Tooting & Mitcham United v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 19th of January 2008.

Tooting & Mitcham United 1 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

This was almost a bit of a bonus, this game, as I had all but written off the prospects of this match being on – what with the weather forecast and the amount of rain that we have already had – but the 10 am inspection, which I had assumed was to be merely a formality, passed the pitch at Imperial Fields fit, so we had to scramble pretty quickly. In spite of passing through plenty of rain on the way down, conditions were fairly dry in the London Borough of Morden, and the playing surface appeared to be in pretty reasonable shape. It was a little bumpy, with a few sanded patches here and there, but otherwise looked pretty good. The weather was actually dry throughout the match – although the skies were overcast – with a moderate cross-breeze. (In fact, a full programme of Ryman Division One South fixtures was completed today, so the weather forecasters were a little wide of the mark on this occasion).

It’s always a pleasure to go to Imperial Fields – Tooting & Mitcham United probably have the best facility in our division. Today it was certainly a pleasant change from our previous two away trips – to the scrap-yard landscape of Sittingbourne, and to Horsham YMCA’s fairly minimalist set-up. As soon as you come off the Bishopsford Road and drive through the gates, you are greeted with the sight of the impressive main stand, which comprises the main spectator stand itself and “The Hub” (a fitness and leisure centre, which also includes a bar and eating area). The stand, with its black & white seats, is one of the larger ones at this level, and there is high, banked, concrete terracing behind each goal - so there is everything in place here for a considerably higher level of football.

It’s a fairly three-sided set-up, with the far side of the pitch undeveloped, providing a clear view of the open fields of Poulter Park, in which the whole complex is set, from the stand. Everything appears to be efficient and well-maintained, and there are good toilet and snack bar facilities at the entrance to the ground, at the top of the main stand and within “The Hub”. I was glad that both Tony Betteridge and Don Crosbie were here this afternoon, as this really is the level of facility that Ashford Town FC should aspire to – and least in “Phase One” !.

In terms of the football itself, this was ……… no, let’s have an Anorak’s Corner first – and one which could only have been compiled by a man with too much time on his hands !

** Anorak’s Corner **

I thought it might be interesting to compare strikers and goalies from different seasons – a sort of all-time appraisal of how they measure up in terms of goals scored, and conceded, per minute. Of course, “all-time” in this case really just covers the past two and a half seasons, as that is the time during which I’ve had this affliction of keeping such records; (assuming that I’m not just making them up). This means that the statistics don’t include goals scored by the likes of Paul Jones and Adrian Stone during spells at the Club prior to the 2005-6 season. I’ve also imposed a minimum playing time of 500 minutes for the purposes of the following lists – with the exception of Jamie Riley (450 minutes) and Paul Jones (427 minutes), who have been included because they are current players. Here, then, are the statistics, the whole statistics and nothing but the statistics, (as they were at the start of today’s match) – expressed in “minutes per goal”: -

Goalkeepers
Jamie Riley 75
Jake Whincup 61
Simon Overland 60
Jani Seitsonen 54
Sean Glover 50
Sam Moore 42
Dave Wietecha 41

Strikers
Adri - a – nhoooo 155
Mark Lovell 162
George Fenwick 177
Walid Matata 189
Paul Jones 214
Nick Wright 221
Luke Coleman 228
Richard Sinden 276
Adam O’Neill 289
Rob Denness 364
Steve Sodje 369
Joby Thorogood 369
Jimmy Bottle 381
Shaun Bradshaw 487

I acknowledge the fact that Jimmy isn’t purely a striker, but I’ll keep him in the list for as long as his strike-rate is better than Shaun Bradshaw’s. (I know that this is not a very reliable yard-stick for what constitutes a striker, but let’s leave Bradders alone). I should also point out that Joby played one whole season in which he was largely deployed as a midfield player.

I know that all statistics can be questioned, but I think there’s a general tendency shown here for the cream to rise – (and we know what stuff rarely floats on the surface !). Obviously, these numbers will become more meaningful as players get more minutes under their belt, so it will be interesting to see how the lists develop throughout the season.

