Walton & Hersham 2 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This was a hugely frustrating game to witness. After almost an hour’s play, Ashford were well in control, with a two-goal lead, with a poor Walton & Hersham side having failed to be of any threat to Seb Barton’s goal – but The Swans somehow managed to get back into the game, to share the points. However, Ashford’s travelling fans must have been cheered by a cracking goal from Mitchell Sherwood, which is probably the Goal of the Season, from what I’ve seen.
A few weeks ago, when the boys were pushing hard for a promotion spot, we would have been gnashing our teeth over the needless dropping of two points, but the current reality, with six games of the season (including this one) remaining, is that any faint hope of promotion via the play-offs was effectively ended by the 1-1 draw at Chipstead in mid-week – so all that is really at stake now for Ashford Town is whether we eventually finish 7th, 8th, 9th or 10th. Today we travelled to Walton-on-Thames with a determination to enjoy what remains of the season, given that, after Wednesday’s news of a seemingly irreparable rift in the boardroom, it’s not certain who will be leading us, on and off the pitch, come August. In spite of there being no official Supporters’ Club coach party to today’s game, there were still plenty of fans who made the trip from Ashford – which was just as well for our hosts, as otherwise the official attendance of 101 might have been even more embarrassing.
It was sad to see such a meagre smattering of people at the Sports Ground, Stompond Lane, since Walton & Hersham FC used to be a big club in non-league circles, and they were in the Ryman Premier Division just a couple of seasons ago. Nowadays, the club is barely bigger than local rivals Walton Casuals, certainly in terms of league position (14th, as opposed to 18th) and average league attendance, (132 plays 103). Whilst The Casuals have conspicuously modest facilities, Walton & Hersham has a ground that provides echoes of a more glorious past. Apart from having a decent-sized main stand, for this level, there are eight steps of concrete terracing on the opposite side of the pitch, which is covered for the entire length of the pitch. It isn’t difficult to imagine football being played here to huge crowds, in past decades.
It’s not a ground that pleases everyone, though. The main feature, a six-lane running track around the pitch, means that the crowd is separated from the playing area, and, in spite of there being a curved area of terracing at one end of the running track, it’s not realistic for traditionalists to watch the game from behind either of the goals. This is partly because of the presence of various bits of kit belonging to Walton Athletics Club, such as a hammer throwing safety cage, high jump mattresses, etc. Our elevated position at the back of the main stand afforded a good view of proceedings – which was a pleasant change to the worm’s eye view that we often have in the Ryman League. It was also a cosy place to shelter from the chilly, blustery breeze this afternoon, which rivalled the cold wind that’s currently emanating from the Ashford Town boardroom.
One bonus of travelling to footy in Walton-on-Thames is that it provides the perfect excuse to have lunch at “The Weir”, a pub by the banks of the river, at the end of the lane that leads to Walton Casuals’ ground. In fact, “The Weir” is now the watering-hole of choice for all venues in South West London, including the two Walton teams, the Met. Police, Corinthian Casuals and Kingstonian. Come back, Molesey ! All is forgiven !
Steve Lovell named the same team that played out the majority of the 1-1 draw at Chipstead on Tuesday: Seb Barton in goal, a back four of Jimmy Elford, Sean Ray, Craig Wilkins and Daniel Brathwaite, a midfield quartet of Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Stanley Muguo and Charlie Glyde, and Paul Jones and Shawn Beveney in attack. Substitutes today were Josh Willis, Elliott Brathwaite, Tony Browne and Orlando Smith. The injured Danny Lye and Jimmy Bottle – (Jimmy reckons that he’s about a week away from making a return) – were also in attendance.
With broken cloud and patches of blue sky overhead, early exchanges were fairly scrappy, with the home side unable to put anything resembling a passing movement together, and Ashford, in spite of having the majority of possession, not faring much better. The quality of the play certainly wasn’t helped by the very bumpy playing surface, which made on-the-deck football difficult. The visitors, playing in their green & white home kit, with Walton & Hersham in red shirts, red shorts and white sockies – it was a curiosity of today’s match that there were 40 white socks out there, worn by the 20 outfield players, and ten black socks, worn by the goalkeepers and the officials – did have a half-chance in the eighth minute. This came from a Ryan Briggs free-kick near the left touchline, halfway inside the Walton half. Briggo sent the ball high and long, into the penalty area. Skipper Sean Ray rose, largely unchallenged, to meet the cross, and headed the ball back across goal, where his defensive partner, Craig Wilkins, headed wide.
In the 19th minute, Ryan Briggs once again had the opportunity to pump the ball into the Walton & Hersham box, with a free-kick that was awarded when Byron Brown clattered Paul Jones from behind. Briggo’s initial ball forward was headed behind for a corner, on the left. This was taken short, to Daniel Brathwaite, whose first-time cross found Charlie Glyde in the area, but Charlie miscued what used to be called a “bicycle kick” in the old days.
Ashford opened the scoring, just as the sun came out, in the 22nd minute. A long free-kick, from inside the Ashford half, skidded off the head of Swans’ captain Jon Boswell, for a corner. Ryan Briggs’ initial cross was headed clear, but was chipped straight back into the penalty area, where Craig Wilkins directed what seemed to be a fairly tame header towards goal. Well, his attempt must have been accurate, as it went beyond the reach of goalkeeper Anthony Hall, and bounced three times before nestling in the far corner of the net. This was Wilko’s eighth goal of the season for Ashford, which is a very creditable contribution, given that he’s played at centre-back for at least half that time.
In the 25th minute, Shawn Beveney did some good work down by the right corner flag, turning past his man, before being pulled back – thanks to the Lino’s flag, Ashford were awarded a free-kick. Sean Ray got up well to meet the resulting cross, on about the six-yard box, and his header went just over the bar – but not without taking a deflection off the head of his marker, so it was an Ashford corner, on the right. This time, the cross was well claimed by Anthony Hall.
As it began to rain, the home side suffered a further reverse, when No.11 Byron Brown limped off, grimacing, to be replaced by Jordan Cheadle, on the left wing.
Charlie Glyde was penalised, with a minute left of the first half, apparently for showing his studs in a challenge on Julien Thompson, near the right touchline, level with his own 18-yard line. This was cause for concern, as Ashford have looked rather vulnerable when defending corners and crosses from free-kicks, but Craig Wilkins managed to deflect Cheadle’s free-kick behind for a corner, on the left, with his eye-brows. The Ashford defence was again unconvincing from the set-piece, as Jon Boswell got up to win a header from the resulting cross, but his effort looped just over the bar. Nevertheless, this was the nearest The Swans came to threatening Seb Barton’s goal in the first half, so Ashford were well worth their 0-1 lead at half time.
The second half began with a flurry of activity. Within the first minute and a half, Mitchell Sherwood had a left-foot shot from outside of the penalty area, which caused Anthony Hall to go down to his left, to make a comfortable diving save; then, at the other end, Julien Thompson shot from a similar distance, but his effort went well over the bar.
Ashford didn’t have to wait long, however, before they scored what appeared to be the clinching goal, even at this early stage. An awkward, bouncing ball, heading in the direction of the Walton & Hersham goal, was dinked over the head of a defender, by Charlie Glyde, to Paul Jones, in a central position. Jonah did something similar, finding Mitch Sherwood, on his right, on the corner of the penalty area. Mitchell hit a screaming volley, which never got more than three feet off the ground, low, into the back of the net. It was a great moment for a lad whose confidence has waned of late. It was also Mitch’s TWELFTH goal of the season – but most of these came before we’d finished our Christmas shopping.
Predictably, Ashford now began to knock the ball around with confidence, and, as the cloud overhead thickened and darkened, things started to look grim for the home side, as a major shellacking looked on the cards. The cry from the few Swans supporters who still care about this old club was: “Come on, make a game of it !”. And they did.
In the 58th minute, Craig Wilkins dealt with a raid down the right by heading the ball back to Seb Barton, but Seb’s despairing dive wasn’t enough to prevent the ball from going out for a corner. This seemingly innocuous incident was probably the turning-point in the match, as it opened the possibility of Ashford once again being embarrassed when defending a corner. It’s difficult to pin-point exactly who, or what, was at fault on this occasion, but the defence failed to effectively clear the initial cross, and, after briefly bouncing around the six-yard box, the ball was thumped into the net. The goal scorer was Julian Owusu-Bekoe, who had just come on as substitute for Scott Hassell whilst Walton & Hersham were preparing to take the corner.
So, with their first recognisable chance of the game, The Swans had brought the score back to 1-2, and there was a game on once again.
Mitchell Sherwood had his afternoon spoilt, in the 66th minute, when he was unlucky to be yellow-carded – this was for an honest tackle, in which he did go slightly over the top of the ball. Seconds later, after Walton & Hersham had replaced Charlie Emery with Jack Watkins, a long ball was launched into the Ashford penalty area, and was put behind for a corner, on the right – so it was again “squeaky bum time” for the defence. The initial cross was headed away by Sean Ray, but was immediately chipped back into the danger area. Seb Barton came for the ball, and lost it, under pressure from the experienced Julien Thompson. Seb sprawled on the ground – which is enough for eight out of ten cats and referees to blow up for a foul – but there was no whistle on this occasion, and Thompson turned towards goal, with the ‘keeper “not at home”. Inevitably, it was skipper Sean Ray who came across to cover at the near post, and turned Thompson’s side-footed shot behind, for another corner. Substitute Jordan Cheadle came across to the right, to swing the ball in with his left foot. Barton came out for the cross, but Sean Ray was there before him, heading the ball clear.
