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
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