Burgess Hill Town 2 Ashford Town 3
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The 1-3 defeat at home to Walton & Hersham on Tuesday night was a bit of a set-back for the lads. After coming away from Corinthian-Casuals, in their previous game, with three points, the gap between Ashford Town and the team in the final play-off position was twelve points, which was very bridgeable, given that we had three games in hand. Two postponed games and Tuesday’s defeat later, that gap was 15 points this morning, and looked more like a chasm, with Ashford having just the two games in hand. After enjoying an unbeaten run of five games since Boxing Day, largely on the back of some solid defensive performances, the boys, reportedly, looked decidedly shaky at the back in the absence of both Sean Ray and Jamie Riley.
This seems to emphasise the important contribution that both have made in the short time that they have been at the Club. The presence of Jamie in goal has, in the words of one or two of those who play in front of him, made all the difference to the confidence of the back four. This certainly seems to be reflected in his goals conceded per game record, as he is, statistically, head & shoulders above any other goalie we’ve had in recent times. Speaking of statistics, here’s an Anorak’s Corner, as there have been some significant changes in the short time since the last one. (All figures are as at the start of today’s game).
** Anorak’s Corner **
Goalkeepers: Jamie Riley has an incredible record of having only been beaten once every 103 minutes – which equates to less than a goal a game. This is in a different league to the next-best ‘keeper (statistically) in the past three seasons, who was Jake Whincup, who let in a goal every 61 minutes. It’s a different story for young Sam Moore, however. The three goals he let in on Tuesday mean that he is – how shall I put this ? – the seventh-best of the seven ‘keepers we’ve had during this period, having now conceded a goal every 40 minutes. (Sam now slips below Dave Wietecha, who left us with a record of letting one in every 41 minutes).
Strikers: One thing I have done with the list of strikers is to remove Adrianho from this list – this is because he didn’t actually achieve the cut-off of 500 minutes on the field during the past three seasons. This leaves George Fenwick as the front-runner, with a goal every 177 minutes. Next come two current strikers, but they have changed places after recent matches – Walid Matata is in second place overall, with a goal every 191 minutes, with Mark Lovell next (with one every 198 minutes). Using Shaun Bradshaw’s scoring rate as a yard-stick of what defines a striker – and I’ve already admitted elsewhere that this isn’t necessarily the best benchmark – there are no fewer than seven “strikers” at the Club at the moment. These are (in order of strike-rate) Walid, Mark, Paul Jones, Jimmy Bottle, Rob Denness, Sean Ray and Mitchell Sherwood, whose two penalties in the last two games give him a rate of a goal every 476 minutes, so that Mitch just sneaks onto the list.
Attendances: The only way for the average attendance to go, after Boxing Day’s home game against Dover, was down, as we have no more teams to play at The Homelands who are likely to bring a decent-sized travelling support. Sure enough, the season’s average home gate is steadily declining, and is currently struggling to stay above the 300 mark, at 307, after Tuesday night’s 180, the lowest attendance of the season so far. We can expect a few more low crowds to come, with several of our remaining home games due to be played on a Tuesday night, and with that Champions’ League nonsense starting up again on the telly. We need to average a crowd of 167 for the ten remaining home matches this season, to be able to beat last season’s average of 243; (trust me on that one). The median figure currently stands at 241, which compares with last season’s 198.
* * *
The good news today was that the two notable midweek absentees, Sean Ray and Jamie Riley, were back in the saddle, meaning that Tony Browne and Sam Moore returned to the bench. There was also a slight surprise in that Steve Lovell made a straightforward change to what we’ve come to recognise as his first choice eleven, with Nick Barnes making way for Danny Lye. Danny was to put in his first 90-minute stint in the league since the game away at Molesey, last October – in which he scored ! The team, then, was Jamie in goal, with a back-four of Nicky Humphrey (back at right-back), Sean Ray, Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite, a midfield of Danny Lye, Ryan Briggs, Anthony Hogg and Mitchell Sherwood (who swapped sides, out wide, several times with Danny Lye), and Paul Jones and Mark Lovell up front. Accompanying Barnes, Moore and Browne Dog on the bench were Walid Matata and Rob Denness; Jimmy Bottle, who was still sidelined with a calf strain this afternoon, was changed into his kit and appeared to be very much part of the squad in the pre-match warm-up, but was unable to be named as one of the substitutes.
The corresponding game at Leylands Park last season was played in mid-April. It was memorable for the fact that there was a goal for both Steve Sodje and Kenny Three Names, (we won 0-2), but I also remember it being a bright, cloudless afternoon, with the lowering sun causing problems for players and spectators alike. Today conditions were very similar – except that the temperature was probably about 20ºC lower on this occasion.
Leylands Park is situated on the outskirts of a housing estate - which is very similar in nature to the one on which I grew up in South Ashford – on the Northern edge of Burgess Hill, in Sussex. Spectator accommodation consists of a long, but narrow, stand, on one side of the ground, containing black and yellow seats, four deep. The turnstiles, the burger stall and the bar – a dark brown wooden structure – are all located behind one of the goals, with the other two sides of the ground remaining undeveloped. There is a bit of a slope to the pitch, and Ashford, playing in their home kit of green shirts, white shorts and green sockies, played up the hill in the first half.
From the outset, Burgess Hill – yellow & black quartered shirts, with one black sleeve and one yellow sleeve, black shorts and yellow sockies – started at a high tempo, with plenty of attacking intent, but neither side managed to create a clear-cut chance during the first quarter of the game. Ashford looked solid and organised, but the best they could offer during this period was a long-range shot from Ryan Briggs, in the 13th minute, which he pulled tamely wide. At the other end, Jamie Riley was kept fairly busy with back-passes from his defenders, which he did well to deal with, on this bumpy pitch – until the 18th minute, when he inevitably eventually fluffed a clearance. The ball went straight to Burgess Hill’s Scott Marshall, but The Hillians’ No.4 rushed his first-time effort, and the ball curved away, high and wide, from the Ashford goal.
