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
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