Attendances
The raw stats say that the average home league attendance currently stands at 328, which will be comfortably the best we’ve had since the 1999-2000 season, when we were in the Doc Martens Eastern Division. Unfortunately, one thing that can be guaranteed is that this average figure is the highest that it will be this season, and that it will gradually decrease from here. This is because, not only is it considerably boosted by the 855 we had on Boxing Day for the Dover game, but it’s also the case that all the other teams that might conceivably take some supporters to The Homelands – i.e. Kingstonian, Tooting, Worthing, Whitstable, Sittingbourne – have already been. Chatham might bring one or two, on a freezing Tuesday in February, but otherwise it looks like being largely home fans only for the rest of the season. Still, there is every chance that the eventual average might be an improvement on the past few seasons; the mean figure for the past seven seasons (starting with the 2000-1 season) has been: 253, 256, 271, 284, 243, 208 and 243.

Of course, the statistic that never lies is the median, or “middle” figure, in as much as it is immune from the influence of both the bumper Bank Holiday crowds and the really really low turn-outs. I’m pleased to report that the median currently stands at 261, which is a whole lot better than the figure of 198 last season, and 174 the season before that !

The aggregate attendance for cup games has been a pathetic 518 – which is indicative of yet another wash-out for Ashford Town in the cups. This figure is the total for three home games – all defeats – and is worse than in the 2005-6 season, when three home cup games yielded an aggregate of just 583. (The real horror story was the season before that, when the cup season at The Homelands consisted of just the one match, which had an attendance of 139).

* * *

One feature of Steve Lovell’s management is that he appears to know what his best side is. With only Lee Spiller and Aron Freeman on the injury list, and young Joe Hitchings currently out on loan, Steve had virtually his whole squad to choose from, but he selected the now very familiar line-up of Jamie Riley, Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray (Capt.), Lee Hockey, Daniel Brathwaite, Mitchell Sherwood, Nick Barnes, Ryan Briggs, Jimmy Bottle, Mark Lovell and Paul Jones. Even the substitutes’ bench has been fairly constant in recent games, and today was comprised, again, of Sam Moore, Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Walid Matata and Rob Denness.

There was actually one other player who was not available to Steve today – Anthony Hogg, the new signing from Sittingbourne during the week. Anthony was serving a one-match ban for totting up five yellow cards for The Brickies. (For five yellow cards you are banned for one game, for ten yellows you are banned for two games, and then for 15 yellows you get an ASBO). By all accounts, Hogg is a quality central midfield player, so it seems almost certain that he will go straight into the first team line-up next Saturday – but it’s difficult to predict who will be forced to make way for him. Aron Freeman (who has been running again, after his groin operation, and is expected to be at least two weeks away from full fitness) and Lee Spiller (who had a run-out for the Reserves last Saturday) were part of the crowd of 259 today.

And so, finally, to the match (!). Well actually I’d like to make one final digression, and have a moan about the Tooting & Mitcham shirts. This famous old football club is one of those that has always played in classical striped shirts – black & white, in Tooting’s case, à la Kevin Keegan. However, for the past two seasons, they’ve had a poncy design which is tantamount to white with black piping. There are basically just three stripes. One comes up from about the naval and ends at the “V” of the neck, whilst two more (one on each side) rise from the groin area and sweep up to the shoulder, before continuing their trajectory to the wrist. I know it’s none of my business – and some people might like it – but I just think it’s a travesty to not respect the timeless footy tradition of proper, parallel stripes. (And it gets on my nerves to see these silly variations).

So, finally, to the match. This was never going to be an easy game for Ashford, to say the least, with Tooting & Mitcham sitting on top of the division this morning; nor was it expected, on recent form, that Ashford would be outclassed. In fact, I’m pleased to report that this always looked like a close contest between two good sides – how many times have I reported on a close contest between two obviously poor sides ?! The fact that Ashford emerged with a point here was neither a fluke nor a surprise.

It was also no surprise, given Steve Lovell’s suggestion in mid-week that we’d be looking to “have a go” at our opponents, that Ashford started very much on the front foot. There was early notice given that we now have in our armoury a potent attacking weapon in long-throw specialist Lee Hockey. A couple of times in the opening five minutes, Lee launched a long throw into the box. Although these early mortars failed to produce the desired result, an Ashford goal from a set-piece always looked on the cards, throughout the 90 minutes, with Sean Ray and Nicky Humphrey looking dominant in the air in the opponents’ area.