It was good to see our most recent signing, Anthony Hogg, start the game, but he did look a little rusty and slightly off the pace. He had two opportunities to put a left-foot cross in from free-kicks, in the 21st minute, but these both came to nothing – although the second of these crosses resulted in Lee Hockey getting a bang in the face, which required a few minutes of treatment from Mo Alvi. It turned out that Lee had had his nose broken – but this didn’t stop him from saying that he’d be OK, and he rejoined the fray in the 25th minute. That’s the spirit !
In the 23rd minute, a good cross from Burgess Hill’s Matt Piper bounced around in the penalty area, before Daniel Brathwaite hoisted the ball behind to safety. The resulting corner was fizzed in, low, from the left, and appeared to be dummied at the near post. This caused some panic, momentarily, in the Ashford defence, before being cleared.
The first half hour passed, with Burgess Hill Town having slightly the better of things, but with neither goalkeeper having to make a save. In fact, the two teams were restricted to one real scoring chance each, in a fairly entertaining first half, and these came in quick succession. First, in the 30th minute, Lee Hockey found himself under an awkward, high, spinning ball, and being harried by Nick Fogden and Kenny Hewitt. The ball broke kindly for the strikers, and Hewitt managed to put Fogden through on goal. Jamie Riley did well to save Fogden’s initial shot from an acute angle, before saving the follow-up shot from the rebound, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross, from the left, went all the way through to Scott Marshall, on the far edge of the penalty area, whose low shot was comfortably gathered by Riley at the near post.
Ashford’s chance came just two minutes later, and they made it count, to take a 0-1 lead. It began with Jamie Riley hitting a free-kick, from well inside his own half, diagonally, finding Daniel Brathwaite to the left of the Burgess Hill penalty area. Daniel did well to retain possession, cutting inside before laying the ball off to Danny Lye, who was on his outside, on the left. Lye marked his return to the starting eleven with a well-taken goal, side-footing the ball low, past goalkeeper Chris May.
The home side did try to respond before half time, with a Kenny Hewitt cross, in the 42nd minute, which really should have picked out a Burgess Hill head, and a shot, which went over the bar from outside the penalty area, again from Hewitt, in the 44th minute, but to no avail. For Ashford, Anthony Hogg got hold of a long-range shot, right at the end of the half, but this effort went just wide, so the visitors took a 0-1 lead into the break.
I’m sure that Lee Hockey would have been willing to play on with his facial injury, but the half-time diagnosis of a broken nose meant that it was the Browne Dog who emerged as a substitute for the second half, taking up his familiar position of right-back, with Nicky Humphrey moving across to centre-half.
It must be said that, for the early part of the second half, Ashford had a spell of dominance that they never achieved in the first, and very nearly went 0-2 up within a few seconds of the restart. Paul Jones, running on into the penalty area, latched onto a nodded lay-off from Mitch Sherwood, and hit a spectacular shot which would almost have burst the net – except that it went just over the bar. In the 51st minute, Jonah got away with a little shove in David Piper’s back, and attempted to take full advantage, moving into the Burgess Hill penalty area and rounding gigantic centre-half Danny Gainsford. Jones went down, appearing to be bundled over by his towering marker, but Mr Austin, the Referee, was not convinced. Two minutes later, Danny Lye fed a ball down the right touchline for Jones to chase, and this drew another foul from Gainsford, as Jonah was in the process of going around him.
All this was fairly typical of Jones’s performance this afternoon. He was a constant handful for the Burgess Hill defence, never stopped running and battling, and showed the pace and confidence to be able to go past opponents, almost at will. Given the form that he’s in at the moment, it’s surprising that he’s so far only scored the one goal in 2008. It was also surprising that his good work failed to create another goal for the team during this period of ascendancy, but the green & whites did increase their lead in the 54th minute. Ryan Briggs did well, near the left corner flag, to fiddle a corner, and took the kick himself. Now I’m not qualified to comment on Burgess Hill’s marking regime at this corner, and I’m not particularly bothered about it, but I can tell you that Nicky Humphrey came flying in, met Briggo’s cross with a powerful header, and the ball flew into the net, as clean as a whistle. Nicky was excellent today, both at right-back and in the centre of defence, and has, in my opinion, been one of the players of the season. He has comfortably clocked up more minutes on the pitch than anyone else so far – 2,638, at the time of writing – and it was great to see him open his account for the Club, becoming our 13th different goal-scorer this season.
[ Here’s an interesting little trivia question for you: apart from Nicky Humphrey, which two players have spent the most time on the pitch ? Answer at the end of the report. ]
In the 56th minute, Paul Jones again looked like he was going to score, when, in the inside-left position, he ran onto a lob, over the top of the Burgess Hill defence, from Sean Ray. Jonah was well clear, and Chris May hesitated as he came out of his goal. If he had trusted his left foot, then Jones could have quite easily lobbed the ‘keeper, but instead he checked, and waited for a chance to use his right foot, eventually hitting the ball wide of the near post.
The home side equalised in the 61st minute, and I’m afraid I’ll have to cite the Wenger Amendment here, as I saw very little of the goal – my view was obscured by a combination of the figure of Steve Lovell, on the edge of his Technical Area, and the setting sun. What I did see was the ball crossed, from right to left, through the Ashford Town penalty area; it was then fed back into the centre, where Hillians captain Steve Harper tucked the ball into the net. This made the score 1-2, with still almost half an hour remaining.
In the 65th minute, Burgess Hill Manager Jamie Howell made his first substitution, replacing Matt Piper with Stuart Tuck. A little later, the first cries for Walid Matata’s introduction could be heard from the Ashford travelling support – timed, on this occasion, at 67 minutes.
The play was certainly more evenly balanced after Steve Harper’s goal, but Paul Jones remained a threat. In the 69th minute, he latched onto a clearance from the Ashford defence, and went for goal. Jones beat Tom Edmonds, and then David Piper, as he entered the home side’s 18-yard box, but the ball then ran away from him, and the chance was gone.
Burgess Hill made it 2-2 in the 72nd minute. A long shot, from a free-kick, was saved by Jamie Riley, but he failed to hold onto the ball. Danny Gainsford was there to hit the loose ball past Riley, but Daniel Brathwaite, heroically, blocked the ball on the line. Nevertheless, Gainsford lashed the ball home with his second attempt, and Ashford’s two-goal lead had lasted for only 18 minutes.