With the home side looking for an equaliser, with a 4-3-3 formation, Steve Lovell’s only substitution saw Orlando Smith replace Shawn Beveney, in a straight swap up front, in the 70th minute – and Walton & Hersham did level the scores, two minutes later. It was, admittedly, a good, incisive move that led to the goal. A quick ball forward was laid off into the path of Julian Owusu-Bekoe, who suddenly had a clear sight of goal; although Seb Barton got fingers to his firm shot, it wasn’t enough to prevent the ball from ending up in the corner of the net.
So it was now 2-2, with plenty of time left, and, although Ashford tried hard to reassert their grip on the game, the genie was out of the bottle, with a suitably encouraged home side now much more difficult to control.
In the 73rd minute, Stanley Muguo, who has looked competent, but hardly the man who is going to transform the effectiveness of our midfield, did well to turn out of a tight spot near the right corner flag, and feed the ball through to Mitch Sherwood. Mitch squared the ball to Charlie Glyde, who was just inside the penalty area, but the ball wouldn’t settle, on the awkward surface, and his left-foot shot went well over the bar. Two minutes later, Sherwood won a corner, on the right, and Charlie Glyde’s left-footed cross slipped through the ‘keeper’s hands, but went out for a corner, on the other side of the pitch. This time, Ryan Briggs’ cross failed to beat the first defender, at the near post.
It would be a slight exaggeration to say that Briggo had a ‘mare this afternoon, but he had a poor game, by the standards of his early-season form. He was badly caught in possession, in the 79th minute, by Jordan Cheadle, who left both Briggs and Muguo trailing in his wake, as he carried the ball through the central midfield area. Cheadle went down rather easily, a few yards outside the Ashford penalty area, but did enough to persuade Referee Alex Groves to blow his whistle, for a free-kick. The substitute took the kick himself, and also went across to take the corner, on the right, after his shot at goal was deflected, over the bar, off Ashford’s defensive wall. Seb Barton came out to collect the resulting cross, and, intercepting the ball above the head of Sean Ray, rather patted it down, and was a shade fortunate to be able to fall on the ball, to gather at the second attempt.
With two minutes of normal time remaining, Ryan Briggs was once again caught in possession in central midfield, and Julian Three-Names was off on a raid on the Ashford goal. He slipped the ball to Zak Graham, on his left, but the No.10 pulled his shot across the face of goal, and wide of the post. A minute later, Briggo had a chance to make amends, with a free-kick, about 25 yards out. Sean Ray challenged for the ball, and challenged again as the ball popped up into the air, but ‘keeper Anthony Hall managed to palm the ball out to safety, for a corner.
So 2-2 it finished, and that made it three successive draws away from home, each time against a team in the bottom half of the table, with Ashford so far failing to win away in 2009. When the final whistle was blown, it was the Walton & Hersham bench and supporters who cheered the loudest – but the Ashford players were later given a rousing reception, as they left the pitch, by the Ashford faithful. The players responded with some applause of their own, in a gesture which seemed to indicate that, whatever is going on behind the closed doors of the Boardroom, in terms of the basics of playing the game and supporting the team, it’s “business as usual”.
As on Tuesday night, Daniel Brathwaite and Sean Ray were strong candidates for Man of the Match – although Razor looked a little flat-footed for Walton & Hersham’s second goal – but Jimmy Elford pipped the pair of them, after another polished performance. With just two away games of the season remaining, the “leader board” for The Milton Keynes Bowl now reads,
Sean Ray 4
Jimmy Elford 3
Daniel Brathwaite 2
Ryan Briggs 2
James Humphreys 2
Paul Jones 2
It may or may not be significant that, of the 21 MoM awards given at away games this season, ten have gone to defenders, with only six going to the men in midfield.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Elford
Sunday 29 March 2009
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Chipstead v Ashford Town, Ryman League Division One South, 24th of March 2009.
Chipstead 1 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Food Critic
It was in the Surrey village of Chipstead that it all began, for Steve Lovell, as Manager of Ashford Town – in last season’s corresponding fixture, in November 2007. Replacing Clive Walker, Steve fielded a team that included an overweight, and clearly unfit, Adrianho up front, a disinterested Rob Gilman in defence and Rob Denness in midfield. Sixteen months on, with Daniel Brathwaite the sole survivor of that Tuesday evening’s entertainment, Steve turned off the A23, and travelled the short distance through commuter-belt Surrey to Chipstead, with his side nine points adrift of the play-off places, with his ambitions of promotion, given that only seven games of the season remained, all but dead. After his bold statement, at the start of the season, that nothing short of promotion would be good enough, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Steve, either publicly or privately, will consider our eventual league position (barring a miracle) to have been a failure.
Our Directors, on the other hand – who were all absent this evening – will probably have a more pragmatic, long-term view of things, and just feel that arrival in the Promised Land will take a little longer than some people have expected. I also haven’t seen or heard much evidence of discontent or dejection among the Ashford fans, who are probably just happy to be able to follow a team that is in the top half of the table, and which wins more games than it loses. The travelling faithful were there in numbers again tonight, in spite of there being no R&J Coaches Supporters’ Club excursions in mid-week, and this swelled the attendance to 130 – which would have been well down in double-figures if the likes of Walton Casuals or Fleet Town had been the visitors. It was also great to see another good turn-out of Ashford Town’s youth teams – easily identifiable, in their green & black Club tops. If anyone needed evidence that The Management is making good progress in terms of the “bigger picture”, then this was it ! (I’m slightly concerned at some of the language skills they might have picked up behind the goal, but they all seemed to be having a whale of a time).
And what did Mr & Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent think of the general situation last night ? Well, we were more than happy, as we had had a quite exceptional meal in the local pub, “The White Hart”. In plush, modernist surroundings, I had a pear, Roquefort and spinach salad, followed by a well-presented butternut squash risotto. The crowning glory of this main dish was the lavish sprig of foliage, (which I’m reliably informed was parsley), carefully placed on top by the chef as a decorative coup de grace for the ensemble – but, being from South Ashford, I ate it ! Mrs MKC pronounced her salmon creation to be the best she’d had on the Ryman League circuit, and the nice man behind the bar didn’t look at her as if she’d just arrived from outer space when she asked for a cranberry juice, so it was Gold Stars all round for “The White Hart”.
This hostelry is set in a very pretty location – easily the most rural setting that we visit. It all appears to be freightfully posh, with its large duck pond, its rugby union ground and its cricket pavilion. In truth, the football club is probably the poor relation of the village community, although they’ve done wonders to raise the ground to Ryman League standard; (this is Chipstead FC’s second season at this level, having risen from the Combined Counties League). There’s not a great deal at High Road – a small stand with dark green plastic seats, a brief shelter over the four steps of terracing behind one goal, at the end where the turnstiles are situated, and a narrow concrete path around the perimeter of the pitch, which just about allows two people to pass. All this is tightly hemmed in by a green, six-foot tall wind-break, that appears to be made of some sort of Hessian material. With the floodlights on at night-time, there is nothing to be seen beyond this perimeter fence, so it felt almost like the game was being played on the deck of an aircraft carrier. (The cold rain which swept across the ground towards the end of the match only served to reinforce this impression). As a final comment on the venue, I must say that the availability of ample parking was a relief, and a refreshing change from the hassles we have at Whyteleafe, Godalming, Worthing, Welling and Dartford, to name but a few.
The Chips started tonight’s game seemingly struggling, being third-bottom of the table. This was slightly surprising, given that they were quite impressive during their debut season in the Ryman League, and comfortably achieved a mid-table position. They made a promising start to this season, and had an FA Cup run that many of us would give our eye teeth for, culminating in a trip to Torquay United, in the Fourth Qualifying Round. They were just two points ahead of Burgess Hill Town and what is officially the “relegation zone”, but it seems almost certain that only one team will be relegated from our division this season, due to the detail of which clubs are eligible to be promoted from Step 5 of the non-league pyramid, and that team will obviously be Crowborough Athletic, who are 19 points adrift, having collapsed financially. Our hosts also started the game second-bottom of the six-match current form table – although Ashford were only two places above them in this table, which we had led by a street, just a few weeks ago.
Steve Lovell’s selection this evening was an interesting one. With only Mark Lovell and Jimmy Bottle unavailable, due to injury, there was the opportunity to pick from a strong squad of players, and it might be argued that we had our strongest possible front two and back five – Paul Jones and Shawn Beveney is as good a strike-pairing as there is in Ryman Division One South, and the defensive unit of Seb Barton in goal and a back four of Jimmy Elford, Craig Wilkins, Sean Ray and Daniel Brathwaite has been pretty dependable all season. Where there is probably still room for considerable improvement is in the midfield, and The Gaffer dropped Ryan Briggs and Orlando Smith to the bench this evening, opting for a central pairing of Danny Lye and recent arrival Stan Muguo, with Mitchell Sherwood on the right, and Charlie Glyde on the left. Apart from Mucu and Briggo, a strong bench featured Elliot Brathwaite, Tony Browne and goalkeeper Josh Willis.