We didn’t have to wait long before this dominance paid dividends, as the Skipper opened the scoring, from a free-kick, as early as the sixth minute. Ryan Briggs took the kick long, from a position just to the left of goal. As he struck the ball, Sean Ray spun off his marker, to create the required space for himself, and then met the ball with a clean header. He placed his effort just inside the far post, giving goalkeeper Dave King no chance, for his second goal for the Club. (Referring back to the Anorak’s Corner figures, at the time of writing, Razor has now scored one goal every 360 minutes, which puts him in tenth position in the table, ahead of Rob Denness, Joby Thorogood, Steve Sodje, Jimmy Bottle and Shaun Bradshaw – but don’t tell him, as they’ll never hear the last of it in the dressing-room).

The opening goal was not an isolated incident in the opening 15 minutes, as it was Ashford who had all the opportunities during this time. In the eighth minute, Paul Jones picked the ball up in the Tooting area; with his back to goal, he showed great body strength to turn his marker, Remuald Bouadji, but his shot at goal was wild and wide.

A minute later, we had a corner, on the left, after Nick Barnes’s cross had been headed behind. Barnesy took this himself, hitting it long, beyond the far post, and Bouadji was there again to head behind for another corner. This one was on the right, so Jimmy Bottle went across from the left to take it. His cross was cleared, but only as far as Ryan Briggs, who was waiting outside the 18-yard box, but Ryan could do no more than smash the ball into the knot of players in the area. In the 13th minute, Lee Hockey launched another of his long throws into the area, and found Paul Jones, about eight yards from goal. Jonah always looks dangerous in these situations, even though he had his back to goal, and he managed to turn and shoot, but on this occasion his shot was blocked. The ball broke to Nicky Humphrey, who had gone up for the set-piece, but the defender’s shot went across the face of goal.

We had gone into this game knowing that our opponents are armed with a potent attacking partnership, in Jon Henry-Hayden and Paul Vines. In fact, Henry-Hayden started the game as joint-top scorer (with Croydon Ath’s Reggie Savage) in our division, with 14 goals, with Paul Vines not far behind, with eleven. Well, the threat was effectively halved today, with Vines being sidelined through injury and Ronnie Green playing up front as a makeshift striker. Nevertheless, there was still Henry-Hayden to contend with, and he equalised for the home side in the 15th minute. I thought there might have been a hint of hand-ball, as he controlled the ball in the penalty area, to the left of the goal, but there was no doubt about his confident finish, as he smashed the ball past Jamie Riley, with his left foot.

The goal came as a bit of a shock, as it came from Tooting’s first real threat on the Ashford goal, but, from here, the home side gradually came more and more into the game, and were very much the dominant force by the end of the half. First, though, Ashford had an opportunity from a free-kick, in the 17th minute. This was right on the edge of the area, to the right of centre, and was awarded after Paul Jones, again with his back to goal, had received a shove in the back of the head. The two left-footers, Daniel Brathwaite and Jimmy Bottle, stood over the ball, and it was Jimmy who attempted to bend it like Beckham – he managed to get the ball to curve over the defensive wall, and then to dip, but it went about a foot over the bar.

Another major threat carried by Tooting & Mitcham was left-winger Jamie Byatt – and Nicky Humphrey had the unenviable task of trying to contain him. Although Nicky was never the total master in this particular contest, he did a reasonable job, but Byatt rather robbed him of the ball, in a dangerous position (i.e. the Ashford penalty area), in the 22nd minute. Given a clear sight of goal, Byatt hit a firm shot straight at Jamie Riley, but Jamie did well to hold onto the ball. In the 26th minute, our fairly solid-looking defence put themselves under pressure when Lee Hockey sliced an attempted pass and presented possession to the opposition. Tooting immediately worked the ball from right to left, eventually finding Guilherme Lopez Dacruz – which is a very exotic, Portuguese name, which translates into English as “William Cross” – out wide. Dacruz’s good, measured cross found Henry-Hayden, in the centre, but his header, from close range, was also straight at Jamie Riley.

