with a two-man defensive wall. With a crowded penalty area beyond, Nathan could have either floated in a cross, or gone for goal; in the event, he backed his ability and went for glory, but his curling shot went just over the bar. Paul Smith did no more than wave good-bye to the ball on its way over, but the ref somehow imagined that Smith had got a touch, and awarded Ashford an unlikely corner. There was disbelief and uproar among the Casuals’ players – this is a team, remember, that hadn’t won a match of any sort this season – but Mr Gillett blew up for full time just as the resulting cross came over.
Because of results elsewhere, we remain in 14th place in the table after this defeat, but the haul of seven points from seven games gives us a points per game ratio that will leave us there or thereabouts for relegation, if it is maintained for the rest of the season. I’m the first to admit that I don’t know much about football when it comes to the tactics and the strategy of the game, but even I can see that there’s plenty of work to do for those that do know. What is obvious from today’s performance, and one or two others like it recently, is that things certainly aren’t working, on the pitch, as things stand. Walton Casuals didn’t suddenly morph into a good side on Saturday morning, but they were fairly comfortable winners this afternoon.
It appears that this is developing into a “surely-surely season”: surely, SURELY it’s going to get better than this !
But the performance was not without some positives. Danny Lye had a solid game, winning most things in the air (which is where the ball was for most of the time) in the middle of the park, and he’d probably be my choice as captain (if it were any of my business), given the current form of the central defenders. Charlie Glyde always looked composed on the ball, but was never able to put a decisive mark on the game, and Kevin Lott had a good, industrious game, but made rather too many mistakes. Both full-backs also did OK – Tony Browne tried hard to drive the team forward, on the right, during the second half, and Nathan Simpson looks like he has plenty of ability.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Danny Lye
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Today’s game – the Club’s first away match for three weeks and a day, (which has seemed like a second close season) – was against Walton Casuals, at Franklyn Road Sports Ground, on the banks of the Thames; a little ground situated between the river and the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir, in West Molesey. Although it’s still very early in the season, this was still a very important match for Clive Walker and the boys. So far, in spite of having won both away league games to date, Ashford Town have barely looked the promotion contenders that many people have been expecting them to be. This has mostly been due to a very unconvincing track record at home, with only one point having been gained from a maximum of twelve.
To convey the sense of déjà vu currently felt by many of the Ashford faithful, here’s an extract from my match report from last year’s corresponding fixture, which was played at a similar stage of the season: “In spite of the lack of encouragement from recent performances, today’s opposition, Walton Casuals, appeared to offer something of an opportunity, ……”. We managed a 1-1 draw on that occasion, having lost 1-0 here the previous season ! Although I hesitate to be disrespectful towards today’s hosts, I suppose one sign of the Club having made some tangible progress under the ownership of Tony Betteridge and Don Crosbie would be the ability to beat sides like Walton Casuals, who have tended to struggle in the lower third of this division. Having been in the bottom two or three for the majority of last season – along with us, it must be said – The Casuals have so far shown every sign of finding things tough this time around. At the start of today’s play, they were 20th in the table, with four defeats and two draws, from six games, and having bombed out of the FA Cup 1-3 at home to Sevenoaks. (Okay, I haven’t forgotten that we were also knocked out of The Cup by a two-goal margin by a Kent League side). Nevertheless, in spite of all the uncomfortable similarities between them and us, I make no apologies for once again describing this as a “surely-surely game”: surely, SURELY we can beat this lot !
Well, as it turned out, we couldn’t beat “this lot”, and those similarities between Walton Casuals and Ashford Town were compounded by a poor game in which both teams had the look of relegation strugglers about them. Ashford never looked remotely like winning this from the moment that a Nicky Humphrey cock-up gifted The Casuals an equaliser, in the 30th minute, and our hosts thoroughly deserved the three points.
The only mitigating factor on a pretty miserable afternoon for Ashford Town fans – who rather outnumbered the home side’s support in a sparse, season’s-low crowd of 55 – was the weather. With the expectation of weeks and months to come when we have to don three layers of clothing, the thermal brookies and a cap and a scarf, every afternoon that enables us to watch the footy in what the previous generation described as “shirt sleeves” must be recorded and savoured. As we drove along Upper Sunbury Road, past Kempton Park Racecourse, the temperature gauge in the car read “25ºC”, and we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon beneath blue skies and fluffy, cotton wool clouds.
A disappointment for many of us was that Jimmy Bottle, the highly-regarded left-sided player from the Reserves squad who announced himself with a goal with his first touch for the first team, against Tooting & Mitcham United, last Saturday, was unavailable, due to injury. There was, however, a welcome return for Charlie Glyde, on the left of midfield, with his suspension for a recent red card now served. This was to be Charlie’s last game of his current spell on loan from Folkestone Invicta, but the indications are that his stay is to be extended by another month. He lined up in a three-man midfield, alongside Danny Lye and Kevin Lott, in what was quite a fluid 4-3-3 formation. Walid Matata and Rob Denness were the two main strikers, with Joby Thorogood sometimes supporting them either wide-left or wide-right, and sometimes being the furthest man forward, in the middle. The back four consisted of the familiar figures of Tony Browne, Rob Gillman and Nicky Humphrey, but there was a new face (for me) at left-back – Nathan Simpson, who has signed for us from Ryman Premier club Harrow Borough. Sam Moore was in goal, confirming that he has now deposed Jake Whincup as Ashford’s No.1 No.1.
On the bench there was high-class central defensive cover in the form of Graham Porter, alongside Steve Sodje, Barry Gardner, Saturday’s Man of the Match Aron Freeman, and Jake. Joe Hitchings made the trip and took part in the half-time kick-about with the subs, but, in spite of reportedly being highly regarded by Clive, didn’t make the final 16.
There were a few players currently on the sidelines in attendance. It was disappointing to see Adrianho peg-legging around the ground on crutches. He recently had an operation to remove the screws from his leg, which will prevent Ashford Town’s only Brazilian from training for at least another six weeks. It was a similar story for Daniel Brathwaite (knee ligaments), who was there today with his little lad – Dan reckons that he’s probably about six weeks away from a return. Nick Barnes is also currently on the sick list, but it was good to see him at the ground, providing moral support.