Just a minute later, the green shirts were pouring forward, in search of a third goal, with Anthony Hogg spreading the ball wide to Paul Jones; Jonesy again rounded Danny Gainsford, but the ball was forced out for a corner, on the left. Ryan Briggs’s resulting cross went over a crowd of players in the centre of the penalty area, falling to Mark Lovell, beyond the far post, but Lovell Jnr’s side-footed effort at goal went over the bar. This was to be Mark’s final contribution, since, in the 76th minute, after a fairly anonymous performance, he was replaced by Walid Matata – who is still the Club’s top goal scorer this season, with seven goals.
In the 77th minute, it was Paul Jones who was again leading the attack. He had a one-against-one situation with Tom Edmonds, as another long clearance was launched from the Ashford defence – although Jones had his back to goal, he managed to turn his man, and draw a foul which led to Edmonds being shown a yellow card by Mr Austin. Although the free-kick came to nothing, Jonah had another attempt, in the 81st minute, turning and shooting from well outside the penalty area, but he sliced his effort wide.
Ashford’s winner came just a minute later. A cross, from the right, from Mitch Sherwood found Walid Matata, in the centre. Walid helped the ball on to Danny Lye, on the left, and just inside the penalty area. Danny had the time and space to take a touch, before crashing the ball into the net. This is what a winning goal is supposed to be like, in all the best scripts – smashed joyfully and decisively into a bulging net ! This was a triumphant finish to Danny’s return to the team – his second goal of the game, and his fourth of the season – and it capped a good all-round performance from him. It was a close-run thing between him and Nicky Humphrey for today’s Man of the Match award – and Paul Jones’s sterling contribution has already been well documented in this report – but Danny’s two goals just shaded it for him.
Of course, we couldn’t take the three points for granted – not against a team that had drawn 4-4 at home last Tuesday – but The Hillians never seriously threatened to equalise. Romain Le Roux was sent on by Jamie Howell, in place of Scott Marshall, as late as the 86th minute, and they had a handful of corners, but Jamie Riley was not called upon to make a save.
This win, in front of a crowd of 162, moves Ashford back up to 13th in the league table, just one place, and two points, behind today’s hosts. If anybody is still counting, we now trail the team in the fourth and final play-off position by 13 points, with two games in hand – but it was just good to see the lads come back from Tuesday night’s set-back with a solid performance, and yet another away win.
[ Answer to the trivia question: Rob Denness, with 1,858 minutes, then Rob Gilman, with 1,800; Jimmy Bottle is next, with 1,786 minutes. ]
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Danny Lye
Saturday 16 February 2008
Sunday 3 February 2008
Corinthian-Casuals v Ashford Town. Ryman League Division One South. 2nd of February 2008.
Corinthian-Casuals 0 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford went into this match with plenty of confidence. Steve Lovell is gradually building the squad that he wants, and there are definite signs that things are at last coming together. Bottom-of-the-table Molesey won’t have provided the sternest test of the team’s progress last Saturday, but the comfortable manner of the 3-0 victory must have instilled some belief, among players and fans alike. We’ve all been waiting patiently in Don & Tony’s space rocket, with seat belts securely fastened, for some time now. It seems like someone’s finally found some matches, so that we can prepare for launch.
The first stop on the rocket ride will, at some point, be promotion to the Ryman Premier. Is that still a realistic prospect for this season ? Well, it’s not out of the question. The team currently in the final play-off position is Dulwich Hamlet, 14 points ahead of us, but we have THREE games in hand. Manager Steve Lovell has certainly been quoted as saying that he’s focusing his players’ attention on a play-off position as a target for the remaining 18 games of the season.
If Ashford are going to succeed with a late run for a top-five position – we were 13th this morning – then the current little sequence of four games, all of which are against teams in the bottom six, is crucial. The games have a reassuring orderliness about them, beginning with Molesey (bottom) last week, Corinthian-Casuals (third-bottom) today, Eastbourne Town (fifth-bottom) on Tuesday and Walton Casuals (sixth-bottom) next Saturday. With only today’s game, of the four, away from home, and with three points already in the bag, Steve Lovell would surely be looking for at least ten points from this lot. But, to use a quaint Irish expression, there’s many a slip between cup and lip – or, as I once heard snooker commentator John Pullman say, “there’s many a slip between lup and kip” !
We’ve been getting used to seeing this afternoon’s opponents, Corinthian-Casuals, at this end of the table. They’ve finished in the bottom two for the past two seasons, but, due to clubs stepping down from the league, and the restructuring of the non-league pyramid, have escaped relegation on both occasions. It’s actually a standing joke, among the clubs newly-promoted to the league, that they just need to finish above Corinthians to survive, as the club never gets relegated ! It did, however, seem like Corinthians were making a far better fist of it this season, but a recent run of poor results has seen them plummet to a position just one place above the drop-zone. The Casuals are currently plumb-bottom of the six-game current form table, with just two points from those games, and with their previous game being a 0-5 home defeat to third-placed Cray Wanderers.
[ I’d like to make a brief disclaimer here. For the benefit of any pedantic Corinthian-Casuals supporters, I’ll point out that I’m aware of the correct name of your club, with its all-important hyphen, and that I understand that the club known as Corinthians plays, not in the Ryman League, but in Brazil – it’s just that I’m not going to use the full and correct term at every mention ! ]
I remember being quite disappointed when I first visited the King George Arena, in the 2005-6 season. I wasn’t expecting a big ground, but I did imagine that this world-famous old amateur club would have a ground with some character and a bit of grandeur, with maybe a quaint old wooden stand and a certain amount of Victoriana about it. Instead, I found a venue that was very low-rise and low-key – in fact, it’s all very 1970s, with the main feature being a long, corrugated stand, containing red plastic seats, just three deep. This gives a worm’s eye view of the pitch and the dug-outs on the far side. At each end, the narrow terracing is sheltered by a short stand.
King George’s is always a bugger to get to, being situated just off the A3, about ten minutes’ walk from Tolworth Station, and accessed via a pokey little road that runs parallel to the main A-road. What little parking there is at the ground is also a bit iffy. For anyone arriving in time, there might be a space on the compacted mud on the drive up to the single turnstile – otherwise, it’s the small, grassy field adjacent to the ground, (weather permitting). I sometimes wonder what they’ll do when they play Arsenal here in the Cup !
