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
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