Ashford, playing in their home kit of green shirts, white shorts and green sockies – as their all-yellow away kit might have clashed with Casuals’ tangerine shirts, black shorts and black sockies – did start off with some intent, with Rob Denness bullocking his way through the home defence in the opening seconds. He flicked the ball towards goal with the outside of his right foot, but this effort was beaten away by Paul Smith; Kevin Lott headed the rebound towards goal, but Smith was able to make a comfortable catch.
The visitors maintained the pressure for the first three minutes of the game, but this was generally a game in which both sides created very little. In fact, the opening 15 minutes were more notable for the fouls committed than for any constructive football. In the fifth minute, Casuals’ skipper Scott Harris went down in howls of agony after being caught late by Danny Lye, (and got very little sympathy from the Ashford players nearby). In spite of lengthy treatment to his lower right shin, Harris was able to get up and continue for the remainder of the 90 minutes. Three minutes later, Rob Denness was guilty of a late tackle, on the half-way line, which resulted in uproars of protests from the Walton Casuals players, and a stern talking-to from Referee Adrian Gillett. Home centre-forward Nana Badu then evened the score a little, with a late tackle on Nicky Humphrey.
Whilst Walton had their fair share of possession in the opening minutes, the only glimmer of a threat came in the form of Badu’s weak and speculative shot, which trickled to Sam Moore, in the 14th minute. Ashford did, however, look very shaky in central defence, with most uncertainty being caused by balls lobbed over the top, with Messrs Gillman and Humphrey turned to face their own goal. Whilst Sam Moore looked steady enough to me today, the central defenders don’t seem to have much confidence in him, with backpasses being used only as an absolute last resort. There were various alarms of this sort at the back this afternoon, so it appears that changing the goalie has not yet solved this defensive vulnerability. The first sign of trouble came in the 15th minute, when Rob Gillman let a long ball go over his left shoulder, presumably for Nicky Humphrey to deal with. Nicky tried to shepherd the ball back to the ‘keeper, but Jefferson Gowland nipped in between them, and nearly scored, but he slid his effort across the face of goal.
In the 19th minute, the home side really should have taken the lead, and this was again the result of some dithering between Nicky Humphrey and the ‘keeper. Humphrey was clearly hoping to shield the ball back to Sam, and this time it was Nana Badu who intervened, and rounded the goalie. It looked like he had the simple task of popping the ball into the net, but he failed to do so, from an acute angle, near the post.
An illustration of the sheer lack of quality from the two sides today was the fact that both first-half goals resulted from defensive howlers. The first, in the 21st minute, came from a woeful, long backpass from a Casuals defender, which went straight to Walid Matata. Walid, wearing the brightest yellow boots that I have ever seen, had as much time as he wanted to carry the ball up to the goalkeeper and dribble it around him. His shot, from an angle, was headed off the line. Rob Denness, twelve yards out, waited for the ball to come down, before showing good technique to hit his volley on target. The attempt was again stopped on the line, but by the defender’s arm, via his thigh. Referee Gillett had no hesitation in awarding a penalty, but took the view that the hand-ball had not been deliberate, so didn’t produce a card of any colour. Walid Matata himself stepped up to take the penalty, pausing in his run-up before smacking the ball into the top-left corner, to the ‘keeper’s right, to put Ashford 0-1 up.
Five minutes later, the visitors almost went 0-2 up, after Paul Smith had made a mess of taking a high, but fairly routine, cross – and not for the only time this afternoon. Walid Matata jumped a little early to challenge, and this appeared to contribute to Smith dropping his knitting; Walid reacted quickly, and thumped the loose ball into the net – but the linesman was flagging; not for a foul on the goalie, but for off-side.
Ashford’s defeats in their previous two league games had come after we had taken the lead, and the 0-1 lead this afternoon lasted for only nine minutes. It was again Nicky Humphrey who failed to clear the ball, in his own area, and this time it was Anthony Gale who capitalised, with the defender on the line only able to help Gale’s firm shot into the roof of the net. In spite of Casuals’ poor start to the season, this goal continued their record of having scored in every game so far.
Walton didn’t manage their first corner until the 36th minute – and this resulted from Danny Lye intercepting a James Crowe cross. The home side also collected their first booking, after John Ambridge was penalised for a foul on Sam Moore, after Moore had flicked the resulting corner away. Ambridge wondered, aloud, whether the ref was actually watching the effing match – Mr Gillett showed that he was both watching and listening, and showed the Walton No.3 a yellow card.
It wasn’t until the 45th minute that Ashford actually got the ball down on the deck and put together a recognisable passing movement – up to this point, we had seen little more than balls lobbed forward, misplaced passes and head tennis. But this was a good move, with the classy Charlie Glyde at the centre of it, which flowed to the left of the field, and then all the way across to the right. And, guess what ? It earned the boys their first corner of the match. This gave Nathan Simpson, who looked a very capable footballer, the first opportunity to send in an in-swinging, left-footed cross, from the right. Nathan’s delivery was excellent, curving with a low, fast trajectory to Joby Thorogood, at the far post. Joby did everything that was required of him, heading the ball down, from about four yards out, and reacted with disbelief after Paul Smith had made a miraculous save from point-blank range.
So 1-1 it was at half time, and the most depressing thing about the first 45 minutes was that it was as if we’d moved through a time-warp, and we were once again witnessing a relegation scrap between two poor sides – I thought we’d left those days behind. (I think I’ve already mentioned déjà vu; have I ?).
There were no Ashford changes in personnel at half time, but there was a subtle change in formation, with Denness The Menace tending to drop back into a right-midfield position, so that the set-up had more of a 4-4-2 look about it.
In the 48th minute, Nathan Simpson again showed some quality, when fancy footwork took him past his man, near the left touchline. He fed the ball forward to the silver-booted Joby Thorogood, but Joby’s right-footed cross from near the corner flag curled just beyond the far post. There was another delay, two minutes later, when Rob Gillman had to have some treatment from Mo Alvi, after Nana Badu had caught him late, after Rob had effected a clearance. The next goal scoring opportunity, however, fell to the home side, and this resulted from a free-kick rather harshly awarded against Tony Browne, in the 53rd minute. Ashford faced the danger with a four-man wall, but Anthony Gale’s left-footed attempt, from about 25 yards, was always sailing well over the bar.