Although this description might seem like a bit of a moan, I’d still like to see Corinthian-Casuals on the roster for next season. We always get a friendly welcome here, and anyone with any feeling for non-league football cannot fail to admire this club for keeping the flag flying for genuine amateurism, since their players receive neither payment nor expenses for their services. Besides, it remains a club with a long and proud history, and this season Corinthian-Casuals FC celebrates its 125th anniversary. One of the events to mark this anniversary will be a friendly match against AFC Wimbledon at Wembley Stadium. Shouldn’t be any problems with the car parking there !
One thing that was immediately noticeable about the Corinthians side today was that they all looked very young. In fact, the only person on the pitch who looked younger than any of the home side’s starting eleven was the Referee. (This didn’t stop young Master Atkin from having an excellent game - he reffed the match with a calm authority, and it’s to his credit that he never had to resort to waving his yellow card about). I can’t tell you much else about The Casuals’ team today, except to say that they included some colourful names, to match their colourful strip – they started with a Daniel Green, a Byron Brown and a Luke Gay ! (I sometimes think that these things are sent to me as a gift !). In the fashion stakes, the famous pink & chocolate colour scheme is slightly different this season – the shirt is halved, with sleeves reversed – and the rose pink blended prettily with our lads’ daffodil yellow.
The Ashford Town team news was, as usual, that it was the usual line-up, both on the pitch and on the bench. The starting eleven, then, was Riley, Humphrey, Hockey, Ray (capt.), Brathwaite, Sherwood, Barnes, Briggs, Bottle, Jones and Lovell. Although there was no substitute goalie on the bench, there were the usual suspects: Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata, plus Anthony Hogg. Interesting that Steve Lovell is still starting with new signing Anthony Hogg on the bench – but, with the current team playing well and getting some good results, maybe it isn’t so surprising.
Today was the day when the thermal underwear made its seasonal debut, as it was forecast today to be decidedly parky; Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent donned her snowboarding trousers – we have a ski slope in MK, you know ! [ “Skiing” is actually one of our favourite pastimes – it stands for “Spending Kids’ Inheritence” ! ] As it turned out, it wasn’t as cold as expected, and, with the game being played in bright sunshine, beneath almost cloudless skies and with not enough of a breeze to make a significant difference to the play, conditions were set fair for a good game of football.
That wasn’t what was delivered, though, as this was by no means a classic. This was probably mostly due to the fact that the two teams were anything but evenly matched. The youthful appearance of The Casuals’ players was confirmed very early on, as it seemed to be men against boys all over the pitch. This was most obvious when Ashford pressed forward, with Paul Jones’s superior strength and pace enabling him to just about do as he pleased in terms of grabbing possession, holding the ball up and linking up with other players – although his shooting is still not quite A1 ! Our defence was also in full control for most of the game, and Sean Ray and Lee Hockey might have played in their slippers. Having said all that, Ashford took quite a long time to fully impose themselves on the opposition, with things not quite clicking for them in the first 20 minutes or so. Our boys looked marginally the more likely side to score, but the quality of delivery was poor in the final third of the pitch.
Although our hosts were limited to the one shot on target during this opening period – Lee Matthews’s long-range shot, in the third minute, was straight at Jamie Riley – Jamie was still the busier of the two ‘keepers, with a number of back-passes to deal with, and through-balls to intercept. The game was always fairly free-flowing, with few stoppages – well done, Mr Atkin, once again. The first set-piece situation of note came in the 24th minute, when Corinthian-Casuals had a free-kick near to the left corner of the penalty area. As with all Casuals’ free-kicks and corners on the left, full-back Matt Smith and Brown Byron stood over the ball, but this time it was Brown who took the kick, but he rather wasted it by curling his cross beyond the far post.
Two minutes later, Ashford showed their first sign of breaking through, when a long throw, on the left, from Lee Hockey was flicked on by the head of Paul Jones, finding Mark Lovell in the six-yard box – but Lovell was flagged off-side. Seconds later, a cross-field ball found Brown Byron, free on the left, just inside the Ashford penalty area – and this time there was no flag. Brown attempted a cross, but this was smothered by Nicky Humphrey, who came sliding in, putting the ball behind for a corner. There were appeals for hand-ball, but this would have been a very harsh penalty. Brown and Smith again worked the dead-ball situation between them, and funneled the ball back to Tyrone Myton, who arced over a deep cross, from a wider angle. Centre-half Richard Price got on the end of this, but the ball slid off his shaven head, and behind for a goal-kick.
Highlight of the half came in the 27th minute, with an injury to Casuals’ Dale Hennessey – but only because it was an excuse for Corinthains’ gorgeous blonde Physio, Loreen Woodward to come onto the pitch. (Woodward ? So would I !). She glided across the Tolworth turf, long, flaxen hair trailing in her wake. What a vision of beauty ! And we’ve got Mo Alvi !
One way in which we bettered our opponents today was in the number of fans behind the respective goals. Early on, with the official attendance being 104, the score was 0-11 to the visitors, and this progressed to 3-13 as the first half wore on, with the added bonus of a green & white “ATFC” flag draped over the perimeter fence.
Back to the footy, then, and Ashford had their first real sight of goal in the 34th minute. A Daniel Brathwaite throw-in, from the left, found Paul Jones, in the penalty area. Jonah took one touch, on his chest, and then turned, to create a clear shooting chance – but he blasted this well over. Two minutes later, Corinthians had an opportunity, at the other end, with a free-kick just outside the area, awarded for a foul on Tyrone Myton. Matt Smith was faced with a four-man wall, and hit his effort straight into this wall; his second attempt, from the rebound, was charged down.
