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
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