Whilst very few chances were carved out at either end during the second half, it was the home side that did the carving. On about the hour mark, Nana Badu gave himself a clear sight of the Ashford goal, after a neat one-two – but his decent, low shot was well saved by Sam Moore, diving full-length to his right. In the 63rd minute, Craig Lewington tested Sam with a low, long-range shot, but this was more comfortably saved. Unfortunately, our 19 year-old goalie had no answer in the 65th minute, when Walton Casuals deservedly wrapped up the points, with the best move of the match. After sweeping the ball out to the right wing, a crisp, square pass put Nana Badu in on goal, and he slammed a low, first-time shot past Sam Moore. In spite of having a Christian name which is a French slang word for “tart” or “broad”, this didn’t prevent Badu from scoring his third goal of the season.
Clive Walker’s reaction was to immediately substitute Joby Thorogood with Barry Gardner, with Barry taking up a position wide on the right. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Luke Dowling replaced David Ocquaye with Carlton Murray-Price.
It’s fair to say that Ashford showed plenty of energy and urgency in search of an equaliser – but it must also be said that their efforts lacked any quality, and we rarely threatened. The Walton Casuals defence didn’t have to play like heroes, but they were quite comfortable in patting away any attacks that were launched. There were, however, one or two anxious moments for Paul Smith, in the Walton goal. In the 67th minute, he dropped a deep cross from Kevin Lott, under a challenge from Walid Matata. The ball was scrambled behind for a corner, but no foul was given.
With Steve Sodje having replaced the hard-working, but ineffective, Rob Denness, in the 71st minute, our boys did manage to put sustained pressure on the tangerine defence during the final 15 minutes, winning a number of corners and free-kicks, but without really troubling the ‘keeper. All crosses into the Walton box appeared either to be comfortably headed clear, or to sail through the ruck of players with nobody getting a touch.
Ashford’s best, and final, chance came in the 91st minute, when Danny Lye rather “bought” a free-kick when he flopped to the ground, just outside what the French call “the big rectangle”. This was just to the right of centre, and Nathan Simpson stood over the ball, faced with a two-man defensive wall. With a crowded penalty area beyond, Nathan could have either floated in a cross, or gone for goal; in the event, he backed his ability and went for glory, but his curling shot went just over the bar. Paul Smith did no more than wave good-bye to the ball on its way over, but the ref somehow imagined that Smith had got a touch, and awarded Ashford an unlikely corner. There was disbelief and uproar among the Casuals’ players – this is a team, remember, that hadn’t won a match of any sort this season – but Mr Gillett blew up for full time just as the resulting cross came over.
Because of results elsewhere, we remain in 14th place in the table after this defeat, but the haul of seven points from seven games gives us a points per game ratio that will leave us there or thereabouts for relegation, if it is maintained for the rest of the season. I’m the first to admit that I don’t know much about football when it comes to the tactics and the strategy of the game, but even I can see that there’s plenty of work to do for those that do know. What is obvious from today’s performance, and one or two others like it recently, is that things certainly aren’t working, on the pitch, as things stand. Walton Casuals didn’t suddenly morph into a good side on Saturday morning, but they were fairly comfortable winners this afternoon.
It appears that this is developing into a “surely-surely season”: surely, SURELY it’s going to get better than this !
But the performance was not without some positives. Danny Lye had a solid game, winning most things in the air (which is where the ball was for most of the time) in the middle of the park, and he’d probably be my choice as captain (if it were any of my business), given the current form of the central defenders. Charlie Glyde always looked composed on the ball, but was never able to put a decisive mark on the game, and Kevin Lott had a good, industrious game, but made rather too many mistakes. Both full-backs also did OK – Tony Browne tried hard to drive the team forward, on the right, during the second half, and Nathan Simpson looks like he has plenty of ability.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Danny Lye
Sunday 2 September 2007
Erith & Belvedere v Ashford Town. FA Cup Preliminary Round. 31st of August 2007.
Erith & Belvedere 2 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Strangely, having previously written 89 match reports on Ashford Town’s games, this is my first one on an FA Cup tie. I’ve reported on league matches, matches in the FA Trophy, Kent Senior Cup and various League Cups, and also the odd friendly, but never on the world’s greatest cup competition. Like many fans with some mileage under their belt, I have pleasant memories of past FA Cup glories, from the First Round match against Walsall in the mid-1970s, when those of us with tickets for the abandoned game on the Saturday were allowed to slip out of school for the rearranged match on the following Tuesday afternoon, to the relatively short trip (for me) to Vicarage Road, when Neil Cugley’s boys held Watford to 0-0 at half time, before going down 5-0. (I missed the Fulham games).
Sadly, there has been virtually nothing to cheer about in the FA Cup since then. In recent cash-strapped years, it’s been a case of missing out on a potential money-spinning cup run that’s been the frustration. Tonight, with the Club’s finances on a far more secure footing, the main object of the exercise was to provide impetus to the relaunching of Ashford Town FC as an ambitious club that’s going places – as we’ve seen in the past, there’s nothing like a cup run for generating interest locally. (It would certainly have been nice to have survived in the competition beyond August - for once).
So, on the last day of August, we set off to the London Borough of Bexley for this Friday evening kick-off. The Deres ground-share with Welling United, of the Conference South, as they have done since 1999; the tie was brought forward to the Friday because The Wings have a league game at home to Bath City the following day. The match was an FA Cup Preliminary Round tie, the second stage of the competition, with the Extra Preliminary Round having been played a fortnight ago. Prize money for the victors was £1,000, but the real carrot was a lucrative local derby away at Maidstone United in the next round.
For the neutral, this was always going to be one of the more interesting ties of the round – the classic cup situation of a team being at home to opposition from one league above. Since being down in the Kent League, E&B have barely threatened to regain their Step 4 status, but there are signs that this season they might mount their most serious challenge yet; they are currently top of the Kent League, (but this is largely due to having played more games than all of their rivals). Added edge in tonight’s game was provided by the fact that Erith & Belvedere are former Southern league rivals of ours, before their relegation to the Kent League at the end of the 2003-4 season, (during which they actually beat us, here at Park View Road, 3-1 in the Doc Martens Cup). This was the second meeting between the two teams in the FA Cup, with The Deres having defeated us 0-1 (at The Homelands, presumably), in the 2nd Qualifying Round, in 1989.
