Metropolitan Police 1 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The Fixtures Fairy was really kind to Ashford Town for this season. It’s not just the big game at home to Folkestone Invicta on the day after Boxing Day that he or she has given us – it’s a fixtures list that couldn’t have been more ideal if we’d picked it ourselves. Six pretty easy fixtures to start off with, to ease ourselves into the season, then, before the real tests against the division’s top teams, three rather more challenging games against teams who are likely to be around the outskirts of the play-offs come the end of the season: Dulwich Hamlet, Burgess Hill Town and today’s opponents, the Metropolitan Police.
I’ve long felt that results against these three would provide us with a benchmark of roughly where we are with this season’s team, and the fact that Ashford “only” managed a draw against the first two had given rise to the nagging doubt that the current squad is well short of being able to compete with the Kingstonians and the Cray Wandererses of our little pond - so a victory at Imber Court this afternoon was crucially important for morale. That certainly seemed to be the case as the Ashford players celebrated the win, with the dozen or so fans behind the Police goal, at the final whistle. They looked like players that realise that they haven’t quite made everything click yet, and that today’s win was an important step forward. It was certainly noticeable that the lads looked more impressive all round in the sixteen minutes during which they were in front today, and this 1-2 victory will have given them a lot of reassurance.
The performance itself ? Probably no better than “solid”, or “OK” – but this was certainly an excellent result, against a team that was previously unbeaten in the league, and at a venue where we rarely come away with much. In fact, this is my sixth match report against this opposition, and the first time that I’ve been able to report on a victory !
Imber Court is a unique venue among the Ryman Division One South grounds, being part of the Metropolitan Police’s Sports Club complex, in East Molesey, which also includes a swimming pool, a cricket pitch, a gymnasium and fitness centre, and various bars and function facilities. The footy ground within this campus is always immaculate, with a small number of blue, plastic seats in a main stand that is probably about medium-sized for this level. There is shallow, covered terracing for the whole width of the pitch at one end, with the other two sides of the rectangle open to the elements – and, with warm, sunny conditions prevailing for the duration of our visit, these were the places to be this afternoon.
As well as the weather being perfect, the pitch looked superb, with its broad, green stripes – and it was no surprise to see the Imber Court groundsman presented with an award for top groundsman in Ryman Division One South, before the start of the match.
So conditions were ideal, and the players of both teams did it justice, by playing quick, passing football, right from the off - but chances were very thin on the ground for the first quarter of an hour. Tony Browne tried a snap shot from outside the penalty area, in the eleventh minute, that was so high and wide of the target that it looked like he was aiming for the ‘plane that was taking off from Heathrow, in the background – and Scott Forrester was off target with a quick turn and shot, a minute later.
With opening honours fairly even, the first incident of note came in the 14th minute. Craig Carley – The Met’s ace goal-scorer last season, who was surprisingly quiet this afternoon – was unnecessarily late on Sean Ray, after Razor had cleared the ball upfield. What particularly incensed the Ashford skipper was that Referee Dave Bushell, a Uriah Rennie look-alike, was “ball watching”, and so completely missed the incident. Seconds later, as Ray and Carley both chased a ball that went out for a throw-in, Sean couldn’t resist levelling things up with a kick at the home side’s 2007-8 Player of the Season. There was no chance of the referee missing this one, so a card was inevitable – and it might well have been red, instead of yellow.
In the 16th minute, Ashford had their second corner of the game, after Gary Drewett headed a long cross behind, to safety. The corner was swung in, from the left, and diminutive goalkeeper Mo Maan (that’s not a typo) flapped and missed. The ball fell nicely for Daniel Brathwaite, in space, in the area, but his side-footed effort was blocked by one of several boys in blue on the goal-line.
After a pale glimmer of a chance for both teams – Scott Forrester’s first-time, hooked shot went straight into the hands of Jamie Riley, in the 18th minute, and Bradley Spice couldn’t quite get his head to a long, searching cross from Robbie Ryan, in the 22nd minute – Ashford had their best chance of the half, in the 23rd minute. Daniel Brathwaite took a free-kick on the left side of the pitch, just in front of the shaded main stand. Sean Ray managed to get completely free of his marker, but nodded the ball wide from about six yards out. Razor should probably have done better – and it’s a little surprising that he hasn’t got himself on the score-sheet yet, having scored three times last season, and a few more in pre-season friendlies.
Ray and Brathwaite were once again paired up in central defence, flanked by Dubliner Robbie Ryan on the left, and Jimmy Elford on the right. Jamie Riley retained his place in goal, after his Man of the Match performance on his return to the side at Burgess Hill on Tuesday. The midfield quartet, from right to left, was Tony Browne, Ryan Briggs, Danny Lye and Mitchell Sherwood, with Paul Jones and Bradley Spice spearheading a 4-4-2 formation. In fact, this was basically the same settled side that has been turning out since the 5-0 league victory at home to Leatherhead, four games ago – so, if the boys are under-performing a little at the moment, it’s not down to a lack of continuity.
On the substitutes’ bench were two players who had a run out in the Reserves’ 5-3 victory at home to Deal Reserves in mid-week: Lee Hockey and Andy Doerr. Charlie Glyde also played in that game, but was absent today – the others on the bench being Jimmy Bottle, Anthony Hogg and goalkeeper Josh Willis.
Young Josh was undoubtedly unfortunate to lose his place in the starting line-up, having kept two clean sheets in the three games in which he has played, but Steve Lovell probably had little choice but to stick with Riley, after his performance on Tuesday. After looking decidedly over-weight and lethargic during the defeat at Corinthian-Casuals, Jamie looked closer to being back to his best this afternoon – but there was just the one howler, in the 28th minute. He invariably appears to be unflustered when dealing with back-passes, but, on this occasion, he might have been a little too relaxed, when he side-footed the ball straight to Scott Forrester, who was closing him down. Time appeared to hold its breath as the two men stood alone, about three yards apart, in the middle of the Ashford penalty area. Forrester had little to aim at, and attempted to force the ball under Riley’s body, as the ‘keeper came to narrow the angle even further. This time the goalie won the duel, parrying the ball with his legs, before it lodged safely under his backside. (Somebody then unkindly suggested that it might take several minutes to find the ball – but this does no justice to Jamie’s efforts to regain full fitness).
In the 33rd minute, Bradley Spice, who mostly looked the part up front today, but without reward, won a free-kick, on the edge of the penalty area. Faced with a four-man wall – five, including Danny Lye – Bradley took the kick himself, but hit the ball straight into the thin blue line. Two minutes later, Sean Ray effected one of many defensive headers in the first half, and found Daniel Brathwaite, who began to bring the ball out of defence. Daniel had plenty of space ahead of him, and a number of options, but he inexplicably gave the ball straight to Rob George. Suddenly, a counter-attack was on, and the ball was spread out to the right. As a cross was whipped into the centre, Scott Forrester leapt high, meeting the ball on the run, and did everything possible to head the ball into the top corner of the net – but Jamie Riley made a brilliant, one-handed save.
Two minutes later, however, Riley was beaten, and had to be helped out by Jimmy Elford’s goal-line clearance. A corner on the right, which followed a Robbie Ryan block, was hit low, picking out Craig Carley, in the penalty area. Carley’s angled shot would have opened the scoring if Elford had not been stationed next to the far post.
Any space on the flanks that Ashford found in the first half tended to involve Tony Browne, on the right, but Mitchell Sherwood finally had a chance to run at The Met’s right-back, in the 40th minute. He fed the ball infield, to Bradley Spice, who immediately returned the pass, putting Mitch through on goal, just inside the penalty area, but the covering tackle was made, at the expense of a corner. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, with a high, looping delivery. Bradley Spice and Sean Ray converged on the ball at the far post, but the Lino, a John Cumberbatch look-alike with his designer dreadlocks, flagged for a foul. Sherwood had another chance to attack from the left, in the 43rd minute, and found Paul Jones, in a central position; Jonah tried a shot, aiming for the far corner of the net, but Maan made a good, diving save.
As news filtered through that Asa Hall, one of Ashford’s loan stars of the 2006-7 season, had scored for Luton Town, the Match Day Announcer announced that there would be a minimum of three minutes of added time at the end of the half. Referee Bushell blew for half-time after only two added minutes – the second time that such a nonsense has occurred this season – so the players trooped off with the score at 0-0. That was probably a true reflection of the first 45 minutes; it had been an even half between what looked to be two evenly-matched teams. Both goalkeepers had made one outstanding save, and both sides had squandered at least one clear-cut chance to score.
There was no going off to the bar at half time. Today was a day for sunbathing on the terrace, enjoying what’s left of a brief, and unexpected, Indian Summer – but it wasn’t long before the home side re-emerged to its traditional fanfare of “I fought the Law, and the Law won”.
Well, some doubt was cast on whether the Law was going to win on this particular occasion, when Ashford took the lead, in the 49th minute. As the ball was played into the Police Box, there was a short session of head tennis, before the ball found Ryan Briggs, just inside the penalty area. The ball was still at an awkward height, but Briggs still managed to direct a hooked shot on target. It looked as if Mo Maan had saved well once again, but he could do no more than palm the ball into the corner of the net.
Ashford’s lead, alas, lasted for no more than nine minutes, for, in the 58th minute, The Police equalised. Shortly after Paul Jones had become the second yellow-shirted player to be shown a yellow card – this time for persistent infringements, apparently – Craig Carley showed good strength to latch onto a clearance. His long-range shot was blocked by the legs of an Ashford defender, but the ball ran loose to Scott Forrester, who was free in the penalty area, to the left of goal. Forrester, whose five league goals at the start of the match were bettered only by Kingstonian’s Bobby Traynor, Godalming’s Kenny Ojukwa and our own Mitchell Sherwood, slotted the ball past Jamie Riley, for his sixth. The Ashford defence turned and looked towards John Cumberbatch, hoping for an off-side decision, but his flag stayed down and the goal was given.
On the hour mark, Bradley Spice spread the ball wide to Mitchell Sherwood, on the left. Mitch cut inside right-back Tommy Moorhouse, and sent in a low, right-footed shot, but this was straight at the ‘keeper, who made a comfortable save. In the 65th minute, shortly after The Met’s perennial Manager, Jim Cooper, had made the game’s first substitution, replacing James Greenaway with Stephen Goddard, Sherwood was off on a run again, this time crossing the field, from left to right. He eventually fed the ball through to Paul Jones, who, typically, showed great body strength, to maintain possession of the ball, in the home side’s penalty area. Battling his way to the by-line, he pulled the ball back to Bradley Spice, but a defender’s boot got there first. The action soon switched to the other end of the pitch, with Gary Drewett, this time, running into space, down the right wing. He was tracked all the way by the superb Robbie Ryan, who ended the sortie with an excellent tackle.
The game was now really beginning to open up, with Mitchell Sherwood, in particular, finding space down the left. A good Ashford move, in the 71st minute, ended with Tony Browne doing well to win a corner, on the left. There was a delay before Ryan Briggs could take the kick, whilst Police Captain Steve Sutherland received treatment, and Mo Maan did well to catch Briggo’s cross as it was swung in towards the near post, but managed to carry the ball over the line. Another corner, then, but the Ref blew for a foul on the ‘keeper, just as another Briggs cross was entering the six-yard box.
Steve Lovell made his only substitution of the match in the 78th minute – Andy Doerr replacing Bradley Spice, who had worked hard, and showed one or two good touches, but has only scored in one game so far this season, having appeared in all eleven to date. This substitution proved to be an inspired decision by the Ashford Manager, as Doerr was soon to score the winning goal, but first there was some defending to do. Danny Lye was penalised for a late tackle on Gary Drewett, in the 79th minute, and Steve Sargent – a great name for a Metropolitan Police regular – sent in a deep cross, from the right, but the dreadlocked head of Daniel Brathwaite put the ball out for a corner. Jamie Riley cleared the resulting cross, from the left, with a firm punch.
Ashford’s winner came in the 83rd minute, and stemmed from a free-kick awarded for Gary Drewett’s late tackle on Mitch Sherwood. This was taken by Robbie Ryan, from a position close to the left touchline, just inside the Police half. Robbie sent the ball low and hard to Andy Doerr, who was deep inside the penalty area, with his back to goal. In spite of being tightly marked, Andy managed to roll his marker, turn and hit the ball into the corner of the net with his left foot. This must have meant a lot to the lad, who, still only 23, is continiuing his recovery from a reportedly very nasty broken leg, which kept him on the sidelines for about a year. So far, he has been restricted to substitute appearances, but it’s good to see him emulate Ryan Briggs in this game, by getting himself off the mark for the season.