On a chilly, breezy evening, Ashford made a bright start, setting off at a fast pace, but our first recognisable chance didn’t materialise until the tenth minute. Paul Jones, attacking the Chipstead penalty area from the left, was fouled, but still managed to square the ball to Danny Lye. Danny’s left-foot shot actually curled just wide of the goal, but Referee Smith’s whistle had already been blown, for a free-kick, just outside the penalty area. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who hit the ball well with his left foot, but straight at the experienced, shaven-headed James Wastell, in the Chipstead goal.
Danny Lye’s shot on goal, which would have been in vain, was his last contribution to the game, as he had to be substituted as early as the 14th minute, being replaced by the reprieved Ryan Briggs. Chipstead Manager Nick English was also later forced into a premature substitution, having to replace Baptiste Bogle (I kid you not) with Reis Aslan, in the 37th minute. This suggested that the green & white hooped No.11 shirt had some sort of a curse on it this evening, as Bogle was only playing because of an injury to first-choice Jordan Kiffin – (and I’m not making these names up) – in the pre-match warm-up.
It’s fair to say that Ashford Town had the majority of possession, and territorial advantage, in the first half, with Chipstead occasionally looking dangerous on the break. The first of these breaks came in the 16th minute, and this was the closest that the Chips came to taking the lead in the match. The home side got behind the Ashford defence, with a raid down the right. With the ball being pulled back from the by-line, Seb Barton did extremely well to save a close-range shot, with his feet.
Whilst it’s not difficult to see what Steve Lovell’s trying to achieve with his team, encouraging a high-tempo, passing game, the only other chance that Ashford had to show for their first-half efforts was a long-range shot from Ryan Briggs, which was on target, but straight at the goalie. Whilst Paul Jones was Ashford’s brightest light in attack, showing great energy, and rarely giving the ball away, Shawn Beveney showed strength and determination - but little else tonight. The fact that the teams went in at half time with the score at 0-0 owed much to the fact that Ashford were generally “a bit thick” in the final third of the pitch, failing to do the obvious things, such as getting across the goalkeeper when the ball was crossed to the near post, or anticipating and reacting to the “second ball”.
Nevertheless, our boys did play some good stuff at times, and came close to scoring in the 48th minute. A good move down the right saw Mitchell Sherwood laying the ball wide for the overlapping Jimmy Elford. Jimmy, who had another good game, put in a good cross, which was met by a good header from Shawn Beveney, but this was well saved by Wastell. Shawn followed up by trying to knock in the rebound, but hit the post. Two minutes later, in a second half that was much more open than the first, a good move from Chipstead ended with a shot on the turn from Danny Oakins, which hit the inside of the post. On another day, the ball might well have rebounded into the net, but luck was on Seb Barton’s side on this occasion.
Mitchell Sherwood had a glimmer of an opportunity, in the 54th minute, when he had two successive shots blocked, from just inside the penalty area, but Ashford took the lead when their two outstanding players on the night combined, in the 64th minute. Daniel Brathwaite slipped the ball through for Paul Jones to run on to, in the inside left channel, and, with only the goalkeeper to beat, Jonah finished like a proper striker, planting the ball high, into the net.
This was probably a deserved lead for the visitors, on the overall balance of play, and, not for the first time this season, Ashford looked fairly comfortable in front – but Chipstead came back at us, with a good spell of attacking, in the last quarter of the game, just as light rain began to fall. First, in the 77th minute, a Craig Wilkins clearance conceded a corner, which Chris Head took, left-footed, on the right. The left-back’s high cross was met by centre-half Fred Fleming’s downward header, and, after some penalty area pinball, the ball hit the same post that Oakins had hit previously, and rebounded into Seb Barton’s arms.
Two minutes later, Ashford were not so fortunate, as another high cross from a corner from Head, on the right, was bundled in by Rick O’Shea, and Chipstead had scored. (Only kidding – his name is really Dominic O’Shea). Given that they had hit the frame of the goal on two previous occasions, it’s hard to begrudge the home side this equaliser.
Ashford very nearly replied immediately, in the 81st minute, when a slick passing move saw Paul Jones flick the ball on to Shawn Beveney, who laid the ball off to Daniel Brathwaite, who had continued his run, after starting the move. Daniel was clean through on goal, but his touch was that of a defender, rather than an accomplished striker, and he gave James Wastell the opportunity to come out and give him no space. Disappointingly, the ball cannoned off Daniel, and went out for a goal-kick.
As the cold rain intensified, Steve Lovell replaced Shawn Beveney with Tony Browne, who played wide on the right, with Mitch Sherwood joining Paul Jones as a second striker. Ashford played some bright football in pursuit of a winner, with The Browne Dog very much involved in our best moves, but, with the home side clearly intent on hanging on to the one point, the match finished at 1-1.
It was a close thing for Man of the Match between Daniel Brathwaite and Paul Jones – and Sean Ray and Jimmy Elford also caught the eye – but a split decision eventually went to Jonah, who was all over the pitch this evening. This was the second MoM award in away games this season for Paul, who is the current holder of the Milton Keynes Bowl; but he’ll be hard pushed to retain the Bowl this season, as he finds himself two behind Sean Ray, with just three away games remaining.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
from Your Milton Keynes Food Critic
It was in the Surrey village of Chipstead that it all began, for Steve Lovell, as Manager of Ashford Town – in last season’s corresponding fixture, in November 2007. Replacing Clive Walker, Steve fielded a team that included an overweight, and clearly unfit, Adrianho up front, a disinterested Rob Gilman in defence and Rob Denness in midfield. Sixteen months on, with Daniel Brathwaite the sole survivor of that Tuesday evening’s entertainment, Steve turned off the A23, and travelled the short distance through commuter-belt Surrey to Chipstead, with his side nine points adrift of the play-off places, with his ambitions of promotion, given that only seven games of the season remained, all but dead. After his bold statement, at the start of the season, that nothing short of promotion would be good enough, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Steve, either publicly or privately, will consider our eventual league position (barring a miracle) to have been a failure.
Our Directors, on the other hand – who were all absent this evening – will probably have a more pragmatic, long-term view of things, and just feel that arrival in the Promised Land will take a little longer than some people have expected. I also haven’t seen or heard much evidence of discontent or dejection among the Ashford fans, who are probably just happy to be able to follow a team that is in the top half of the table, and which wins more games than it loses. The travelling faithful were there in numbers again tonight, in spite of there being no R&J Coaches Supporters’ Club excursions in mid-week, and this swelled the attendance to 130 – which would have been well down in double-figures if the likes of Walton Casuals or Fleet Town had been the visitors. It was also great to see another good turn-out of Ashford Town’s youth teams – easily identifiable, in their green & black Club tops. If anyone needed evidence that The Management is making good progress in terms of the “bigger picture”, then this was it ! (I’m slightly concerned at some of the language skills they might have picked up behind the goal, but they all seemed to be having a whale of a time).
And what did Mr & Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent think of the general situation last night ? Well, we were more than happy, as we had had a quite exceptional meal in the local pub, “The White Hart”. In plush, modernist surroundings, I had a pear, Roquefort and spinach salad, followed by a well-presented butternut squash risotto. The crowning glory of this main dish was the lavish sprig of foliage, (which I’m reliably informed was parsley), carefully placed on top by the chef as a decorative coup de grace for the ensemble – but, being from South Ashford, I ate it ! Mrs MKC pronounced her salmon creation to be the best she’d had on the Ryman League circuit, and the nice man behind the bar didn’t look at her as if she’d just arrived from outer space when she asked for a cranberry juice, so it was Gold Stars all round for “The White Hart”.
This hostelry is set in a very pretty location – easily the most rural setting that we visit. It all appears to be freightfully posh, with its large duck pond, its rugby union ground and its cricket pavilion. In truth, the football club is probably the poor relation of the village community, although they’ve done wonders to raise the ground to Ryman League standard; (this is Chipstead FC’s second season at this level, having risen from the Combined Counties League). There’s not a great deal at High Road – a small stand with dark green plastic seats, a brief shelter over the four steps of terracing behind one goal, at the end where the turnstiles are situated, and a narrow concrete path around the perimeter of the pitch, which just about allows two people to pass. All this is tightly hemmed in by a green, six-foot tall wind-break, that appears to be made of some sort of Hessian material. With the floodlights on at night-time, there is nothing to be seen beyond this perimeter fence, so it felt almost like the game was being played on the deck of an aircraft carrier. (The cold rain which swept across the ground towards the end of the match only served to reinforce this impression). As a final comment on the venue, I must say that the availability of ample parking was a relief, and a refreshing change from the hassles we have at Whyteleafe, Godalming, Worthing, Welling and Dartford, to name but a few.
The Chips started tonight’s game seemingly struggling, being third-bottom of the table. This was slightly surprising, given that they were quite impressive during their debut season in the Ryman League, and comfortably achieved a mid-table position. They made a promising start to this season, and had an FA Cup run that many of us would give our eye teeth for, culminating in a trip to Torquay United, in the Fourth Qualifying Round. They were just two points ahead of Burgess Hill Town and what is officially the “relegation zone”, but it seems almost certain that only one team will be relegated from our division this season, due to the detail of which clubs are eligible to be promoted from Step 5 of the non-league pyramid, and that team will obviously be Crowborough Athletic, who are 19 points adrift, having collapsed financially. Our hosts also started the game second-bottom of the six-match current form table – although Ashford were only two places above them in this table, which we had led by a street, just a few weeks ago.