There were often cries of “not good enough” and “let’s raise it” to be heard from both sets of players during the first half, and it appeared that a fairly flat opening 45 minutes would end all square at 0-0 – but Ashford effectively won the match with two goals before the interval. The first of these came in the 39th minute. Nicky Humphrey, who has done a tremendous job at right-back this season, had possession of the ball on the right. He chipped the ball into the centre, where Paul Jones flicked the ball on, finding Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy quickly transferred the ball onto his favoured left foot, and was upended by Matt Smith, who had come lungeing in, only to find that the ball wasn’t there when he arrived. The ref had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. It’s true that this was a rash challenge by the defender, but Jimmy deserves a lot of credit as well, as it was his quick feet that drew the foul. I was a little surprised that it was Mitchell Sherwood who stepped up to take the penalty, but presumably this was because Steve Lovell knows that he is good at taking them ! Mitch calmly slotted the ball, low, into the corner of the net, with goalkeeper Colin Harris diving in the other direction, to open his account for Ashford Town.
Our second goal came in the 45th minute, but not before Corinthians actually had a great chance to equalise, with what was to be by far their best opportunity of the match. For once, Sean Ray failed to deal with a long ball from the home defence, in the 43rd minute – he seemed to misjudge this one, letting it go across his body, and this error resulted in Hinga Amara being put clean through on goal. This was a classic one-on-one situation, in the finest OK Corale tradition, with Amara having eons of space and acres of time. Jamie Riley came out of his goal, positioned himself and waited, fingers twitching, for Amara to advance. Jamie hasn’t been over-worked during his time at Ashford, but, when he has been called upon to make important saves, he hasn’t let us down. On this occasion, he showed great reflexes to save, low, with his right hand. This was a great stop, and it effectively sealed his second consecutive clean sheet.
Corinthians had half a shout for a penalty, in the 44th minute, for a little push in the area, but this was not very convincing, and Ashford went 0-2 up, just a minute later. This was again a result of an error from this young defence, and this time the blame can be laid at the feet, or rather the hand, of the goalkeeper. A free-kick from near the right touchline resulted in a steepling cross, which Harris really should have dealt with without too much trouble. Instead, he just palmed the ball out to Jimmy Bottle, who put the ball into a half-empty net, from a distance of about 15 yards. Jimmy showed good technique here, as he had plenty to do with this – he waited for the ball to settle, and then lashed it in with his RIGHT foot.
The second half was very comfortable for Ashford. The home side did very little in the way of closing down, or pressurising the man in possession, and the boys were able to put their little passing movements together. Ryan Briggs, in particular, was quietly impressive in central midfield.
One slight surprise was that Paul Jones didn’t get onto the score-sheet this afternoon, given his obvious physical advantage over his marker, Richard Price – but he had a clear chance in the 49th minute. He showed great strength to shrug off Price, to latch onto a through-ball from Nick Barnes. This time it was Colin Harris’s turn to have the better of a one-on-one situation, doing well to come out and block Jonah’s effort.
In the 53rd minute, there was again chaos in the Corinthians’ defence, when Scott Hassell rather skied an attempted back-pass to his ‘keeper. This resulted in a 50-50 between Harris and Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy was the stronger, and the ball broke kindly for him, to give him what seemed to be an open goal, but Richard Price did well to intercept the ball on the line. The ensuing recriminations in the home defence betrayed a lack of confidence in one another, and a growing frustration.
In the 56th minute, Price did well again, robbing Paul Jones of the ball and advancing into the Ashford half; he then let fly with an audacious long-range shot, which wasn’t all that far off target, but it went high and wide. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson made a double-substitution, replacing Dale Hennessey and Hinga Amara with Sam-Yorke Delano (Slightly Silly Party) and Ayokunle Olusesi (ditto).
There were a few chances for Ashford to add to their two goals, but final passes and finishing remained pretty poor – so we didn’t really deserve to win by a wider margin, in spite of our dominance. In the 58th minute, Paul Jones again showed great physical strength to get to a long clearance from Nicky Humphrey ahead of the Corinthians’ defence. He advanced into the penalty area, but his attempted cross, looking for Jimmy Bottle, was blocked; the ball broke to Ryan Briggs, who hit his long-range shot wastefully high and wide. A long ball down the left touchline from Jimmy Bottle, in the 67th minute, found Paul Jones, who was duly fouled – but Ryan Briggs unerringly managed to find the head of a defender, with the free-kick. Daniel Brathwaite, who ventured forward on a number of occasions in the second half, found Mark Lovell, on the edge of the penalty area, in the 70th minute; Mark did well to touch the ball over the head of a defender, but then volleyed the ball high and wide. Then, in the 73rd minute, shortly after the first of the usual calls for “Wally” rang out from behind The Casuals’ goal, Paul Jones laid the ball off to Nick Barnes, whose shot, from outside the penalty area, went across the face of goal.
Well, Steve Lovell resisted the pleas to throw on Walid Matata, but, as early as the 74th minute, he felt secure enough with the two-goal lead to be able to make some substitutions, purely in the interests of giving the bench-warmers a run out. Initially, he sent on Anthony Hogg in place of Ryan Briggs, who had put in a good shift. Then, in the 77th minute, Tony Browne and Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes and Lee Hockey – Nicky Humphrey moved across to a central defensive position, with The Browne Dog filling in at right-back. In normal circumstances, such a set of substitutions, on the back of a two-goal lead and with almost a quarter of an hour remaining, would have been something of a gamble - but not on this occasion, such was Ashford’s level of comfort.
In the 81st minute, Brian Adamson made the sixth, and final, substitution of the game, putting on Carlton Murray-Price in place of Matt Smith.
This was my first sight of Anthony Hogg on the pitch. He’s tall for a midfield player, and strongly built, and it probably says something about his stature that he was entrusted with taking the free-kicks and corners as soon as he came on. In the 85th minute, however, it was Hoggy who was left in a heap on the ground after a late tackle, so Jimmy Bottle took the resulting free-kick, from near the left touchline. Jimmy’s long cross went beyond the far post, and, after a brief session of head tennis in the Corinthians’ penalty area, Colin Harris was able to gather the ball, one-handed. Hogg did supply the cross, from a corner in the 88th minute, which provided Ashford with a final chance to increase their lead, but Sean Ray, rising high above the Corinthians’ defence, headed wide.