Looking a little further ahead, Doerr’s goal was good news for Steve Lovell in the context of him knowing that he’ll need to do without the services of Paul Jones up front, when the man who is very much the leader of the attack gets married in two weeks’ time. On that subject, soon after Ashford had taken the lead, Paul went down like a sack of spuds when he was hit in the second-worst place for a man who’s soon to be wed – he took the ball full in the face, but was OK after treatment.
Ashford managed to keep possession for the majority of the five minutes, plus two minutes of injury time, that remained, but there was still some defending to do. Danny Lye became the third Ashford player to receive a yellow card, when his “defending” was a little late, on Sam Robinson in central midfield, in the 87th minute. Then, a minute later, the Met Police almost scored. The in-form Scott Forrester got up well, on the far side of the penalty area, to head a long cross down and into the goalmouth. From my vantage point at half-way, it looked as if the ball had actually bounced along the goal line, but it was hoofed away to safety. Well into the second minute of injury time, Robbie Ryan rose to head away a long throw into the penalty area; the ball actually hit the top of the corner flag, so it was a toss-up as to whether it should be a throw-in or a corner, but John Cumberbatch flagged for a corner. Met ‘keeper Mo Maan went up for this, in spite of the fact that most players in the penalty area towered over him, but it was to no avail, and Ashford collected the three points.
With several of the other teams in our division playing in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup (dammit), this victory lifted Ashford up to sixth – but the exuberant celebration of the win by the boys in yellow and green said a lot more about how much they, as a squad, needed this boost to their confidence and belief.
There were more reasons to be cheerful when news came through from The Homelands that the Reserves had beaten Dover Reserves 3-0. Any victory against a Dover side is, of course, like nectar, but possibly more significant was the word that new signing Claude Senna, a striker, had played another blinder, on his second start for the Ressies. Having scored one, made two and had one disallowed against Deal Town Reserves in mid-week, Senna scored one and made two this afternoon, and is said to have looked extremely impressive. The expectation is that he’ll now go straight into the First Team squad for the home game against Chipstead, next Tuesday.
Senna’s arrival provides healthy competition for places up front, and, in truth, the addition of a class player is just what the team needs at the moment, to freshen things up, and to add a little bit of added momentum. Candidates for Man of the Match were the usual suspects, and I hardly need to mention them by name: Robbie Ryan, Ryan Briggs, Paul Jones, Sean Ray and Daniel Brathwaite all played well. I disagree with several observers who say that Daniel looks out of place in central defence, as he seemed to look the part today, and also has the pace to perform occasional full-back duties, and the skill to bring the ball out of defence and distribute the ball. There wasn’t much in it between the five, but Robbie Ryan just edged it on this occasion.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Robbie Ryan
Sunday 28 September 2008
Monday 15 September 2008
Kingstonian v Ashford Town. FA Cup First Qualifying Round. 14th of September 2008.
Kingstonian 3 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
History was made today, in as much a this was the first time I’ve been to a footy match on a Sunday. It meant that there was much rushing around in the morning, getting ready for church and everything – for the record, I prayed for a 2-2 draw, and then victory in the replay – but all in all it made a pleasant change. The reason for the change to the week-end routine was that Kingstonian’s landlords, AFC Wimbledon, had a home fixture on the Saturday, so the Ks got second knockings. There was a crowd of 3,039 to see The (new) Dons, (not to be confused with the former FA Cup winners who now play in Bletchley, Milton Keynes), beat Maidenhead United 3-1 in the Conference South. Today’s attendance of 401, Kingstonian’s best so far this season, hardly compares with that, but the fact that this figure was boosted considerably by two minibus loads of Ashford Town supporters made for a good atmosphere. I can’t remember the last time the Supporters’ Club organised transport for an away match, but let’s hope it’s not the last time.
Always a pleasure to come to Kingsmeadow – a proper, Conference-standard football ground, with plenty of good parking, a main stand that provides covered, seated accommodation along the full length of the pitch on one side, and an immaculate, bowling green-style pitch. A timely reminder, of course, that Kingstonian were in the Conference proper just a few years ago, so are a very big fish at this level. The glory days of winning the FA Trophy two seasons running, (in 1999 and 2000), before making it to the FOURTH Round of the FA Cup in 2001, must seem a long way away now. In those days, Kingsmeadow was theirs, but now they are tenants to their former lodgers. It must be fairly galling to have to sleep in the box room, whilst young, upwardly-mobile Roger not only sleeps with your wife, but also uses your home as a base whilst pursuing his thriving career.
Kingstonian certainly seem to be in the process of launching a serious push for promotion this year. Having finished seventh last season, (one place above Ashford), they currently lie second in Ryman Division One South, (with Ashford fifth), and are unbeaten, after six games. Given that Ashford had had a fairly easy set of fixtures up to this point, there are some who will have regarded this as one of the first trials of strength between two teams who look certain to be fighting it out for promotion this season. Personally, I regarded this as being no more than a side issue – for this is the FA Cup. THE Cup, and the only thing that really mattered was which of the two teams would make it through to the Second Qualifying Round draw.
Everything was set fair today for great cup-tie. A lovely, sunny September afternoon, and two apparently evenly-matched sides. The Ashford players must certainly have been full of confidence - and the crowd of green-clad fans, outside the bar in the sunshine before the game, full of optimism – coming off a 5-0 demolition of Leatherhead on Tuesday. Manager Steve Lovell also had virtually a full squad of fit players to choose from, so he was able to select the team that was successful in midweek. Josh Willis retained his place in goal, with a back four of Jimmy Elford, Sean Ray, Daniel Brathwaite and Robbie Ryan. Danny Lye again partnered Ryan Briggs in central midfield, with Mitchell Sherwood and Tony Browne on either side, whilst Paul Jones and Bradley Spice were up front, in a 4-4-2 formation. As it’s the FA Cup, both sides were mob-handed with seven subs each; for Ashford there were Jamie Riley, Lee Hockey, Charlie Glyde, James Humphreys, Andy Doerr, Jimmy Bottle and Anthony Hogg.
So this was virtually the whole of Ashford’s first team squad on parade today – the one, notable exception being Mark Lovell, who was hobbling around Kingsmeadow today on crutches, and with a heavily-bound knee. The news from Mark was that he has an appointment in October for a scan. He was cheerfully optimistic, but it sounds like it’ll be several weeks yet before he’s back pushing for a place in the team.
Two items of note in the Kingstonian line-up, the first being the presence of danger man Bobby Traynor up front – but also, on the beverages menu, they had Jon Coke at No.2 and Jamie Beer at No.7. (You just couldn’t make it up, could you ?).
Ashford certainly started this cup tie on the front foot; we dominated for the first ten minutes, and just about shaded the first half, both territorially and in terms of possession. In the second minute, Paul Jones, inside the Ks’ penalty area, with his back to goal, accepted a throw-in from Tony Browne; he laid the ball back to Jimmy Elford, but the full-back disappointingly curled his shot over the bar. Then in the fifth minute, Danny Lye was given enough time and space, on the edge of the area, in which to control the ball on his chest, turn and shoot, but this effort also sailed over the bar.
Daniel Brathwaite looked like he’d been playing in central defence all his life this afternoon, and he also showed glimpses of his passing ability. In the eighth minute, he sent a superb, diagonal pass out to the left, to Mitchell Sherwood, but, after Mitch’s cross into the area, the ball refused to settle for a yellow-shirted striker. Ashford tried again, from the left, and Robbie Ryan’s cross almost found Tony Browne, on the right side of the penalty area, but The Brown Dog was just beaten to it by a defender. This resulted in a corner, on the left, but this was cleared – as were two throw-ins from the left flank – so this early period of dominance failed to deliver a goal.
Ashford, playing in yellow & green in the style of Norwich City (and Godalming Town), were very unlucky, in the eleventh minute, not to be awarded a free-kick just inside the Ks’ penalty area, when ‘keeper Luke Garrard inexplicably picked up a backpass, with Bradley Spice bearing down on him. The reaction from Spice and the Ashford bench was one of utter disbelief as both Referee John Rowbury and the Lino failed to spot the obvious hand-ball. Spice and Jones both worked tremendously hard up front today, and Bradley did well to win a corner, on the right, in the 15th minute. This was swung in, towards the far post, by Ryan Briggs, but Kingstonian’s tall striker, Carl Wilson-Denis, got his head to the ball first.
The visitors had plenty of opportunities to get the ball into the danger area from free-kicks today. In the 18th minute, Max Hustwick was penalised for holding Paul Jones, and Jimmy Elford, from about five yards inside the Ks’ half, floated the ball long, towards Sean Ray, but Razor’s header went well over the bar. Two minutes later, Nick Rundell clattered Tony Browne late, having arrived second when challenging for the ball in the air. This provided Ryan Briggs with the opportunity to put in a cross from a dangerous position, but he hit the ball straight into the defensive wall.
In the 21st minute, it was Briggo’s turn to commit a foul, on slippery left-winger Dean Lodge. Tommy Williams’s free-kick, from the left, was cleared, but Lodge was soon on the ball again, when the play was spread out to him near the left touchline. He cut inside Jimmy Elford, moving swiftly infield, and let fly with a firm, right-footed shot, but this went just a couple of feet over the bar. A minute later, Tony Browne got a public rollicking from Ryan Briggs when his rather careless pass to him went astray, and presented Simon Huckle with the gift of possession, but the Kingstonian midfielder pulled his first-time shot horribly wide.
The play was much more end-to-end now, and, in the 25th minute, Kingstonian, wearing black shorts and sockies with their famous red & white hooped shirts, had a throw-in on the right, deep inside the Ashford half. The ball again failed to settle for the attacking side, and, after a brief scramble, ran through to Josh Willis. In the 27th minute, Danny Lye was late on Simon Huckle, in central midfield, but the free-kick delivered by Nick Rundell went all the way through the Ashford area, for a goal-kick.
Kingstonian’s opening goal, in the 28th minute, came from their first clear-cut chance, but it was an extremely well crafted goal, and beautifully finished, so nobody in the visitors’ camp could have any complaints. Carl Wilson-Denis created space for himself on the right, after playing an excellent one-two with Bobby Traynor, and Tommy Williams rose well to head his cross into the far corner of the net.
Nineteen year-old Josh Willis had little chance with the goal, but, in spite of making some good saves today, there were occasions when he looked a shade vulnerable – not least when there were signs that he is yet to establish an understanding with some of the defenders in front of him. One such occasion came in the 31st minute. Daniel Brathwaite, quite rightly, allowed the ball to run to Willis, who had clearly called for him to do so, but Jamie Beer nipped in with an interception. As Beer caught up with the ball near the by-line, he had evidently clipped Josh on the way through, as the ‘keeper was curled up, holding his head, on the edge of the area. It didn’t suit some partisan Kingstonians behind the goal, but the referee had no choice but to halt the game.
There were even more complaints after the ref restarted the game by dropping the ball at Sean Ray’s feet and Razor kicked for touch, Rugby Union style, deep into the Ks’ half of the field. Nevertheless, the home side was immediately back on the attack, and won a corner, on the right, in the 33rd minute – their first corner of the game. This was taken by Tommy Williams, who pulled the ball back to Bobby Traynor, near the corner of the penalty area. Traynor, currently the leading scorer in Ryman Division One South, with seven goals, chipped the ball in towards the far post, and there was again a hint of confusion, as Jimmy Elford headed the ball off the line, a split-second before Josh Willis could punch clear.
In the 35th minute, Bradley Spice won a corner, on the right. With the big centre-backs up for the cross, it was full-backs Jimmy Elford and Robbie Ryan who were left on the half-way line, watching the back door. As Ryan Briggs’s corner was cleared, the ball was picked up by the pacy and skilful Dean Lodge. The winger carried the ball almost to the edge of the Ashford penalty area, but he was shadowed all the time by Robbie Ryan, who eventually snuffed out the break with a good tackle. A minute later, it was Mitch Sherwood, back defending, who blocked an attempted cross, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross, from the right, was sent in deep, beyond the far post, where Sean Ray headed behind for another corner, this time on the left. Not for the only time this afternoon, there was a sense that the home side was trying to test Ashford’s young ‘keeper, as Simon Huckle curled the ball right underneath Josh Willis’s crossbar, but Josh came through the test on this occasion, and punched clear. As Dean Lodge picked the ball up on the right wing, Bradley Spice was penalised for a slightly over-enthusiastic tackle, clearly taking the man first. This time, it was Robbie Ryan who was there to head clear the resulting, in-swinging cross.