Steve Lovell’s selection this evening was an interesting one. With only Mark Lovell and Jimmy Bottle unavailable, due to injury, there was the opportunity to pick from a strong squad of players, and it might be argued that we had our strongest possible front two and back five – Paul Jones and Shawn Beveney is as good a strike-pairing as there is in Ryman Division One South, and the defensive unit of Seb Barton in goal and a back four of Jimmy Elford, Craig Wilkins, Sean Ray and Daniel Brathwaite has been pretty dependable all season. Where there is probably still room for considerable improvement is in the midfield, and The Gaffer dropped Ryan Briggs and Orlando Smith to the bench this evening, opting for a central pairing of Danny Lye and recent arrival Stan Muguo, with Mitchell Sherwood on the right, and Charlie Glyde on the left. Apart from Mucu and Briggo, a strong bench featured Elliot Brathwaite, Tony Browne and goalkeeper Josh Willis.
On a chilly, breezy evening, Ashford made a bright start, setting off at a fast pace, but our first recognisable chance didn’t materialise until the tenth minute. Paul Jones, attacking the Chipstead penalty area from the left, was fouled, but still managed to square the ball to Danny Lye. Danny’s left-foot shot actually curled just wide of the goal, but Referee Smith’s whistle had already been blown, for a free-kick, just outside the penalty area. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who hit the ball well with his left foot, but straight at the experienced, shaven-headed James Wastell, in the Chipstead goal.
Danny Lye’s shot on goal, which would have been in vain, was his last contribution to the game, as he had to be substituted as early as the 14th minute, being replaced by the reprieved Ryan Briggs. Chipstead Manager Nick English was also later forced into a premature substitution, having to replace Baptiste Bogle (I kid you not) with Reis Aslan, in the 37th minute. This suggested that the green & white hooped No.11 shirt had some sort of a curse on it this evening, as Bogle was only playing because of an injury to first-choice Jordan Kiffin – (and I’m not making these names up) – in the pre-match warm-up.
It’s fair to say that Ashford Town had the majority of possession, and territorial advantage, in the first half, with Chipstead occasionally looking dangerous on the break. The first of these breaks came in the 16th minute, and this was the closest that the Chips came to taking the lead in the match. The home side got behind the Ashford defence, with a raid down the right. With the ball being pulled back from the by-line, Seb Barton did extremely well to save a close-range shot, with his feet.
Whilst it’s not difficult to see what Steve Lovell’s trying to achieve with his team, encouraging a high-tempo, passing game, the only other chance that Ashford had to show for their first-half efforts was a long-range shot from Ryan Briggs, which was on target, but straight at the goalie. Whilst Paul Jones was Ashford’s brightest light in attack, showing great energy, and rarely giving the ball away, Shawn Beveney showed strength and determination - but little else tonight. The fact that the teams went in at half time with the score at 0-0 owed much to the fact that Ashford were generally “a bit thick” in the final third of the pitch, failing to do the obvious things, such as getting across the goalkeeper when the ball was crossed to the near post, or anticipating and reacting to the “second ball”.
Nevertheless, our boys did play some good stuff at times, and came close to scoring in the 48th minute. A good move down the right saw Mitchell Sherwood laying the ball wide for the overlapping Jimmy Elford. Jimmy, who had another good game, put in a good cross, which was met by a good header from Shawn Beveney, but this was well saved by Wastell. Shawn followed up by trying to knock in the rebound, but hit the post. Two minutes later, in a second half that was much more open than the first, a good move from Chipstead ended with a shot on the turn from Danny Oakins, which hit the inside of the post. On another day, the ball might well have rebounded into the net, but luck was on Seb Barton’s side on this occasion.
Mitchell Sherwood had a glimmer of an opportunity, in the 54th minute, when he had two successive shots blocked, from just inside the penalty area, but Ashford took the lead when their two outstanding players on the night combined, in the 64th minute. Daniel Brathwaite slipped the ball through for Paul Jones to run on to, in the inside left channel, and, with only the goalkeeper to beat, Jonah finished like a proper striker, planting the ball high, into the net.
This was probably a deserved lead for the visitors, on the overall balance of play, and, not for the first time this season, Ashford looked fairly comfortable in front – but Chipstead came back at us, with a good spell of attacking, in the last quarter of the game, just as light rain began to fall. First, in the 77th minute, a Craig Wilkins clearance conceded a corner, which Chris Head took, left-footed, on the right. The left-back’s high cross was met by centre-half Fred Fleming’s downward header, and, after some penalty area pinball, the ball hit the same post that Oakins had hit previously, and rebounded into Seb Barton’s arms.
Two minutes later, Ashford were not so fortunate, as another high cross from a corner from Head, on the right, was bundled in by Rick O’Shea, and Chipstead had scored. (Only kidding – his name is really Dominic O’Shea). Given that they had hit the frame of the goal on two previous occasions, it’s hard to begrudge the home side this equaliser.
Ashford very nearly replied immediately, in the 81st minute, when a slick passing move saw Paul Jones flick the ball on to Shawn Beveney, who laid the ball off to Daniel Brathwaite, who had continued his run, after starting the move. Daniel was clean through on goal, but his touch was that of a defender, rather than an accomplished striker, and he gave James Wastell the opportunity to come out and give him no space. Disappointingly, the ball cannoned off Daniel, and went out for a goal-kick.
As the cold rain intensified, Steve Lovell replaced Shawn Beveney with Tony Browne, who played wide on the right, with Mitch Sherwood joining Paul Jones as a second striker. Ashford played some bright football in pursuit of a winner, with The Browne Dog very much involved in our best moves, but, with the home side clearly intent on hanging on to the one point, the match finished at 1-1.
It was a close thing for Man of the Match between Daniel Brathwaite and Paul Jones – and Sean Ray and Jimmy Elford also caught the eye – but a split decision eventually went to Jonah, who was all over the pitch this evening. This was the second MoM award in away games this season for Paul, who is the current holder of the Milton Keynes Bowl; but he’ll be hard pushed to retain the Bowl this season, as he finds himself two behind Sean Ray, with just three away games remaining.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
Sunday 1 March 2009
Croydon Athletic v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 28th of February 2009.
Croydon Athletic 5 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
I wish I’d had a pound for every time a fellow Ashford fan asked me, at Whitstable the other night, whether I thought we’d go top of the league in a few hours’ time. Well, we all know what happened to that idea, as we were soundly beaten, 4-1, by Whitstable Town, ending a record-equalling sequence of fifteen games unbeaten. “Top of the league ? You’re ‘avin’ a laugh !”, sang the home supporters. Cruel, but not too wide of the mark. Yet, we were lying second at the time, and were very much the form team in the division, having come with a wet sail from as low a position as 15th.
That all seems a very long time ago now, but, incredibly, it was only two games previous to today’s match at The Keith Tuckey Stadium; however, a defeat at home to Cray Wanderers last time out meant that we were down to seventh place this morning, and wins for most of the teams around us had given the distinct impression that the promotion door was rapidly closing. Today’s thrashing, a third successive defeat, has left dreams of a play-off place in tatters.
The transformation from looking near-certs for the play-offs and championship outsiders, to former contenders with not much more than a remote chance of scraping into the top five, has come very suddenly. It’s difficult to pin-point the reason for this sudden and dramatic loss of form, but it does appear that a very small first team squad (of only about fifteen senior players) has suddenly run out of steam, with injuries, suspensions and downright tiredness taking their toll. The major surprise is that it’s the defence that appears to have fallen apart – this is surprising because it had been the solid defence that had formed the bed-rock of that long and glorious run. In hindsight, therefore, the first falling stone in the avalanche was probably Daniel Brathwaite having to withdraw, with a hip injury, during the pre-match warm-up at Whitstable. This meant a hasty reshuffle of the defence, with Charlie Glyde filling in at left-back – and The Oystermen promptly scored the first of their four goals before some of us had had time to take our seat in the stand.
Central defensive rock Sean Ray limped off with a groin injury during the second half of that game, passed a fitness test just prior to the next game, at home to Cray Wanderers, and then pulled out during the warm-up. Again, the defence was all over the place, and Cray soon went two up, and comfortably hung on to that lead. It might have been significant that Razor was in the stand for this afternoon’s game, but he was the only significant absentee from a back five of Barton, Elford, Wilkins, Brathwaite and Brathwaite – and the defence was, frankly, shambolic. I always come clean and admit that my limited knowledge of the finer points of football doesn’t qualify me to offer any analysis of why things go so badly wrong, but I can report what I see, and that was a Croydon Athletic side that hadn’t scored in its previous three matches scoring almost at will this afternoon. The final tally was five, but it could have been several more, with players being unmarked at set pieces, and others breaking through the defensive line. I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something wrong at the back. That’s eleven goals conceded in the last three games – which rather speaks for itself.