In the 28th minute, a foul by Ryan Gray on Mitchell Sherwood, near the right corner flag, gave Daniel Brathwaite the chance to curl in a dangerous free-kick, with the big boys from the back going up for the set-piece. Both Sean Ray and Lee Hockey challenged for the cross, in the six-yard box, and it was Razor who won the contest, but his header went just over the bar.

Tooting - cheered on by an enthusiastic home crowd, which loudly applauded every throw-in won and every refereeing decision that went their way – increasingly dominated possession as the half wore on, but the Ashford defence successfully held them at bay. Before they had a late spell of pressure leading up to the half-time whistle, the home side’s best chance was a long-range effort from Ronnie Green, in the 37th minute, which went just over.

So Jamie Riley was largely untroubled in the first half, but he had a wobbly moment in the 41st minute. A corner, on the right, was swung in, left-footed, with pace, right under the Ashford crossbar. Jamie looked to have done well to catch a very awkward cross, but then he dropped it – and was relieved to see that it had dropped at the feet of a yellow-shirted defender, who booted it away. Then, in the 45th minute, a deep cross from the Tooting right found Jamie Byatt, but his looping header was comfortably caught by Riley.

The Tooting & Mitcham players trooped off at half time to a standing ovation from the home supporters in the stand. It’s true that they had played some good, passing football, and had obviously inspired the fans in the way that they had asserted themselves – but hang on, boys. It’s 1-1, and we’re only half-way, and, although we didn’t finish the half as well as we had started it, Ashford fully deserved to be on level terms at the break.

The second half was a little quieter, with less pace, than the first, but was once again keenly contested and fairly evenly balanced. After Nick Barnes had got himself yellow-carded in the 47th minute, there was a half-chance for the visitors just two minutes later. A long kick-out from Jamie Riley was well flicked on by Mark Lovell, finding Paul Jones, ahead of him. Jonah then set the ball up for Lovell, but his sliced shot from a long way out went very wide, and looked a little half-hearted. I’m yet to be convinced by Lovell Junior. He has a good strike-rate in terms of goals scored, and we saw the occasional deft flick today, but he generally looks slow, and could give Paul Jones a lot more support than he does. Of course, part of Mark’s problem is that he will always be compared with Jonesy, who was superb again this afternoon. Still, I expect young mark will do what Martin Chivers used to do, and point to the “goals scored” column at the end of the season. After all, it’s not “How” – it’s “How many”.

In the 51st minute, Ashford had a corner, on the left, after a Jimmy Bottle cross had been blocked. Nick Barnes curled this straight into the hands of ‘keeper Dave King, who immediately launched a counter-attack. He sent Jamie Byatt down the left wing, at pace, and the pursuing Mitchell Sherwood’s blatant push was enough to make the winger lose his balance. Yellow card for Mitchell !

As the game wore on, Paul Jones, who had certainly impressed some of the home supporters, increasingly took it upon himself to try to score on his own. An example of this came in the 59th minute. He picked the ball up just inside the Tooting half, and set off down the left flank. He cut inside, onto his right foot, and a burst of pace gave him the space to unleash a low shot, which needed a diving save from the goalkeeper.

In the 64th minute, Jimmy Bottle won a corner, on the left, which was taken by Ryan Briggs. This was punched clear by Dave King, at the expense of a throw-in, which Lee Hockey went up to take. Ashford’s large units moved up, into the Tooting penalty area, and Sean Ray won with his header yet again, but was unable to find a man in a yellow shirt.

Nicky Humphrey got himself booked for a late tackle, in the 68th minute, but Ashford then enjoyed several minutes of pressure on the home goal – there was a corner on the right, and Lee Hockey twice launched a long throw into the Terrors’ penalty box, from the left, but all these attempts came to nothing.