Ashford were, by this time, not launching attacks with the regularity they had done early in the half, but Mitchell Sherwood, whose golden start to the season has brought him seven goals in as many matches, had the visitors’ best chance of the game in the 38th minute. Paul Jones, who had himself scored four in the previous four matches, picked up a clearance from defence, and showed all his strength and experience to hold the ball up down the right flank. He eventually pulled the ball back to Tony Browne, whose chip to the far post found Sherwood virtually unmarked, but Mitch planted his header straight into the arms of Luke Garrard. Three minutes later, the ex-Sittingbourne man had another opportunity, when Jimmy Elford fed the ball through to him, in the inside-right position. Mitchell showed that his confidence is high at the moment, when he turned towards goal and struck the ball hard, from a fairly acute angle, but Garrard did well, at his near post, to beat the ball behind for a corner. The ‘keeper did well again when he cleared Ryan Briggs’s corner with a good punch.
At the other end, Dean Lodge broke down the left wing, but his attempted cross was cut out by Jimmy Elford, giving Kingstonian a corner. This was sent long, beyond the far post, and Sean Ray was there to head clear. The ball fell to Bradley Spice, but the momentary chance of a quick counter-attack was ended by a foul by Lodge.
With a minute remaining before the break, a good turn and cross by Bradley Spice sent the ball curling behind the home side’s defence, and it required a hurried, hoiked clearance, for a corner, to save the situation. As the corner, from the left, was swung into the penalty area, there were some appeals for a penalty for hand-ball, but this never looked like being given, and Kingstonian went into the interval 1-0 up. So the game had so far lived up to pre-match expectations of being a closely-fought cup-tie between two evenly-matched teams.
Ashford had a chance to hit back just three minutes into the second half, when the ball broke to Tony Browne, on the right side of the Ks’ penalty area, but Brown Dog lashed his shot into the top of the side-netting. I couldn’t see how close it was, from my viewing angle, but there were several Ashford players with their hands on their head. Two minutes later, seconds after Referee Rowbury had missed a transparently obvious double hand-ball by Paul Jones, Bradley Spice had a shot deflected behind for a corner, on the right. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but Luke Garrard again showed his quality, with a sound catch.
Kingstonian’s Carl Wilson-Denis spoilt what was otherwise a very satisfactory day out for him by getting himself a yellow card, for showing heated dissent at the Lino, simply because a throw-in decision went against him. Nevertheless, this was probably soon forgotten, as Kingstonian put the cup-tie to bed with two goals in four minutes – and it was Carl Three Names who got the first of these. Again, this was a well-made goal. A good ball inside the right full-back by Bobby Traynor, in the 53rd minute, sent Dean Lodge into the Ashford penalty area. After an unnecessary step-over, Lodge sent in a short cross to Wilson-Denis, in the centre, who tucked the ball in, from close range.
A minute later, still urged on by the sizable and vocal mob of travelling supporters, Ashford had a good situation, just outside the Kingstonian area, after Adam Thompson had fouled Paul Jones. Ryan Briggs crossed the free-kick in, from the left, and Daniel Brathwaite stooped low, to direct a looping header on target, but this went straight to Luke Garrard. Almost immediately, play switched to the other end, and Dean Lodge, beavering away, burst into the Ashford area from the left wing, but then seemed to be caught in two minds as he appeared to pass the ball out for a goal-kick.
The decisive, third goal came in the 56th minute. A Simon Huckle shot was deflected wide for a corner, on the left, off Daniel Brathwaite. Once again, it was time to test the young goalie, as the ball was swung into the goal mouth. Up went centre-half Max Hustwick, and, with a glancing header, planted the ball in the net, from no distance at all.
So that’s how a competitive game of football soon became a procession. Heads didn’t go down on the Ashford side, and the day-trippers behind the goal didn’t err in their support and encouragement, but it was just a little disappointing how soon the team seemed to run out of ideas – and it was then more likely that the home side would extend the lead, than it was for Ashford to close the gap. In the 58th minute, it was that man Dean Lodge who provided the danger once again; picking the ball up as it was spread out wide to the left, he got to the by-line, and crossed the ball from a tight angle. Josh Willis cut out the cross with a diving interception, and then pounced on the ball as it rolled gently towards the feet of Sean Ray.
A minute later, a turn and a hoiked shot by Bradley Spice went wide. Soon after, Ryan Briggs picked out Paul Jones with a cross-field pass. Jonah took the ball on his chest, and carried the ball to a central position. One thing I’ve noticed about Paul Jones is that, when he’s battled away without success for about an hour or so, he’s inclined to take the attitude that he’ll bloody well do the job on his own, and it seemed obvious that he was looking for a shot at goal on this occasion. He’d made it almost to the edge of the penalty area when he struck the ball, but his effort went across the face of goal, and wide of the far post.
It was Kingstonian Manager Alan Dowson who was first to make a substitution; he put Jon Neal on in place of Carl Wilson-Denis – a striker for a striker – just after the hour mark, and it wasn’t long before the Ks were on the attack again. The ball was spread wide to Jon Coke, on the right, in the 62nd minute. Coke had the bottle to take on Mitchell Sherwood, and went around Mitch before delivering a good cross. Three Kingstonian players converged on the ball and had a go at getting a touch, before Tony Browne hooked the ball clear. A minute later, Josh Willis had to be alert as an attempted shot, from just outside the area, was completely miscued, and spiralled, spinning, into the air. The ball really could have gone anywhere, but it went precisely where Josh didn’t want it to go – just behind the defence, and about to drop onto the six-yard line, before the ‘keeper came out to punch it clear.
There was a nasty-looking incident in the 64th minute, when Daniel Brathwaite – hair like Whoopi Goldberg, face of an angel – went down with a yell, clutching his face. After some treatment, Daniel was OK to continue, but it did give all of the players the opportunity for a drinks break, on what was still a warm, sunny afternoon - as Jimmy Bottle warmed up on the touchline.
Jimmy had to wait for his chance to make a difference, however, as Steve Lovell persisted with his starting eleven. Ashford’s next chance came in the 67th minute. A free-kick awarded for a foul on Robbie Ryan, for not very much, it seemed, gave Daniel Brathwaite the opportunity to cross the ball from the left. He delivered the ball to beyond the far post, where Sean Ray, who is yet to get himself on the scoresheet this season, got up well, and headed the ball down at the feet of Luke Garrard. This might have been an awkward moment for a lesser ‘keeper, but Garrad was untroubled, and got down to it well. Two minutes later, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice tried to link up, but Adam Thompson came across to cover. Soon after, a Jimmy Elford cross was met by the head of Danny Lye, in the centre, but Danny’s effort went well wide. Ashford put a good passing move together in the 71st minute. This ended with Robbie Ryan putting in a measured cross, from near the left touchline, towards the far post. It was again Danny Lye who got up to meet the cross, but his downward header went wide of the post.
So plenty of forward momentum from the visitors, and no shortage of effort, as the players reacted to the encouragement from the supporters, and the supporters responded to the players, but Luke Garrard and the Kingstonian defence were barely troubled. It’s not absolutely true to say that Ashford had run out of ideas – in fact, Steve Lovell had quite a big idea, in the 71st minute, although it smacked a little of desperation, in the context of a 3-0 scoreline. He took off Bradley Spice, sent big Sean Ray up to join the attack, replacing him with Lee Hockey, took right-back Jimmy Elford off, leaving a three-man back line, pushed Mitchell Sherwood forward to join Paul Jones and Razor, and put Jimmy Bottle on, down the left. If you’ve been following all this, you’ll realise that Steve’s final throw of the dice was to revert to a 3-4-3 formation, with Sean Ray’s role up front a rather obvious one. In fact, it was probably a little too obvious, and failed to make an impact on the game. Ray won his fair share of aerial challenges, but the key, obviously, was for him to provide knock-downs for the other two strikers, and this failed to materialise.
Jimmy Bottle, however, was straight into the action, off on a run down the left wing, in the 72nd minute. He managed to get a cross in, but this was headed behind for a corner, on the left. This was also cleared, but only as far as Mitch Sherwood, who was some way outside the penalty area. The way things have been going for Mitch lately, it would have been no surprise to see the ball fly into the top corner of the net from his right boot, but, although he struck it sweetly, like a man in form, his effort went just over the bar.
Kingstonian made their second substitution – Dean Lodge, their best player this afternoon, being replaced by Phil Williams – in the 73rd minute, as Ashford continued to press forward. With 15 minutes remaining, Mitch Sherwood fed the ball forward to Paul Jones, just inside the Ks’ area. Jonah went down under pressure from two defenders, but there was little chance of a penalty being awarded.
There was some confusion when Steve Lovell made his final substitution, in the 78th minute. The idea was to bring off No.7 Tony Browne, and send on Andy Doerr, wearing the No.18 shirt, but the absence of a No.18 number board meant that numbers 1, 8 and 7 were held up. This caused No.8 Danny Lye to come across to the touchline, thinking he’d been summoned – but it was soon sorted out, and Andy Doerr entered the fray for his usual cameo appearance. This is the fourth time that Andy, still on the road to recovery after a serious injury, has come on as a sub this season, and his longest stint has been one of 17 minutes – although he did get 90 minutes under his belt for the Ressies in midweek.
A minute later, Kingstonian completed the comings and goings by replacing Tommy Williams with Neil Lampton. Either side of this substitution, Ashford had two, almost identical, attempts at making the Sean Ray Plan work. On both occasions, Daniel Brathwaite launched a long ball from about the half-way line, looking for the skipper’s head, in the vicinity of the far post, but neither effort produced the desired result.
Of course, the downside to being adventurous with a 3-4-3 line-up is the possibility of being exposed at the back, and today’s victors had several chances to increase their lead, (although this would, by common consent, have flattered them). With fully ten minutes remaining, two of the Ks’ substitutes, Phil Williams and Neil Lampton, combined in a counter-attack, against Ashford’s back three. This ended with Lampton chipping the ball towards the far post, but the cross-cum-shot went just wide.
Soon after, there was another despairing solo effort from Paul Jones. Picking the ball up just inside the Kingstonian half, he turned and carried it forward, through the midfield area. He tried a low, long-range shot, but Garrard made a comfortable save, going down to his right. In the 82nd minute, Lee Hockey took a long throw, on the right – no doubt the introduction of this additional weapon was part of Steve’s big idea for Plan B – and this was headed behind by Nick Rundell, for a corner. Unfortunately, Ryan Briggs wasted this opportunity when he failed to beat the first defender. A minute later, the fresh legs of Phil Williams took him on a run down the left wing, and he won a corner on that side – but the resulting cross came off centre-half Max Hustwick, for a goal-kick.
Danny Lye picked up a needless yellow card, with five minutes remaining, when he was rather late in making an aerial challenge – but the booking was clearly for the accumulation of infringements, rather than for any malicious intent.
By this time, the sun, which had shone for most of the afternoon, had sunk behind thin cloud, but Ashford continued to have the majority of possession. When Kingstonian did get the ball back, however, star man Bobby Traynor, who had been very quiet for 87 minutes, reminded us all of his presence with what would have been an excellent goal. The Ks relieved some pressure with an up & under into the Ashford half. Traynor chased after this, and caught up with the ball just outside the Ashford penalty area. With a defender at his back, he turned and his looping shot hit the base of the far post, with Josh Willis beaten.
At the other end, Andy Doerr did manage an attempt at goal, a couple of minutes before the end of normal time; breaking through a tackle, he aimed a shot from well outside the area, but the ball swerved away, high and wide.
As this was an FA Cup tie, we were deprived of an announcement of how many minutes of injury time were to be played. In the event, Mr Rowbury added on three and a half minutes, and this only served to provide the home team with further opportunities to extend their already unassailable lead – (not that they could resist the temptation to run the clock down by keeping possession of the ball by the corner flag !). In the 91st minute, Phil Williams bore down on Lee Hockey, who stood his ground on the edge of the penalty area. Williams slipped the ball past Lee, who, predictably, tripped his man. It was almost as predictable that he got a yellow card for his troubles. The free-kick was hit with plenty of pace and venom, beating the yellow & green defensive wall, but Josh Willis did well to beat the ball away.
As a final chorus of “Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts” resonated in the Malden air, with 93 minutes on my watch, a shot by Jon Neal was blocked by Daniel Brathwaite, inside the Ashford penalty area. The ball fell to Bobby Traynor, whose snap shot was well saved by Josh Willis, who certainly played his part in keeping the goal total down to three.