Well, The Management has certainly made a move to begin to solve the problem of numbers, particularly up front, with yesterday’s signing of striker Shawn Beveney. Shawn had an indifferent, and injury-ridden, spell at Cray Wanderers earlier this season, during which he scored just two goals in 17 appearances. This is certainly out of character for the big centre-forward, certainly judging by his record of 32 goals in 61 appearances for Dulwich Hamlet, 22 in 41 internationals for Guyana and seven in twelve for Lewes. He comes to us on the back of a knee injury, (if you’ll forgive the mixing of metaphors), but, if fully fit, he’s likely to form what might be a very productive partnership with Paul Jones. (Jonah told me before today’s game that he’s never actually played alongside a big target man, so it’ll be interesting to see how things develop).
I must say that Beveney’s performance represented one of the few rays of light for Ashford Town this afternoon. Of course, he was ultimately unsuccessful, but he showed good strength, and the ability to hold the ball up, and generally did all the right things – laying the ball off, and spreading it wide when he needed to. He didn’t manage to score – but, then again, the service he received didn’t provide him with any obvious chances.
Shawn was partnered up front by on-loan Orlando Smith, a Jamaican – and we were hoping that this all-West Indian attack would have more teeth than the one currently on show in the test match in Barbados ! I’ve already named (and shamed ?) the back five. As for the midfield, there was the welcome news that Mitchell Sherwood was fit again, and he was preferred to Tony Browne, on the right. Danny Lye partnered Ryan Briggs in the centre, with Charlie Glyde out on the left.
Not a bad side, on paper, but the current threadbare nature of the squad was best illustrated by the personnel on the bench, since, joining Tony Browne, John Ralph and James Humphries were TWO reserve goalkeepers: Darren Ibrahim and Josh Willis. It’s great to see Josh named in the squad, though. Apparently, the only thing that is keeping him from being fully available for selection is his current inability to kick – so presumably the idea was that he might be able to come on and head us out of trouble, in an emergency !
If you want an illustration of the current depth of the injury crisis, then just look at the players we had in the crowd: Sean Ray, Paul Jones, Mark Lovell and Jimmy Bottle.
The one familiar face in the Croydon Athletic line-up was Robbie Ryan – and his lucid Dublin accent was very much in evidence, on the left of The Rams’ defence, throughout the game. He’s obviously not the player he was when he played for the likes of Millwall and Bristol Rovers, but he was plenty good enough to snuff out any threat from Mitch Sherwood – not that I can remember seeing Mitch skin any left-back and whip in a dangerous cross very often – and it was Charlie Glyde, on the left, who looked marginally more likely to get behind the Croydon back line.
There was little to choose between the two sides during a scrappy opening ten minutes, when there were many stoppages, notably for hand-balls. Ashford, attacking the end backing onto the crematorium, and wearing their green & white home strip, had the first recognisable chance of the game, in the 14th minute. Shawn Beveney chased a long clearance out of defence from Craig Wilkins, into the corner, and showed good pace and determination to get to the ball before his marker. The Guyana national captain pulled the ball back to Mitch Sherwood, who did actually whip in a cross, first time, which found Orlando Smith just inside The Rams’ penalty area. Orlando took a touch, and, after waiting for the ball to come down, rather hit his shot into the ground, so that the ball sat up nicely for goalkeeper Ross Flitney to make a comfortable catch.
Things began to go pear-shaped in the 16th minute, when Croydon Ath took the lead. The home side’s forwards were able to go around the outside of the Ashford defence all afternoon, and, in a sign of things to come, Sam Clayton received a diagonal, cross-field ball, on the left, and went past Jimmy Elford – but Jimmy recovered well, and got in a tackle, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross was allowed to go all the way into the six-yard box, and found Shabazz Baidoo. Although he was no more than three yards from goal, Baidoo had plenty of work to do, as he had his back to goal, with Seb Barton close behind him. Nevertheless, the striker did brilliantly, hitting the bouncing ball into the back of the net, with a firm over-head kick.
Just a minute later, Croydon repeated the tactic of attacking the Ashford full-backs, and this time it was Daniel Brathwaite who was initially beaten by the diagonal ball, but he also recovered, conceding a corner, this time on the right. The corner was cleared, but only as far as Sam Clayton, who was just inside the Ashford penalty area. There was a distinct lack of closing down, as Clayton had all the time in the world to pick his spot, and thumped the ball into the net, with Seb Barton not moving.
Well, if there had been any lack of confidence or belief among the Ashford defenders before the game, now was the time for any doubts to be brutally exposed – and the home side set about doing just that, with some quick, confident passing. The next incision came in the 20th minute, with another fast raid down the right. The cross came in from the by-line, and was headed clear by Danny Lye, but only as far as Clayton, on the edge of the area. This time, however, the Croydon striker hit his shot wide, with the goal at his mercy. In the 23rd minute, Karl Murray sent Serge Makofo past Jimmy Elford and into the area, with a classic ball inside the full-back. Again, the Ashford defence was spared further embarrassment, for now, as Makofo skied a cross-cum-shot over the bar.
In the 26th minute, Tom Bolarinwa showed the footwork of a ballerina, as he brilliantly skinned Elliott Brathwaite, but big brother Daniel was there with a covering challenge, conceding a corner, on the right. As the cross came over, centre-half Richard Blackwell met the ball with a clean header – unchallenged, it must be said – but directed it straight at Seb Barton. Just as we turned our eyes upfield, confident that Seb had made a clean catch, he dropped the ball – and Jimmy Elford made a hurried clearance.
The half-hour mark passed, with still no real threat on the home side’s goal – and it was the Ashford goal that was again under attack, in the 31st minute. Right-back Joe Howe sent in a dangerous cross, from near to the corner flag, but Craig Wilkins did well to glance the ball away to safety, with little more than his eye brows, when it would have been easier for him to put it into Seb Barton’s net.
Ashford had to wait until the 34th minute before having their first real excursion into the Croydon penalty area. As the ball was cleared from the visitors’ half, Mitch Sherwood helped the ball on, into the path of Orlando Smith. The Jamaican was faced with one defender to beat, who successfully put the ball behind for a corner – which came to nothing. Orlando, who looked fairly lightweight today, and seemed to have a problem with keeping his footing, was on the ball again in the 44th minute. From 20 yards out, just beyond the corner of the penalty area, he turned and made space for a long-range shot, but this went just wide. Nevertheless, the effort at least raised spirits, and gave the travelling contingent behind the goal – which had been uncharacteristically quiet up to now – something to cheer about.
This might have provided something for the team to build upon during the interval, as Steve Lovell galvanised the troops for a long, uphill battle to get back into the game in the second half – but, scarcely believably, The Rams were to ram home their advantage with TWO more goals in first-half injury time.
The first of these – Croydon’s third – was a real heartbreaker. It’s one of those things that happens when things are going against you – or at least you imagine that it does – but this is a goal that might have been avoided. With 46 minutes showing on the electric scoreboard behind Seb Barton’s goal, Robbie Ryan chipped a left-footed ball into the area. This was actually pretty harmless, as there was no Croydon player anywhere near it. Seb could have comfortably dealt with this by coming off his line to claim the ball. Elliott Brathwaite could have dealt with the situation with a simple, cushioned header back to Seb. Unfortunately, (and you’ve guessed it), they did both – with the result that the ball trickled past the ‘keeper, and into the net.
Then, just as I’d finished writing down the details of the third goal, I looked up to find that the ball was already heading towards the Ashford goal. With the defence in complete disarray, Sam Clayton slipped the ball square to Shabazz Badoo, on the edge of the penalty area, and Badoo calmly slotted the ball into the net.
To explain how bad it felt to see the scoreboard showing “The Rams 4, Nuts Bolts 0”, in bright, amber characters, I can only say that it was like a throw-back to the “bad old days” – a near nostalgic experience, reminiscent of the time when we had a poor squad of players, and defeats like this were common-place.
Oh, yes. The scoreboard !
This presents me with a slight problem, as, once or twice in previous reports, I’ve referred to the existence of such a facility at Ryman League grounds merely as a joke. Of course, it’s plainly ridiculous that any ground at this level, particularly those that welcome an average crowd of about a hundred, should have such a high-tech display – but the Keith Tuckey Stadium REALLY DOES have an electronic scoreboard perched upon the corrugated iron shelter behind one of the goals. As well as showing the teams and the number of minutes played in each half, it’s sophisticated enough to provide an animated celebration (when the home side scores), complete with the sort of musical jingle you might expect. (After five, it gets a little annoying !).
The sub-text to this, of course, is that Croydon Athletic FC has come into some money – being taken over by property developers, I believe. It’s far too late in the current season for the new owners to make a push for promotion, but some improvements to the squad have already been made, and The Rams are certainly one of the most improved teams in our division since Christmas. I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’ll be contenders for promotion next season.
I must say that Ashford came out for the second half with renewed vigour, and the performance was an improvement on the first half – but not to the extent that there was any real sign that we might steal an unlikely point. Furthermore, Ashford first had to survive a scare in the opening seconds of the second period, when Sam Clayton and Shabazz Badoo almost got clean through the visitors’ defence with a one-two, but the return pass didn’t quite come off.
Ashford had a chance to pull a goal back in the 49th minute. Ryan Briggs took a free-kick, out on the left, curling the ball into The Rams’ goal mouth. This was headed clear, as far as Charlie Glyde, just inside the area. Charlie struck a left-footed shot really sweetly, but the ball cannoned off a maroon & white-shirted body, and went out for a corner. The resulting cross was again headed out to Charlie, this time about twelve yards out, and just to the right of goal. He again got his shot on target, with a hip-high, hooked effort, and this needed a great save from Ross Flitney.