In spite of playing lower-league opposition, there was the slight paradox of visiting a ground that is a cut above what we are used to in Ryman League South. We could tell that we were in Blue Square Conference land by the fact that there was a sizeable amount of seated accommodation on each side of the pitch. The stand with pinkish seats behind the dug-outs, extending for almost the length of the pitch, would have been here in the days when the ground was home to Bexley United, whilst the larger stand on the opposite side, with red and blue seats arranged in a Barçalona stripes pattern, is obviously much newer. In spite of the impressive capacity of the ground, the whole thing is squeezed tightly into a fairly restricted space. One end of the pitch is only yards from Park View Road, with a specially shallow goal, four or five steps of terracing and a pavement between the goal line and the A207; at the other end, there is an even narrower aisle of terracing, backed by tall trees. Of course, the main implication for there being so little space is that there is no parking available whatsoever, even for players and officials, so we had to dump the car in a side-street.
The first player we saw tonight was Walid Matata, crossing Park View Road and carrying his kit bag from wherever he’d had to abandon his own car. This was an encouraging sight, as it suggested that he’d be able to take some part in the game. The second player we saw was Anthony Allman, heading from the dressing-room towards the exit and carrying his kit bag. This was an ominous sight, especially as the normally genial and talkative Anthony responded to my greeting with a cursory grunt, and stomped out of the ground, disappearing into the Bexley night. Anthony was later not named in either the starting line-up or as one of the five substitutes – draw your own conclusions.
Anthony’s omission apart, there were no real surprises in Clive Walker’s team. Jake Whincup was again in goal, but this time with Sam Moore on the bench as his goal-keeping understudy. In front of Jake, Ashford again lined up in 4-4-2 formation, with a back four of Tony Browne, Rob Gillman, Nicky Humphrey and Aron Freeman. The midfield, from left to right, consisted of Nick Barnes, Lee Spiller, Danny Lye and Barry Gardner, with Steve Sodje and Rob Denness up front. Kevin Lott was the only midfield option on the bench, along with strikers Walid Matata and Joby Thorogood, and central defender Graham Porter, returning from holiday. Joe Hitchings was apparently still on his holigogs, but both Adrianho and Nick Fenwick were at the ground tonight – it was also good to see Nick’s brother, George, (our top scorer last season, before his move to Cray Wanderers), in the crowd. Loanee Charlie Glyde was also in attendance, but was unavailable to play, given that Folkestone Invicta wouldn’t want him to be cup-tied.
Whist the sun was just setting on a cloudy, but mild, evening when we arrived, by 7.45pm the floodlights were on, and things were just on the chilly side in the breeze. Erith & Belvedere kicked off, with the A207 at their back, and playing in blue & white quartered shirts, blue shorts and blue sockies – but it was the visitors, in all yellow, who made the running and pressed forward for virtually all of the game. The first chance for Ashford came in the third minute, when a Barry Gardner throw, on the right, found Tony Browne. Browne’s cross was met with a diving header by Steve Sodje, which needed a good save from Grant Wallis. The resulting corner, on the right, was taken, left footed, by Aron Freeman, but the whistle-happy Referee Venamore spotted a foul.
Aron Freeman was one of two players – the other being Nick Barnes – that I hadn’t seen before, and both seemed to me to be good players. Aron is notable for being even littler than Joby Thorogood – (and I gather that Joby is delighted with this, and gives Aron a hell of a time, making him carry his kit and things). In spite of his lack of height, he has what it takes to be a left-back, as he has pace and is a good tackler. [ One of my all-time cricketing heroes is another Freeman – Alfred Percy, commonly known as “Tich” - a demon leg spinner for Kent, who was probably slightly shorter than both Aron and Joby. ]
From three little ‘uns to a big ‘un: it was Steve Sodje who had another opportunity to score, in the eighth minute. He used his pace to good effect, to latch onto a long clearance from Skipper Lee Spiller. He led the chasing Erith defence as far as the edge of the penalty area, but then, as he had done in last Saturday’s game, at Whyteleafe, he checked, transferring the ball onto his right foot – by which time the home defences had surrounded him, and the chance was gone.
As early as the twelfth minute, there was an incident that certainly did a lot to set the course of the game for the remainder of the evening, as The Deres had a man sent off. This all appeared to be very unnecessary, as play had been halted and most eyes in the crowd were elsewhere – but Mr Venamore certainly saw Mark Nougher throw a punch at Tony Browne, and had no hesitation in showing him a red card, and also showed a yellow one to Browne. It is often said in football that it can be harder to score against ten men than eleven, as their energies become concentrated on defence. There was certainly no choice for the home side but to dig in, and Manager Chris Cosgrove naturally reverted to a 4-4-1 formation, with Lee Benavente on his own up front. To their credit, Erith & Belvedere did the job superbly for the remaining 78 minutes of the game. Whilst Ashford continued to dominate possession, the home side defended well, and were never seriously stretched in keeping their clean sheet.
On the quarter-hour mark, Steve Sodje turned provider when his flicked header nearly put Barry Gardner through on goal, but Matt Bedford was close enough to be able to deal with the situation, and put in the saving tackle. In the 19th minute, a rare Erith attack resulted in a cross from the right from Adrian Deane, which caused Lee Spiller to head the ball behind for a corner, but the play in the first half was mostly focused at the Park View Road End. In the 22nd minute, the hard-working Rob Denness went careering through the centre of the park, before his run was brought to an end by a foul, some 25 yards from goal. Nick Barnes, Lee Spiller and Barry Gardner stood over the ball, and it was Nick Barnes who tried his luck, chipping the ball over the blue & white defensive wall, but also well over the bar and into the catch fencing behind the goal. Three minutes later, Barnes attempted to put Steve Sodje in on goal, with a through-ball, but Sodj was caught off-side.
The second yellow card for an Ashford player was waved in the 25th minute. Rob Denness attempted to latch onto a careless back-pass from an Erith & Belvedere defender, but goalkeeper Wallis got there just before him, and was caught by Rob as he made the emergency clearance. It appeared to be simply a miss-timed attempt to challenge for the ball, but Lee Venamore immediately produced a card – from the ref’s gesticulations, it was clear that he was explaining to Rob that he was being booked for persistent infringements, and he had spoken to him previously. Shortly after this, the ex-Chatham striker had a sight of goal from about 16yards, but, although his shot was on target, Wallis parried the ball away with two hands.