The match ended with a brief flurry of Kingstonian corners, and a 3-0 scoreline that few people could really argue with. The home side had had this game wrapped up before the hour mark, with three beautifully-taken goals, and they will be the ones watching the usual web-sites for the cup draw around about lunch-time on Monday.
This was a very disappointing anti-climax for the bus loads of travelling supporters – who were rightly applauded by some of the players at the final whistle – as this is another “cup run” that has fizzled out prematurely. To return to the earlier theme about this game being seen as an early trial of strength between two promotion hopefuls, it is, of course, difficult not to compare ourselves with today’s opponents. Obviously, Kingstonian are a very good side, who must be one of the contenders for the championship this season. It’s hard to escape that fact that they brushed a virtually full-strength Ashford Town aside fairly comfortably this afternoon, but I don’t think we’re as far behind them as the bare result suggests. We looked to be a good, cohesive unit, with good players all over the pitch, who were comfortable on the ball, but it’s a little worrying that we barely threatened to break through the Ks’ defence, after having at least as much possession as the winning side.
The decision for MK Man of the Match was not an easy one – nobody had an outstanding game, and, equally, nobody can be blamed for having had a stinker. The nod went to Daniel Brathwaite, who just about looked our best player this afternoon, in spite of being blamed in some quarters for Kingstonian’s first goal. Strangely, his main rivals for the award, in a 3-0 defeat, were defenders Sean Ray and the flawless Robbie Ryan, neither of whom appeared to do a great deal wrong. A mention should also be given to the two strikers, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice, who both worked extremely hard – particularly the uncomplaining Jones, who at times appeared to be carrying the yoke on his own, not getting the support he deserves from his team-mates.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Daniel Brathwaite
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
History was made today, in as much a this was the first time I’ve been to a footy match on a Sunday. It meant that there was much rushing around in the morning, getting ready for church and everything – for the record, I prayed for a 2-2 draw, and then victory in the replay – but all in all it made a pleasant change. The reason for the change to the week-end routine was that Kingstonian’s landlords, AFC Wimbledon, had a home fixture on the Saturday, so the Ks got second knockings. There was a crowd of 3,039 to see The (new) Dons, (not to be confused with the former FA Cup winners who now play in Bletchley, Milton Keynes), beat Maidenhead United 3-1 in the Conference South. Today’s attendance of 401, Kingstonian’s best so far this season, hardly compares with that, but the fact that this figure was boosted considerably by two minibus loads of Ashford Town supporters made for a good atmosphere. I can’t remember the last time the Supporters’ Club organised transport for an away match, but let’s hope it’s not the last time.
Always a pleasure to come to Kingsmeadow – a proper, Conference-standard football ground, with plenty of good parking, a main stand that provides covered, seated accommodation along the full length of the pitch on one side, and an immaculate, bowling green-style pitch. A timely reminder, of course, that Kingstonian were in the Conference proper just a few years ago, so are a very big fish at this level. The glory days of winning the FA Trophy two seasons running, (in 1999 and 2000), before making it to the FOURTH Round of the FA Cup in 2001, must seem a long way away now. In those days, Kingsmeadow was theirs, but now they are tenants to their former lodgers. It must be fairly galling to have to sleep in the box room, whilst young, upwardly-mobile Roger not only sleeps with your wife, but also uses your home as a base whilst pursuing his thriving career.
Kingstonian certainly seem to be in the process of launching a serious push for promotion this year. Having finished seventh last season, (one place above Ashford), they currently lie second in Ryman Division One South, (with Ashford fifth), and are unbeaten, after six games. Given that Ashford had had a fairly easy set of fixtures up to this point, there are some who will have regarded this as one of the first trials of strength between two teams who look certain to be fighting it out for promotion this season. Personally, I regarded this as being no more than a side issue – for this is the FA Cup. THE Cup, and the only thing that really mattered was which of the two teams would make it through to the Second Qualifying Round draw.
Everything was set fair today for great cup-tie. A lovely, sunny September afternoon, and two apparently evenly-matched sides. The Ashford players must certainly have been full of confidence - and the crowd of green-clad fans, outside the bar in the sunshine before the game, full of optimism – coming off a 5-0 demolition of Leatherhead on Tuesday. Manager Steve Lovell also had virtually a full squad of fit players to choose from, so he was able to select the team that was successful in midweek. Josh Willis retained his place in goal, with a back four of Jimmy Elford, Sean Ray, Daniel Brathwaite and Robbie Ryan. Danny Lye again partnered Ryan Briggs in central midfield, with Mitchell Sherwood and Tony Browne on either side, whilst Paul Jones and Bradley Spice were up front, in a 4-4-2 formation. As it’s the FA Cup, both sides were mob-handed with seven subs each; for Ashford there were Jamie Riley, Lee Hockey, Charlie Glyde, James Humphreys, Andy Doerr, Jimmy Bottle and Anthony Hogg.
So this was virtually the whole of Ashford’s first team squad on parade today – the one, notable exception being Mark Lovell, who was hobbling around Kingsmeadow today on crutches, and with a heavily-bound knee. The news from Mark was that he has an appointment in October for a scan. He was cheerfully optimistic, but it sounds like it’ll be several weeks yet before he’s back pushing for a place in the team.
Two items of note in the Kingstonian line-up, the first being the presence of danger man Bobby Traynor up front – but also, on the beverages menu, they had Jon Coke at No.2 and Jamie Beer at No.7. (You just couldn’t make it up, could you ?).
Ashford certainly started this cup tie on the front foot; we dominated for the first ten minutes, and just about shaded the first half, both territorially and in terms of possession. In the second minute, Paul Jones, inside the Ks’ penalty area, with his back to goal, accepted a throw-in from Tony Browne; he laid the ball back to Jimmy Elford, but the full-back disappointingly curled his shot over the bar. Then in the fifth minute, Danny Lye was given enough time and space, on the edge of the area, in which to control the ball on his chest, turn and shoot, but this effort also sailed over the bar.
Daniel Brathwaite looked like he’d been playing in central defence all his life this afternoon, and he also showed glimpses of his passing ability. In the eighth minute, he sent a superb, diagonal pass out to the left, to Mitchell Sherwood, but, after Mitch’s cross into the area, the ball refused to settle for a yellow-shirted striker. Ashford tried again, from the left, and Robbie Ryan’s cross almost found Tony Browne, on the right side of the penalty area, but The Brown Dog was just beaten to it by a defender. This resulted in a corner, on the left, but this was cleared – as were two throw-ins from the left flank – so this early period of dominance failed to deliver a goal.
Ashford, playing in yellow & green in the style of Norwich City (and Godalming Town), were very unlucky, in the eleventh minute, not to be awarded a free-kick just inside the Ks’ penalty area, when ‘keeper Luke Garrard inexplicably picked up a backpass, with Bradley Spice bearing down on him. The reaction from Spice and the Ashford bench was one of utter disbelief as both Referee John Rowbury and the Lino failed to spot the obvious hand-ball. Spice and Jones both worked tremendously hard up front today, and Bradley did well to win a corner, on the right, in the 15th minute. This was swung in, towards the far post, by Ryan Briggs, but Kingstonian’s tall striker, Carl Wilson-Denis, got his head to the ball first.
The visitors had plenty of opportunities to get the ball into the danger area from free-kicks today. In the 18th minute, Max Hustwick was penalised for holding Paul Jones, and Jimmy Elford, from about five yards inside the Ks’ half, floated the ball long, towards Sean Ray, but Razor’s header went well over the bar. Two minutes later, Nick Rundell clattered Tony Browne late, having arrived second when challenging for the ball in the air. This provided Ryan Briggs with the opportunity to put in a cross from a dangerous position, but he hit the ball straight into the defensive wall.
In the 21st minute, it was Briggo’s turn to commit a foul, on slippery left-winger Dean Lodge. Tommy Williams’s free-kick, from the left, was cleared, but Lodge was soon on the ball again, when the play was spread out to him near the left touchline. He cut inside Jimmy Elford, moving swiftly infield, and let fly with a firm, right-footed shot, but this went just a couple of feet over the bar. A minute later, Tony Browne got a public rollicking from Ryan Briggs when his rather careless pass to him went astray, and presented Simon Huckle with the gift of possession, but the Kingstonian midfielder pulled his first-time shot horribly wide.
The play was much more end-to-end now, and, in the 25th minute, Kingstonian, wearing black shorts and sockies with their famous red & white hooped shirts, had a throw-in on the right, deep inside the Ashford half. The ball again failed to settle for the attacking side, and, after a brief scramble, ran through to Josh Willis. In the 27th minute, Danny Lye was late on Simon Huckle, in central midfield, but the free-kick delivered by Nick Rundell went all the way through the Ashford area, for a goal-kick.
Kingstonian’s opening goal, in the 28th minute, came from their first clear-cut chance, but it was an extremely well crafted goal, and beautifully finished, so nobody in the visitors’ camp could have any complaints. Carl Wilson-Denis created space for himself on the right, after playing an excellent one-two with Bobby Traynor, and Tommy Williams rose well to head his cross into the far corner of the net.
Nineteen year-old Josh Willis had little chance with the goal, but, in spite of making some good saves today, there were occasions when he looked a shade vulnerable – not least when there were signs that he is yet to establish an understanding with some of the defenders in front of him. One such occasion came in the 31st minute. Daniel Brathwaite, quite rightly, allowed the ball to run to Willis, who had clearly called for him to do so, but Jamie Beer nipped in with an interception. As Beer caught up with the ball near the by-line, he had evidently clipped Josh on the way through, as the ‘keeper was curled up, holding his head, on the edge of the area. It didn’t suit some partisan Kingstonians behind the goal, but the referee had no choice but to halt the game.
There were even more complaints after the ref restarted the game by dropping the ball at Sean Ray’s feet and Razor kicked for touch, Rugby Union style, deep into the Ks’ half of the field. Nevertheless, the home side was immediately back on the attack, and won a corner, on the right, in the 33rd minute – their first corner of the game. This was taken by Tommy Williams, who pulled the ball back to Bobby Traynor, near the corner of the penalty area. Traynor, currently the leading scorer in Ryman Division One South, with seven goals, chipped the ball in towards the far post, and there was again a hint of confusion, as Jimmy Elford headed the ball off the line, a split-second before Josh Willis could punch clear.
In the 35th minute, Bradley Spice won a corner, on the right. With the big centre-backs up for the cross, it was full-backs Jimmy Elford and Robbie Ryan who were left on the half-way line, watching the back door. As Ryan Briggs’s corner was cleared, the ball was picked up by the pacy and skilful Dean Lodge. The winger carried the ball almost to the edge of the Ashford penalty area, but he was shadowed all the time by Robbie Ryan, who eventually snuffed out the break with a good tackle. A minute later, it was Mitch Sherwood, back defending, who blocked an attempted cross, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross, from the right, was sent in deep, beyond the far post, where Sean Ray headed behind for another corner, this time on the left. Not for the only time this afternoon, there was a sense that the home side was trying to test Ashford’s young ‘keeper, as Simon Huckle curled the ball right underneath Josh Willis’s crossbar, but Josh came through the test on this occasion, and punched clear. As Dean Lodge picked the ball up on the right wing, Bradley Spice was penalised for a slightly over-enthusiastic tackle, clearly taking the man first. This time, it was Robbie Ryan who was there to head clear the resulting, in-swinging cross.
Ashford were, by this time, not launching attacks with the regularity they had done early in the half, but Mitchell Sherwood, whose golden start to the season has brought him seven goals in as many matches, had the visitors’ best chance of the game in the 38th minute. Paul Jones, who had himself scored four in the previous four matches, picked up a clearance from defence, and showed all his strength and experience to hold the ball up down the right flank. He eventually pulled the ball back to Tony Browne, whose chip to the far post found Sherwood virtually unmarked, but Mitch planted his header straight into the arms of Luke Garrard. Three minutes later, the ex-Sittingbourne man had another opportunity, when Jimmy Elford fed the ball through to him, in the inside-right position. Mitchell showed that his confidence is high at the moment, when he turned towards goal and struck the ball hard, from a fairly acute angle, but Garrard did well, at his near post, to beat the ball behind for a corner. The ‘keeper did well again when he cleared Ryan Briggs’s corner with a good punch.
At the other end, Dean Lodge broke down the left wing, but his attempted cross was cut out by Jimmy Elford, giving Kingstonian a corner. This was sent long, beyond the far post, and Sean Ray was there to head clear. The ball fell to Bradley Spice, but the momentary chance of a quick counter-attack was ended by a foul by Lodge.