As the new, expensive-looking floodlights started to make themselves visible against the darkening sky, in the 51st minute, Danny Lye was shown a yellow card. A minute later, a Ryan Briggs cross was headed behind for a corner, on the right. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who whipped in a dangerous cross, right under Ross Flitneys crossbar. Flitney fumbled and dropped the ball, but the referee, not for the first or last time this afternoon, was over-protective of the ‘keeper, and blew his whistle for a foul which only he could have imagined.
Although the ref’s whistle was a source of frustration for the visitors, this positive start to the half was encouraging, and the travelling choir responded by providing vocal support. In the 55th minute, Shawn Beveney picked the ball up in the centre circle, and spread play wide, to Orlando Smith, on the right. Orlando now had the opportunity to run at the Croydon defence, and, after a couple of step-overs inside the penalty area, managed to get to the by-line. His cross was aimed towards Beveney, who had continued his run into the centre, but the ball broke to Charlie Glyde. Again, Charlie’s left-footed shot was on target, but ricocheted off a defender’s head, to safety.
Just before the hour mark, just as Croydon Athletic replaced Romauld Bouadji – a new signing from Carshalton – with Nathan Green, Jimmy Elford took a free-kick from inside the centre circle. The cross went beyond the far post, and was put out for a corner, on the left. This was again stuck right under Ross Flitney’s crossbar; the ‘keeper went down and the referee, (naturally), blew his whistle. It appeared that Daniel Brathwaite was the man penalised, and there followed a brief altercation between Daniel and Flitney. Just as naturally, this led to a mass scrum between all outfield players, but there was very little in this, and the whole thing was settled amicably – but it was good to see a bit if spirit from Daniel, and I’ll remove a couple of points from his Pink File, accumulated as a result of previous, glove-wearing offences.
In the 61st minute, Danny Lye scuffed a shot well wide of goal, from outside the penalty area, but Ashford pulled a goal back a minute later. This came from a free-kick, a few feet from the right corner of the Croydon area. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who curled a left-footed cross to the foot of the near post – and Craig Wilkins was there, to bundle the ball over the line. This was by no means pretty, but it did the job, and, just as at the Belmont Ground, Whitstable, a Wilko goal had given Ashford a glimmer of hope that there might be a revival.
Just as at Whitstable, however, this turned out to be a forlorn hope, and Croydon’s four-goal advantage was restored within three minutes – and I must say that this was a really well-worked, and well-taken, goal. An Elliott Brathwaite tackle gave the home side a corner, on their right. This was taken short, to Danny Waldren, at the near corner of the Ashford area – a “Spurs corner”, to the cognoscenti – and Rams’ skipper Waldren immediately curled in a cross, which was helped on, into the far corner of the net, by the head of Karl Murray, giving Seb Barton no chance. It was a perfectly executed set-piece – but hardly original, so it probably wouldn’t have been unreasonable to have expected at least one member of the defending team to have been alive to the possibility !
Croydon’s Shabazz Badoo received a mysterious yellow card, in the 67th minute, and then each side made a substitution – James Humphreys came on for Ashford, in place of Danny Lye, in the 68th minute, and Croydon Ath Manager Tim O’Shea, (which sounds a bit like a shampoo), substituted Tom Bolarinwa with Michael Gordon, a minute later.
Croydon had a chance to go further ahead, in the 71st minute. Serge Makofo ran onto a ball threaded through in the inside-right position, and found himself inside the Ashford penalty area, with Craig Wilkins the second-last line of defence. He twisted and turned Wilko, before attempting to slot the ball in at the near post – but Seb Barton got down to make a good save. (I know it’s easy to be critical of the ‘keeper when the team loses 5-1, but I must say that this was quite a rare event, as Seb doesn’t seem to stop very many – in spite of whatever other qualities he may have, I suspect that he’s not as good a shot-stopper as one or two of his predecessors).
In the 72nd minute, James Humphreys, in his yellow boots, robbed fellow substitute Nathan Green, in the Croydon half, and the break was on. James fed Shawn Beveney, down the right, and the big Guyanese bore down on the home defence. There was support to his left, but Shawn tried a shot himself, and blasted it just over the bar.
At the other end, defensive frailties were in evidence once again, and Ashford really deserved to concede a sixth goal; (and I can scarcely believe that I’ve just written that). Croydon skipper Danny Waldren, from a free-kick on the right, in the 74th minute, curled the ball over a two-man wall, and found a team-mate unmarked, on the far edge of the six-yard box. This is a cross that Seb Barton really should have come out to claim, but he at least redeemed himself by getting down to make a good save, as the header was directed downwards and at his feet.
In case Steve Lovell was thinking that things couldn’t get any worse, he replaced Daniel Brathwaite with Tony Browne, in the 77th minute, and, by the way Daniel was flexing his legs, in the dug-out, this looked like it was probably a substitution made on the grounds of injury. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious, as Daniel was one Ashford player who certainly got his head down and tried, right to the time that he was taken off.
Ashford’s two West Indian strikers – being paired for the first time, remember – showed some persistence on the edge of the Croydon area, in the 79th minute, trying manfully to work an opening for a clear shot at goal. Eventually the ball was played square, to James Humphreys, who slipped the ball through to Beveney, now inside The Rams’ penalty area. Shawn’s efforts finally ended with a shot at goal, but one that he sliced wide of the target.
In the 82nd minute, Ashford once again deserved to go further behind, when the revamped defence, (with Tony Browne at right-back and Jimmy Elford now on the left), seemed to go AWOL. A deep cross from a corner, on the right, found a Croydon player completely unmarked, beyond the far post – but his effort was blocked, and, after a bit of a goalmouth scramble, the ball was cleared. Two minutes later, the hard-working, but largely ineffective, Mitchell Sherwood conceded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. This was ideally placed for a curling, right-footed attempt at goal. Faced with a three-man wall, Danny Waldren got his shot on target, and it needed a good, diving save from Seb Barton, at the far post – ex-Shrewsbury Town, Woking, Grays and Bromley midfielder Karl Murray got to the rebound first, but popped the ball over the bar.
Ashford did keep pressing forward to the end, and had a free-kick and a couple of corners during the three minutes of injury time, but, at 5-1, it was inevitably a case of rather going through the motions, and Ross Flitney was not troubled in the Croydon Athletic goal.
The Man of the Match award for Ashford really boiled down to two people – Charlie Glyde, who worked tirelessly on the left side of midfield, and looked as likely to score as anyone, and Shawn Beveney, who toiled away in a new cause, and did most things right. In the end, we gave it to the big man, on his Ashford debut. Well done, Shawn. Welcome to “The Titanic” !
So ended a rather miserable day, which had begun with the news that the M25 was blocked at Leatherhead, meaning that we had almost a three-hour journey to Croydon, most of it hacking through South London. Purely out of habit, I checked the results of the other promotion contenders when I got home – but I’m sure that promotion has gone now. For the record, our “target team”, i.e. the team that looks most likely to fill the fourth and final play-off position, is Merstham. They are now four points ahead of us, with two games in hand, and are absolutely flying, having beaten league leaders Kingstonian 2-0 this afternoon. We need a major loss of form from a few of the teams currently above us, to retain any lingering chance of scraping into the play-offs, and I can’t see that happening.
More importantly, Ashford need to get their own house in order. I don’t know what’s gone wrong, particularly with the defence, but, whether it’s on the pitch or in the dressing-room, it needs sorting out, pronto. I’ve always been fairly lukewarm on the imperative of getting promotion this season, but I’ve been hoping that we can at least stay in contention right to the end, to maintain that tremendous feel-good factor all the way to the final game of the season, at home to Kingstonian. Otherwise, a lot of people, who have had a lot of hope raised sky-high, are going to be bitterly disappointed.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Shawn Beveney
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
I wish I’d had a pound for every time a fellow Ashford fan asked me, at Whitstable the other night, whether I thought we’d go top of the league in a few hours’ time. Well, we all know what happened to that idea, as we were soundly beaten, 4-1, by Whitstable Town, ending a record-equalling sequence of fifteen games unbeaten. “Top of the league ? You’re ‘avin’ a laugh !”, sang the home supporters. Cruel, but not too wide of the mark. Yet, we were lying second at the time, and were very much the form team in the division, having come with a wet sail from as low a position as 15th.
That all seems a very long time ago now, but, incredibly, it was only two games previous to today’s match at The Keith Tuckey Stadium; however, a defeat at home to Cray Wanderers last time out meant that we were down to seventh place this morning, and wins for most of the teams around us had given the distinct impression that the promotion door was rapidly closing. Today’s thrashing, a third successive defeat, has left dreams of a play-off place in tatters.
The transformation from looking near-certs for the play-offs and championship outsiders, to former contenders with not much more than a remote chance of scraping into the top five, has come very suddenly. It’s difficult to pin-point the reason for this sudden and dramatic loss of form, but it does appear that a very small first team squad (of only about fifteen senior players) has suddenly run out of steam, with injuries, suspensions and downright tiredness taking their toll. The major surprise is that it’s the defence that appears to have fallen apart – this is surprising because it had been the solid defence that had formed the bed-rock of that long and glorious run. In hindsight, therefore, the first falling stone in the avalanche was probably Daniel Brathwaite having to withdraw, with a hip injury, during the pre-match warm-up at Whitstable. This meant a hasty reshuffle of the defence, with Charlie Glyde filling in at left-back – and The Oystermen promptly scored the first of their four goals before some of us had had time to take our seat in the stand.