Ashford certainly had a considerable lead in the corner count in the first half, and had plenty of opportunities from free-kicks, but the service from dead-ball situations was never of sufficient quality to produce a goal. Probably Ashford’s best chance of the match came from open play, in the 31st minute; Aron Freeman sent in an inviting cross from the left touchline, and it was met by an unmarked Steve Sodje in the middle of the penalty area – but Sodje glanced the ball wide. If this had been snooker or cricket, Sodj would have been criticised for his shot selection, (i.e. going for a glancing header when burying the ball in the back of the net might have been more effective).
Two minutes later, Danny Lye was fouled near the touchline, about ten yards from the left corner flag. Lee Spiller took the free-kick, chipping the ball in to Lye, on the corner of the six-yard box. Danny turned and shot, but Grant Wallis was there to save at his near post. Then, in the 35th minute, Rob Denness attempted a left-foot shot from long range, but this was a fairly tame effort which went straight to the goalkeeper.
So it had been all Ashford, in terms of possession and chances, up to this point, but the home side’s defence refused to be breached. Erith had little more than one kick in the first half – but what a kick that was, and it was enough to send them in at half time 1-0 up. Danny Lye committed a foul, in the 36th minute, about five yards outside the penalty area, in a central position. Jake Whincup lined up a four-man wall, and prepared to defend the left half of his goal – but Adrian Deane hit an absolute screamer into the top-left corner, giving Jake no chance, in spite of a full-length dive. The ball went pretty much as straight as an arrow, with maybe a hint of late reverse swing, to elude the ‘keeper’s finger tips.
Shortly after the restart, Steve Sodje seemed to be doing no more than shield the ball, over by the far touchline, when he was challenged by ex-Ashford right-sided player Drew Watkins. Drew rather bounced off Sodj, as most of us would, and this would have been quite a comical sight if Watkins hadn’t gone down in obvious pain. A worse sight was seeing Drew being stretchered off, moments later, but he seemed to be back to his cocky self after the match, hobbling around the bar. As a rather splendid red bus passed by, heading East along Park View Road, Drew was replaced by Marlon Button. (Sorry, I came over all Henry Blowers there).
With 45 minutes up on the watch, after another Ashford free-kick in a promising position had come to nothing - this time because the ref had seen an infringement as the cross came over - goalkeeper Wallis picked up a rather needless yellow card, for delaying restarting the game. This was the familiar pantomime. The player takes an age to place the ball on the turf, which he knows is in the wrong place. The ref stops the game to tell him to place the ball somewhere else. He again selects another wrong location. The referee gives several more blasts on his whistle, and waves his arms about to try to indicate where the kick should be taken from. The crowd boos and hisses the villain, as he pretends not to understand the referee’s instructions. Eventually, Mr Venamore loses patience, but has to run half the length of the field in order to complete the yellow card formalities – and all this took long enough to enable the home side to get to the interval with their one-goal lead intact.
Ashford made a fast and urgent start to the second half, and the first real chance fell to Rob Denness, in the 47th minute. A deep cross from wide on the right seemed to bounce off the back of an Erith defender, and the ball found Rob on the far corner of the six-yard box, but his shot was off target, and flashed across the face of goal. In the 51st minute, shortly after goal-scoring hero Adrian Deane had been booked for expressing a certain opinion to Lee Venamore, Rob Denness was in action again, putting Nick Barnes through in the inside-right channel – but a good saving tackle was made, at the expense of a corner, on the right. This was swung into the penalty area, and was allowed to go all the way to the far post, where Danny Lye made a valiant effort to head the ball into the net from close range – he failed in this attempt, in spite of ending up in the net himself.
Tony Browne had had a good first half, linking up well with the attack on the right side of the field, but he made a mess of things in the 56th minute, being caught in possession, in his own half. Fortunately for him, the cross from the resulting Erith & Belvedere break was well cut out by Rob Gillman. Clive Walker then made an early and decisive move, replacing Steve Sodje with Walid Matata – but, in spite of little being shown by The Deres as an attacking force, persisted with four men at the back, with Barry Gardner being pushed forward in what was now effectively a 4-3-3 formation.
Still the home defence held firm, with a succession of free-kicks and corners failing to make an impact. On the hour mark, Aron Freeman wasted a corner on the right, crossing the ball straight to the first defender. Two minutes later, a throw-in found Rob Denness at the near post, with his back to goal – his attempted turn & shot was blocked, and the ball went behind for another corner on the right. This time Freeman’s cross eluded the first line of defenders, and Rob Denness actually managed to get his head to the ball, arriving just in front of the goalkeeper – but the yellow shirts failed to manage a shot at goal during the ensuing scramble.
In the 66th minute, Walid Matata showed a trade-mark burst of speed to outpace the Erith defenders, when chasing a long clearance from the Ashford back line. He had enough time and space to be able to have a shot at goal, from an acute angle, from about twelve yards out, but Grant Wallis had got his angles worked out, and saved Walid’s left-footed effort well. Rob Denness picked up the loose ball, and sent in a cross to Lee Spiller, who was arriving in the centre, but Spills’ ambitious overhead kick was always going to go over the bar. Whilst the ball was out of play, Ashford made their second, and final, substitution, with Joby Thorogood replacing Barry Gardner on the right of a three-pronged attack.
With the exception of a tame, long-range shot from Lee Benavente, which rolled straight to Jake, in the 72nd minute, almost all of the action continued to be in the half defended by ten-man Erith & Belvedere, but still Ashford struggled to muster a shot on target. In the 74th minute, Joby could do no more than get underneath a deep cross from the right, from Tony Browne, and, in the 76th minute, Aron Freeman blasted an attempted long-range shot into orbit, after a Lee Spiller corner had been cleared. A little later, in the 80th minute, Nick Barnes rather wasted a free-kick, after a foul on Joby Thorogood, when he clumsily chipped the ball beyond the far post.
With nine minutes remaining, Chris Cosgrove reinforced his brave troops with a substitution, replacing the hard-working Lee Benavente with Mike McKenna, up front – but it was the defenders that were the real heroes for The Deres, as they continued to hold Ashford at bay, although the number of free-kicks did increase as full-time approached. In the 83rd minute, Rob Denness was tripped whilst charging down the right flank – the resulting free-kick from Lee Spiller was aimed at big Rob Gillman, who had gone forward for the set-piece, but Mr Venamore saw yet another infringement in the area. In the 87th minute, it was again a foul on Rob Denness that gave Ashford a free-kick, this time on the right. Jake Whincup took it upon himself to move into the Erith penalty area – before being waved back by his team-mates. When the kick was eventually taken, it was headed clear, but Venamore had once again spotted a foul.
By this time, the good number of Ashford supporters, who had helped to swell the crowd to one of 216 – roughly double what Erith & Belvedere usually get for home matches – began to drift away, (probably to start searching the back-streets of Welling for their cars). As it turned out, there were no more chances created by Ashford, but there was time for an injury-time clincher for the home side. With 91 minutes on the clock, and with the Ashford defence in disarray during the final desperate search for an equaliser, Nick Smith was put through on goal. Jake came out to meet the striker, who had already scored six goals in five games this season; the ‘keeper managed to block the initial strike, but the ball then cannoned off Smith’s shins and then trickled into the net, just inside the post. As goals go, it was a shade jammy, but it’s hard to begrudge The Deres their moment of celebration, having resisted all of Ashford’s attacks, with only ten men for the final 78 minutes. I’m sure this’ll go down in Erith & Belvedere folklore as a famous victory. Their reward, as previously noted, is a trip to Maidstone United, (who were simultaneously losing 0-1 to Staines Town in the league tonight), for a lucrative First Qualifying Round tie.
Apologies if my concentration on Ashford’s misery has not enabled me to give full credit to the home side for this triumph, but that’s how we fans often view the world. It’s not the “2” in the 2-0 scoreline that’s of concern; it’s the “0”. Although Erith & Belvedere defended well, we had as much possession as we wanted in this match, even before Nougher’s red card, and were unable to make the break-through. Although Clive Walker is clearly building the side from a sound defence, the inability to create chances is becoming a worry – and the tally of three goals from five games so far this season rather speaks for itself.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Nick Barnes
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Strangely, having previously written 89 match reports on Ashford Town’s games, this is my first one on an FA Cup tie. I’ve reported on league matches, matches in the FA Trophy, Kent Senior Cup and various League Cups, and also the odd friendly, but never on the world’s greatest cup competition. Like many fans with some mileage under their belt, I have pleasant memories of past FA Cup glories, from the First Round match against Walsall in the mid-1970s, when those of us with tickets for the abandoned game on the Saturday were allowed to slip out of school for the rearranged match on the following Tuesday afternoon, to the relatively short trip (for me) to Vicarage Road, when Neil Cugley’s boys held Watford to 0-0 at half time, before going down 5-0. (I missed the Fulham games).
Sadly, there has been virtually nothing to cheer about in the FA Cup since then. In recent cash-strapped years, it’s been a case of missing out on a potential money-spinning cup run that’s been the frustration. Tonight, with the Club’s finances on a far more secure footing, the main object of the exercise was to provide impetus to the relaunching of Ashford Town FC as an ambitious club that’s going places – as we’ve seen in the past, there’s nothing like a cup run for generating interest locally. (It would certainly have been nice to have survived in the competition beyond August - for once).
So, on the last day of August, we set off to the London Borough of Bexley for this Friday evening kick-off. The Deres ground-share with Welling United, of the Conference South, as they have done since 1999; the tie was brought forward to the Friday because The Wings have a league game at home to Bath City the following day. The match was an FA Cup Preliminary Round tie, the second stage of the competition, with the Extra Preliminary Round having been played a fortnight ago. Prize money for the victors was £1,000, but the real carrot was a lucrative local derby away at Maidstone United in the next round.
For the neutral, this was always going to be one of the more interesting ties of the round – the classic cup situation of a team being at home to opposition from one league above. Since being down in the Kent League, E&B have barely threatened to regain their Step 4 status, but there are signs that this season they might mount their most serious challenge yet; they are currently top of the Kent League, (but this is largely due to having played more games than all of their rivals). Added edge in tonight’s game was provided by the fact that Erith & Belvedere are former Southern league rivals of ours, before their relegation to the Kent League at the end of the 2003-4 season, (during which they actually beat us, here at Park View Road, 3-1 in the Doc Martens Cup). This was the second meeting between the two teams in the FA Cup, with The Deres having defeated us 0-1 (at The Homelands, presumably), in the 2nd Qualifying Round, in 1989.
In spite of playing lower-league opposition, there was the slight paradox of visiting a ground that is a cut above what we are used to in Ryman League South. We could tell that we were in Blue Square Conference land by the fact that there was a sizeable amount of seated accommodation on each side of the pitch. The stand with pinkish seats behind the dug-outs, extending for almost the length of the pitch, would have been here in the days when the ground was home to Bexley United, whilst the larger stand on the opposite side, with red and blue seats arranged in a Barçalona stripes pattern, is obviously much newer. In spite of the impressive capacity of the ground, the whole thing is squeezed tightly into a fairly restricted space. One end of the pitch is only yards from Park View Road, with a specially shallow goal, four or five steps of terracing and a pavement between the goal line and the A207; at the other end, there is an even narrower aisle of terracing, backed by tall trees. Of course, the main implication for there being so little space is that there is no parking available whatsoever, even for players and officials, so we had to dump the car in a side-street.
The first player we saw tonight was Walid Matata, crossing Park View Road and carrying his kit bag from wherever he’d had to abandon his own car. This was an encouraging sight, as it suggested that he’d be able to take some part in the game. The second player we saw was Anthony Allman, heading from the dressing-room towards the exit and carrying his kit bag. This was an ominous sight, especially as the normally genial and talkative Anthony responded to my greeting with a cursory grunt, and stomped out of the ground, disappearing into the Bexley night. Anthony was later not named in either the starting line-up or as one of the five substitutes – draw your own conclusions.
Anthony’s omission apart, there were no real surprises in Clive Walker’s team. Jake Whincup was again in goal, but this time with Sam Moore on the bench as his goal-keeping understudy. In front of Jake, Ashford again lined up in 4-4-2 formation, with a back four of Tony Browne, Rob Gillman, Nicky Humphrey and Aron Freeman. The midfield, from left to right, consisted of Nick Barnes, Lee Spiller, Danny Lye and Barry Gardner, with Steve Sodje and Rob Denness up front. Kevin Lott was the only midfield option on the bench, along with strikers Walid Matata and Joby Thorogood, and central defender Graham Porter, returning from holiday. Joe Hitchings was apparently still on his holigogs, but both Adrianho and Nick Fenwick were at the ground tonight – it was also good to see Nick’s brother, George, (our top scorer last season, before his move to Cray Wanderers), in the crowd. Loanee Charlie Glyde was also in attendance, but was unavailable to play, given that Folkestone Invicta wouldn’t want him to be cup-tied.