With a minute remaining before the break, a good turn and cross by Bradley Spice sent the ball curling behind the home side’s defence, and it required a hurried, hoiked clearance, for a corner, to save the situation. As the corner, from the left, was swung into the penalty area, there were some appeals for a penalty for hand-ball, but this never looked like being given, and Kingstonian went into the interval 1-0 up. So the game had so far lived up to pre-match expectations of being a closely-fought cup-tie between two evenly-matched teams.
Ashford had a chance to hit back just three minutes into the second half, when the ball broke to Tony Browne, on the right side of the Ks’ penalty area, but Brown Dog lashed his shot into the top of the side-netting. I couldn’t see how close it was, from my viewing angle, but there were several Ashford players with their hands on their head. Two minutes later, seconds after Referee Rowbury had missed a transparently obvious double hand-ball by Paul Jones, Bradley Spice had a shot deflected behind for a corner, on the right. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but Luke Garrard again showed his quality, with a sound catch.
Kingstonian’s Carl Wilson-Denis spoilt what was otherwise a very satisfactory day out for him by getting himself a yellow card, for showing heated dissent at the Lino, simply because a throw-in decision went against him. Nevertheless, this was probably soon forgotten, as Kingstonian put the cup-tie to bed with two goals in four minutes – and it was Carl Three Names who got the first of these. Again, this was a well-made goal. A good ball inside the right full-back by Bobby Traynor, in the 53rd minute, sent Dean Lodge into the Ashford penalty area. After an unnecessary step-over, Lodge sent in a short cross to Wilson-Denis, in the centre, who tucked the ball in, from close range.
A minute later, still urged on by the sizable and vocal mob of travelling supporters, Ashford had a good situation, just outside the Kingstonian area, after Adam Thompson had fouled Paul Jones. Ryan Briggs crossed the free-kick in, from the left, and Daniel Brathwaite stooped low, to direct a looping header on target, but this went straight to Luke Garrard. Almost immediately, play switched to the other end, and Dean Lodge, beavering away, burst into the Ashford area from the left wing, but then seemed to be caught in two minds as he appeared to pass the ball out for a goal-kick.
The decisive, third goal came in the 56th minute. A Simon Huckle shot was deflected wide for a corner, on the left, off Daniel Brathwaite. Once again, it was time to test the young goalie, as the ball was swung into the goal mouth. Up went centre-half Max Hustwick, and, with a glancing header, planted the ball in the net, from no distance at all.
So that’s how a competitive game of football soon became a procession. Heads didn’t go down on the Ashford side, and the day-trippers behind the goal didn’t err in their support and encouragement, but it was just a little disappointing how soon the team seemed to run out of ideas – and it was then more likely that the home side would extend the lead, than it was for Ashford to close the gap. In the 58th minute, it was that man Dean Lodge who provided the danger once again; picking the ball up as it was spread out wide to the left, he got to the by-line, and crossed the ball from a tight angle. Josh Willis cut out the cross with a diving interception, and then pounced on the ball as it rolled gently towards the feet of Sean Ray.
A minute later, a turn and a hoiked shot by Bradley Spice went wide. Soon after, Ryan Briggs picked out Paul Jones with a cross-field pass. Jonah took the ball on his chest, and carried the ball to a central position. One thing I’ve noticed about Paul Jones is that, when he’s battled away without success for about an hour or so, he’s inclined to take the attitude that he’ll bloody well do the job on his own, and it seemed obvious that he was looking for a shot at goal on this occasion. He’d made it almost to the edge of the penalty area when he struck the ball, but his effort went across the face of goal, and wide of the far post.
It was Kingstonian Manager Alan Dowson who was first to make a substitution; he put Jon Neal on in place of Carl Wilson-Denis – a striker for a striker – just after the hour mark, and it wasn’t long before the Ks were on the attack again. The ball was spread wide to Jon Coke, on the right, in the 62nd minute. Coke had the bottle to take on Mitchell Sherwood, and went around Mitch before delivering a good cross. Three Kingstonian players converged on the ball and had a go at getting a touch, before Tony Browne hooked the ball clear. A minute later, Josh Willis had to be alert as an attempted shot, from just outside the area, was completely miscued, and spiralled, spinning, into the air. The ball really could have gone anywhere, but it went precisely where Josh didn’t want it to go – just behind the defence, and about to drop onto the six-yard line, before the ‘keeper came out to punch it clear.
There was a nasty-looking incident in the 64th minute, when Daniel Brathwaite – hair like Whoopi Goldberg, face of an angel – went down with a yell, clutching his face. After some treatment, Daniel was OK to continue, but it did give all of the players the opportunity for a drinks break, on what was still a warm, sunny afternoon - as Jimmy Bottle warmed up on the touchline.
Jimmy had to wait for his chance to make a difference, however, as Steve Lovell persisted with his starting eleven. Ashford’s next chance came in the 67th minute. A free-kick awarded for a foul on Robbie Ryan, for not very much, it seemed, gave Daniel Brathwaite the opportunity to cross the ball from the left. He delivered the ball to beyond the far post, where Sean Ray, who is yet to get himself on the scoresheet this season, got up well, and headed the ball down at the feet of Luke Garrard. This might have been an awkward moment for a lesser ‘keeper, but Garrad was untroubled, and got down to it well. Two minutes later, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice tried to link up, but Adam Thompson came across to cover. Soon after, a Jimmy Elford cross was met by the head of Danny Lye, in the centre, but Danny’s effort went well wide. Ashford put a good passing move together in the 71st minute. This ended with Robbie Ryan putting in a measured cross, from near the left touchline, towards the far post. It was again Danny Lye who got up to meet the cross, but his downward header went wide of the post.
So plenty of forward momentum from the visitors, and no shortage of effort, as the players reacted to the encouragement from the supporters, and the supporters responded to the players, but Luke Garrard and the Kingstonian defence were barely troubled. It’s not absolutely true to say that Ashford had run out of ideas – in fact, Steve Lovell had quite a big idea, in the 71st minute, although it smacked a little of desperation, in the context of a 3-0 scoreline. He took off Bradley Spice, sent big Sean Ray up to join the attack, replacing him with Lee Hockey, took right-back Jimmy Elford off, leaving a three-man back line, pushed Mitchell Sherwood forward to join Paul Jones and Razor, and put Jimmy Bottle on, down the left. If you’ve been following all this, you’ll realise that Steve’s final throw of the dice was to revert to a 3-4-3 formation, with Sean Ray’s role up front a rather obvious one. In fact, it was probably a little too obvious, and failed to make an impact on the game. Ray won his fair share of aerial challenges, but the key, obviously, was for him to provide knock-downs for the other two strikers, and this failed to materialise.
Jimmy Bottle, however, was straight into the action, off on a run down the left wing, in the 72nd minute. He managed to get a cross in, but this was headed behind for a corner, on the left. This was also cleared, but only as far as Mitch Sherwood, who was some way outside the penalty area. The way things have been going for Mitch lately, it would have been no surprise to see the ball fly into the top corner of the net from his right boot, but, although he struck it sweetly, like a man in form, his effort went just over the bar.
Kingstonian made their second substitution – Dean Lodge, their best player this afternoon, being replaced by Phil Williams – in the 73rd minute, as Ashford continued to press forward. With 15 minutes remaining, Mitch Sherwood fed the ball forward to Paul Jones, just inside the Ks’ area. Jonah went down under pressure from two defenders, but there was little chance of a penalty being awarded.
There was some confusion when Steve Lovell made his final substitution, in the 78th minute. The idea was to bring off No.7 Tony Browne, and send on Andy Doerr, wearing the No.18 shirt, but the absence of a No.18 number board meant that numbers 1, 8 and 7 were held up. This caused No.8 Danny Lye to come across to the touchline, thinking he’d been summoned – but it was soon sorted out, and Andy Doerr entered the fray for his usual cameo appearance. This is the fourth time that Andy, still on the road to recovery after a serious injury, has come on as a sub this season, and his longest stint has been one of 17 minutes – although he did get 90 minutes under his belt for the Ressies in midweek.
A minute later, Kingstonian completed the comings and goings by replacing Tommy Williams with Neil Lampton. Either side of this substitution, Ashford had two, almost identical, attempts at making the Sean Ray Plan work. On both occasions, Daniel Brathwaite launched a long ball from about the half-way line, looking for the skipper’s head, in the vicinity of the far post, but neither effort produced the desired result.
Of course, the downside to being adventurous with a 3-4-3 line-up is the possibility of being exposed at the back, and today’s victors had several chances to increase their lead, (although this would, by common consent, have flattered them). With fully ten minutes remaining, two of the Ks’ substitutes, Phil Williams and Neil Lampton, combined in a counter-attack, against Ashford’s back three. This ended with Lampton chipping the ball towards the far post, but the cross-cum-shot went just wide.
Soon after, there was another despairing solo effort from Paul Jones. Picking the ball up just inside the Kingstonian half, he turned and carried it forward, through the midfield area. He tried a low, long-range shot, but Garrard made a comfortable save, going down to his right. In the 82nd minute, Lee Hockey took a long throw, on the right – no doubt the introduction of this additional weapon was part of Steve’s big idea for Plan B – and this was headed behind by Nick Rundell, for a corner. Unfortunately, Ryan Briggs wasted this opportunity when he failed to beat the first defender. A minute later, the fresh legs of Phil Williams took him on a run down the left wing, and he won a corner on that side – but the resulting cross came off centre-half Max Hustwick, for a goal-kick.
Danny Lye picked up a needless yellow card, with five minutes remaining, when he was rather late in making an aerial challenge – but the booking was clearly for the accumulation of infringements, rather than for any malicious intent.
By this time, the sun, which had shone for most of the afternoon, had sunk behind thin cloud, but Ashford continued to have the majority of possession. When Kingstonian did get the ball back, however, star man Bobby Traynor, who had been very quiet for 87 minutes, reminded us all of his presence with what would have been an excellent goal. The Ks relieved some pressure with an up & under into the Ashford half. Traynor chased after this, and caught up with the ball just outside the Ashford penalty area. With a defender at his back, he turned and his looping shot hit the base of the far post, with Josh Willis beaten.
At the other end, Andy Doerr did manage an attempt at goal, a couple of minutes before the end of normal time; breaking through a tackle, he aimed a shot from well outside the area, but the ball swerved away, high and wide.
As this was an FA Cup tie, we were deprived of an announcement of how many minutes of injury time were to be played. In the event, Mr Rowbury added on three and a half minutes, and this only served to provide the home team with further opportunities to extend their already unassailable lead – (not that they could resist the temptation to run the clock down by keeping possession of the ball by the corner flag !). In the 91st minute, Phil Williams bore down on Lee Hockey, who stood his ground on the edge of the penalty area. Williams slipped the ball past Lee, who, predictably, tripped his man. It was almost as predictable that he got a yellow card for his troubles. The free-kick was hit with plenty of pace and venom, beating the yellow & green defensive wall, but Josh Willis did well to beat the ball away.
As a final chorus of “Nuts & Bolts, Nuts & Bolts” resonated in the Malden air, with 93 minutes on my watch, a shot by Jon Neal was blocked by Daniel Brathwaite, inside the Ashford penalty area. The ball fell to Bobby Traynor, whose snap shot was well saved by Josh Willis, who certainly played his part in keeping the goal total down to three.
The match ended with a brief flurry of Kingstonian corners, and a 3-0 scoreline that few people could really argue with. The home side had had this game wrapped up before the hour mark, with three beautifully-taken goals, and they will be the ones watching the usual web-sites for the cup draw around about lunch-time on Monday.
This was a very disappointing anti-climax for the bus loads of travelling supporters – who were rightly applauded by some of the players at the final whistle – as this is another “cup run” that has fizzled out prematurely. To return to the earlier theme about this game being seen as an early trial of strength between two promotion hopefuls, it is, of course, difficult not to compare ourselves with today’s opponents. Obviously, Kingstonian are a very good side, who must be one of the contenders for the championship this season. It’s hard to escape that fact that they brushed a virtually full-strength Ashford Town aside fairly comfortably this afternoon, but I don’t think we’re as far behind them as the bare result suggests. We looked to be a good, cohesive unit, with good players all over the pitch, who were comfortable on the ball, but it’s a little worrying that we barely threatened to break through the Ks’ defence, after having at least as much possession as the winning side.
