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
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