Whist the sun was just setting on a cloudy, but mild, evening when we arrived, by 7.45pm the floodlights were on, and things were just on the chilly side in the breeze. Erith & Belvedere kicked off, with the A207 at their back, and playing in blue & white quartered shirts, blue shorts and blue sockies – but it was the visitors, in all yellow, who made the running and pressed forward for virtually all of the game. The first chance for Ashford came in the third minute, when a Barry Gardner throw, on the right, found Tony Browne. Browne’s cross was met with a diving header by Steve Sodje, which needed a good save from Grant Wallis. The resulting corner, on the right, was taken, left footed, by Aron Freeman, but the whistle-happy Referee Venamore spotted a foul.
Aron Freeman was one of two players – the other being Nick Barnes – that I hadn’t seen before, and both seemed to me to be good players. Aron is notable for being even littler than Joby Thorogood – (and I gather that Joby is delighted with this, and gives Aron a hell of a time, making him carry his kit and things). In spite of his lack of height, he has what it takes to be a left-back, as he has pace and is a good tackler. [ One of my all-time cricketing heroes is another Freeman – Alfred Percy, commonly known as “Tich” - a demon leg spinner for Kent, who was probably slightly shorter than both Aron and Joby. ]
From three little ‘uns to a big ‘un: it was Steve Sodje who had another opportunity to score, in the eighth minute. He used his pace to good effect, to latch onto a long clearance from Skipper Lee Spiller. He led the chasing Erith defence as far as the edge of the penalty area, but then, as he had done in last Saturday’s game, at Whyteleafe, he checked, transferring the ball onto his right foot – by which time the home defences had surrounded him, and the chance was gone.
As early as the twelfth minute, there was an incident that certainly did a lot to set the course of the game for the remainder of the evening, as The Deres had a man sent off. This all appeared to be very unnecessary, as play had been halted and most eyes in the crowd were elsewhere – but Mr Venamore certainly saw Mark Nougher throw a punch at Tony Browne, and had no hesitation in showing him a red card, and also showed a yellow one to Browne. It is often said in football that it can be harder to score against ten men than eleven, as their energies become concentrated on defence. There was certainly no choice for the home side but to dig in, and Manager Chris Cosgrove naturally reverted to a 4-4-1 formation, with Lee Benavente on his own up front. To their credit, Erith & Belvedere did the job superbly for the remaining 78 minutes of the game. Whilst Ashford continued to dominate possession, the home side defended well, and were never seriously stretched in keeping their clean sheet.
On the quarter-hour mark, Steve Sodje turned provider when his flicked header nearly put Barry Gardner through on goal, but Matt Bedford was close enough to be able to deal with the situation, and put in the saving tackle. In the 19th minute, a rare Erith attack resulted in a cross from the right from Adrian Deane, which caused Lee Spiller to head the ball behind for a corner, but the play in the first half was mostly focused at the Park View Road End. In the 22nd minute, the hard-working Rob Denness went careering through the centre of the park, before his run was brought to an end by a foul, some 25 yards from goal. Nick Barnes, Lee Spiller and Barry Gardner stood over the ball, and it was Nick Barnes who tried his luck, chipping the ball over the blue & white defensive wall, but also well over the bar and into the catch fencing behind the goal. Three minutes later, Barnes attempted to put Steve Sodje in on goal, with a through-ball, but Sodj was caught off-side.
The second yellow card for an Ashford player was waved in the 25th minute. Rob Denness attempted to latch onto a careless back-pass from an Erith & Belvedere defender, but goalkeeper Wallis got there just before him, and was caught by Rob as he made the emergency clearance. It appeared to be simply a miss-timed attempt to challenge for the ball, but Lee Venamore immediately produced a card – from the ref’s gesticulations, it was clear that he was explaining to Rob that he was being booked for persistent infringements, and he had spoken to him previously. Shortly after this, the ex-Chatham striker had a sight of goal from about 16yards, but, although his shot was on target, Wallis parried the ball away with two hands.
Ashford certainly had a considerable lead in the corner count in the first half, and had plenty of opportunities from free-kicks, but the service from dead-ball situations was never of sufficient quality to produce a goal. Probably Ashford’s best chance of the match came from open play, in the 31st minute; Aron Freeman sent in an inviting cross from the left touchline, and it was met by an unmarked Steve Sodje in the middle of the penalty area – but Sodje glanced the ball wide. If this had been snooker or cricket, Sodj would have been criticised for his shot selection, (i.e. going for a glancing header when burying the ball in the back of the net might have been more effective).
Two minutes later, Danny Lye was fouled near the touchline, about ten yards from the left corner flag. Lee Spiller took the free-kick, chipping the ball in to Lye, on the corner of the six-yard box. Danny turned and shot, but Grant Wallis was there to save at his near post. Then, in the 35th minute, Rob Denness attempted a left-foot shot from long range, but this was a fairly tame effort which went straight to the goalkeeper.
So it had been all Ashford, in terms of possession and chances, up to this point, but the home side’s defence refused to be breached. Erith had little more than one kick in the first half – but what a kick that was, and it was enough to send them in at half time 1-0 up. Danny Lye committed a foul, in the 36th minute, about five yards outside the penalty area, in a central position. Jake Whincup lined up a four-man wall, and prepared to defend the left half of his goal – but Adrian Deane hit an absolute screamer into the top-left corner, giving Jake no chance, in spite of a full-length dive. The ball went pretty much as straight as an arrow, with maybe a hint of late reverse swing, to elude the ‘keeper’s finger tips.
Shortly after the restart, Steve Sodje seemed to be doing no more than shield the ball, over by the far touchline, when he was challenged by ex-Ashford right-sided player Drew Watkins. Drew rather bounced off Sodj, as most of us would, and this would have been quite a comical sight if Watkins hadn’t gone down in obvious pain. A worse sight was seeing Drew being stretchered off, moments later, but he seemed to be back to his cocky self after the match, hobbling around the bar. As a rather splendid red bus passed by, heading East along Park View Road, Drew was replaced by Marlon Button. (Sorry, I came over all Henry Blowers there).