The decision for MK Man of the Match was not an easy one – nobody had an outstanding game, and, equally, nobody can be blamed for having had a stinker. The nod went to Daniel Brathwaite, who just about looked our best player this afternoon, in spite of being blamed in some quarters for Kingstonian’s first goal. Strangely, his main rivals for the award, in a 3-0 defeat, were defenders Sean Ray and the flawless Robbie Ryan, neither of whom appeared to do a great deal wrong. A mention should also be given to the two strikers, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice, who both worked extremely hard – particularly the uncomplaining Jones, who at times appeared to be carrying the yoke on his own, not getting the support he deserves from his team-mates.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Daniel Brathwaite
Sunday 7 September 2008
Corinthian-Casuals v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 6th of September 2008.
Corinthian-Casuals 3 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This was three easy points thrown away. Ashford Town were cruising in third gear, 0-2 up, after an hour here at King George’s Field, but we somehow contrived to lose this game, against a team that I’d expect us to beat nine times out of ten.
It’s a bit early in the season to be putting teams down as being “easy meat”, but our hosts began the afternoon rock-bottom of the table, after four games, with a solitary point to show for their efforts, and they were dumped out of the FA Cup on Saturday by Stewarts & Lloyds, (which sounds like a works team – mainly because it is). This continues a trend in recent years for Casuals to struggle at this level. Three seasons ago (in the 2005-6 season) they finished plumb bottom, but avoided relegation due to the ins and outs of the pyramid restructuring. In 2006-7, the Casuals ended up second-bottom, but again escaped the drop, and last season they actually did a lot better, but still finished third-bottom, just one place above the relegation zone, (albeit 17 points clear of 21st-placed Horsham YMCA). The bare facts of the season’s results to date were confirmed by what I saw today, as Corinthian-Casuals looked a weak side – but that didn’t stop them from taking all three points.
I really doubted whether this game would be on. After having roasted on a cricket field last Saturday, (whilst our brave lads were defeating Leatherhead in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup), I’ve seen nothing but constant rain wherever in the country I’ve been. Nevertheless, there was no pitch inspection planned, and, although we drove through a torrential downpour on the South West section of the M25, and in spite of reports of something similar around about Clackett’s Lane, we arrived to find the pitch looking in pretty good shape. As at Godalming a fortnight ago, it had the appearance of a lush, green lawn, but this time the surface was wet and skiddy, enabling the ball to zip around at high speed.
At the risk of being unkind to our hosts, who have now given us a friendly welcome in each of our four visits here, the pitch was probably the only thing impressive about the ground – which is surprising, given that this is a world-famous football club. Seated accommodation is provided in one small stand – black, plastic seats, just three deep. At one end is concrete terracing, five steps deep, which is covered for the width of the pitch. At the other end, the shelter is much less extensive, with a short roof covering the standing area behind the goal that Jamie Riley was protecting during the first half – this end was populated by a solitary man, (so presumably the dog has died). Parking is also very unsatisfactory here, with paying spectators expected to leave their car in a field, but we managed to find a space on the tarmac just outside the main gate.
Few surprises in the Ashford Town line-up today. The main news was that Lee Hockey, in spite of playing 57 minutes against Leatherhead last Saturday, and 90 minutes against Whitstable the Monday before that, still isn’t 100% sound, so he was on the bench today, with Daniel Brathwaite partnering Sean Ray in the centre of the defence. This meant a first start for Robbie Ryan, at left-back. To mimmick the style of the innovative and very readable match day programme,
On the pitch: Jamie Riley, Jimmy Elford, Sean Ray, Daniel Brathwaite, Robbie Ryan, Tony Browne, Ryan Briggs, Anthony Hogg, Mitchell Sherwood, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice.
On the bench: Josh Willis (goalkeeper), Charlie Glyde, Lee Hockey, Jimmy Bottle and Andy Doerr.
On the players’ back: Steve Lovell and Dave Minnis (Physio).
An innovation, at this level, this season is for teams to carry out a ritual mass handshake before the start of the game. This is very much a choreographed routine, and Clubs have been issued with a diagram showing the required starting positions and the direction of movement of the home team and the away team. The three officials are also involved in this square dance. I can report that the routine went off without a hitch – and the colour mix of Ashford’s yellow and green away strip, with Corinthian-Casuals’ famous pink, chocolate and navy blue, would have graced any edition of Strictly Come Dancing – but I don’t know how much it would have done for promoting “Respect” in football.
The game began under grey skies, but it was dry, in spite of the frequent showers around and about. There was also a fairly stiff breeze, which made the ball swirl unpredictably when hit high, and this was at the back of the Ashford Town players in the first half. Ryan Briggs took full advantage of this tail wind in the very first minute. After a pretty obvious hand-ball by a home defender, Ryan curled a high free-kick into the Casuals’ goalmouth, and goalkeeper Colin Harris conceded a corner with an uncertain-looking punch. The corner, on the right, was taken by Anthony Hogg, swinging the ball in, left-footed, towards the far post. Daniel Brathwaite closed in on the ball, and thumped the ball home with a powerful header, from close range. The goal was simplicity itself, and I timed it at 1 minute and 7 seconds.
In the fifth minute, Briggo had another opportunity to send in a high free-kick, from a similar position. I’ve always felt that Ryan gives the ball too much air with his delivery, and would prefer him to sling his free-kicks in with a faster, flatter trajectory, but maybe he was deliberately hanging the ball up in the breeze, so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, the up & under certainly gave problems for the defenders underneath it, and this time the ball skidded off the head of one of them, for another corner on the right. Once again, both Daniel Brathwaite and Sean Ray went up for the corner, peeling away from their marker before converging on the far post. This time it was Razor who got up to meet Hogg’s cross, but his header went over the bar.
Using a 4-4-2 formation as a basis, Tony Browne and Mitchell Sherwood were used very much as wing-backs, getting back to defend when necessary, but pushing well forward when we had the ball. Having said that, most of Ashford’s best work in the first half came down the left side, and Mitch spent little time in defence.
After the shock of going a goal behind, the home side gradually found their composure, and were starting to knock the ball around by about the tenth minute. Nevertheless, it was still Ashford who were the main attacking force. In the 14th minute, a foul by Jamie Reive on Paul Jones gave Ryan Briggs another opportunity to send in a high free-kick from the left. Again, there were two yellow shirts closing in on Briggo’s cross, but the Casuals’ defence just managed to head the ball behind, to safety.
In the 17th minute, Bradley Spice showed a deft touch to put Paul Jones through on goal – another sign of a growing understanding between the two – and Jones immediately fell, suggesting that his heels had been clipped right on the edge of the area, but there was no reaction from Referee Phillips. A minute later, the home side’s burly centre-forward, Dan Jackson, put in what can only be described as a “forward’s tackle” on Mitch Sherwood, and this earnt the young lad the first yellow card of the match. Again, this resulted in a Ryan Briggs free-kick, sent high into the Tolworth air, but the defence was able to clear.
In the 20th minute, another Bradley Spice flick put Paul Jones in, behind the Corinthian-Casuals defence, but Jonah was flagged off-side. Seconds later, after Joe Funicello had taken his turn to up-end Mitchell Sherwood with a late tackle, Ryan Briggs sent in yet another free-kick into the home side’s box, but this time the clearance from defence resulted in a break, up to the other end of the pitch. A long, diagonal ball sent Tyrone Myton off down the left flank. He crossed the ball into the centre, and Robbie Ryan needed a diving header to put the ball behind for a corner. This resulted in a brief goalmouth scramble, before Daniel Brathwaite cleared.
This is the first time I have seen Robbie Ryan, and, unsurprisingly for someone who has played for Millwall and Bristol Rovers, among others, he looked a very polished performer. I didn’t see him put a foot wrong this afternoon, always doing the right thing, and not giving the ball away to anyone in a pink and brown halved shirt. He was seen to best effect in the 27th minute, when he combined in a one-two with Ryan Briggs – who again stood out as the man running the show in midfield. Ryan’s return pass, inside right-back Carlos Talbot, gave Robbie the perfect opportunity to send in a cross from the by-line, and he delivered a measured chip to the far post. This found Paul Jones, whose cushioned header into the centre was well read by goalkeeper Colin Harris, who was able to make a comfortable catch.
Throughout the first half, Ashford were very comfortable on the ball, with little or no pressure on the man in possession. This enabled the lads to pass the ball around more or less as they liked, and they appeared to be in full control, albeit in third gear.
In the 35th minute, a clearance rather luckily fell to Mitchell Sherwood, in space on the left, but Mitch took full advantage, and bore down on Carlos Talbot. He went around Talbot’s outside, and shot for goal, but his effort went wide of the far post, via a slight deflection from the shin of a defender. The resulting corner, on the right, was swung in towards skipper Sean Ray, but Razor was penalised for a foul on a defender. Two minutes later, Bradley Spice was put through, in the inside-left channel, by Ryan Briggs, from central midfield – but Spice sliced his shot wide.
Corinthian-Casuals’ first real attempt at goal came in the 38th minute. Blond No.11 Matt Smith, faced by Robbie Ryan, curled a right-footed shot towards goal, but this was straight down Jamie Riley’s throat.
In the 40th minute, a foul on Jimmy Elford, as he turned on the edge of the Casuals’ area, gave Ashford a free-kick in a dangerous position – on the right side of the field, for once. Anthony Hogg was faced with a three-man wall, with the choice of whether to cross the ball or go for goal, but he rather wasted the chance by blasting the ball wide. Two minutes later, Ryan Briggs again led the attack, carrying the ball through the central midfield area. With the defence retreating, and Bradley Spice desperately trying to stay on-side, Briggs tried a shot himself, but goalkeeper Harris made a good save.
So Ashford went in at Half Time 0-1 up, but this certainly did not fully reflect their superiority in the first 45 minutes.
Now playing into a diagonal shower of rain, the yellow & greens began the second half in much the same way as they began the first – with a goal. Some quick inter-passing on the edge of the home side’s penalty area almost put Bradley Spice through on goal, but the whistle went, for off-side, I thought – but it soon transpired that it was actually a free-kick to Ashford, about a foot outside the 18-yard box. Bradley Spice took the kick this time, and his attempt at goal was well saved by Harris, diving to his right, at the foot of the near post. A goalmouth scramble followed, and Daniel Brathwaite had the presence of mind to back-heel the ball across the face of goal, and Mitch Sherwood was there to side-foot the ball home. So 0-2 to Ashford, and I timed this goal at 1 minute and 30 seconds after the restart. Incredibly, Mitch has now scored in five of the six games played so far this season.
The general feeling was that the second goal had effectively secured the three points for the visitors – and it should have done, but the game was to take a different course. Ashford appeared to remain in complete control, until the first Corinthians goal, which came in the 61st minute. There were some half-chances for the home side up to this point, but nothing to suggest the turnaround that we were about to witness. Tyrone Myton turned and shot from inside the Ashford penalty area, in the 49th minute, but his effort went wide of the post. In the 53rd minute, Byron Brown tried a speculative, long-range shot, which was deflected for a corner, but this came to nothing, as the ref blew for an infringement that he had spotted.
Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson then made his first substitution, replacing Joe Funicello with Joe Nwoko. Soon afterwards, (although the substitution probably had no bearing on this), Corinthian-Casuals put together their best move of the match. This culminated with a cross from the left, in the 57th minute, finding big Dan Jackson at the far post – he placed his header across goal, finding Tyrone Myton in the centre, and Myton’s side-footed shot for goal needed a good, low save from Jamie Riley.
Nevertheless, the goal that proved to be the turning-point of the game still came completely out of the blue. Tyrone Myton, in central midfield, attempted to spread the ball wide, to the left, but the ball hit Tony Browne, and bounced back to Myton. Probably having no better idea immediately, Myton tried a shot at goal, and it fairly screamed into the top corner of the net, from 25 yards. In fairness, although it was against the run of play, it was a brilliantly struck goal, which would have beaten any goalkeeper.
Just three minutes later, Trevor Robinson won a corner, on the left, off Tony Browne. Robinson was the only man on the pitch carrying more excess weight than Jamie Riley – and it has to be said that neither of them looked anywhere near match fitness – but the Corinthians’ No.7 showed some good touches, and also the ability to take on, and beat, players. The corner he won was certainly invaluable to his team’s cause, as it led to the equalising goal. The ball was crossed deep, beyond the far post, and centre-half Chris Horwood planted a looping header into the far corner of the net. So it was 2-2, and Ashford had about 25 minutes in which to re-establish their lead.