So, for the second successive Saturday, Ashford collected the three points without having to come out of second gear. I’d like to think that, if Tooting & Mitcham, or Cray Wanderers, had turned up in a coach to play us in the second half, then the boys would have been able to raise their game, as required – but three points is three points, and I’m one veteran of recent relegation scraps who still doesn’t look three points in the mouth. With Dulwich Hamlet playing out a 1-1 draw at home to Dover Athletic this afternoon, our heroes are now twelve points shy of a play-off position, and still with the three games in hand. Is it just me, or does this indicate that promotion at the end of the season is by no means a forlorn hope ?
It is at least refreshing that we are looking ahead of us, instead of over our shoulder at the relegation situation. Our hosts, on the other hand, need to worry a bit. It was certainly a bad day for them in terms of results elsewhere, with Whitstable and Eastbourne Town both winning, and Walton Casuals and (even) Molesey getting a point; only Horsham YMCA, of their rivals at the bottom, suffered a defeat today. Worse than this, Corinthians looked a poor side – a team of boys, lacking a leader or a talisman on the pitch. I was certainly considerably more impressed with what I saw from the YMCA a few weeks ago – so Corinthian-Casuals might need to rely upon their traditional immunity from relegation once again this year.
A couple of other points. Firstly, it was good to see the Ashford players acknowledge the travelling supporters at the final whistle – this hasn’t always happened. Secondly, we were pleased to present Jimmy Bottle with his Man of the Match medal today – he won the penalty, scored himself and worked tremendously hard, and effectively, up and down the left flank this afternoon. Jimmy’s goal makes him our second-top scorer this season, with six goals, just one behind Walid Matata.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Bottle
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford went into this match with plenty of confidence. Steve Lovell is gradually building the squad that he wants, and there are definite signs that things are at last coming together. Bottom-of-the-table Molesey won’t have provided the sternest test of the team’s progress last Saturday, but the comfortable manner of the 3-0 victory must have instilled some belief, among players and fans alike. We’ve all been waiting patiently in Don & Tony’s space rocket, with seat belts securely fastened, for some time now. It seems like someone’s finally found some matches, so that we can prepare for launch.
The first stop on the rocket ride will, at some point, be promotion to the Ryman Premier. Is that still a realistic prospect for this season ? Well, it’s not out of the question. The team currently in the final play-off position is Dulwich Hamlet, 14 points ahead of us, but we have THREE games in hand. Manager Steve Lovell has certainly been quoted as saying that he’s focusing his players’ attention on a play-off position as a target for the remaining 18 games of the season.
If Ashford are going to succeed with a late run for a top-five position – we were 13th this morning – then the current little sequence of four games, all of which are against teams in the bottom six, is crucial. The games have a reassuring orderliness about them, beginning with Molesey (bottom) last week, Corinthian-Casuals (third-bottom) today, Eastbourne Town (fifth-bottom) on Tuesday and Walton Casuals (sixth-bottom) next Saturday. With only today’s game, of the four, away from home, and with three points already in the bag, Steve Lovell would surely be looking for at least ten points from this lot. But, to use a quaint Irish expression, there’s many a slip between cup and lip – or, as I once heard snooker commentator John Pullman say, “there’s many a slip between lup and kip” !
We’ve been getting used to seeing this afternoon’s opponents, Corinthian-Casuals, at this end of the table. They’ve finished in the bottom two for the past two seasons, but, due to clubs stepping down from the league, and the restructuring of the non-league pyramid, have escaped relegation on both occasions. It’s actually a standing joke, among the clubs newly-promoted to the league, that they just need to finish above Corinthians to survive, as the club never gets relegated ! It did, however, seem like Corinthians were making a far better fist of it this season, but a recent run of poor results has seen them plummet to a position just one place above the drop-zone. The Casuals are currently plumb-bottom of the six-game current form table, with just two points from those games, and with their previous game being a 0-5 home defeat to third-placed Cray Wanderers.
[ I’d like to make a brief disclaimer here. For the benefit of any pedantic Corinthian-Casuals supporters, I’ll point out that I’m aware of the correct name of your club, with its all-important hyphen, and that I understand that the club known as Corinthians plays, not in the Ryman League, but in Brazil – it’s just that I’m not going to use the full and correct term at every mention ! ]
I remember being quite disappointed when I first visited the King George Arena, in the 2005-6 season. I wasn’t expecting a big ground, but I did imagine that this world-famous old amateur club would have a ground with some character and a bit of grandeur, with maybe a quaint old wooden stand and a certain amount of Victoriana about it. Instead, I found a venue that was very low-rise and low-key – in fact, it’s all very 1970s, with the main feature being a long, corrugated stand, containing red plastic seats, just three deep. This gives a worm’s eye view of the pitch and the dug-outs on the far side. At each end, the narrow terracing is sheltered by a short stand.
King George’s is always a bugger to get to, being situated just off the A3, about ten minutes’ walk from Tolworth Station, and accessed via a pokey little road that runs parallel to the main A-road. What little parking there is at the ground is also a bit iffy. For anyone arriving in time, there might be a space on the compacted mud on the drive up to the single turnstile – otherwise, it’s the small, grassy field adjacent to the ground, (weather permitting). I sometimes wonder what they’ll do when they play Arsenal here in the Cup !
Although this description might seem like a bit of a moan, I’d still like to see Corinthian-Casuals on the roster for next season. We always get a friendly welcome here, and anyone with any feeling for non-league football cannot fail to admire this club for keeping the flag flying for genuine amateurism, since their players receive neither payment nor expenses for their services. Besides, it remains a club with a long and proud history, and this season Corinthian-Casuals FC celebrates its 125th anniversary. One of the events to mark this anniversary will be a friendly match against AFC Wimbledon at Wembley Stadium. Shouldn’t be any problems with the car parking there !
One thing that was immediately noticeable about the Corinthians side today was that they all looked very young. In fact, the only person on the pitch who looked younger than any of the home side’s starting eleven was the Referee. (This didn’t stop young Master Atkin from having an excellent game - he reffed the match with a calm authority, and it’s to his credit that he never had to resort to waving his yellow card about). I can’t tell you much else about The Casuals’ team today, except to say that they included some colourful names, to match their colourful strip – they started with a Daniel Green, a Byron Brown and a Luke Gay ! (I sometimes think that these things are sent to me as a gift !). In the fashion stakes, the famous pink & chocolate colour scheme is slightly different this season – the shirt is halved, with sleeves reversed – and the rose pink blended prettily with our lads’ daffodil yellow.
The Ashford Town team news was, as usual, that it was the usual line-up, both on the pitch and on the bench. The starting eleven, then, was Riley, Humphrey, Hockey, Ray (capt.), Brathwaite, Sherwood, Barnes, Briggs, Bottle, Jones and Lovell. Although there was no substitute goalie on the bench, there were the usual suspects: Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata, plus Anthony Hogg. Interesting that Steve Lovell is still starting with new signing Anthony Hogg on the bench – but, with the current team playing well and getting some good results, maybe it isn’t so surprising.
Today was the day when the thermal underwear made its seasonal debut, as it was forecast today to be decidedly parky; Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent donned her snowboarding trousers – we have a ski slope in MK, you know ! [ “Skiing” is actually one of our favourite pastimes – it stands for “Spending Kids’ Inheritence” ! ] As it turned out, it wasn’t as cold as expected, and, with the game being played in bright sunshine, beneath almost cloudless skies and with not enough of a breeze to make a significant difference to the play, conditions were set fair for a good game of football.
That wasn’t what was delivered, though, as this was by no means a classic. This was probably mostly due to the fact that the two teams were anything but evenly matched. The youthful appearance of The Casuals’ players was confirmed very early on, as it seemed to be men against boys all over the pitch. This was most obvious when Ashford pressed forward, with Paul Jones’s superior strength and pace enabling him to just about do as he pleased in terms of grabbing possession, holding the ball up and linking up with other players – although his shooting is still not quite A1 ! Our defence was also in full control for most of the game, and Sean Ray and Lee Hockey might have played in their slippers. Having said all that, Ashford took quite a long time to fully impose themselves on the opposition, with things not quite clicking for them in the first 20 minutes or so. Our boys looked marginally the more likely side to score, but the quality of delivery was poor in the final third of the pitch.
Although our hosts were limited to the one shot on target during this opening period – Lee Matthews’s long-range shot, in the third minute, was straight at Jamie Riley – Jamie was still the busier of the two ‘keepers, with a number of back-passes to deal with, and through-balls to intercept. The game was always fairly free-flowing, with few stoppages – well done, Mr Atkin, once again. The first set-piece situation of note came in the 24th minute, when Corinthian-Casuals had a free-kick near to the left corner of the penalty area. As with all Casuals’ free-kicks and corners on the left, full-back Matt Smith and Brown Byron stood over the ball, but this time it was Brown who took the kick, but he rather wasted it by curling his cross beyond the far post.
Two minutes later, Ashford showed their first sign of breaking through, when a long throw, on the left, from Lee Hockey was flicked on by the head of Paul Jones, finding Mark Lovell in the six-yard box – but Lovell was flagged off-side. Seconds later, a cross-field ball found Brown Byron, free on the left, just inside the Ashford penalty area – and this time there was no flag. Brown attempted a cross, but this was smothered by Nicky Humphrey, who came sliding in, putting the ball behind for a corner. There were appeals for hand-ball, but this would have been a very harsh penalty. Brown and Smith again worked the dead-ball situation between them, and funneled the ball back to Tyrone Myton, who arced over a deep cross, from a wider angle. Centre-half Richard Price got on the end of this, but the ball slid off his shaven head, and behind for a goal-kick.
Highlight of the half came in the 27th minute, with an injury to Casuals’ Dale Hennessey – but only because it was an excuse for Corinthains’ gorgeous blonde Physio, Loreen Woodward to come onto the pitch. (Woodward ? So would I !). She glided across the Tolworth turf, long, flaxen hair trailing in her wake. What a vision of beauty ! And we’ve got Mo Alvi !
One way in which we bettered our opponents today was in the number of fans behind the respective goals. Early on, with the official attendance being 104, the score was 0-11 to the visitors, and this progressed to 3-13 as the first half wore on, with the added bonus of a green & white “ATFC” flag draped over the perimeter fence.
Back to the footy, then, and Ashford had their first real sight of goal in the 34th minute. A Daniel Brathwaite throw-in, from the left, found Paul Jones, in the penalty area. Jonah took one touch, on his chest, and then turned, to create a clear shooting chance – but he blasted this well over. Two minutes later, Corinthians had an opportunity, at the other end, with a free-kick just outside the area, awarded for a foul on Tyrone Myton. Matt Smith was faced with a four-man wall, and hit his effort straight into this wall; his second attempt, from the rebound, was charged down.
There were often cries of “not good enough” and “let’s raise it” to be heard from both sets of players during the first half, and it appeared that a fairly flat opening 45 minutes would end all square at 0-0 – but Ashford effectively won the match with two goals before the interval. The first of these came in the 39th minute. Nicky Humphrey, who has done a tremendous job at right-back this season, had possession of the ball on the right. He chipped the ball into the centre, where Paul Jones flicked the ball on, finding Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy quickly transferred the ball onto his favoured left foot, and was upended by Matt Smith, who had come lungeing in, only to find that the ball wasn’t there when he arrived. The ref had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. It’s true that this was a rash challenge by the defender, but Jimmy deserves a lot of credit as well, as it was his quick feet that drew the foul. I was a little surprised that it was Mitchell Sherwood who stepped up to take the penalty, but presumably this was because Steve Lovell knows that he is good at taking them ! Mitch calmly slotted the ball, low, into the corner of the net, with goalkeeper Colin Harris diving in the other direction, to open his account for Ashford Town.
Our second goal came in the 45th minute, but not before Corinthians actually had a great chance to equalise, with what was to be by far their best opportunity of the match. For once, Sean Ray failed to deal with a long ball from the home defence, in the 43rd minute – he seemed to misjudge this one, letting it go across his body, and this error resulted in Hinga Amara being put clean through on goal. This was a classic one-on-one situation, in the finest OK Corale tradition, with Amara having eons of space and acres of time. Jamie Riley came out of his goal, positioned himself and waited, fingers twitching, for Amara to advance. Jamie hasn’t been over-worked during his time at Ashford, but, when he has been called upon to make important saves, he hasn’t let us down. On this occasion, he showed great reflexes to save, low, with his right hand. This was a great stop, and it effectively sealed his second consecutive clean sheet.