Central defensive rock Sean Ray limped off with a groin injury during the second half of that game, passed a fitness test just prior to the next game, at home to Cray Wanderers, and then pulled out during the warm-up. Again, the defence was all over the place, and Cray soon went two up, and comfortably hung on to that lead. It might have been significant that Razor was in the stand for this afternoon’s game, but he was the only significant absentee from a back five of Barton, Elford, Wilkins, Brathwaite and Brathwaite – and the defence was, frankly, shambolic. I always come clean and admit that my limited knowledge of the finer points of football doesn’t qualify me to offer any analysis of why things go so badly wrong, but I can report what I see, and that was a Croydon Athletic side that hadn’t scored in its previous three matches scoring almost at will this afternoon. The final tally was five, but it could have been several more, with players being unmarked at set pieces, and others breaking through the defensive line. I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something wrong at the back. That’s eleven goals conceded in the last three games – which rather speaks for itself.
Well, The Management has certainly made a move to begin to solve the problem of numbers, particularly up front, with yesterday’s signing of striker Shawn Beveney. Shawn had an indifferent, and injury-ridden, spell at Cray Wanderers earlier this season, during which he scored just two goals in 17 appearances. This is certainly out of character for the big centre-forward, certainly judging by his record of 32 goals in 61 appearances for Dulwich Hamlet, 22 in 41 internationals for Guyana and seven in twelve for Lewes. He comes to us on the back of a knee injury, (if you’ll forgive the mixing of metaphors), but, if fully fit, he’s likely to form what might be a very productive partnership with Paul Jones. (Jonah told me before today’s game that he’s never actually played alongside a big target man, so it’ll be interesting to see how things develop).
I must say that Beveney’s performance represented one of the few rays of light for Ashford Town this afternoon. Of course, he was ultimately unsuccessful, but he showed good strength, and the ability to hold the ball up, and generally did all the right things – laying the ball off, and spreading it wide when he needed to. He didn’t manage to score – but, then again, the service he received didn’t provide him with any obvious chances.
Shawn was partnered up front by on-loan Orlando Smith, a Jamaican – and we were hoping that this all-West Indian attack would have more teeth than the one currently on show in the test match in Barbados ! I’ve already named (and shamed ?) the back five. As for the midfield, there was the welcome news that Mitchell Sherwood was fit again, and he was preferred to Tony Browne, on the right. Danny Lye partnered Ryan Briggs in the centre, with Charlie Glyde out on the left.
Not a bad side, on paper, but the current threadbare nature of the squad was best illustrated by the personnel on the bench, since, joining Tony Browne, John Ralph and James Humphries were TWO reserve goalkeepers: Darren Ibrahim and Josh Willis. It’s great to see Josh named in the squad, though. Apparently, the only thing that is keeping him from being fully available for selection is his current inability to kick – so presumably the idea was that he might be able to come on and head us out of trouble, in an emergency !
If you want an illustration of the current depth of the injury crisis, then just look at the players we had in the crowd: Sean Ray, Paul Jones, Mark Lovell and Jimmy Bottle.
The one familiar face in the Croydon Athletic line-up was Robbie Ryan – and his lucid Dublin accent was very much in evidence, on the left of The Rams’ defence, throughout the game. He’s obviously not the player he was when he played for the likes of Millwall and Bristol Rovers, but he was plenty good enough to snuff out any threat from Mitch Sherwood – not that I can remember seeing Mitch skin any left-back and whip in a dangerous cross very often – and it was Charlie Glyde, on the left, who looked marginally more likely to get behind the Croydon back line.
There was little to choose between the two sides during a scrappy opening ten minutes, when there were many stoppages, notably for hand-balls. Ashford, attacking the end backing onto the crematorium, and wearing their green & white home strip, had the first recognisable chance of the game, in the 14th minute. Shawn Beveney chased a long clearance out of defence from Craig Wilkins, into the corner, and showed good pace and determination to get to the ball before his marker. The Guyana national captain pulled the ball back to Mitch Sherwood, who did actually whip in a cross, first time, which found Orlando Smith just inside The Rams’ penalty area. Orlando took a touch, and, after waiting for the ball to come down, rather hit his shot into the ground, so that the ball sat up nicely for goalkeeper Ross Flitney to make a comfortable catch.
Things began to go pear-shaped in the 16th minute, when Croydon Ath took the lead. The home side’s forwards were able to go around the outside of the Ashford defence all afternoon, and, in a sign of things to come, Sam Clayton received a diagonal, cross-field ball, on the left, and went past Jimmy Elford – but Jimmy recovered well, and got in a tackle, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross was allowed to go all the way into the six-yard box, and found Shabazz Baidoo. Although he was no more than three yards from goal, Baidoo had plenty of work to do, as he had his back to goal, with Seb Barton close behind him. Nevertheless, the striker did brilliantly, hitting the bouncing ball into the back of the net, with a firm over-head kick.
Just a minute later, Croydon repeated the tactic of attacking the Ashford full-backs, and this time it was Daniel Brathwaite who was initially beaten by the diagonal ball, but he also recovered, conceding a corner, this time on the right. The corner was cleared, but only as far as Sam Clayton, who was just inside the Ashford penalty area. There was a distinct lack of closing down, as Clayton had all the time in the world to pick his spot, and thumped the ball into the net, with Seb Barton not moving.
Well, if there had been any lack of confidence or belief among the Ashford defenders before the game, now was the time for any doubts to be brutally exposed – and the home side set about doing just that, with some quick, confident passing. The next incision came in the 20th minute, with another fast raid down the right. The cross came in from the by-line, and was headed clear by Danny Lye, but only as far as Clayton, on the edge of the area. This time, however, the Croydon striker hit his shot wide, with the goal at his mercy. In the 23rd minute, Karl Murray sent Serge Makofo past Jimmy Elford and into the area, with a classic ball inside the full-back. Again, the Ashford defence was spared further embarrassment, for now, as Makofo skied a cross-cum-shot over the bar.
In the 26th minute, Tom Bolarinwa showed the footwork of a ballerina, as he brilliantly skinned Elliott Brathwaite, but big brother Daniel was there with a covering challenge, conceding a corner, on the right. As the cross came over, centre-half Richard Blackwell met the ball with a clean header – unchallenged, it must be said – but directed it straight at Seb Barton. Just as we turned our eyes upfield, confident that Seb had made a clean catch, he dropped the ball – and Jimmy Elford made a hurried clearance.
The half-hour mark passed, with still no real threat on the home side’s goal – and it was the Ashford goal that was again under attack, in the 31st minute. Right-back Joe Howe sent in a dangerous cross, from near to the corner flag, but Craig Wilkins did well to glance the ball away to safety, with little more than his eye brows, when it would have been easier for him to put it into Seb Barton’s net.
Ashford had to wait until the 34th minute before having their first real excursion into the Croydon penalty area. As the ball was cleared from the visitors’ half, Mitch Sherwood helped the ball on, into the path of Orlando Smith. The Jamaican was faced with one defender to beat, who successfully put the ball behind for a corner – which came to nothing. Orlando, who looked fairly lightweight today, and seemed to have a problem with keeping his footing, was on the ball again in the 44th minute. From 20 yards out, just beyond the corner of the penalty area, he turned and made space for a long-range shot, but this went just wide. Nevertheless, the effort at least raised spirits, and gave the travelling contingent behind the goal – which had been uncharacteristically quiet up to now – something to cheer about.
This might have provided something for the team to build upon during the interval, as Steve Lovell galvanised the troops for a long, uphill battle to get back into the game in the second half – but, scarcely believably, The Rams were to ram home their advantage with TWO more goals in first-half injury time.
The first of these – Croydon’s third – was a real heartbreaker. It’s one of those things that happens when things are going against you – or at least you imagine that it does – but this is a goal that might have been avoided. With 46 minutes showing on the electric scoreboard behind Seb Barton’s goal, Robbie Ryan chipped a left-footed ball into the area. This was actually pretty harmless, as there was no Croydon player anywhere near it. Seb could have comfortably dealt with this by coming off his line to claim the ball. Elliott Brathwaite could have dealt with the situation with a simple, cushioned header back to Seb. Unfortunately, (and you’ve guessed it), they did both – with the result that the ball trickled past the ‘keeper, and into the net.
Then, just as I’d finished writing down the details of the third goal, I looked up to find that the ball was already heading towards the Ashford goal. With the defence in complete disarray, Sam Clayton slipped the ball square to Shabazz Badoo, on the edge of the penalty area, and Badoo calmly slotted the ball into the net.
To explain how bad it felt to see the scoreboard showing “The Rams 4, Nuts Bolts 0”, in bright, amber characters, I can only say that it was like a throw-back to the “bad old days” – a near nostalgic experience, reminiscent of the time when we had a poor squad of players, and defeats like this were common-place.
Oh, yes. The scoreboard !