In fairness to the boys, there was no panic, and no heads went down – but, surprise surprise, they found that they no longer had the freedom on the ball that they had enjoyed for the duration of the first half ! They did, though, have a chance to hit back immediately. A quick passing movement involving Paul Jones, Bradley Spice and Ryan Briggs resulted in a diagonal shot from Briggo, but this went wide, but not before it had deflected off a Casuals’ defender, for a corner. The corner was cleared, and there was then a delay of several minutes whilst Dan Jackson was attended to by Loreen Woodward – a blond bombshell described in the match day programme as “the Second-most Glamorous Physio in The Ryman League”, (which makes me long to see what the winner looks like !). I didn’t see the incident that led to Jackson’s injury, but he emerged with a large plaster on his right cheek bone, just below the eye, so I should imagine that he had a “coming together” with someone’s elbow.
In the 71st minute, Jackson tried a snap-shot from the edge of the area. Jamie Riley got down to turn this away for a corner, but he rather made heavy weather of what should have been quite a straightforward save. This was another small sign of how he’s not quite the ‘keeper he was last season, but his handling and kicking was as sound as ever, and, in the 75th minute, he booted the ball well upfield, into the wet breeze. A good reverse pass by Paul Jones put Bradley Spice through, into the Corinthians’ penalty area, but Bradley slipped as he shot for goal, leaving Colin Harris to make a simple save.
In the 77th minute, Tyrone Myton conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own area, which not only resulted in him needing treatment from Miss Tolworth, but also led to him being shown a yellow card. Ryan Briggs hit the free-kick straight at the ‘keeper. Two minutes later, Paul Jones attempted a turn and shot, but this also went straight at Colin Harris.
After 81 minutes, both managers decided that it was time for change. Steve Lovell, rather belatedly perhaps, replaced Anthony Hogg with Charlie Glyde, in a straight swap in central midfield, and also took Tony Browne off, replacing him with Jimmy Bottle – Jimmy took up his usual position on the left wing, and Mitch Sherwood moved across to the right. Brian Adamson put on Lee Matthews for Tyrone Myton.
The general pattern, after the Casuals’ equaliser, was for Ashford to press forward in search of a winner, with the home side looking dangerous on the break. One of these breaks ended with Joe Nwoko shooting into the side netting, but substitute Nwoko it was who supplied the winning goal, in the 86th minute. From a right-midfield position, he attempted a long, cross-field pass, but sliced his effort – and the ball sailed over a back-peddling Jamie Riley’s head, and into the net. If Nwoko had meant to do this, then I’m the Most Glamorous Physio in The Ryman League. My friend sitting next to me in the stand immediately drew a parallel with David Seaman’s nightmare moment against Brazil, in the World Cup. This wasn’t a bad analogy, as the consensus at the time was that Seaman might have made the save if his legs had not “gone” – it’s impossible not to wonder whether a more manoeuvrable Jamie, at his fighting weight, might have got a hand to the ball. Nevertheless, what was not in doubt was that Corinthian-Casuals had turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead in less than 40 minutes.
Just prior to Nwoko’s goal, Brian Adamson had made his final substitution, replacing Dan Jackson, who looked like the Phantom of the Opera with that patch under his eye, with Mark Towse. Steve Lovell now also made his final substitution, with two minutes of normal time left, throwing Andy Doerr on for the excellent Robbie Ryan. I don’t know what Steve was expecting from Andy in such a short space of time, but Jimmy Bottle, one of the other late substitutes, did make an impact, looking dangerous down the left. With 90 minutes on my watch, he rounded right-back Carlos Talbot, and sent in a good cross from near the corner flag, finding Mitchell Sherwood beyond the far post, but Mitch could only side-foot the ball wide.
This brings me to another innovation this season that I should report, and, whilst the Handshaking Dance seems a little pointless, this is quite a useful one. As each half comes to an end, the referee signals to a man on the home bench the number of minutes of injury time that are to be played; that man holds up a number board corresponding to the number of minutes, and the public address man then makes the announcement. In this instance, the Man on the Mike stated that there would be a minimum of five extra minutes played – but the system broke down a little when Mr Phillips, for some reason, decided to blow for Full Time after exactly FOUR minutes.
Never mind. There was still time for Jimmy Bottle to show some pace and skill down the left wing. Just seconds into injury time, he won a corner, off Matt Smith, on the left, and then rose himself to meet the resulting cross with a glancing header, which went wide. This proved to be Ashford’s final chance of the match.
There was one more attempt at the other end, though, after 94 minutes, when Byron Brown sent in another high cross towards the far post – and who’s to say that this wasn’t a deliberate ploy, given the nature of Corinthian Casuals’ winning goal ? Again, Jamie Riley struggled to retreat under the swirling ball, but this time the attempt went wide of the far post.
It would be quite wrong to lay the blame for this reverse at Jamie Riley’s feet – the first Corinthians goal was absolutely unstoppable, and the third was a fluke –but his weight and his fitness are an important issue that needs to be resolved. Jamie was a vital ingredient in the team’s relative success in the latter half of last season. He was at the base of a strong “spine” that ran through the middle of the team, with Sean Ray the rock in defence, Ryan Briggs running things in central midfield and Paul Jones the strong man leading the attack. I have often shown figures to demonstrate that Jamie is, statistically, by far the best ‘keeper we’ve had in recent years. That’s still the case, with his record of having conceded a goal every 82 minutes. However, this season he has let in a goal every 49 minutes – which is worse than the overall record of Jake Whincup, Simon Overland, Jani Seitsonen and Sean Glover !
So we witnessed a 3-2 defeat today, which is in contrast to our three previous visits to King George’s Field, when we’ve seen 0-1, 0-3 and 0-2 victories. In a sense, this might be regarded as a match best forgotten about – firstly, from the point of view of the freakish nature of the defeat, which is unlikely to be repeated, but secondly because the lads shouldn’t get too carried away with the way in which they were able to dominate the first hour of the game, as few teams will provide them with the same luxury of time and space on the ball. On the other hand, maybe this is a game that the whole squad would do well to remember, to make sure that a similar occurrence does not happen again. (I remember a season during the Thorogood years, when we managed to throw away at least six two-goal leads before the end of November – we certainly counted the cost of those events during March !).
There’s also the issue of the three points tossed into the wind to consider. Both Folkestone Invicta and Walton & Hersham won today – the latter, with Adrianho in their attack, actually have a 100% record after five games. That means that we’re currently lagging eight points behind the leaders, and five behind Folkestone. Although there’s no need to panic on the basis of those bare figures, we should remember that Ashford have had a relatively easy fixture list so far, with four of our five opponents in the league currently occupying a place in the bottom seven !
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Ryan Briggs
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This was three easy points thrown away. Ashford Town were cruising in third gear, 0-2 up, after an hour here at King George’s Field, but we somehow contrived to lose this game, against a team that I’d expect us to beat nine times out of ten.
It’s a bit early in the season to be putting teams down as being “easy meat”, but our hosts began the afternoon rock-bottom of the table, after four games, with a solitary point to show for their efforts, and they were dumped out of the FA Cup on Saturday by Stewarts & Lloyds, (which sounds like a works team – mainly because it is). This continues a trend in recent years for Casuals to struggle at this level. Three seasons ago (in the 2005-6 season) they finished plumb bottom, but avoided relegation due to the ins and outs of the pyramid restructuring. In 2006-7, the Casuals ended up second-bottom, but again escaped the drop, and last season they actually did a lot better, but still finished third-bottom, just one place above the relegation zone, (albeit 17 points clear of 21st-placed Horsham YMCA). The bare facts of the season’s results to date were confirmed by what I saw today, as Corinthian-Casuals looked a weak side – but that didn’t stop them from taking all three points.
I really doubted whether this game would be on. After having roasted on a cricket field last Saturday, (whilst our brave lads were defeating Leatherhead in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup), I’ve seen nothing but constant rain wherever in the country I’ve been. Nevertheless, there was no pitch inspection planned, and, although we drove through a torrential downpour on the South West section of the M25, and in spite of reports of something similar around about Clackett’s Lane, we arrived to find the pitch looking in pretty good shape. As at Godalming a fortnight ago, it had the appearance of a lush, green lawn, but this time the surface was wet and skiddy, enabling the ball to zip around at high speed.
At the risk of being unkind to our hosts, who have now given us a friendly welcome in each of our four visits here, the pitch was probably the only thing impressive about the ground – which is surprising, given that this is a world-famous football club. Seated accommodation is provided in one small stand – black, plastic seats, just three deep. At one end is concrete terracing, five steps deep, which is covered for the width of the pitch. At the other end, the shelter is much less extensive, with a short roof covering the standing area behind the goal that Jamie Riley was protecting during the first half – this end was populated by a solitary man, (so presumably the dog has died). Parking is also very unsatisfactory here, with paying spectators expected to leave their car in a field, but we managed to find a space on the tarmac just outside the main gate.
Few surprises in the Ashford Town line-up today. The main news was that Lee Hockey, in spite of playing 57 minutes against Leatherhead last Saturday, and 90 minutes against Whitstable the Monday before that, still isn’t 100% sound, so he was on the bench today, with Daniel Brathwaite partnering Sean Ray in the centre of the defence. This meant a first start for Robbie Ryan, at left-back. To mimmick the style of the innovative and very readable match day programme,
On the pitch: Jamie Riley, Jimmy Elford, Sean Ray, Daniel Brathwaite, Robbie Ryan, Tony Browne, Ryan Briggs, Anthony Hogg, Mitchell Sherwood, Paul Jones and Bradley Spice.
On the bench: Josh Willis (goalkeeper), Charlie Glyde, Lee Hockey, Jimmy Bottle and Andy Doerr.
On the players’ back: Steve Lovell and Dave Minnis (Physio).
An innovation, at this level, this season is for teams to carry out a ritual mass handshake before the start of the game. This is very much a choreographed routine, and Clubs have been issued with a diagram showing the required starting positions and the direction of movement of the home team and the away team. The three officials are also involved in this square dance. I can report that the routine went off without a hitch – and the colour mix of Ashford’s yellow and green away strip, with Corinthian-Casuals’ famous pink, chocolate and navy blue, would have graced any edition of Strictly Come Dancing – but I don’t know how much it would have done for promoting “Respect” in football.
The game began under grey skies, but it was dry, in spite of the frequent showers around and about. There was also a fairly stiff breeze, which made the ball swirl unpredictably when hit high, and this was at the back of the Ashford Town players in the first half. Ryan Briggs took full advantage of this tail wind in the very first minute. After a pretty obvious hand-ball by a home defender, Ryan curled a high free-kick into the Casuals’ goalmouth, and goalkeeper Colin Harris conceded a corner with an uncertain-looking punch. The corner, on the right, was taken by Anthony Hogg, swinging the ball in, left-footed, towards the far post. Daniel Brathwaite closed in on the ball, and thumped the ball home with a powerful header, from close range. The goal was simplicity itself, and I timed it at 1 minute and 7 seconds.
In the fifth minute, Briggo had another opportunity to send in a high free-kick, from a similar position. I’ve always felt that Ryan gives the ball too much air with his delivery, and would prefer him to sling his free-kicks in with a faster, flatter trajectory, but maybe he was deliberately hanging the ball up in the breeze, so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, the up & under certainly gave problems for the defenders underneath it, and this time the ball skidded off the head of one of them, for another corner on the right. Once again, both Daniel Brathwaite and Sean Ray went up for the corner, peeling away from their marker before converging on the far post. This time it was Razor who got up to meet Hogg’s cross, but his header went over the bar.
Using a 4-4-2 formation as a basis, Tony Browne and Mitchell Sherwood were used very much as wing-backs, getting back to defend when necessary, but pushing well forward when we had the ball. Having said that, most of Ashford’s best work in the first half came down the left side, and Mitch spent little time in defence.
After the shock of going a goal behind, the home side gradually found their composure, and were starting to knock the ball around by about the tenth minute. Nevertheless, it was still Ashford who were the main attacking force. In the 14th minute, a foul by Jamie Reive on Paul Jones gave Ryan Briggs another opportunity to send in a high free-kick from the left. Again, there were two yellow shirts closing in on Briggo’s cross, but the Casuals’ defence just managed to head the ball behind, to safety.
In the 17th minute, Bradley Spice showed a deft touch to put Paul Jones through on goal – another sign of a growing understanding between the two – and Jones immediately fell, suggesting that his heels had been clipped right on the edge of the area, but there was no reaction from Referee Phillips. A minute later, the home side’s burly centre-forward, Dan Jackson, put in what can only be described as a “forward’s tackle” on Mitch Sherwood, and this earnt the young lad the first yellow card of the match. Again, this resulted in a Ryan Briggs free-kick, sent high into the Tolworth air, but the defence was able to clear.