With about a quarter of an hour left, the match appeared to be settling down as a 1-1 stalemate, with two good teams cancelling each other out – but there were enough chances and half-chances at both ends to suggest that either side might nick the three points. In the 76th minute, Sean Ray did some great defending, winning the ball in his own area, and then finding Paul Jones with a long clearance. Not for the first time, Jonah found himself isolated up front, and was faced by two Tooting defenders. After looking around for support, he turned and shot himself, (in the sense that he, himself, had a shot – I’m not saying that he committed suicide). His long-range effort was on target, but was saved by King. A minute later, Sean Ray blotted his copybook by rather needlessly getting himself cautioned. He might have been booked for the foul, but after he had picked the ball up, run back into defence with it and then tossed it away, it was an easy decision for the referee to make Razor the fourth Ashford player to be yellow-carded.

I think that, generally, Tooting would have been a little fortunate, on the overall balance of play, to have stolen all three points, but, if Ronnie Green’s effort in the 78th minute had gone in, then I would’ve said that it was a worthy “winner”. Jamie Byatt had the ball near the left corner flag, and was faced by the imposing figure of Nicky Humphrey - but he managed to wriggle past him, and made progress into the Ashford penalty area. Byatt’s low cross found Green, in the centre, whose first-time shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar, and rebounded away to safety. Jamie Riley didn’t have time to move.

As darkness descended on Imperial Fields, under slate grey skies, Steve Lovell made his first substitution – Walid Matata replacing Jimmy Bottle, in the 82nd minute. Jimmy had again looked lively, on the left, but there was again a shortage of end-product; I don’t think that we can expect Jimmy to just waltz through defences at this level, and it’s probably fair to say that full-back Dean Hamlin had his measure this afternoon. Whilst this substitution was being made, Lee Hockey was waiting to lob a long throw into the penalty area, from near the right corner flag. Sean Ray, who’s better in the air than Douglas Bader, again beat the Tooting defence, at the near post, but headed wide.

Although Walid Matata pushed well forward, as is his wont, on the left, to virtually give us a three-man attack, the general demeanour of the Ashford side suggested that Steve Lovell was, at this stage, satisfied with a point. We seemed to be taking plenty of time with goal-kicks and free-kicks, and the introduction of Rob Denness, in place of Mark Lovell (pronounced “La Velle” by the PA announcer), in the 84th minute, was quite possibly in the interests of running down the clock.

Ashford’s final chance, in the 86th minute, was carved out by Paul Jones; fed the ball by Ryan Briggs, Jonah turned and released a low shot, from well outside the area, and this effort would have crept just inside the far post if Dave King hadn’t made a diving, finger-tip save. Just prior to this, Walid Matata had what some spectators saw as a good shout for a penalty, but this appeared to be a case of him receiving a little shove and then flopping to the ground. He might have bought a free-kick anywhere else on the pitch, but, in the area, the ref will have been alert to the fact that he was looking for the penalty.

The home side pressed on until the end of the three minutes of injury time, but were unable to trouble Jamie Riley further. So just the one point for the league leaders, but the Tooting fans who had witnessed the game appeared to be well satisfied with a draw today. Both sets of supporters were united in a common joy, in the bar a little later, when news came through of Dover’s 3-1 capitulation against a young and weakened Chatham side, (during which Chatham’s ‘keeper, and our old friend, John Whitehouse was reportedly carried off). Tooting & Mitcham remain top, whilst Ashford move up a place, to 13th – although a gap of eight points between 12th and 13th place has suddenly opened up ! Ashford are now 14 points adrift of the fourth play-off place, with a game in hand, so, even with a storming finish to the season, it’s getting very late for promotion now.

The choice of MK Man of the Match was not entirely straightforward. The trouble is, Sean Ray and Paul Jones always catch the eye – Sean as the most dominant defender on the pitch, and Jonah as the best striker on the pitch, (which is actually quite a compliment on this occasion !). Although Razor scored the goal, it was difficult to see beyond Jonah, after an excellent effort again over the 90 minutes. Paul is now level with Nick Barnes – with two away game MoMs – in the race for The Milton Keynes Bowl.

It’s probably quite significant that Tooting & Mitcham’s Man of the Match was goalkeeper Dave King ! Steve Lovell also reported, when taking the trouble to thank the away fans for their support, that the lads were very quiet in the dressing-room afterwards, indicating that they were actually a little disappointed to only have drawn this afternoon. Disappointed with a point, away to the league leaders ?! I think that’s also quite significant !

Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones