Corinthian-Casuals 5 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Last Saturday’s deserved 3-2 victory at home to Whyteleafe was hugely important to Steve Lovell’s developing Ashford Town side. Having made steady improvement – admittedly from a very low baseline - through the first five games of the campaign, it was important for the boys to register their first league win, both to lift the team off the bottom of the table, and to give themselves the belief that they can compete at this level.
It’s therefore extremely disappointing and deflating to have to report that, this afternoon, I witnessed what I think was our worst performance of the season. This was a massive step backwards. It also appeared to be a hugely dispiriting experience for the exasperated management team of Steve Lovell and Hugo Langton. The overwhelming vibe from the dug-out appeared to be that the players were reflecting nothing of what had been worked on in training during the week – unless, of course, hopeful, 50/50 punts up-field were all part of this afternoon’s game plan.
For the second away trip running – following the FA Cup exit at Leatherhead, two weeks ago – this was a glorious, sunny, late-Summer afternoon, ruined by the result of the match. It was such a shame for the mostly cheerful, and always optimistic, contingent of away followers, who had once again made it possible for a Supporters’ Club coach to be put on. Having endured a ghastly, congested journey into South London, spirits were thoroughly dampened by the time the team trooped in 4-0 down at half time.
I dare say that the majority of them will be back on the coach for next Saturday’s trip to Merstham – Mothers and proper football supporters tend to be like that – but surely we all deserve better than this ! None of us are expecting a challenge for the championship this year, but it’s ridiculous to have sand kicked in our face by a team that, famously, is run on an entirely amateur basis, in that it neither pays its players, nor provides them with match day expenses.
I don’t think that the reduction in the players’ wage-bill, in comparison with last season, can be used as an excuse. This was a Saturday on which Hythe Town, of the Kent League, fought out an honourable 2-2 draw with Woking in the FA Cup; Walton Casuals (rubbish ground, average home attendance of 115) progressed to the Third Qualifying Round of the same competition; Godalming Town (very modest ground, average home attendance of 131) went to the top of our division; Thamesmead Town (desperate ground, average home attendance of 61) won 4-0, to remain in 4th position in Ryman Division One North. I could go on !
I have deliberately not used patronising expressions about today’s hosts, such as “the likes of Corinthian-Casuals”, as this appears to be a better Casuals side to those in recent times that have flirted with relegation to Step 5. They certainly seem to have put together a decent forward line, with Jamal Carr looking particularly impressive, on the right wing. It’s actually a shame that the club has such meagre support. The official attendance was 106, but I’m sure that there couldn’t have been many more than 60 in the ground – the convention appears to be that all season ticket holders are deemed to have “gone through the turnstiles”, even if they didn’t turn up for the game – and the overwhelming majority of these were Ashford Town supporters.
The facilities at King George’s Field are in no way imposing. There is a neat clubhouse, with a brown-tiled roof, and red, plastic seats, three deep, extending for about half the length of the pitch on one side. This seating is covered with a narrow, corrugated roof, and there is a similar shelter for some brief terracing at each end. The other side of the ground is open, with a lawn, some five yards wide, behind the dug-outs, bordered by a wooden fence. One thing which was different this year, though – and this was particularly striking – was the pitch, which was magnificent. It was flat and flawless, and looked every bit as good as any that I’ve seen this season. One face I recognised in the crowd was that of Mickey Stewart, the former Surrey and England batsman, and Coach of Surrey, and Father of Alec. Mickey is a Vice-President of Corinthian-Casuals, and used to play for the team, as what used to be called an Outside Right – although he’d probably prefer to be remembered as an ex-Charlton Athletic winger. Now aged 77, Mickey must have looked at the pitch and thought he was back at The Oval !
The happiest piece of team news for the travelling Ashford Town supporters – at least initially – was that Darren Ibrahim had at last been given the chance to start a game in goal. Darren has been the perennial under-study, to a few first-choice ‘keepers now, in spite of looking pretty competent in pre-season friendlies, so it was good to see that his patience had finally been rewarded. Darren gets his chance due to the knee injury suffered by Scott Chalmers-Stevens – who clearly couldn’t even keep a clean sheet on his wedding night – in the 95th minute of the home victory against Whyteleafe. Darren actually made his home debut by occupying the six-yard box for the final two minutes of that game, but this was his first real opportunity to impress.
Unfortunately, the 21 year-old had a nightmare, particularly in the first half.
Ashford actually started the game pretty much in control, and Darren didn’t actually see the ball until the eighth minute. The home side, playing in their traditional colours of pink and chocolate halves, with dark blue shorts and sockies, just had a couple of long throws from Wayne Finney to show for their efforts in the opening minutes, and both of these were headed away from the Ashford goalmouth by John Guest; the visitors just had the one promising free-kick situation during this time, but this came to nothing.
The change of goalkeeper was the only real surprise in the Ashford line-up – although Luke Coleman once again had to make do with a place on the bench, with Joe Fuller partnering Paul Jones up front. The midfield consisted of Mitchell Sherwood on the right, Nick Smith on the left and Ryan Briggs and Ross Morley in the centre. It was good to see young Carl Harrold at right-back; John Guest and Bryan Pearce resumed their partnership in central defence, with skipper Danny Lye again filling in as a makeshift left-back. (It’s probably Sod’s Law that, every time that Steve Lovell has put Danny Lye in at left-back, he’s had a very accomplished right-winger to deal with !).
There was a full complement of subs on the Ashford bench: Reserves’ goalie Dan Mason filled Danny Ibrahim’s berth in the dug-out, and he was joined by Luke Coleman, Kevin Swaisland, Jon Ralph and Toby Ashmore. Lee Hockey was also at the ground, in spite of not making the final XVI, as were Nick & Mark Lovell. Mark feels very close to being back to full fitness, after over a year on the sidelines, and is hopeful of having some involvement in next Saturday’s game, at Merstham.
The home side’s first real attack came in the 15th minute. A long, diagonal ball was hit out of defence, and chased to near the corner flag, on the Corinthian-Casuals’ left. Although Bryan Pearce went across to cover, he couldn’t prevent the cross from being delivered. Much worse was the fact that Jamal Carr, unmarked in the penalty area, was able to get on the end of this cross, and easily powered a header past Darren Ibrahim, who had little chance.
Ashford responded to this early set-back with a good move, down the right, in the 18th minute. This involved Mitch Sherwood, Paul Jones and Carl Harrold, and culminated with young Carl putting in a low cross from the by-line; goalkeeper Matt Mann looked a little uncertain, but managed to palm the ball away from the in-coming Ashford attackers – and the ball was scrambled away. Two minutes later, there was the only really controversial incident of the half, when Referee Wilde rather “bottled” what should have been a straight-forward penalty decision in Ashford’s favour. Mitchell Sherwood attacked the right side of the home side’s penalty area, and was clearly tripped as he went past the defender. The Lino rightly flagged for the foul, but the referee awarded a free-kick, a fraction outside the penalty area, when he really should have seen that the offence occurred at least a couple of feet inside the box. Ryan Briggs hit the free-kick low, into the heart of the penalty area, but this was easily cleared by the defence.
Ashford continued to have more of the ball during the first 30 minutes, but without being able to create a recognisable chance. They also appeared to be getting less than the rub of the green with the referee’s decisions, which added to the frustration on the Ashford bench. In spite of the visitors’ possession, Corinthian-Casuals showed themselves to be quick and dangerous on the break. In the 26th minute, the home side rapidly turned defence into attack, with Jamal Carr down the right wing. He sent in a cross which went deep into the Ashford penalty area, but the yellow-shirted defence scraped the ball behind for a corner, on the left. The resulting cross was flicked on at the near post, and Danny Lye had to nod the ball clear for another corner, this time on the opposite side; this time, it was John Guest who rose to head the corner clear.
The visitors’ fortunes really began to sag from the 31st minute, when Corinthian-Casuals went 2-0 up. There seemed to be little danger when Glenn Boosey had the ball, in space, in the middle of the Ashford half – that was until Boosey lobbed the ball over Darren Ibrahim’s head, and into the net. It was a well-struck shot from the Casuals’ No.10, but it was a bit worrying to see young Darren beaten from that distance.
These worries were compounded in the 35th minute, when Ibrahim again appeared to be beaten with ease. This time, it was direct from a free-kick, on the right, about level with the edge of the 18-yard box, and some five yards in from the touchline. Darren isn’t the tallest of ‘keepers, but, whether it was his lack of height or poor positioning, Kane Sargeant was able to hit the ball, with a fairly low trajectory, straight into the far corner of the net.
Darren had another slightly dodgy moment, in the 44th minute, when he came to collect a long throw from Wayne Finney, on the left, only to drop the ball, before being reprieved when the referee awarded him a free-kick. However, there was nothing that the young ‘keeper could do about Corinthian-Casuals’ fourth goal, which came in the third minute of first-half injury time – it should also be said that, whereas the first three goals looked to be very soft goals to concede, this one was superbly made, and very well taken. It all began when Mitch Sherwood lost the ball, deep inside the home side’s half. A long, first-time ball out of defence was well controlled by Saheed Sankoh, on the run. He squared the ball to Jamal Carr, who again showed a deft controlling touch, before hitting the ball firmly past Ibrahim.
So, for the second time this season – in only their seventh league game – Ashford found themselves 4-0 down at half time, with Steve Lovell having to face up to a difficult team talk ! There were no real positives during this half. Seemingly incapable of putting a constructive move together, we looked very easy to score against. It’s possible that the match might have panned out a little differently if we’d been awarded that penalty, just five minutes after Casuals had taken a 1-0 lead, but it’s difficult to see how we would have stopped the home side from scoring those goals.
The second-half performance was a little better – and Darren had a relatively quiet time of it, in the Ashford goal – and it began with a substitution. Toby Ashmore replaced Nicholas Frederick Smith – this might have been due to a poor first-half performance from Nick, but might equally have been a legacy of the heavy knock he took, in the 39th minute, when challenging for a ball in the air with goalkeeper Matt Mann. Anyway, the reshuffle saw Toby making his first appearance of his second spell at Ashford, at right-back, with Carl Harrold moving forward to the right side of midfield, and Mitch Sherwood moving over to the left side.
The visitors did most of the early pressing in the second half, no doubt with the Manager’s half-time words still buzzing in their ears, and had a promising situation when Corinthian-Casuals’ right-back Scott Hassell handled the ball inside his own half, in the 48th minute – but, as so often, Ryan Briggs’ free-kick was a little slow and “floaty”, and it was a defender’s head that won the ball in the area. A minute later, Paul Jones did manage to win the ball in the air, flicking on a clearance from Darren Ibrahim, and finding John Guest, who had taken up a forward position. The loanee from Dartford laid the ball back to Carl Harrold, whose cross-cum-shot, on the volley, went harmlessly across the face of Matt Mann’s goal. The boys were showing some spirit, but it wasn’t enough to raise a chorus from the knot of Ashford town supporters behind the goal, who were now very quiet, and looked a pretty dejected lot.
In the 52nd minute, Jamal Carr was tripped by Danny Lye, and stayed on the ground for quite some time – which is entirely understandable, given that he was being attended to by Casuals’ gorgeous, blonde Physio, Loreen Woodward, whose Summer outfit for 2009 is a skimpy, brown top, with straps almost invisible against her gently curved, sun-tanned shoulders, and what looked to be spray-on, black track-suit bottoms. “How do you get into those?”, asked an Ashford fan in the bar, after the game. “Well, you can start by buying me a drink”, she said. (Actually, I made that last bit up).
In spite of Ashford’s determined start to the second half, when Corinthian-Casuals did have the ball going forward, they looked far more likely to score. A quick, cross-field move, on the edge of the Ashford penalty area, in the 56th minute, found Kane Sargeant, (with his lime green boots), in space, on the left edge of the box. Sargeant squared the ball back to Glenn Boosey, in the centre, and his well-struck, left-foot shot screamed just wide of the angle of post & bar.
At the other end – where the ball was, for much of the time – Ashford continued to struggle to produce anything incisive, with only two long-range efforts from Ross Morley, from clearances from corners, in the 63rd and 64th minutes, to show for their efforts. Both of these shots were blocked by the home defence – but this was, at least, an encouraging sign of life.
In the 65th minute, Steve Lovell made what I believe were two hugely significant substitutions. He took off both Ryan Briggs and Mitchell Sherwood. These were certainly not changes made for tactical reasons, for reasons of injury or to rest the players for future games. Instead, I had the distinct impression that the Manager had finally lost patience with the pair. Mitch and Briggo are among the handful of first team regulars from last season to have stuck with the Club, but neither has shown any real form for several months now. In Briggs’ case, this has serious consequences for the team, as he is the play maker in the middle of the pitch, and the experienced head alongside Ross Morley. When he fails to deliver, the whole team performance suffers. Briggo also tends to take the majority of corners and free-kicks, and his looping style of delivery probably requires more pace and “whip” to really trouble defences. Mitch Sherwood has been struggling for confidence for quite a while now. Although I’ve seen him put in one or two good shifts in terms of his defensive responsibilities, he now seems to lack any conviction at all when in a situation of being able to attack defenders.
Lovell replaced the two with Luke Coleman and Kevin Swaisland. This meant – “and here’s the science bit, so concentrate” – that Swaisland joined Paul Jones up front, Joe Fuller dropped back into central midfield and The Coleman replaced Sherwood in the wide left-midfield position. This left Ashford with a fairly young and inexperienced midfield quartet of Harrold, Fuller, Morley and Coleman, but the change worked immediately, with the two men involved in the double-substitution combining to pull a goal back, in the 68th minute. Paul Jones spread the ball out to Coleman, who had pulled out wide, to the touchline. Lukey checked inside, transferring the ball onto his right foot, and sent a good, teasing cross into the Corinthian-Casuals penalty area. This immediately asked questions of goalkeeper Matt Mann, and, as he came out to collect the ball on the first bounce, Kevin Swaisland nipped in ahead of him, and deflected the ball into the net. It appeared to me to be a good, striker’s goal, but there was a prolonged protest to the referee and linesman from the entire Corinthian-Casuals team, in spite of the game having been sewn up long ago – and this was the sort of protest you tend only to see when there has been a hand-ball, or something, that is obvious to everyone but the officials. Of course, that wouldn’t stand up in a Court of Law, but I’m pretty sure that there was something unsatisfactory about Kevin Swaisland’s first goal for the Club.
Anyway, as Mickey Stewart might have said on many occasions, to a batsman protesting that the umpire had been wrong in giving him out, when walking back to the pavilion: “Look in the ‘papers tomorrow, Son”. By hook or by crook, it was now 4-1.
Almost immediately, the home side’s Manager, Brian Adamson, made a double-substitution of his own, replacing Glenn Boosey and Scott Corbett with Wes Harrison and Carlton Murray-Price. Soon after, in the 73rd minute, Adamson made his final substitution, when throwing on Dale Hennessey in place of Kane Sargeant. A minute later, Maradona Swaisland was deservedly booked for a late tackle.
The overall improvement in Ashford Town’s performance in the second half can be marked by the fact that Darren Ibrahim was largely unemployed – and it wasn’t until the 77th minute that he was really called into action. A curling cross from right-back Scott Hassell found Wes Harrision, unmarked, at the far post. Darren came out to face the danger, but Harrison’s control let him down, and the ball rolled beyond the goal line, for a goal-kick. Ibrahim actually made his one and only save of the match in the 78th minute. Joe Fuller lost the ball in central midfield, and a good one-two between Harrison and Jamal Carr took Harrison clean through the Ashford defence – before Darren did well to save with his legs. This save was greeted with an ironic cheer from the Ashford fans at the opposite end of the ground – which is unusual, as they’re generally more supportive than that, but it did rather capture the mood of the moment.
In the 85th minute, there was a rare flash of enterprise and class from Luke Coleman, as he turned, some 30 yards from goal, and hit a firm shot that was heading for the roof of the net, before Matt Mann did well to tip the ball over the bar. It has to be said that this was very much an isolated incident, as the visitors made little impression on the Casuals’ defence, but Ashford very nearly had the consolation of “winning” the second half. Unfortunately, their collective incompetence resurfaced, in the 88th minute, when a long ball found Carlton Murray-Price, in acres of space, in the “D”. The substitute controlled the ball immediately, and comfortably slotted it past Darren Ibrahim, for 5-1, leaving John Guest and Bryan Pearce looking at each other, arms wide apart, debating who should have been picking the man up. This fifth goal meant that the Casuals matched the score line that they achieved at The Homelands, back in April.
Guest was then involved in a couple of incidents late on. In the 90th minute, Luke Coleman found him with a low corner, on the right, but he fired his shot over the bar; then, in the second minute of stoppage time, he was back in defence putting pressure on Jamal Carr, on the angle of the six-yard box, after Carr had got himself on the end of another good, flowing Corinthian-Casuals move, only to side-foot the ball wide.
It was very hard to name a defender as Man of the Match after a 5-1 defeat, but John Guest still managed to shine out as our best player on the pitch this afternoon, even if he wouldn’t have been foot-perfect out there. His only serious rival for MoM was Paul Jones, who was, as usual, a strong focus for the attack. I also feel that I should mention the two substitutes, Luke Coleman and Kevin Swaisland, who did make a difference when they came on, in addition to combining for Ashford’s only goal.
Eastbourne Town’s 0-1 victory at Whyteleafe this afternoon puts Ashford back into the relegation zone – second-bottom, above Chipstead. We’ve been there before, of course, on more than one occasion, and quite recently – but most of us are getting sick of it now. We should really be competing with the likes of Tonbridge Angels, and Margate, and Maidstone United, in the Ryman Premier – not being embarrassed by village teams and amateur sides in this division. The roadshow moves on, next Saturday, to Merstham – little ground, population of 7,385, average crowd of 150, third in the division.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
John Guest
Sunday 27 September 2009
Saturday 12 September 2009
Leatherhead v Ashford Town. FA Cup First Qualifying Round. 12th of September 2009.
Leatherhead 2 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This might have been a simply wonderful day. Kent beat Middlesex by ten wickets in the cricket, to all but wrap up their Championship, Your Milton Keynes Correspondent backed the St Leger winner at 14-1, we had a very decent lunch in The Running Horse, Leatherhead’s oldest public house, and we were blessed with a lovely, warm, sunny day on which to watch a game of football. I suppose the shine was rather taken off the afternoon by the result here at Fetcham Grove – not that the Ashford lads let anyone down today, as they looked solid, and put in a performance well worthy of earning a replay, but they were dumped out of the FA Cup at this Preliminary Round stage by two goals in the last six minutes of a pretty even cup tie.
Before going into a description of the match, I really am inclined to dwell on the weather. I just know that there will be plenty of occasions to come during the season when I’ll be donning the thermals and the scarf and the woolly hat, and I’ll still be freezing my crown jewels off at some God-forsaken gaff ground. Today, though, was a day for basking in the sun, in a T-shirt – and green, green Fetcham Grove is about the ideal venue for doing this. Located in a park, near the centre of Leatherhead, this tree-lined stadium has a sloping, grassy bank on two sides of the pitch, and it is possible, as some did, to sit at the top of either of these banks, leaning against the concrete perimeter wall, with a good, elevated view of the game, enjoying the aroma of freshly-mown grass. In fact, it was almost too hot on this sun-facing far side this afternoon, so, in the second half, we sought refuge in the low, narrow stand which extends for the whole length of the opposite side of the pitch.
It was not easy to predict the outcome of this one - even allowing for the fact that the form book can be rendered redundant in the FA Cup. Whilst Ashford Town had beaten Leatherhead three times last season – including a 1-5 victory here at Fetcham Grove in the League, and a 3-2 victory at The Homelands at the same stage of the FA Cup – both clubs have undergone substantial changes in personnel.
Steve Lovell has been operating with a small squad this season, but the silver lining to this is that it has encouraged him to maintain a level of stability with his team selection. He actually named a starting eleven that was unchanged from the side that earnt a well-deserved point at the Met Police last Saturday – but then Paul Jones pulled out, as he was experiencing problems with his groin, (a not uncommon trait for a newly-wed), so the tippex was administered to the team-sheet, and Joe Fuller moved up to partner Luke Coleman up front. There was the same midfield quartet that performed so well at Imber Court, of Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Ross Morley and Nick Smith. There was also the same back four in front of Scott Chalmers-Stevens – which lacks a specialist full-back – of Lee Hockey, Bryan Pearce, John Guest and Skipper Danny Lye. The absence of a proper full-back was to prove an issue, since Leatherhead carried considerable threat from the flanks in the form of Kevin Terry on the left, and Josh Smith on the right, but Danny Lye certainly made a good fist of what is a fairly unfamiliar role for him.
The substitutes’ bench was plenty crowded enough, even without Joe Fuller’s bum, and additional seats had to be sent for – this is because of the regulation that seven subs can be named in FA Cup games. Ashford’s bench included two players returning from a one-game suspension, in striker Kevin Swaisland and right-back Carl Harrold, one returning from injury, in left-back Ryan Norman, plus John Ralph, Toby Ashmore and ‘keeper Darren Ibrahim, who were all on bench duty at Imber Court.
This was not a game of many chances, but it began with what was an open, entertaining first half hour, with both teams sporadically getting the ball down and trying to play football. There was nothing particularly frantic, or high-paced, about the play, but there appeared to be a certain care-free attitude on the field, which seems to distinguish cup games from league football.
It was the visitors, playing in their “Norwich City” strip, with the home side in their famous green shirts, white shorts and green sockies, who had the first sight of goal, in the fourth minute. A trademark long throw by Lee Hockey was won, in the Leatherhead penalty area, by Joe Fuller. His touch found Mitchell Sherwood, outside the penalty area, but Mitch’s left-foot shot went just wide of the post. First chance for The Tanners came in the eighth minute, when a deep cross from the left eluded everyone in the Ashford goalmouth, and found the impressive Josh Smith on the right edge of the area. Smith took one touch to control the ball, and sent in a good, low shot – this was straight at Scott Chalmers-Stevens, but the ‘keeper got down well to save and hang on to the ball.
There were plenty of corners, and throw-ins high up the pitch, at both ends, during the first 30 minutes, but it must be said that the majority were at the end that Ashford were defending. Although Scott Chalmers-Stevens was the busier of the two ‘keepers, neither goal was seriously threatened during this period. The home side’s only shot at goal was a long-range effort from Hassan Nyang, in the 26th minute, which went well wide, whilst Luke Coleman put a first-time lob just wide, after running onto a long Chalmers-Stevens clearance, in the 21st minute.
Unfortunately, the spotlight gradually focused away from the football, and onto Referee Stephen Child, beginning, in the 28th minute, with a lengthy debate he had with Tanners Manager Mick Sullivan over his decision to stop the game due to an apparent head injury. This chat dragged on for rather a long time, and, just four minutes later, Child held up proceedings to have a long discussion with Danny Lye and Ryan Briggs. Just prior to this conversation, Ashford had had a half-chance, which stemmed from a corner that was won by Luke Coleman, on the left. Ryan Briggs took this one short, to Joe Fuller, who returned the pass to give Briggo a better angle; the resulting cross to the far post was headed clear by the Leatherhead defence, as far as Ross Morley, whose shot from outside the area was sliced wide.
A much better opportunity was presented to Ashford “on a plate”, in the 34th minute. The home side’s back five were making rather a meal of passing the ball amongst themselves, before ‘keeper Craig Bradshaw made a complete hash of a clearance. The ball went straight to Joe Fuller, who was presented with a one-on-one, with Bradshaw a few yards in front of him, on the edge of his 18-yard box. Joe did the right thing by side-stepping the goalie and shooting for goal, but, by this time, a defender had got back to cover, and cleared off the line.
The Referee, observed by the dreaded Assessor, in the stand, again took centre stage, in the 37th minute, when he booked Bryan Pearce for a tackle made right in front of the Leatherhead bench. I must say that my view of the tackle itself was obscured by the brick dug-out, with its grey, corrugated roof, but the reaction from the Ashford players near to the incident seemed to indicate that the yellow card might have been a little harsh.
The home side did threaten the Ashford goal in the dying minutes of the first half. In the 44th minute, Joshua Smith made it to the by-line, inside the penalty area, but his cross was headed clear. Then, inside the third minute of injury time at the end of the half, The Tanners finally put together a move that penetrated the Ashford defence. Former Banstead Athletic winger Kevin Terry played a neat one-two with Hassan Nyang, the return pass nutmegging an Ashford defender, which took him into the visitors’ penalty area. Terry’s initial cross found its way back to him, upon which he side-footed the ball into the far corner of the net – but the lino’s flag was raised for offside. That was the final action of the first half, so the teams went it at half time with the score remaining at 0-0.
[ ………. and during the Intermission, I will take the opportunity to apologise to Mr O’Brien, who refereed the Met Police game last Saturday. I mentioned in my report on the game that he blew up for full time when the ball was out of play, which I described as being contrary to regulations – as he points out, it isn’t, so I stand corrected. ]
During the opening minutes of the second half, the home side seemed strangely low-key, but they had the first recognisable chance after the interval. This came about after an Ashford attack, featuring a Lee Hockey long-throw, had broken down, in the 51st minute. Suddenly, the breaking Leatherhead forwards had a two v two situation with the Ashford defence. This ended with Josh Smith being put through on goal, but he side-footed a shot just wide of the post – but was flagged off-side, in any case.
Two minutes later, Ashford had a throw-in, deep inside the Leatherhead half. This was taken by Danny Lye, who threw the ball to Nick Smith, who had come short. Smudge returned the ball to his captain, who measured a cross into the home side’s goalmouth; Mitch Sherwood came steaming in, but his powerful header went well wide of the target.
This was never a violent game, but there was some punishment dished out by the referee during the second half, starting with a yellow card for Leatherhead’s Gabriel Emechete, for a blatant, and totally unnecessary, chopping down of Joe Fuller, in the centre circle, in the 55th minute. A minute later, the Ashford defence was breached, and it’s amazing that the home side didn’t open the scoring. Once again, it was the wide men who did the damage. Good work by Kevin Terry, attacking the Ashford penalty area from the left, resulted in a good cross, which led to a scramble in the goalmouth. The ball fell to Josh Smith, who was only denied by a desperate lunge by an Ashford defender, from close range.
It’s impossible to tell whether it was because of the ease with which Terry was able to get the ball into the Ashford area, but Steve Lovell almost immediately replaced Lee Hockey with Carl Harrold. At the same time, Leatherhead Manager Mick Sullivan made a double-substitution, sending on Marc Elston in place of Josh Smith on the right wing, and striker Tony Cuff in place of Gabriel Enechete.
Shortly after Nick Smith had headed a Mitch Sherwood cross wide of goal, having done well to get above his marker, on the hour mark, the two Tanners substitutes combined well, down the right wing. This resulted in a cross finding the prolific Tommy Hutchings, in the middle of the Ashford penalty area – he was in “Position A”, about 15 yards out, but his control let him down, and the ball ran away from him. Nevertheless, the ball broke to the diminutive Marc Elston, outside the area, whose hard, low shot was well saved by Scott Chalmers-Stevens.
In the 63rd minute, a good tackle by Nick Smith enabled him to rob the ball from Elston, and he fed John Guest (of all people) with a ball inside the right-back. Guest put in a good cross, but the ball refused to settle for Luke Coleman, in the six-yard box. Sullivan then made his third and final substitution, in the 67th minute, replacing striker Dominic O’Shea with Kwabena Agyei, in a like-for-like swap – but it was Ashford who had the next attempt at goal, just a minute later. This featured a one-two between Joe Fuller and Luke Coleman, which put Lukey through on goal, but this time it was the visitors’ turn to be caught offside. (By the reaction and body language of the players, however, I suspect that it wasn’t a particularly close-run thing).
The next man to be yellow-carded was Leatherhead substitute Tony Cuff; this was for a blatant foul on Nick Smith, just as the Ashford No.11 was about to break forward. Ryan Briggs curled the resulting free-kick high into the Tanners’ penalty area, but the referee immediately saw an infringement by an Ashford player.
Steve Lovell made his second substitution, in the 77th minute, when he replaced Luke Coleman with Kevin Swaisland. Whilst Swaisland’s Kent County League background, with Bearsted, doesn’t exactly match up to Lukey’s CV, which has Gravesend & Northfleet on it, it must be said that Kevin did actually make a difference up front, getting his head to several balls that were pumped forward. The Coleman, on the other hand, wasn’t delivering today.
There was a half chance for Ashford in the 79th minute. Joe Fuller won a corner on the left. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but was cleared as far as Ross Morley, on the far side. Ross crossed the ball back into the danger area, and John Guest got up well, but could do no better than to head the ball up in the air, and over the bar. Four minutes later, Ryan Norman came on for the hard-working Nick Smith, for Ashford’s final substitution.
It was at about this time that my mind wandered from the immediate cup tie in hand, and I considered the bigger picture of how the Ashford team and squad was shaping up. Although Leatherhead had had the better chances, and Craig Bradshaw, in the home goal, didn’t have a save to make, I reflected that the lads had matched what is probably a good, mid-table yardstick pretty well – and that, following the previous good showing against the Metropolitan Police, we should be OK for at least a solid mid-table league position this season. Well inside the last ten minutes, with the cup tie looking set to finish as a goal-less draw, I also mused over the importance of the team’s first clean sheet of the season – and this was about the time that it all slipped away, and Ashford conceded the first of two late goals.
The first of these came in the 84th minute, when Kev Terry was put through, in the inside-left channel. He got to the Ashford by-line, and, in spite of defenders’ appeals that the ball had gone out of play, pulled the ball back, and substitute Marc Elston was there to turn it into the net. This appeared to be a rather ominous turn of events, since, although the lads had looked solid this afternoon, they rarely looked like scoring.
The second goal, which came in the 88th minute, was far more contentious, as it came on the heels of a strong penalty appeal for Ashford. Again, I must invoke the Wenger Amendment, as I didn’t see the incident – in fact, I didn’t even know what the appeal was for, until a couple of the Ashford fans behind the Leatherhead goal, who were close to the incident, informed me that there was a fairly obvious push, which Referee Child should have seen. Instead, I had my eyes on the subsequent Leatherhead break, which was led by Marc Elston. He beat Bryan Pearce, and then Carl Harrold, around about the halfway line – and suddenly the remaining Ashford defender was out-numbered three to one. The ball was carried forward, and then squared to Tommy Hutchings, in the penalty area. Hutchings had loads of time and space, and it looked odds-on that he was going to score his fourth goal of the season, but Scott Chalmers-Stevens made a brilliant save. The fact that the ball broke to Hassan Nyang, who made no mistake in slamming the ball into the roof of the net, means that this great piece of goalkeeping will probably be overlooked in the final analysis – which is a shame, as Scott generally had a solid game this afternoon.
So that was that as far as deciding which team was going to enter Monday’s draw for the Second Qualifying Round – but the saga of the penalty appeal didn’t end there. Before the game was restarted, Mitch Sherwood was booked for continuing to press the (now rather futile) case for a penalty. The Ashford bench was also fairly animated – so animated that Assistant Manager Hugo Langton was sent off, ordered to leave the dug-out and graze on the grassy bank on the far side.
The home side was almost presented with a third goal – which really would have flattered them – in the 93rd minute. The Ashford defence appeared to go AWOL as a ball was fed through to Marc Elston – and Scott Chalmers-Stevens started to come out of his goal, and then changed his mind. It looked like a golden opportunity for Elston to score his second goal, but he somehow trod on the ball, and Ryan Norman did a good job in tidying up, dribbling the ball to safety.
Finally, there was a yellow card for one of the Ashford players in the 94th minute, for something he said to the referee whilst waiting for a corner to be taken, as the visitors really started to lose their discipline – I thought it might have been Kevin Swaisland who was cautioned, but there is a school of thought that it might have been John Guest.
So, in the context of the cup tie, Leatherhead had avenged their defeat at The Homelands at this stage of the FA Cup last season, and Ashford’s fans had to come to terms with the umpteenth consecutive season without a “cup run” in this wonderful competition. Returning to that bigger picture again, this was another encouraging showing from Steve Lovell’s team – and the priority now must be to build on this, and to make progress in the league. It really is a case of achieving those “little victories” – the first clean sheet, and then the first league win. The next stop along that road will be the home game against Whyteleafe, next Saturday, but the trip to Worthing the following week will have to wait – Worthing went to Croydon Athletic today and got a 0-1 victory, so, unlike Ashford Town, they’re still very much in the FA Cup.
Once again, the issue of Man of the Match wasn’t clear-cut. I thought that Joe Fuller looked the part in attack, showing quite a few good touches, but his efforts were ultimately in vain; all of the midfield worked hard; both centre-backs did some important work, particularly in the second half, and Danny Lye did OK at left-back – but the nod went to Bryan Pearce on this occasion.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Bryan Pearce
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This might have been a simply wonderful day. Kent beat Middlesex by ten wickets in the cricket, to all but wrap up their Championship, Your Milton Keynes Correspondent backed the St Leger winner at 14-1, we had a very decent lunch in The Running Horse, Leatherhead’s oldest public house, and we were blessed with a lovely, warm, sunny day on which to watch a game of football. I suppose the shine was rather taken off the afternoon by the result here at Fetcham Grove – not that the Ashford lads let anyone down today, as they looked solid, and put in a performance well worthy of earning a replay, but they were dumped out of the FA Cup at this Preliminary Round stage by two goals in the last six minutes of a pretty even cup tie.
Before going into a description of the match, I really am inclined to dwell on the weather. I just know that there will be plenty of occasions to come during the season when I’ll be donning the thermals and the scarf and the woolly hat, and I’ll still be freezing my crown jewels off at some God-forsaken gaff ground. Today, though, was a day for basking in the sun, in a T-shirt – and green, green Fetcham Grove is about the ideal venue for doing this. Located in a park, near the centre of Leatherhead, this tree-lined stadium has a sloping, grassy bank on two sides of the pitch, and it is possible, as some did, to sit at the top of either of these banks, leaning against the concrete perimeter wall, with a good, elevated view of the game, enjoying the aroma of freshly-mown grass. In fact, it was almost too hot on this sun-facing far side this afternoon, so, in the second half, we sought refuge in the low, narrow stand which extends for the whole length of the opposite side of the pitch.
It was not easy to predict the outcome of this one - even allowing for the fact that the form book can be rendered redundant in the FA Cup. Whilst Ashford Town had beaten Leatherhead three times last season – including a 1-5 victory here at Fetcham Grove in the League, and a 3-2 victory at The Homelands at the same stage of the FA Cup – both clubs have undergone substantial changes in personnel.
Steve Lovell has been operating with a small squad this season, but the silver lining to this is that it has encouraged him to maintain a level of stability with his team selection. He actually named a starting eleven that was unchanged from the side that earnt a well-deserved point at the Met Police last Saturday – but then Paul Jones pulled out, as he was experiencing problems with his groin, (a not uncommon trait for a newly-wed), so the tippex was administered to the team-sheet, and Joe Fuller moved up to partner Luke Coleman up front. There was the same midfield quartet that performed so well at Imber Court, of Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Ross Morley and Nick Smith. There was also the same back four in front of Scott Chalmers-Stevens – which lacks a specialist full-back – of Lee Hockey, Bryan Pearce, John Guest and Skipper Danny Lye. The absence of a proper full-back was to prove an issue, since Leatherhead carried considerable threat from the flanks in the form of Kevin Terry on the left, and Josh Smith on the right, but Danny Lye certainly made a good fist of what is a fairly unfamiliar role for him.
The substitutes’ bench was plenty crowded enough, even without Joe Fuller’s bum, and additional seats had to be sent for – this is because of the regulation that seven subs can be named in FA Cup games. Ashford’s bench included two players returning from a one-game suspension, in striker Kevin Swaisland and right-back Carl Harrold, one returning from injury, in left-back Ryan Norman, plus John Ralph, Toby Ashmore and ‘keeper Darren Ibrahim, who were all on bench duty at Imber Court.
This was not a game of many chances, but it began with what was an open, entertaining first half hour, with both teams sporadically getting the ball down and trying to play football. There was nothing particularly frantic, or high-paced, about the play, but there appeared to be a certain care-free attitude on the field, which seems to distinguish cup games from league football.
It was the visitors, playing in their “Norwich City” strip, with the home side in their famous green shirts, white shorts and green sockies, who had the first sight of goal, in the fourth minute. A trademark long throw by Lee Hockey was won, in the Leatherhead penalty area, by Joe Fuller. His touch found Mitchell Sherwood, outside the penalty area, but Mitch’s left-foot shot went just wide of the post. First chance for The Tanners came in the eighth minute, when a deep cross from the left eluded everyone in the Ashford goalmouth, and found the impressive Josh Smith on the right edge of the area. Smith took one touch to control the ball, and sent in a good, low shot – this was straight at Scott Chalmers-Stevens, but the ‘keeper got down well to save and hang on to the ball.
There were plenty of corners, and throw-ins high up the pitch, at both ends, during the first 30 minutes, but it must be said that the majority were at the end that Ashford were defending. Although Scott Chalmers-Stevens was the busier of the two ‘keepers, neither goal was seriously threatened during this period. The home side’s only shot at goal was a long-range effort from Hassan Nyang, in the 26th minute, which went well wide, whilst Luke Coleman put a first-time lob just wide, after running onto a long Chalmers-Stevens clearance, in the 21st minute.
Unfortunately, the spotlight gradually focused away from the football, and onto Referee Stephen Child, beginning, in the 28th minute, with a lengthy debate he had with Tanners Manager Mick Sullivan over his decision to stop the game due to an apparent head injury. This chat dragged on for rather a long time, and, just four minutes later, Child held up proceedings to have a long discussion with Danny Lye and Ryan Briggs. Just prior to this conversation, Ashford had had a half-chance, which stemmed from a corner that was won by Luke Coleman, on the left. Ryan Briggs took this one short, to Joe Fuller, who returned the pass to give Briggo a better angle; the resulting cross to the far post was headed clear by the Leatherhead defence, as far as Ross Morley, whose shot from outside the area was sliced wide.
A much better opportunity was presented to Ashford “on a plate”, in the 34th minute. The home side’s back five were making rather a meal of passing the ball amongst themselves, before ‘keeper Craig Bradshaw made a complete hash of a clearance. The ball went straight to Joe Fuller, who was presented with a one-on-one, with Bradshaw a few yards in front of him, on the edge of his 18-yard box. Joe did the right thing by side-stepping the goalie and shooting for goal, but, by this time, a defender had got back to cover, and cleared off the line.
The Referee, observed by the dreaded Assessor, in the stand, again took centre stage, in the 37th minute, when he booked Bryan Pearce for a tackle made right in front of the Leatherhead bench. I must say that my view of the tackle itself was obscured by the brick dug-out, with its grey, corrugated roof, but the reaction from the Ashford players near to the incident seemed to indicate that the yellow card might have been a little harsh.
The home side did threaten the Ashford goal in the dying minutes of the first half. In the 44th minute, Joshua Smith made it to the by-line, inside the penalty area, but his cross was headed clear. Then, inside the third minute of injury time at the end of the half, The Tanners finally put together a move that penetrated the Ashford defence. Former Banstead Athletic winger Kevin Terry played a neat one-two with Hassan Nyang, the return pass nutmegging an Ashford defender, which took him into the visitors’ penalty area. Terry’s initial cross found its way back to him, upon which he side-footed the ball into the far corner of the net – but the lino’s flag was raised for offside. That was the final action of the first half, so the teams went it at half time with the score remaining at 0-0.
[ ………. and during the Intermission, I will take the opportunity to apologise to Mr O’Brien, who refereed the Met Police game last Saturday. I mentioned in my report on the game that he blew up for full time when the ball was out of play, which I described as being contrary to regulations – as he points out, it isn’t, so I stand corrected. ]
During the opening minutes of the second half, the home side seemed strangely low-key, but they had the first recognisable chance after the interval. This came about after an Ashford attack, featuring a Lee Hockey long-throw, had broken down, in the 51st minute. Suddenly, the breaking Leatherhead forwards had a two v two situation with the Ashford defence. This ended with Josh Smith being put through on goal, but he side-footed a shot just wide of the post – but was flagged off-side, in any case.
Two minutes later, Ashford had a throw-in, deep inside the Leatherhead half. This was taken by Danny Lye, who threw the ball to Nick Smith, who had come short. Smudge returned the ball to his captain, who measured a cross into the home side’s goalmouth; Mitch Sherwood came steaming in, but his powerful header went well wide of the target.
This was never a violent game, but there was some punishment dished out by the referee during the second half, starting with a yellow card for Leatherhead’s Gabriel Emechete, for a blatant, and totally unnecessary, chopping down of Joe Fuller, in the centre circle, in the 55th minute. A minute later, the Ashford defence was breached, and it’s amazing that the home side didn’t open the scoring. Once again, it was the wide men who did the damage. Good work by Kevin Terry, attacking the Ashford penalty area from the left, resulted in a good cross, which led to a scramble in the goalmouth. The ball fell to Josh Smith, who was only denied by a desperate lunge by an Ashford defender, from close range.
It’s impossible to tell whether it was because of the ease with which Terry was able to get the ball into the Ashford area, but Steve Lovell almost immediately replaced Lee Hockey with Carl Harrold. At the same time, Leatherhead Manager Mick Sullivan made a double-substitution, sending on Marc Elston in place of Josh Smith on the right wing, and striker Tony Cuff in place of Gabriel Enechete.
Shortly after Nick Smith had headed a Mitch Sherwood cross wide of goal, having done well to get above his marker, on the hour mark, the two Tanners substitutes combined well, down the right wing. This resulted in a cross finding the prolific Tommy Hutchings, in the middle of the Ashford penalty area – he was in “Position A”, about 15 yards out, but his control let him down, and the ball ran away from him. Nevertheless, the ball broke to the diminutive Marc Elston, outside the area, whose hard, low shot was well saved by Scott Chalmers-Stevens.
In the 63rd minute, a good tackle by Nick Smith enabled him to rob the ball from Elston, and he fed John Guest (of all people) with a ball inside the right-back. Guest put in a good cross, but the ball refused to settle for Luke Coleman, in the six-yard box. Sullivan then made his third and final substitution, in the 67th minute, replacing striker Dominic O’Shea with Kwabena Agyei, in a like-for-like swap – but it was Ashford who had the next attempt at goal, just a minute later. This featured a one-two between Joe Fuller and Luke Coleman, which put Lukey through on goal, but this time it was the visitors’ turn to be caught offside. (By the reaction and body language of the players, however, I suspect that it wasn’t a particularly close-run thing).
The next man to be yellow-carded was Leatherhead substitute Tony Cuff; this was for a blatant foul on Nick Smith, just as the Ashford No.11 was about to break forward. Ryan Briggs curled the resulting free-kick high into the Tanners’ penalty area, but the referee immediately saw an infringement by an Ashford player.
Steve Lovell made his second substitution, in the 77th minute, when he replaced Luke Coleman with Kevin Swaisland. Whilst Swaisland’s Kent County League background, with Bearsted, doesn’t exactly match up to Lukey’s CV, which has Gravesend & Northfleet on it, it must be said that Kevin did actually make a difference up front, getting his head to several balls that were pumped forward. The Coleman, on the other hand, wasn’t delivering today.
There was a half chance for Ashford in the 79th minute. Joe Fuller won a corner on the left. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but was cleared as far as Ross Morley, on the far side. Ross crossed the ball back into the danger area, and John Guest got up well, but could do no better than to head the ball up in the air, and over the bar. Four minutes later, Ryan Norman came on for the hard-working Nick Smith, for Ashford’s final substitution.
It was at about this time that my mind wandered from the immediate cup tie in hand, and I considered the bigger picture of how the Ashford team and squad was shaping up. Although Leatherhead had had the better chances, and Craig Bradshaw, in the home goal, didn’t have a save to make, I reflected that the lads had matched what is probably a good, mid-table yardstick pretty well – and that, following the previous good showing against the Metropolitan Police, we should be OK for at least a solid mid-table league position this season. Well inside the last ten minutes, with the cup tie looking set to finish as a goal-less draw, I also mused over the importance of the team’s first clean sheet of the season – and this was about the time that it all slipped away, and Ashford conceded the first of two late goals.
The first of these came in the 84th minute, when Kev Terry was put through, in the inside-left channel. He got to the Ashford by-line, and, in spite of defenders’ appeals that the ball had gone out of play, pulled the ball back, and substitute Marc Elston was there to turn it into the net. This appeared to be a rather ominous turn of events, since, although the lads had looked solid this afternoon, they rarely looked like scoring.
The second goal, which came in the 88th minute, was far more contentious, as it came on the heels of a strong penalty appeal for Ashford. Again, I must invoke the Wenger Amendment, as I didn’t see the incident – in fact, I didn’t even know what the appeal was for, until a couple of the Ashford fans behind the Leatherhead goal, who were close to the incident, informed me that there was a fairly obvious push, which Referee Child should have seen. Instead, I had my eyes on the subsequent Leatherhead break, which was led by Marc Elston. He beat Bryan Pearce, and then Carl Harrold, around about the halfway line – and suddenly the remaining Ashford defender was out-numbered three to one. The ball was carried forward, and then squared to Tommy Hutchings, in the penalty area. Hutchings had loads of time and space, and it looked odds-on that he was going to score his fourth goal of the season, but Scott Chalmers-Stevens made a brilliant save. The fact that the ball broke to Hassan Nyang, who made no mistake in slamming the ball into the roof of the net, means that this great piece of goalkeeping will probably be overlooked in the final analysis – which is a shame, as Scott generally had a solid game this afternoon.
So that was that as far as deciding which team was going to enter Monday’s draw for the Second Qualifying Round – but the saga of the penalty appeal didn’t end there. Before the game was restarted, Mitch Sherwood was booked for continuing to press the (now rather futile) case for a penalty. The Ashford bench was also fairly animated – so animated that Assistant Manager Hugo Langton was sent off, ordered to leave the dug-out and graze on the grassy bank on the far side.
The home side was almost presented with a third goal – which really would have flattered them – in the 93rd minute. The Ashford defence appeared to go AWOL as a ball was fed through to Marc Elston – and Scott Chalmers-Stevens started to come out of his goal, and then changed his mind. It looked like a golden opportunity for Elston to score his second goal, but he somehow trod on the ball, and Ryan Norman did a good job in tidying up, dribbling the ball to safety.
Finally, there was a yellow card for one of the Ashford players in the 94th minute, for something he said to the referee whilst waiting for a corner to be taken, as the visitors really started to lose their discipline – I thought it might have been Kevin Swaisland who was cautioned, but there is a school of thought that it might have been John Guest.
So, in the context of the cup tie, Leatherhead had avenged their defeat at The Homelands at this stage of the FA Cup last season, and Ashford’s fans had to come to terms with the umpteenth consecutive season without a “cup run” in this wonderful competition. Returning to that bigger picture again, this was another encouraging showing from Steve Lovell’s team – and the priority now must be to build on this, and to make progress in the league. It really is a case of achieving those “little victories” – the first clean sheet, and then the first league win. The next stop along that road will be the home game against Whyteleafe, next Saturday, but the trip to Worthing the following week will have to wait – Worthing went to Croydon Athletic today and got a 0-1 victory, so, unlike Ashford Town, they’re still very much in the FA Cup.
Once again, the issue of Man of the Match wasn’t clear-cut. I thought that Joe Fuller looked the part in attack, showing quite a few good touches, but his efforts were ultimately in vain; all of the midfield worked hard; both centre-backs did some important work, particularly in the second half, and Danny Lye did OK at left-back – but the nod went to Bryan Pearce on this occasion.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Bryan Pearce
Sunday 6 September 2009
Metropolitan Police v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 5th of September 2009.
Metropolitan Police 2 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The corresponding fixture last season was fairly early on in that campaign, and was a trial of strength between two teams that were very much expected to be in the shake-up for promotion. These expectations were largely justified, with the Metropolitan Police losing out in the Play-off Final, and Ashford Town flying as high as second place, before the well-documented Boardroom strife caused our challenge to hit the buffers. Early in the current season, however, both sides have made an uncertain start. After four games each, today’s hosts were this morning in 13th place, with a win, a defeat and two draws; Ashford, as we know, started the game in bottom place, with a single point, (gained, curiously, against top-of-the-table Godalming Town).
I’d still expect The Met to be challenging at the top before long, since they are going through something of an early-season injury crisis at the moment. I read somewhere that they recently had (I think) seven first-team players missing through injury, including star striker Craig Carley – it was some relief for us to see that Carley was only named as a substitute this afternoon. Another man currently on the casualty list is ex-Ashford Town defender Nicky Humphrey, who, in spite of warming up on the excellent pitch at Imber Court before the game, is still sidelined with a broken foot. But there were still two former Ashford players in The Blues’ line-up: left-back Nathan Simpson, who played in a couple of games in the 2007-8 season, and Craig Wilkins, who looked classy and composed in the centre of the home team’s defence this afternoon.
It’s hard to predict how far Ashford will climb the table this season. This is a team, and a squad, that is still very much under construction, and one of the joys of this campaign will be to see how the players develop, both collectively and individually, at this level. Performances in the four league games to date have been steadily improving, and last Sunday’s 6-1 win against a weak side in Mile Oak, of the Sussex League, was a very timely and welcome confidence booster. This victory featured a 36-minute hat-trick from substitute Luke Coleman, whose return, after a loan spell at The Homelands in the 2006-7 season, is also extremely welcome. Dropping down from Conference club Gravesend & Northfleet – (I refuse to use the “E” word) – Luke must surely form a formidable striking partnership with Paul Jones. In fact, once Mark Lovell returns from his long-term injury, and assuming that he can regain peak form and fitness, Ashford Town could probably claim to have the best trio of strikers in the division.
No sign, alas, of Mark in Ashford’s colours yet, though – he was in the stand today, with brother Nick. It was probably not difficult for Steve Lovell to name Luke Coleman alongside Paul Jones up front today, meaning that Joe Fuller dropped to the substitutes bench. The midfield quartet consisted of Ryan Briggs and Ross Morley in the middle, with Mitch Sherwood on the right and Nick Smith on the left. In defence, there was the return of the ever-popular Danny Lye, although this was the first time I’d seen him playing at left-back ! Bryan Pearce and the on-loan John Guest resumed their partnership in the centre of defence, with Lee Hockey, at right-back, completing what was arguably a four-man line of centre-halves. Significantly, it was Danny Lye, not Ryan Briggs, who wore the Captain’s armband this afternoon. Danny is the only member of the current squad to have played alongside Luke Coleman in an Ashford Town side – this was at home to Fleet Town, in the league, during the 2006-7 season, when his 18-minute stint represented his only appearance during that campaign; Luke also came on as a substitute in that game, putting in a 31-minute shift.
Scott Chalmers-Stevens was again in goal. A rather thin-looking bench – (in terms of numbers, not shape of its inhabitants) – consisted of reserve goalie Darren Ibrahim, Jon Ralph, Toby Ashmore and Joe Fuller. Our Chairman was allegedly on holiday in the The Canaries – which was probably quite appropriate, as his team took on The Boys in Blue, wearing the canary yellow away strip, with green shorts.
There’s plenty to look forward to when coming to Imber Court. One of the features of the day out is lunch at “The Weir” Public House, on the banks of the Thames, just a stone’s throw from where Walton Casuals beat Corinthian-Casuals 1-0 this afternoon. Another pleasure is the fact that the game is invariably played on an excellent pitch, and today was no exception. The Groundsman here won the award for the best pitch in the division last season – and, although I haven’t seen Steve Hackett’s Homelands pitch this year, he’ll have to go some to beat what we saw this afternoon !
There were also pretty much ideal conditions for us supporters - the afternoon was warm and windless, but with light cloud cover, to preclude the need to squint against the bright sun – and the knot of some fifteen Ashford supporters that cheered the team on from the terraces had yet to take up their position behind the Police goal, when the visitors had their first clear chance of the afternoon. In fact, the now-familiar chorus of “I fought the Law, and the Law won” had barely died down, when Paul Jones jinked past a defender and let fly with a decent, low shot, which was well saved by goalkeeper Mo Maan.
Ashford showed their tactical hand early on, when Lee Hockey came across to the right side to launch a couple of long throws into the penalty area, both aiming for the head of Danny Lye, within the first five minutes, but neither attack bore fruit. There was also some evidence that the opposition was also targeting Danny Lye, probably recognising the fact that left-back is not his natural position, since much of the danger from the home side came from the right flank, mostly through Craig Brown and Dwaine Clarke. As early as the sixth minute, Clarke bore down on Lye, bringing the ball in from the right touchline, and approaching the penalty area – on this occasion, the Ashford Skipper was equal to the task, blocking the ball well, at the expense of a corner, which Scott Three Names punched clear, but it was crosses from this flank that plagued the Ashford defence for much of the first half.
The first real sign that the visitors were vulnerable to this line of attack came in the twelfth minute. There seemed to be little danger as a long cross was launched into the Ashford penalty area, from the far right, but Gary Drewett rose well above the defence, and Scott Chalmers-Stevens needed to make a diving save at the foot of his right-hand post, to stop the Police from taking the lead. It was a little puzzling to see our defence dominated in the air so readily, given that the back four was not particularly lacking in height this afternoon.
A minute later, Drewett began another attempt to attack the Ashford goal from the right, when he spread the ball wide to Dwaine Clarke, with Danny Lye a little out of position. Clarke, who had a touch of class and arrogance about him, cut inside, getting the ball onto his left foot, but his attempted shot was deflected well over the bar. The resulting corner, from the right, was cleared, but the ball was chipped back into the Ashford goalmouth, and Craig Wilkins’ attempted overhead kick was always going straight up in the air. (It was strange to see Wilko marking Paul Jones, his strike-partner for much of last season).
The home side continued to show a keenness to get the ball into wide areas, and, in the 15th minute, Mitch Sherwood had to adopt a “safety first” policy when heading a long cross, again from the right, behind for a corner – but the Ashford defence held out. In fact, it was the visitors who took the lead, in the 22nd minute. The Police appeared to be a little lax in allowing the ball to be fed through to an Ashford player, deep inside their penalty area; the ball was squared to Luke Coleman, whose shot deflected off a defender’s foot and looped over goalkeeper Maan. The spinning ball might well have made it into the goal before the ‘keeper had time to recover and claw it away, but Nick Smith was, in any case, there to make sure, heading the ball across the line, from close range.
Unfortunately, the home side responded with an equaliser almost immediately, in the 24th minute, and it was no surprise that it was Ashford’s clear vulnerability to aerial attack that was the cause. A free-kick near the corner flag, on the right – awarded after a foul by Nick Smith – was bent in, left-footed, by Dwaine Clarke. The ball appeared to bounce off one of a bunch of Ashford players at the far post, and fell kindly for midfielder Rob Smith, who had no problem in turning the ball into the net, from about six yards out. It was a soft-looking goal to concede, from a cross that didn’t appear to be particularly threatening, and I suspect that a good, dominant goalkeeper would have come and dealt with the situation.
On the half-hour mark, Danny Lye again did well to block a cross from right-winger Craig Brown. The resulting corner, again swung in by the left foot of Clarke, was flicked on by Gary Drewett, again causing a little chaos in the heart of the Ashford penalty area, but the ball was cleared. Two minutes later, there was some relief for the Ashford defence, when Mitch Sherwood launched a first-time clearance into the path of Paul Jones, who, at full pace, controlled the bouncing ball with his head, before pulling a low shot wide of goal.
Whilst Nick Smith was quite conspicuous pushing forward, on the left, much of Mitchell Sherwood’s best work was in defence, but he did have an opportunity to put in a cross in the 35th minute – but this deflected off Nathan Simpson’s hand, for a corner, in spite of one or two hopeful (and unjustified) claims for a penalty. The resulting corner, on the right, was sent deep into the Met Police penalty area, aiming for John Guest and Lee Hockey, who had gone up for the set-piece; the ball seemed to ricochet between them, and fell for Danny Lye, who blasted his shot well over the bar.
The Blues then frustrated the supporters they had among the crowd of 126 with a couple of very sloppy pieces of football. First, in the 38th minute, James Greenaway gave the ballaway when he, quite inexplicably, passed the ball out for a throw-in. This almost proved to be costly, since Danny Lye found Paul Jones, on the edge of the penalty area, with the throw. Jonah turned, and then ran with the ball on the edge of the area, before letting go with a powerful shot from inside the “D”. Mo Maan, in the Police goal, was well positioned enough to prevent the ball from going in, but I don’t think he knew much about it, as it seemed more a case of him being hit by the ball, than him making a save. The incident that followed, in the 41st minute, did not lead to an Ashford scoring chance, but it was more embarrassing – pure comedy, in fact. A through-ball intended for Paul Jones was allowed to run harmlessly into The Met’s half of the field, since all concerned realised that Paul was trotting back from an offside position. Maan therefore had all the time in the world in which to come out to pick the ball up, near the far touchline, and launch the ball into the Ashford half. Whilst gently dribbling the ball forward, looking for movement up front, Maan carelessly let the ball roll out of play – and had to scamper back into his goal, in the direction of the laughter that was emanating from the narrow terracing behind.
However, (and staying on the subject of goalkeeping calamities), it was the home side that should have had the last laugh of the first half, as a lack of assertiveness in the Ashford six-yard box really should have led to the Police going ahead. After Ross Morley had pulled a long-range shot tamely wide of goal, in the 44th minute, The Blues attacked down the left wing, with Dwaine Clarke. Clarke beat Mitch Sherwood on his outside, but Mitch recovered well, and managed to put the ball behind for a corner. This was floated up to the far post, and, with Chalmers-Stevens not dealing with the threat, Craig Wilkins had virtually a free header, which he put wide, from close range. He should’ve scored.
On the whole, I thought that Ashford deserved to go in at the interval all square at 1-1. The midfield had worked tremendously hard in the first 45 minutes, with the tigerish Ross Morley looking particularly impressive – although he began to look very tired in the second half, and faded. Nick Smith also put in a good shift – I’ve seen Nick a few times now, and I’m convinced that he’s going to be a good player for us – and the experienced hands, Ryan Briggs and Mitch Sherwood, both performed much better than they sometimes have of late. Both of the strikers worked tremendously hard up front, and, given their quality, I could see them scoring in the second half. The trouble was, as I mused over what I had seen of our shaky Back Five in the first half, I thought we might need to score at least three goals in order to get a point !
I didn’t have to wait long for my worst fears to be realised, as The Rozzers took the lead almost as soon as the second half had kicked off – with many of the Ashford Town coach party still consuming the last of the prawn sandwiches. Judging by the way that right-back Lee Gledhill raced upfield to take a throw-in, I should imagine that The Met’s Manager, Jim Cooper, had got his team well stoked up during the interval. Gledhill threw the ball down the right touchline, a cross was sent in, to the far post, and James Greenaway rose well above the Ashford defence, to head the ball into the net, for a very simple goal.
In fairness to our troops at the back, as the second half wore on, John Guest and Bryan Pearce did come more into their own, and made some important defensive contributions. Scott Chalmers-Stevens also did better in the final 44 minutes than he had done in the first 46 – but this might be expected of a ‘keeper who lists Watford, Rushden & Diamonds, Mansfield Town, Margate and Dover Athletic on his CV.
The amount of pain endured as a result of conceding a second goal was mitigated by the fact that the home side’s lead was short-lived. In the 49th minute, shortly after Danny Lye had been very harshly penalised for a foul on Dwaine Clarke, Ashford broke out of defence. Paul Jones did well to latch onto the ball, and hold it up, down the right channel. He pulled the ball back to Ross Morley, arriving in the area, who fairly smashed the ball into the top far corner of the net, for his first goal for the Club.
Although there was a tangible improvement in Ashford’s defence in the second half, there was still an awkward moment in the 52nd minute, when Lee Hockey and John Guest faffed around with a ball that they really should have cleared – the ball broke to James Greenaway, who cut inside, onto his right foot, before putting in a very tame shot which was comfortably saved by Scott Chalmers-Stevens.
In the 55th minute, a long-range shot from Ross Morley was blocked, and spun into the path of Paul Jones, whose weak shot seemed pretty harmless, but it required a diving save from Maan to turn it around the far post. A minute later, there was the only really nasty challenge in the entire contest, when Craig Brown went in very hard, and very late, with a tackle from behind on Nick Smith. I don’t know what prompted the assault, but Brown thoroughly deserved at least the yellow card that he received from Referee O’Brien. From the resulting Ryan Briggs free-kick, the ball broke to Ross Morley, whose shot from even further out than his previous attempt broke, in turn, into the path of Luke Coleman, who sliced his shot wide.
As the game approached the hour mark, with the score standing at 2-2, a new element crept into the game – whilst there was never any nastiness, the game became niggly, and tempers became frayed, largely due to a weak performance by Referee O’Brien. Throughout the game, he had been rather fussy in awarding free-kicks for what seemed to be minor instances of physical contact, and this rather played against the strengths of some of Ashford’s more muscular players, such as Paul Jones and Danny Lye. The Ashford captain openly showed dissent, in the 58th minute, after O’Brien had penalised Bryan Pearce for a little shove in the back which Gary Drewett rather made the most of. Lye was given quite a stern talking-to by the Ref, before Dwaine Clarke’s free-kick, which he chipped over a two-man wall, was punched clear by Chalmers-Stevens.
Two minutes later, rising tensions boiled over, when Drewett put in a late challenge on Danny Lye, and got rather the worst of a clash of heads. This was the cue for a 21-man confrontation in the middle of the pitch – Police ‘keeper Mo Maan raced all the way from his goal ! The result of all this was that Bryan Pearce was shown a yellow card, which could only have been for the forcefulness of his debating style, and Drewett got a yellow for the original challenge. Ryan Briggs floated the resulting free-kick into the penalty area. The ball broke to Paul Jones, whose shot was deflected wide for a corner, which was cleared.
In the 63rd minute, Jim Cooper made the first of the game’s substitutions; this was a double substitution, with Marcus Moody replacing Nathan Simpson, and Craig Carley coming on for Dwaine Clarke. The latter swap appeared to be very much a mixed blessing, since Clarke had traumatised the Ashford defence with his curling, left-footed deliveries into the box, and he looked to be their best player this afternoon, but Carley is very much the Met Police’s main man – habitually one of the division’s top goal scorers. One curiosity about Carley’s appearance today was that he went onto the field of play with his head heavily bandaged – and that’s the first time I’ve seen that happen. (Presumably, his absence from the starting line-up was due to having stitches in a head wound).
Regardless of Carley’s introduction, the next chance came at the other end of the pitch – and this was pure “Route One” stuff from Ashford. I’ve no silly objections to what some self-proclaimed football purists refer to as “Route One”, as I believe that, if you have the players who can get the job done, then it’s a valid way of trying to score a goal. On this occasion, Scott Chalmers- Stevens attempted to exploit Paul Jones’s pace and strength, with a clearance that penetrated deep into the Met Police half. Allowing the ball to bounce once, Jonah latched onto it inside the opposition penalty area, but his first-time, left-foot shot went over the bar.
With Dwaine Clarke off the field, the home side’s dead-ball kicks were mostly taken by the right-footed Rob Smith. He made space for himself on the edge of the Ashford penalty area, and got a low shot on target, in the 73rd minute, but Three Names saved, going down to his left – before Smith was himself substituted, a minute later, being replaced by James Evans.
In the 75th minute, Ashford were awarded a free-kick, well inside their own half, after Paul Jones had received a shove in the back from Police Captain Steve Sutherland. This was launched deep into the home side’s penalty area, and Nick Smith and Ryan Briggs combined well together, on the left, enabling Briggo to send a cross into the danger area. Surprisingly, it was the tall figure of John Guest that got on the end of this cross, around about the penalty spot, but the Lino on the far side was flagging for offside.
As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, I think that fatigue began to creep in, as the Ashford players appeared to have given their all. Steve Lovell certainly hasn’t been “sub happy” so far this season, and today he decided to maintain faith in the eleven that had settled into the job of holding on to the one point, rather than introducing fresh legs – but I reckon that Steve could sense that the boys were running out of petrol, as he was far more vocal than usual, imploring his team to “dig in”. I suspect that the home team also got a bit tired and ragged in the closing stages, as the game opened up, with corners at both ends of the pitch. Either side might have snatched the three points, late on, and perhaps the best chance fell to Lee Hockey. In the 82nd minute, Paul Jones did well to win a corner, on the right. As usual, the cross was repelled by the Police defence, demonstrating their general superiority in the air, but the ball was whipped back into The Blues’ area. Lee Hockey was there, at the near post, with a free header, and he really should have at least hit the target.
Steve Lovell finally made his first, and only, substitution, in the 85th minute, replacing Luke Coleman with Joe Fuller. I was a bit surprised by this, since, although Luke didn’t have a particularly good game, it was Paul Jones who looked to have absolutely run himself into the ground, and could barely put one leg in front of the other.
The game continued to flow from end to end, right to the final whistle, with The Met’s best chance of a late winner coming when Craig Carley sent in a powerful, long-range shot, which was well parried by Chalmers-Stevens, in the 87th minute – but the score remained at 2-2. Referee O’Brien also continued to make some strange decisions up until the end of the match, and I think he finally lost confidence in what he was doing – which was demonstrated by the fact that he blew for full time whilst the ball was “dead”, which is contrary to the laws of the game. I think that Mr O’Brien couldn’t get off the field quick enough – but there was still time for The Squeaky Girls to give him some valuable customer feedback, which I am sure he will take on board.
So this was a hard-earned, and well-deserved, point for an improving Ashford side – and a point that we often didn’t look likely to get, which made it all the sweeter ! This is the sixth consecutive season that I’ve come to see us play at Imber Court, and matches here are invariably tight: the previous five scorelines had been 3-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1 and 1-2. The draw still leaves us at the bottom of the table, now with two points, but I am sure that we won’t remain in that position for much longer. In spite of the current list of injuries, I reckon that today’s hosts are still a good yardstick for the better teams in this division, and Steve Lovell’s inexperienced side, at this level, matched them pretty well. I’m a veteran of several relegation-haunted seasons, but I don’t expect this season to be one of them.
It was a close thing for Man of the Match. It was very tempting to give the award to Paul Jones, for sheer, tireless effort, but it was the battling midfield quartet that impressed me most this afternoon. Ross Morley had stood out during the first half, and lashed in a great goal, but the nod went to Mitch Sherwood this time, largely for doing a great job defensively.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Mitchell Sherwood
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The corresponding fixture last season was fairly early on in that campaign, and was a trial of strength between two teams that were very much expected to be in the shake-up for promotion. These expectations were largely justified, with the Metropolitan Police losing out in the Play-off Final, and Ashford Town flying as high as second place, before the well-documented Boardroom strife caused our challenge to hit the buffers. Early in the current season, however, both sides have made an uncertain start. After four games each, today’s hosts were this morning in 13th place, with a win, a defeat and two draws; Ashford, as we know, started the game in bottom place, with a single point, (gained, curiously, against top-of-the-table Godalming Town).
I’d still expect The Met to be challenging at the top before long, since they are going through something of an early-season injury crisis at the moment. I read somewhere that they recently had (I think) seven first-team players missing through injury, including star striker Craig Carley – it was some relief for us to see that Carley was only named as a substitute this afternoon. Another man currently on the casualty list is ex-Ashford Town defender Nicky Humphrey, who, in spite of warming up on the excellent pitch at Imber Court before the game, is still sidelined with a broken foot. But there were still two former Ashford players in The Blues’ line-up: left-back Nathan Simpson, who played in a couple of games in the 2007-8 season, and Craig Wilkins, who looked classy and composed in the centre of the home team’s defence this afternoon.
It’s hard to predict how far Ashford will climb the table this season. This is a team, and a squad, that is still very much under construction, and one of the joys of this campaign will be to see how the players develop, both collectively and individually, at this level. Performances in the four league games to date have been steadily improving, and last Sunday’s 6-1 win against a weak side in Mile Oak, of the Sussex League, was a very timely and welcome confidence booster. This victory featured a 36-minute hat-trick from substitute Luke Coleman, whose return, after a loan spell at The Homelands in the 2006-7 season, is also extremely welcome. Dropping down from Conference club Gravesend & Northfleet – (I refuse to use the “E” word) – Luke must surely form a formidable striking partnership with Paul Jones. In fact, once Mark Lovell returns from his long-term injury, and assuming that he can regain peak form and fitness, Ashford Town could probably claim to have the best trio of strikers in the division.
No sign, alas, of Mark in Ashford’s colours yet, though – he was in the stand today, with brother Nick. It was probably not difficult for Steve Lovell to name Luke Coleman alongside Paul Jones up front today, meaning that Joe Fuller dropped to the substitutes bench. The midfield quartet consisted of Ryan Briggs and Ross Morley in the middle, with Mitch Sherwood on the right and Nick Smith on the left. In defence, there was the return of the ever-popular Danny Lye, although this was the first time I’d seen him playing at left-back ! Bryan Pearce and the on-loan John Guest resumed their partnership in the centre of defence, with Lee Hockey, at right-back, completing what was arguably a four-man line of centre-halves. Significantly, it was Danny Lye, not Ryan Briggs, who wore the Captain’s armband this afternoon. Danny is the only member of the current squad to have played alongside Luke Coleman in an Ashford Town side – this was at home to Fleet Town, in the league, during the 2006-7 season, when his 18-minute stint represented his only appearance during that campaign; Luke also came on as a substitute in that game, putting in a 31-minute shift.
Scott Chalmers-Stevens was again in goal. A rather thin-looking bench – (in terms of numbers, not shape of its inhabitants) – consisted of reserve goalie Darren Ibrahim, Jon Ralph, Toby Ashmore and Joe Fuller. Our Chairman was allegedly on holiday in the The Canaries – which was probably quite appropriate, as his team took on The Boys in Blue, wearing the canary yellow away strip, with green shorts.
There’s plenty to look forward to when coming to Imber Court. One of the features of the day out is lunch at “The Weir” Public House, on the banks of the Thames, just a stone’s throw from where Walton Casuals beat Corinthian-Casuals 1-0 this afternoon. Another pleasure is the fact that the game is invariably played on an excellent pitch, and today was no exception. The Groundsman here won the award for the best pitch in the division last season – and, although I haven’t seen Steve Hackett’s Homelands pitch this year, he’ll have to go some to beat what we saw this afternoon !
There were also pretty much ideal conditions for us supporters - the afternoon was warm and windless, but with light cloud cover, to preclude the need to squint against the bright sun – and the knot of some fifteen Ashford supporters that cheered the team on from the terraces had yet to take up their position behind the Police goal, when the visitors had their first clear chance of the afternoon. In fact, the now-familiar chorus of “I fought the Law, and the Law won” had barely died down, when Paul Jones jinked past a defender and let fly with a decent, low shot, which was well saved by goalkeeper Mo Maan.
Ashford showed their tactical hand early on, when Lee Hockey came across to the right side to launch a couple of long throws into the penalty area, both aiming for the head of Danny Lye, within the first five minutes, but neither attack bore fruit. There was also some evidence that the opposition was also targeting Danny Lye, probably recognising the fact that left-back is not his natural position, since much of the danger from the home side came from the right flank, mostly through Craig Brown and Dwaine Clarke. As early as the sixth minute, Clarke bore down on Lye, bringing the ball in from the right touchline, and approaching the penalty area – on this occasion, the Ashford Skipper was equal to the task, blocking the ball well, at the expense of a corner, which Scott Three Names punched clear, but it was crosses from this flank that plagued the Ashford defence for much of the first half.
The first real sign that the visitors were vulnerable to this line of attack came in the twelfth minute. There seemed to be little danger as a long cross was launched into the Ashford penalty area, from the far right, but Gary Drewett rose well above the defence, and Scott Chalmers-Stevens needed to make a diving save at the foot of his right-hand post, to stop the Police from taking the lead. It was a little puzzling to see our defence dominated in the air so readily, given that the back four was not particularly lacking in height this afternoon.
A minute later, Drewett began another attempt to attack the Ashford goal from the right, when he spread the ball wide to Dwaine Clarke, with Danny Lye a little out of position. Clarke, who had a touch of class and arrogance about him, cut inside, getting the ball onto his left foot, but his attempted shot was deflected well over the bar. The resulting corner, from the right, was cleared, but the ball was chipped back into the Ashford goalmouth, and Craig Wilkins’ attempted overhead kick was always going straight up in the air. (It was strange to see Wilko marking Paul Jones, his strike-partner for much of last season).
The home side continued to show a keenness to get the ball into wide areas, and, in the 15th minute, Mitch Sherwood had to adopt a “safety first” policy when heading a long cross, again from the right, behind for a corner – but the Ashford defence held out. In fact, it was the visitors who took the lead, in the 22nd minute. The Police appeared to be a little lax in allowing the ball to be fed through to an Ashford player, deep inside their penalty area; the ball was squared to Luke Coleman, whose shot deflected off a defender’s foot and looped over goalkeeper Maan. The spinning ball might well have made it into the goal before the ‘keeper had time to recover and claw it away, but Nick Smith was, in any case, there to make sure, heading the ball across the line, from close range.
Unfortunately, the home side responded with an equaliser almost immediately, in the 24th minute, and it was no surprise that it was Ashford’s clear vulnerability to aerial attack that was the cause. A free-kick near the corner flag, on the right – awarded after a foul by Nick Smith – was bent in, left-footed, by Dwaine Clarke. The ball appeared to bounce off one of a bunch of Ashford players at the far post, and fell kindly for midfielder Rob Smith, who had no problem in turning the ball into the net, from about six yards out. It was a soft-looking goal to concede, from a cross that didn’t appear to be particularly threatening, and I suspect that a good, dominant goalkeeper would have come and dealt with the situation.
On the half-hour mark, Danny Lye again did well to block a cross from right-winger Craig Brown. The resulting corner, again swung in by the left foot of Clarke, was flicked on by Gary Drewett, again causing a little chaos in the heart of the Ashford penalty area, but the ball was cleared. Two minutes later, there was some relief for the Ashford defence, when Mitch Sherwood launched a first-time clearance into the path of Paul Jones, who, at full pace, controlled the bouncing ball with his head, before pulling a low shot wide of goal.
Whilst Nick Smith was quite conspicuous pushing forward, on the left, much of Mitchell Sherwood’s best work was in defence, but he did have an opportunity to put in a cross in the 35th minute – but this deflected off Nathan Simpson’s hand, for a corner, in spite of one or two hopeful (and unjustified) claims for a penalty. The resulting corner, on the right, was sent deep into the Met Police penalty area, aiming for John Guest and Lee Hockey, who had gone up for the set-piece; the ball seemed to ricochet between them, and fell for Danny Lye, who blasted his shot well over the bar.
The Blues then frustrated the supporters they had among the crowd of 126 with a couple of very sloppy pieces of football. First, in the 38th minute, James Greenaway gave the ballaway when he, quite inexplicably, passed the ball out for a throw-in. This almost proved to be costly, since Danny Lye found Paul Jones, on the edge of the penalty area, with the throw. Jonah turned, and then ran with the ball on the edge of the area, before letting go with a powerful shot from inside the “D”. Mo Maan, in the Police goal, was well positioned enough to prevent the ball from going in, but I don’t think he knew much about it, as it seemed more a case of him being hit by the ball, than him making a save. The incident that followed, in the 41st minute, did not lead to an Ashford scoring chance, but it was more embarrassing – pure comedy, in fact. A through-ball intended for Paul Jones was allowed to run harmlessly into The Met’s half of the field, since all concerned realised that Paul was trotting back from an offside position. Maan therefore had all the time in the world in which to come out to pick the ball up, near the far touchline, and launch the ball into the Ashford half. Whilst gently dribbling the ball forward, looking for movement up front, Maan carelessly let the ball roll out of play – and had to scamper back into his goal, in the direction of the laughter that was emanating from the narrow terracing behind.
However, (and staying on the subject of goalkeeping calamities), it was the home side that should have had the last laugh of the first half, as a lack of assertiveness in the Ashford six-yard box really should have led to the Police going ahead. After Ross Morley had pulled a long-range shot tamely wide of goal, in the 44th minute, The Blues attacked down the left wing, with Dwaine Clarke. Clarke beat Mitch Sherwood on his outside, but Mitch recovered well, and managed to put the ball behind for a corner. This was floated up to the far post, and, with Chalmers-Stevens not dealing with the threat, Craig Wilkins had virtually a free header, which he put wide, from close range. He should’ve scored.
On the whole, I thought that Ashford deserved to go in at the interval all square at 1-1. The midfield had worked tremendously hard in the first 45 minutes, with the tigerish Ross Morley looking particularly impressive – although he began to look very tired in the second half, and faded. Nick Smith also put in a good shift – I’ve seen Nick a few times now, and I’m convinced that he’s going to be a good player for us – and the experienced hands, Ryan Briggs and Mitch Sherwood, both performed much better than they sometimes have of late. Both of the strikers worked tremendously hard up front, and, given their quality, I could see them scoring in the second half. The trouble was, as I mused over what I had seen of our shaky Back Five in the first half, I thought we might need to score at least three goals in order to get a point !
I didn’t have to wait long for my worst fears to be realised, as The Rozzers took the lead almost as soon as the second half had kicked off – with many of the Ashford Town coach party still consuming the last of the prawn sandwiches. Judging by the way that right-back Lee Gledhill raced upfield to take a throw-in, I should imagine that The Met’s Manager, Jim Cooper, had got his team well stoked up during the interval. Gledhill threw the ball down the right touchline, a cross was sent in, to the far post, and James Greenaway rose well above the Ashford defence, to head the ball into the net, for a very simple goal.
In fairness to our troops at the back, as the second half wore on, John Guest and Bryan Pearce did come more into their own, and made some important defensive contributions. Scott Chalmers-Stevens also did better in the final 44 minutes than he had done in the first 46 – but this might be expected of a ‘keeper who lists Watford, Rushden & Diamonds, Mansfield Town, Margate and Dover Athletic on his CV.
The amount of pain endured as a result of conceding a second goal was mitigated by the fact that the home side’s lead was short-lived. In the 49th minute, shortly after Danny Lye had been very harshly penalised for a foul on Dwaine Clarke, Ashford broke out of defence. Paul Jones did well to latch onto the ball, and hold it up, down the right channel. He pulled the ball back to Ross Morley, arriving in the area, who fairly smashed the ball into the top far corner of the net, for his first goal for the Club.
Although there was a tangible improvement in Ashford’s defence in the second half, there was still an awkward moment in the 52nd minute, when Lee Hockey and John Guest faffed around with a ball that they really should have cleared – the ball broke to James Greenaway, who cut inside, onto his right foot, before putting in a very tame shot which was comfortably saved by Scott Chalmers-Stevens.
In the 55th minute, a long-range shot from Ross Morley was blocked, and spun into the path of Paul Jones, whose weak shot seemed pretty harmless, but it required a diving save from Maan to turn it around the far post. A minute later, there was the only really nasty challenge in the entire contest, when Craig Brown went in very hard, and very late, with a tackle from behind on Nick Smith. I don’t know what prompted the assault, but Brown thoroughly deserved at least the yellow card that he received from Referee O’Brien. From the resulting Ryan Briggs free-kick, the ball broke to Ross Morley, whose shot from even further out than his previous attempt broke, in turn, into the path of Luke Coleman, who sliced his shot wide.
As the game approached the hour mark, with the score standing at 2-2, a new element crept into the game – whilst there was never any nastiness, the game became niggly, and tempers became frayed, largely due to a weak performance by Referee O’Brien. Throughout the game, he had been rather fussy in awarding free-kicks for what seemed to be minor instances of physical contact, and this rather played against the strengths of some of Ashford’s more muscular players, such as Paul Jones and Danny Lye. The Ashford captain openly showed dissent, in the 58th minute, after O’Brien had penalised Bryan Pearce for a little shove in the back which Gary Drewett rather made the most of. Lye was given quite a stern talking-to by the Ref, before Dwaine Clarke’s free-kick, which he chipped over a two-man wall, was punched clear by Chalmers-Stevens.
Two minutes later, rising tensions boiled over, when Drewett put in a late challenge on Danny Lye, and got rather the worst of a clash of heads. This was the cue for a 21-man confrontation in the middle of the pitch – Police ‘keeper Mo Maan raced all the way from his goal ! The result of all this was that Bryan Pearce was shown a yellow card, which could only have been for the forcefulness of his debating style, and Drewett got a yellow for the original challenge. Ryan Briggs floated the resulting free-kick into the penalty area. The ball broke to Paul Jones, whose shot was deflected wide for a corner, which was cleared.
In the 63rd minute, Jim Cooper made the first of the game’s substitutions; this was a double substitution, with Marcus Moody replacing Nathan Simpson, and Craig Carley coming on for Dwaine Clarke. The latter swap appeared to be very much a mixed blessing, since Clarke had traumatised the Ashford defence with his curling, left-footed deliveries into the box, and he looked to be their best player this afternoon, but Carley is very much the Met Police’s main man – habitually one of the division’s top goal scorers. One curiosity about Carley’s appearance today was that he went onto the field of play with his head heavily bandaged – and that’s the first time I’ve seen that happen. (Presumably, his absence from the starting line-up was due to having stitches in a head wound).
Regardless of Carley’s introduction, the next chance came at the other end of the pitch – and this was pure “Route One” stuff from Ashford. I’ve no silly objections to what some self-proclaimed football purists refer to as “Route One”, as I believe that, if you have the players who can get the job done, then it’s a valid way of trying to score a goal. On this occasion, Scott Chalmers- Stevens attempted to exploit Paul Jones’s pace and strength, with a clearance that penetrated deep into the Met Police half. Allowing the ball to bounce once, Jonah latched onto it inside the opposition penalty area, but his first-time, left-foot shot went over the bar.
With Dwaine Clarke off the field, the home side’s dead-ball kicks were mostly taken by the right-footed Rob Smith. He made space for himself on the edge of the Ashford penalty area, and got a low shot on target, in the 73rd minute, but Three Names saved, going down to his left – before Smith was himself substituted, a minute later, being replaced by James Evans.
In the 75th minute, Ashford were awarded a free-kick, well inside their own half, after Paul Jones had received a shove in the back from Police Captain Steve Sutherland. This was launched deep into the home side’s penalty area, and Nick Smith and Ryan Briggs combined well together, on the left, enabling Briggo to send a cross into the danger area. Surprisingly, it was the tall figure of John Guest that got on the end of this cross, around about the penalty spot, but the Lino on the far side was flagging for offside.
As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, I think that fatigue began to creep in, as the Ashford players appeared to have given their all. Steve Lovell certainly hasn’t been “sub happy” so far this season, and today he decided to maintain faith in the eleven that had settled into the job of holding on to the one point, rather than introducing fresh legs – but I reckon that Steve could sense that the boys were running out of petrol, as he was far more vocal than usual, imploring his team to “dig in”. I suspect that the home team also got a bit tired and ragged in the closing stages, as the game opened up, with corners at both ends of the pitch. Either side might have snatched the three points, late on, and perhaps the best chance fell to Lee Hockey. In the 82nd minute, Paul Jones did well to win a corner, on the right. As usual, the cross was repelled by the Police defence, demonstrating their general superiority in the air, but the ball was whipped back into The Blues’ area. Lee Hockey was there, at the near post, with a free header, and he really should have at least hit the target.
Steve Lovell finally made his first, and only, substitution, in the 85th minute, replacing Luke Coleman with Joe Fuller. I was a bit surprised by this, since, although Luke didn’t have a particularly good game, it was Paul Jones who looked to have absolutely run himself into the ground, and could barely put one leg in front of the other.
The game continued to flow from end to end, right to the final whistle, with The Met’s best chance of a late winner coming when Craig Carley sent in a powerful, long-range shot, which was well parried by Chalmers-Stevens, in the 87th minute – but the score remained at 2-2. Referee O’Brien also continued to make some strange decisions up until the end of the match, and I think he finally lost confidence in what he was doing – which was demonstrated by the fact that he blew for full time whilst the ball was “dead”, which is contrary to the laws of the game. I think that Mr O’Brien couldn’t get off the field quick enough – but there was still time for The Squeaky Girls to give him some valuable customer feedback, which I am sure he will take on board.
So this was a hard-earned, and well-deserved, point for an improving Ashford side – and a point that we often didn’t look likely to get, which made it all the sweeter ! This is the sixth consecutive season that I’ve come to see us play at Imber Court, and matches here are invariably tight: the previous five scorelines had been 3-2, 2-1, 2-1, 1-1 and 1-2. The draw still leaves us at the bottom of the table, now with two points, but I am sure that we won’t remain in that position for much longer. In spite of the current list of injuries, I reckon that today’s hosts are still a good yardstick for the better teams in this division, and Steve Lovell’s inexperienced side, at this level, matched them pretty well. I’m a veteran of several relegation-haunted seasons, but I don’t expect this season to be one of them.
It was a close thing for Man of the Match. It was very tempting to give the award to Paul Jones, for sheer, tireless effort, but it was the battling midfield quartet that impressed me most this afternoon. Ross Morley had stood out during the first half, and lashed in a great goal, but the nod went to Mitch Sherwood this time, largely for doing a great job defensively.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Mitchell Sherwood
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