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
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