In the 20th minute, another Bradley Spice flick put Paul Jones in, behind the Corinthian-Casuals defence, but Jonah was flagged off-side. Seconds later, after Joe Funicello had taken his turn to up-end Mitchell Sherwood with a late tackle, Ryan Briggs sent in yet another free-kick into the home side’s box, but this time the clearance from defence resulted in a break, up to the other end of the pitch. A long, diagonal ball sent Tyrone Myton off down the left flank. He crossed the ball into the centre, and Robbie Ryan needed a diving header to put the ball behind for a corner. This resulted in a brief goalmouth scramble, before Daniel Brathwaite cleared.
This is the first time I have seen Robbie Ryan, and, unsurprisingly for someone who has played for Millwall and Bristol Rovers, among others, he looked a very polished performer. I didn’t see him put a foot wrong this afternoon, always doing the right thing, and not giving the ball away to anyone in a pink and brown halved shirt. He was seen to best effect in the 27th minute, when he combined in a one-two with Ryan Briggs – who again stood out as the man running the show in midfield. Ryan’s return pass, inside right-back Carlos Talbot, gave Robbie the perfect opportunity to send in a cross from the by-line, and he delivered a measured chip to the far post. This found Paul Jones, whose cushioned header into the centre was well read by goalkeeper Colin Harris, who was able to make a comfortable catch.
Throughout the first half, Ashford were very comfortable on the ball, with little or no pressure on the man in possession. This enabled the lads to pass the ball around more or less as they liked, and they appeared to be in full control, albeit in third gear.
In the 35th minute, a clearance rather luckily fell to Mitchell Sherwood, in space on the left, but Mitch took full advantage, and bore down on Carlos Talbot. He went around Talbot’s outside, and shot for goal, but his effort went wide of the far post, via a slight deflection from the shin of a defender. The resulting corner, on the right, was swung in towards skipper Sean Ray, but Razor was penalised for a foul on a defender. Two minutes later, Bradley Spice was put through, in the inside-left channel, by Ryan Briggs, from central midfield – but Spice sliced his shot wide.
Corinthian-Casuals’ first real attempt at goal came in the 38th minute. Blond No.11 Matt Smith, faced by Robbie Ryan, curled a right-footed shot towards goal, but this was straight down Jamie Riley’s throat.
In the 40th minute, a foul on Jimmy Elford, as he turned on the edge of the Casuals’ area, gave Ashford a free-kick in a dangerous position – on the right side of the field, for once. Anthony Hogg was faced with a three-man wall, with the choice of whether to cross the ball or go for goal, but he rather wasted the chance by blasting the ball wide. Two minutes later, Ryan Briggs again led the attack, carrying the ball through the central midfield area. With the defence retreating, and Bradley Spice desperately trying to stay on-side, Briggs tried a shot himself, but goalkeeper Harris made a good save.
So Ashford went in at Half Time 0-1 up, but this certainly did not fully reflect their superiority in the first 45 minutes.
Now playing into a diagonal shower of rain, the yellow & greens began the second half in much the same way as they began the first – with a goal. Some quick inter-passing on the edge of the home side’s penalty area almost put Bradley Spice through on goal, but the whistle went, for off-side, I thought – but it soon transpired that it was actually a free-kick to Ashford, about a foot outside the 18-yard box. Bradley Spice took the kick this time, and his attempt at goal was well saved by Harris, diving to his right, at the foot of the near post. A goalmouth scramble followed, and Daniel Brathwaite had the presence of mind to back-heel the ball across the face of goal, and Mitch Sherwood was there to side-foot the ball home. So 0-2 to Ashford, and I timed this goal at 1 minute and 30 seconds after the restart. Incredibly, Mitch has now scored in five of the six games played so far this season.
The general feeling was that the second goal had effectively secured the three points for the visitors – and it should have done, but the game was to take a different course. Ashford appeared to remain in complete control, until the first Corinthians goal, which came in the 61st minute. There were some half-chances for the home side up to this point, but nothing to suggest the turnaround that we were about to witness. Tyrone Myton turned and shot from inside the Ashford penalty area, in the 49th minute, but his effort went wide of the post. In the 53rd minute, Byron Brown tried a speculative, long-range shot, which was deflected for a corner, but this came to nothing, as the ref blew for an infringement that he had spotted.
Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson then made his first substitution, replacing Joe Funicello with Joe Nwoko. Soon afterwards, (although the substitution probably had no bearing on this), Corinthian-Casuals put together their best move of the match. This culminated with a cross from the left, in the 57th minute, finding big Dan Jackson at the far post – he placed his header across goal, finding Tyrone Myton in the centre, and Myton’s side-footed shot for goal needed a good, low save from Jamie Riley.
Nevertheless, the goal that proved to be the turning-point of the game still came completely out of the blue. Tyrone Myton, in central midfield, attempted to spread the ball wide, to the left, but the ball hit Tony Browne, and bounced back to Myton. Probably having no better idea immediately, Myton tried a shot at goal, and it fairly screamed into the top corner of the net, from 25 yards. In fairness, although it was against the run of play, it was a brilliantly struck goal, which would have beaten any goalkeeper.
Just three minutes later, Trevor Robinson won a corner, on the left, off Tony Browne. Robinson was the only man on the pitch carrying more excess weight than Jamie Riley – and it has to be said that neither of them looked anywhere near match fitness – but the Corinthians’ No.7 showed some good touches, and also the ability to take on, and beat, players. The corner he won was certainly invaluable to his team’s cause, as it led to the equalising goal. The ball was crossed deep, beyond the far post, and centre-half Chris Horwood planted a looping header into the far corner of the net. So it was 2-2, and Ashford had about 25 minutes in which to re-establish their lead.
In fairness to the boys, there was no panic, and no heads went down – but, surprise surprise, they found that they no longer had the freedom on the ball that they had enjoyed for the duration of the first half ! They did, though, have a chance to hit back immediately. A quick passing movement involving Paul Jones, Bradley Spice and Ryan Briggs resulted in a diagonal shot from Briggo, but this went wide, but not before it had deflected off a Casuals’ defender, for a corner. The corner was cleared, and there was then a delay of several minutes whilst Dan Jackson was attended to by Loreen Woodward – a blond bombshell described in the match day programme as “the Second-most Glamorous Physio in The Ryman League”, (which makes me long to see what the winner looks like !). I didn’t see the incident that led to Jackson’s injury, but he emerged with a large plaster on his right cheek bone, just below the eye, so I should imagine that he had a “coming together” with someone’s elbow.
In the 71st minute, Jackson tried a snap-shot from the edge of the area. Jamie Riley got down to turn this away for a corner, but he rather made heavy weather of what should have been quite a straightforward save. This was another small sign of how he’s not quite the ‘keeper he was last season, but his handling and kicking was as sound as ever, and, in the 75th minute, he booted the ball well upfield, into the wet breeze. A good reverse pass by Paul Jones put Bradley Spice through, into the Corinthians’ penalty area, but Bradley slipped as he shot for goal, leaving Colin Harris to make a simple save.
In the 77th minute, Tyrone Myton conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own area, which not only resulted in him needing treatment from Miss Tolworth, but also led to him being shown a yellow card. Ryan Briggs hit the free-kick straight at the ‘keeper. Two minutes later, Paul Jones attempted a turn and shot, but this also went straight at Colin Harris.
After 81 minutes, both managers decided that it was time for change. Steve Lovell, rather belatedly perhaps, replaced Anthony Hogg with Charlie Glyde, in a straight swap in central midfield, and also took Tony Browne off, replacing him with Jimmy Bottle – Jimmy took up his usual position on the left wing, and Mitch Sherwood moved across to the right. Brian Adamson put on Lee Matthews for Tyrone Myton.
The general pattern, after the Casuals’ equaliser, was for Ashford to press forward in search of a winner, with the home side looking dangerous on the break. One of these breaks ended with Joe Nwoko shooting into the side netting, but substitute Nwoko it was who supplied the winning goal, in the 86th minute. From a right-midfield position, he attempted a long, cross-field pass, but sliced his effort – and the ball sailed over a back-peddling Jamie Riley’s head, and into the net. If Nwoko had meant to do this, then I’m the Most Glamorous Physio in The Ryman League. My friend sitting next to me in the stand immediately drew a parallel with David Seaman’s nightmare moment against Brazil, in the World Cup. This wasn’t a bad analogy, as the consensus at the time was that Seaman might have made the save if his legs had not “gone” – it’s impossible not to wonder whether a more manoeuvrable Jamie, at his fighting weight, might have got a hand to the ball. Nevertheless, what was not in doubt was that Corinthian-Casuals had turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead in less than 40 minutes.
Just prior to Nwoko’s goal, Brian Adamson had made his final substitution, replacing Dan Jackson, who looked like the Phantom of the Opera with that patch under his eye, with Mark Towse. Steve Lovell now also made his final substitution, with two minutes of normal time left, throwing Andy Doerr on for the excellent Robbie Ryan. I don’t know what Steve was expecting from Andy in such a short space of time, but Jimmy Bottle, one of the other late substitutes, did make an impact, looking dangerous down the left. With 90 minutes on my watch, he rounded right-back Carlos Talbot, and sent in a good cross from near the corner flag, finding Mitchell Sherwood beyond the far post, but Mitch could only side-foot the ball wide.
This brings me to another innovation this season that I should report, and, whilst the Handshaking Dance seems a little pointless, this is quite a useful one. As each half comes to an end, the referee signals to a man on the home bench the number of minutes of injury time that are to be played; that man holds up a number board corresponding to the number of minutes, and the public address man then makes the announcement. In this instance, the Man on the Mike stated that there would be a minimum of five extra minutes played – but the system broke down a little when Mr Phillips, for some reason, decided to blow for Full Time after exactly FOUR minutes.
Never mind. There was still time for Jimmy Bottle to show some pace and skill down the left wing. Just seconds into injury time, he won a corner, off Matt Smith, on the left, and then rose himself to meet the resulting cross with a glancing header, which went wide. This proved to be Ashford’s final chance of the match.
There was one more attempt at the other end, though, after 94 minutes, when Byron Brown sent in another high cross towards the far post – and who’s to say that this wasn’t a deliberate ploy, given the nature of Corinthian Casuals’ winning goal ? Again, Jamie Riley struggled to retreat under the swirling ball, but this time the attempt went wide of the far post.
It would be quite wrong to lay the blame for this reverse at Jamie Riley’s feet – the first Corinthians goal was absolutely unstoppable, and the third was a fluke –but his weight and his fitness are an important issue that needs to be resolved. Jamie was a vital ingredient in the team’s relative success in the latter half of last season. He was at the base of a strong “spine” that ran through the middle of the team, with Sean Ray the rock in defence, Ryan Briggs running things in central midfield and Paul Jones the strong man leading the attack. I have often shown figures to demonstrate that Jamie is, statistically, by far the best ‘keeper we’ve had in recent years. That’s still the case, with his record of having conceded a goal every 82 minutes. However, this season he has let in a goal every 49 minutes – which is worse than the overall record of Jake Whincup, Simon Overland, Jani Seitsonen and Sean Glover !
So we witnessed a 3-2 defeat today, which is in contrast to our three previous visits to King George’s Field, when we’ve seen 0-1, 0-3 and 0-2 victories. In a sense, this might be regarded as a match best forgotten about – firstly, from the point of view of the freakish nature of the defeat, which is unlikely to be repeated, but secondly because the lads shouldn’t get too carried away with the way in which they were able to dominate the first hour of the game, as few teams will provide them with the same luxury of time and space on the ball. On the other hand, maybe this is a game that the whole squad would do well to remember, to make sure that a similar occurrence does not happen again. (I remember a season during the Thorogood years, when we managed to throw away at least six two-goal leads before the end of November – we certainly counted the cost of those events during March !).
There’s also the issue of the three points tossed into the wind to consider. Both Folkestone Invicta and Walton & Hersham won today – the latter, with Adrianho in their attack, actually have a 100% record after five games. That means that we’re currently lagging eight points behind the leaders, and five behind Folkestone. Although there’s no need to panic on the basis of those bare figures, we should remember that Ashford have had a relatively easy fixture list so far, with four of our five opponents in the league currently occupying a place in the bottom seven !
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Ryan Briggs
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