This presents me with a slight problem, as, once or twice in previous reports, I’ve referred to the existence of such a facility at Ryman League grounds merely as a joke. Of course, it’s plainly ridiculous that any ground at this level, particularly those that welcome an average crowd of about a hundred, should have such a high-tech display – but the Keith Tuckey Stadium REALLY DOES have an electronic scoreboard perched upon the corrugated iron shelter behind one of the goals. As well as showing the teams and the number of minutes played in each half, it’s sophisticated enough to provide an animated celebration (when the home side scores), complete with the sort of musical jingle you might expect. (After five, it gets a little annoying !).
The sub-text to this, of course, is that Croydon Athletic FC has come into some money – being taken over by property developers, I believe. It’s far too late in the current season for the new owners to make a push for promotion, but some improvements to the squad have already been made, and The Rams are certainly one of the most improved teams in our division since Christmas. I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’ll be contenders for promotion next season.
I must say that Ashford came out for the second half with renewed vigour, and the performance was an improvement on the first half – but not to the extent that there was any real sign that we might steal an unlikely point. Furthermore, Ashford first had to survive a scare in the opening seconds of the second period, when Sam Clayton and Shabazz Badoo almost got clean through the visitors’ defence with a one-two, but the return pass didn’t quite come off.
Ashford had a chance to pull a goal back in the 49th minute. Ryan Briggs took a free-kick, out on the left, curling the ball into The Rams’ goal mouth. This was headed clear, as far as Charlie Glyde, just inside the area. Charlie struck a left-footed shot really sweetly, but the ball cannoned off a maroon & white-shirted body, and went out for a corner. The resulting cross was again headed out to Charlie, this time about twelve yards out, and just to the right of goal. He again got his shot on target, with a hip-high, hooked effort, and this needed a great save from Ross Flitney.
As the new, expensive-looking floodlights started to make themselves visible against the darkening sky, in the 51st minute, Danny Lye was shown a yellow card. A minute later, a Ryan Briggs cross was headed behind for a corner, on the right. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who whipped in a dangerous cross, right under Ross Flitneys crossbar. Flitney fumbled and dropped the ball, but the referee, not for the first or last time this afternoon, was over-protective of the ‘keeper, and blew his whistle for a foul which only he could have imagined.
Although the ref’s whistle was a source of frustration for the visitors, this positive start to the half was encouraging, and the travelling choir responded by providing vocal support. In the 55th minute, Shawn Beveney picked the ball up in the centre circle, and spread play wide, to Orlando Smith, on the right. Orlando now had the opportunity to run at the Croydon defence, and, after a couple of step-overs inside the penalty area, managed to get to the by-line. His cross was aimed towards Beveney, who had continued his run into the centre, but the ball broke to Charlie Glyde. Again, Charlie’s left-footed shot was on target, but ricocheted off a defender’s head, to safety.
Just before the hour mark, just as Croydon Athletic replaced Romauld Bouadji – a new signing from Carshalton – with Nathan Green, Jimmy Elford took a free-kick from inside the centre circle. The cross went beyond the far post, and was put out for a corner, on the left. This was again stuck right under Ross Flitney’s crossbar; the ‘keeper went down and the referee, (naturally), blew his whistle. It appeared that Daniel Brathwaite was the man penalised, and there followed a brief altercation between Daniel and Flitney. Just as naturally, this led to a mass scrum between all outfield players, but there was very little in this, and the whole thing was settled amicably – but it was good to see a bit if spirit from Daniel, and I’ll remove a couple of points from his Pink File, accumulated as a result of previous, glove-wearing offences.
In the 61st minute, Danny Lye scuffed a shot well wide of goal, from outside the penalty area, but Ashford pulled a goal back a minute later. This came from a free-kick, a few feet from the right corner of the Croydon area. This was taken by Charlie Glyde, who curled a left-footed cross to the foot of the near post – and Craig Wilkins was there, to bundle the ball over the line. This was by no means pretty, but it did the job, and, just as at the Belmont Ground, Whitstable, a Wilko goal had given Ashford a glimmer of hope that there might be a revival.
Just as at Whitstable, however, this turned out to be a forlorn hope, and Croydon’s four-goal advantage was restored within three minutes – and I must say that this was a really well-worked, and well-taken, goal. An Elliott Brathwaite tackle gave the home side a corner, on their right. This was taken short, to Danny Waldren, at the near corner of the Ashford area – a “Spurs corner”, to the cognoscenti – and Rams’ skipper Waldren immediately curled in a cross, which was helped on, into the far corner of the net, by the head of Karl Murray, giving Seb Barton no chance. It was a perfectly executed set-piece – but hardly original, so it probably wouldn’t have been unreasonable to have expected at least one member of the defending team to have been alive to the possibility !
Croydon’s Shabazz Badoo received a mysterious yellow card, in the 67th minute, and then each side made a substitution – James Humphreys came on for Ashford, in place of Danny Lye, in the 68th minute, and Croydon Ath Manager Tim O’Shea, (which sounds a bit like a shampoo), substituted Tom Bolarinwa with Michael Gordon, a minute later.
Croydon had a chance to go further ahead, in the 71st minute. Serge Makofo ran onto a ball threaded through in the inside-right position, and found himself inside the Ashford penalty area, with Craig Wilkins the second-last line of defence. He twisted and turned Wilko, before attempting to slot the ball in at the near post – but Seb Barton got down to make a good save. (I know it’s easy to be critical of the ‘keeper when the team loses 5-1, but I must say that this was quite a rare event, as Seb doesn’t seem to stop very many – in spite of whatever other qualities he may have, I suspect that he’s not as good a shot-stopper as one or two of his predecessors).
In the 72nd minute, James Humphreys, in his yellow boots, robbed fellow substitute Nathan Green, in the Croydon half, and the break was on. James fed Shawn Beveney, down the right, and the big Guyanese bore down on the home defence. There was support to his left, but Shawn tried a shot himself, and blasted it just over the bar.
At the other end, defensive frailties were in evidence once again, and Ashford really deserved to concede a sixth goal; (and I can scarcely believe that I’ve just written that). Croydon skipper Danny Waldren, from a free-kick on the right, in the 74th minute, curled the ball over a two-man wall, and found a team-mate unmarked, on the far edge of the six-yard box. This is a cross that Seb Barton really should have come out to claim, but he at least redeemed himself by getting down to make a good save, as the header was directed downwards and at his feet.
In case Steve Lovell was thinking that things couldn’t get any worse, he replaced Daniel Brathwaite with Tony Browne, in the 77th minute, and, by the way Daniel was flexing his legs, in the dug-out, this looked like it was probably a substitution made on the grounds of injury. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious, as Daniel was one Ashford player who certainly got his head down and tried, right to the time that he was taken off.
Ashford’s two West Indian strikers – being paired for the first time, remember – showed some persistence on the edge of the Croydon area, in the 79th minute, trying manfully to work an opening for a clear shot at goal. Eventually the ball was played square, to James Humphreys, who slipped the ball through to Beveney, now inside The Rams’ penalty area. Shawn’s efforts finally ended with a shot at goal, but one that he sliced wide of the target.
In the 82nd minute, Ashford once again deserved to go further behind, when the revamped defence, (with Tony Browne at right-back and Jimmy Elford now on the left), seemed to go AWOL. A deep cross from a corner, on the right, found a Croydon player completely unmarked, beyond the far post – but his effort was blocked, and, after a bit of a goalmouth scramble, the ball was cleared. Two minutes later, the hard-working, but largely ineffective, Mitchell Sherwood conceded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. This was ideally placed for a curling, right-footed attempt at goal. Faced with a three-man wall, Danny Waldren got his shot on target, and it needed a good, diving save from Seb Barton, at the far post – ex-Shrewsbury Town, Woking, Grays and Bromley midfielder Karl Murray got to the rebound first, but popped the ball over the bar.
Ashford did keep pressing forward to the end, and had a free-kick and a couple of corners during the three minutes of injury time, but, at 5-1, it was inevitably a case of rather going through the motions, and Ross Flitney was not troubled in the Croydon Athletic goal.
The Man of the Match award for Ashford really boiled down to two people – Charlie Glyde, who worked tirelessly on the left side of midfield, and looked as likely to score as anyone, and Shawn Beveney, who toiled away in a new cause, and did most things right. In the end, we gave it to the big man, on his Ashford debut. Well done, Shawn. Welcome to “The Titanic” !
So ended a rather miserable day, which had begun with the news that the M25 was blocked at Leatherhead, meaning that we had almost a three-hour journey to Croydon, most of it hacking through South London. Purely out of habit, I checked the results of the other promotion contenders when I got home – but I’m sure that promotion has gone now. For the record, our “target team”, i.e. the team that looks most likely to fill the fourth and final play-off position, is Merstham. They are now four points ahead of us, with two games in hand, and are absolutely flying, having beaten league leaders Kingstonian 2-0 this afternoon. We need a major loss of form from a few of the teams currently above us, to retain any lingering chance of scraping into the play-offs, and I can’t see that happening.
More importantly, Ashford need to get their own house in order. I don’t know what’s gone wrong, particularly with the defence, but, whether it’s on the pitch or in the dressing-room, it needs sorting out, pronto. I’ve always been fairly lukewarm on the imperative of getting promotion this season, but I’ve been hoping that we can at least stay in contention right to the end, to maintain that tremendous feel-good factor all the way to the final game of the season, at home to Kingstonian. Otherwise, a lot of people, who have had a lot of hope raised sky-high, are going to be bitterly disappointed.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Shawn Beveney
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