Corinthians had half a shout for a penalty, in the 44th minute, for a little push in the area, but this was not very convincing, and Ashford went 0-2 up, just a minute later. This was again a result of an error from this young defence, and this time the blame can be laid at the feet, or rather the hand, of the goalkeeper. A free-kick from near the right touchline resulted in a steepling cross, which Harris really should have dealt with without too much trouble. Instead, he just palmed the ball out to Jimmy Bottle, who put the ball into a half-empty net, from a distance of about 15 yards. Jimmy showed good technique here, as he had plenty to do with this – he waited for the ball to settle, and then lashed it in with his RIGHT foot.
The second half was very comfortable for Ashford. The home side did very little in the way of closing down, or pressurising the man in possession, and the boys were able to put their little passing movements together. Ryan Briggs, in particular, was quietly impressive in central midfield.
One slight surprise was that Paul Jones didn’t get onto the score-sheet this afternoon, given his obvious physical advantage over his marker, Richard Price – but he had a clear chance in the 49th minute. He showed great strength to shrug off Price, to latch onto a through-ball from Nick Barnes. This time it was Colin Harris’s turn to have the better of a one-on-one situation, doing well to come out and block Jonah’s effort.
In the 53rd minute, there was again chaos in the Corinthians’ defence, when Scott Hassell rather skied an attempted back-pass to his ‘keeper. This resulted in a 50-50 between Harris and Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy was the stronger, and the ball broke kindly for him, to give him what seemed to be an open goal, but Richard Price did well to intercept the ball on the line. The ensuing recriminations in the home defence betrayed a lack of confidence in one another, and a growing frustration.
In the 56th minute, Price did well again, robbing Paul Jones of the ball and advancing into the Ashford half; he then let fly with an audacious long-range shot, which wasn’t all that far off target, but it went high and wide. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson made a double-substitution, replacing Dale Hennessey and Hinga Amara with Sam-Yorke Delano (Slightly Silly Party) and Ayokunle Olusesi (ditto).
There were a few chances for Ashford to add to their two goals, but final passes and finishing remained pretty poor – so we didn’t really deserve to win by a wider margin, in spite of our dominance. In the 58th minute, Paul Jones again showed great physical strength to get to a long clearance from Nicky Humphrey ahead of the Corinthians’ defence. He advanced into the penalty area, but his attempted cross, looking for Jimmy Bottle, was blocked; the ball broke to Ryan Briggs, who hit his long-range shot wastefully high and wide. A long ball down the left touchline from Jimmy Bottle, in the 67th minute, found Paul Jones, who was duly fouled – but Ryan Briggs unerringly managed to find the head of a defender, with the free-kick. Daniel Brathwaite, who ventured forward on a number of occasions in the second half, found Mark Lovell, on the edge of the penalty area, in the 70th minute; Mark did well to touch the ball over the head of a defender, but then volleyed the ball high and wide. Then, in the 73rd minute, shortly after the first of the usual calls for “Wally” rang out from behind The Casuals’ goal, Paul Jones laid the ball off to Nick Barnes, whose shot, from outside the penalty area, went across the face of goal.
Well, Steve Lovell resisted the pleas to throw on Walid Matata, but, as early as the 74th minute, he felt secure enough with the two-goal lead to be able to make some substitutions, purely in the interests of giving the bench-warmers a run out. Initially, he sent on Anthony Hogg in place of Ryan Briggs, who had put in a good shift. Then, in the 77th minute, Tony Browne and Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes and Lee Hockey – Nicky Humphrey moved across to a central defensive position, with The Browne Dog filling in at right-back. In normal circumstances, such a set of substitutions, on the back of a two-goal lead and with almost a quarter of an hour remaining, would have been something of a gamble - but not on this occasion, such was Ashford’s level of comfort.
In the 81st minute, Brian Adamson made the sixth, and final, substitution of the game, putting on Carlton Murray-Price in place of Matt Smith.
This was my first sight of Anthony Hogg on the pitch. He’s tall for a midfield player, and strongly built, and it probably says something about his stature that he was entrusted with taking the free-kicks and corners as soon as he came on. In the 85th minute, however, it was Hoggy who was left in a heap on the ground after a late tackle, so Jimmy Bottle took the resulting free-kick, from near the left touchline. Jimmy’s long cross went beyond the far post, and, after a brief session of head tennis in the Corinthians’ penalty area, Colin Harris was able to gather the ball, one-handed. Hogg did supply the cross, from a corner in the 88th minute, which provided Ashford with a final chance to increase their lead, but Sean Ray, rising high above the Corinthians’ defence, headed wide.
So, for the second successive Saturday, Ashford collected the three points without having to come out of second gear. I’d like to think that, if Tooting & Mitcham, or Cray Wanderers, had turned up in a coach to play us in the second half, then the boys would have been able to raise their game, as required – but three points is three points, and I’m one veteran of recent relegation scraps who still doesn’t look three points in the mouth. With Dulwich Hamlet playing out a 1-1 draw at home to Dover Athletic this afternoon, our heroes are now twelve points shy of a play-off position, and still with the three games in hand. Is it just me, or does this indicate that promotion at the end of the season is by no means a forlorn hope ?
It is at least refreshing that we are looking ahead of us, instead of over our shoulder at the relegation situation. Our hosts, on the other hand, need to worry a bit. It was certainly a bad day for them in terms of results elsewhere, with Whitstable and Eastbourne Town both winning, and Walton Casuals and (even) Molesey getting a point; only Horsham YMCA, of their rivals at the bottom, suffered a defeat today. Worse than this, Corinthians looked a poor side – a team of boys, lacking a leader or a talisman on the pitch. I was certainly considerably more impressed with what I saw from the YMCA a few weeks ago – so Corinthian-Casuals might need to rely upon their traditional immunity from relegation once again this year.
A couple of other points. Firstly, it was good to see the Ashford players acknowledge the travelling supporters at the final whistle – this hasn’t always happened. Secondly, we were pleased to present Jimmy Bottle with his Man of the Match medal today – he won the penalty, scored himself and worked tremendously hard, and effectively, up and down the left flank this afternoon. Jimmy’s goal makes him our second-top scorer this season, with six goals, just one behind Walid Matata.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Bottle
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