With 45 minutes up on the watch, after another Ashford free-kick in a promising position had come to nothing - this time because the ref had seen an infringement as the cross came over - goalkeeper Wallis picked up a rather needless yellow card, for delaying restarting the game. This was the familiar pantomime. The player takes an age to place the ball on the turf, which he knows is in the wrong place. The ref stops the game to tell him to place the ball somewhere else. He again selects another wrong location. The referee gives several more blasts on his whistle, and waves his arms about to try to indicate where the kick should be taken from. The crowd boos and hisses the villain, as he pretends not to understand the referee’s instructions. Eventually, Mr Venamore loses patience, but has to run half the length of the field in order to complete the yellow card formalities – and all this took long enough to enable the home side to get to the interval with their one-goal lead intact.
Ashford made a fast and urgent start to the second half, and the first real chance fell to Rob Denness, in the 47th minute. A deep cross from wide on the right seemed to bounce off the back of an Erith defender, and the ball found Rob on the far corner of the six-yard box, but his shot was off target, and flashed across the face of goal. In the 51st minute, shortly after goal-scoring hero Adrian Deane had been booked for expressing a certain opinion to Lee Venamore, Rob Denness was in action again, putting Nick Barnes through in the inside-right channel – but a good saving tackle was made, at the expense of a corner, on the right. This was swung into the penalty area, and was allowed to go all the way to the far post, where Danny Lye made a valiant effort to head the ball into the net from close range – he failed in this attempt, in spite of ending up in the net himself.
Tony Browne had had a good first half, linking up well with the attack on the right side of the field, but he made a mess of things in the 56th minute, being caught in possession, in his own half. Fortunately for him, the cross from the resulting Erith & Belvedere break was well cut out by Rob Gillman. Clive Walker then made an early and decisive move, replacing Steve Sodje with Walid Matata – but, in spite of little being shown by The Deres as an attacking force, persisted with four men at the back, with Barry Gardner being pushed forward in what was now effectively a 4-3-3 formation.
Still the home defence held firm, with a succession of free-kicks and corners failing to make an impact. On the hour mark, Aron Freeman wasted a corner on the right, crossing the ball straight to the first defender. Two minutes later, a throw-in found Rob Denness at the near post, with his back to goal – his attempted turn & shot was blocked, and the ball went behind for another corner on the right. This time Freeman’s cross eluded the first line of defenders, and Rob Denness actually managed to get his head to the ball, arriving just in front of the goalkeeper – but the yellow shirts failed to manage a shot at goal during the ensuing scramble.
In the 66th minute, Walid Matata showed a trade-mark burst of speed to outpace the Erith defenders, when chasing a long clearance from the Ashford back line. He had enough time and space to be able to have a shot at goal, from an acute angle, from about twelve yards out, but Grant Wallis had got his angles worked out, and saved Walid’s left-footed effort well. Rob Denness picked up the loose ball, and sent in a cross to Lee Spiller, who was arriving in the centre, but Spills’ ambitious overhead kick was always going to go over the bar. Whilst the ball was out of play, Ashford made their second, and final, substitution, with Joby Thorogood replacing Barry Gardner on the right of a three-pronged attack.
With the exception of a tame, long-range shot from Lee Benavente, which rolled straight to Jake, in the 72nd minute, almost all of the action continued to be in the half defended by ten-man Erith & Belvedere, but still Ashford struggled to muster a shot on target. In the 74th minute, Joby could do no more than get underneath a deep cross from the right, from Tony Browne, and, in the 76th minute, Aron Freeman blasted an attempted long-range shot into orbit, after a Lee Spiller corner had been cleared. A little later, in the 80th minute, Nick Barnes rather wasted a free-kick, after a foul on Joby Thorogood, when he clumsily chipped the ball beyond the far post.
With nine minutes remaining, Chris Cosgrove reinforced his brave troops with a substitution, replacing the hard-working Lee Benavente with Mike McKenna, up front – but it was the defenders that were the real heroes for The Deres, as they continued to hold Ashford at bay, although the number of free-kicks did increase as full-time approached. In the 83rd minute, Rob Denness was tripped whilst charging down the right flank – the resulting free-kick from Lee Spiller was aimed at big Rob Gillman, who had gone forward for the set-piece, but Mr Venamore saw yet another infringement in the area. In the 87th minute, it was again a foul on Rob Denness that gave Ashford a free-kick, this time on the right. Jake Whincup took it upon himself to move into the Erith penalty area – before being waved back by his team-mates. When the kick was eventually taken, it was headed clear, but Venamore had once again spotted a foul.
By this time, the good number of Ashford supporters, who had helped to swell the crowd to one of 216 – roughly double what Erith & Belvedere usually get for home matches – began to drift away, (probably to start searching the back-streets of Welling for their cars). As it turned out, there were no more chances created by Ashford, but there was time for an injury-time clincher for the home side. With 91 minutes on the clock, and with the Ashford defence in disarray during the final desperate search for an equaliser, Nick Smith was put through on goal. Jake came out to meet the striker, who had already scored six goals in five games this season; the ‘keeper managed to block the initial strike, but the ball then cannoned off Smith’s shins and then trickled into the net, just inside the post. As goals go, it was a shade jammy, but it’s hard to begrudge The Deres their moment of celebration, having resisted all of Ashford’s attacks, with only ten men for the final 78 minutes. I’m sure this’ll go down in Erith & Belvedere folklore as a famous victory. Their reward, as previously noted, is a trip to Maidstone United, (who were simultaneously losing 0-1 to Staines Town in the league tonight), for a lucrative First Qualifying Round tie.
Apologies if my concentration on Ashford’s misery has not enabled me to give full credit to the home side for this triumph, but that’s how we fans often view the world. It’s not the “2” in the 2-0 scoreline that’s of concern; it’s the “0”. Although Erith & Belvedere defended well, we had as much possession as we wanted in this match, even before Nougher’s red card, and were unable to make the break-through. Although Clive Walker is clearly building the side from a sound defence, the inability to create chances is becoming a worry – and the tally of three goals from five games so far this season rather speaks for itself.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Nick Barnes
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