Whitstable Town 3 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The score-line pretty much sums up this afternoon’s proceedings, and Ashford Town’s current position in the football firmament in general. We were comprehensively beaten today, against a young Whitstable team that was bottom of the league, and, what’s more, we were outplayed, particularly in the first half. There is no doubt that Ashford’s conquerors are currently among the very weakest sides in the division, since, prior to their last-minute victory in yet another relegation six-pointer, on Tuesday, Whitstable had lost twelve of their previous 14 games, drawing the other two. What was especially disappointing about today’s pasting was that it came on the back of two very encouraging away performances against teams from higher up the table, in Chatham Town and Burgess Hill Town.
This was billed as being the second match in a series of three consecutive “six-pointers”, including the game at home to Walton Casuals last Wednesday, and the “return” game against Whitstable at The Homelands next Wednesday – although the postponement of the Walton game in mid-week means that we are down to just the two head-to-heads with The Oystermen, provided that the pitch is fit for purpose in a few days’ time. The six points in five games must have come as a huge relief to Manager Mark Munday and everyone at The Belmont, as they lift Whitstable out of the relegation zone – to one place above Ashford Town, in fact, who now sink to second-bottom, two points behind Whitstable, but with a game in hand.
This is all a complete contrast to the situation and atmosphere on my previous (and first) visit to this ground – that was on a Tuesday night back in February of this year, when the pre-match questions were: “Are we going to go top of the table tonight ?”, “When was the last time we were top of the league ?”, etc. The 4-1 defeat on that occasion turned out to be the first crack in the dam, after which it came to light that the players weren’t being paid, and ………. well, you know the story – and the consequence has become a season of struggle against relegation, such as we are seeing right now.
At least I had the opportunity to see The Belmont Ground in daylight this time – and it confirmed my impressions in February of it being a cosy and compact venue, squeezed into quite a tight space, deep in a residential area of Whitstable. The main stand is pretty unique. It’s of decent size, but there is no individual seating – just five large, wooden steps, which were actually more comfortable to sit on than they looked. On the opposite side of the pitch is what looks like a miniature bungalow, which houses the dressing-rooms, with the home side’s dug-out at the front. Next to this is quite a nice bar. Behind one of the goals is a narrow area of terracing, covered by an old-looking canopy, and there was a much smaller, but new, shelter behind the goal at the opposite end, which was the end that Ashford Town were supposed to be attacking in the first half.
The car park isn’t much to write home about, as it is a combination of grass and gravel, with the track leading from the road having pot-holes at regular intervals – but it’s better than having to park on the road, as we do for some away fixtures, and we were grateful for it. Today it accommodated Whitstable Town’s biggest home gate of the season – 195 – which, naturally, was swelled by another good turn-out of Ashford supporters, (who, as I’ve bleated about before, surely deserve better than was served up this afternoon).
There was no radical difference in personnel from the eleven brave Ashford soldiers that fought through the rain for 90 minutes at Burgess Hill last week. In fact, the one change was that Danny Lye was back this afternoon – and wore the captain’s arm-band – and Joe Fuller was absent, with a foot injury. That was the one change to the starting line-up, so it necessitated a change in formation, with Steve Lovell sending Ashford out in a 4-5-1 format. The cast, in position order, was: Darren Ibrahim in goal; a back four of Carl Harrold, Lee Hockey, Laurence Harvey and Steve Springett; a midfield quintet of Nick Smith, Danny Lye, Ryan Briggs, Ronnie Dolan and Mitch Sherwood; with Mark Lovell on his own up front. (I sometimes get the impression that Steve Lovell opts for a team formation purely on the basis of which members of his first team squad are available, but I’m not trained as a mind reader, so I won’t dwell on this further). On the bench, (which was utilised this time), we had goalkeeper Dan Mason, Bryan Pearce, Matt Newman (who missed the Burgess Hill game due to a bout of food poisoning), Dan Scorer and Sam Conlon. Paul Jones continues to be absent, due to what are being described as “under-carriage problems”.
A couple of interesting ex Ashford Town names in the Whitstable squad these days are Dan Tanner and Joe Hitchings. Whilst there was no sign of Dan at The Belmont today, Joe Hitchings put in a good performance – and it was actually nice to see him fulfilling some of the potential that he obviously had, as a sixteen year-old, when he was at The Homelands.
After last week’s soaking, and the generally wet weather in recent weeks, it’s nice to report that today it stayed dry – and it was also fairly still, so there was no breeze to affect the play – but it was a shade on the fresh side, so we are approaching the stage of the season when a match bulletin needs to incorporate a Pink Report. I’m pleased to say that our boys were all uniformly turned out in short-sleeved yellow shirts, laughing in the face of the elements – but it was the Lino on the near side who started the match wearing gloves, which must be the first instance of this in recorded history.
The game started with a chance for each team in the opening couple of minutes. Nick Smith went on a promising run down the left wing. He broke through a tackle on the edge of the area, before pulling the ball back to Steve Springett, whose high cross was cleared. Seconds later, at the other end, Darren Ibrahim half came for a cross from the Whitstable left, before thinking better of it and allowing it to pass over his head, and to the opposite side of the pitch. When the cross eventually came over from the far right, it found Tom Parker, whose shot went just over the bar. Into the fifth minute, and Darren Ibrahim was forced into making a good save. A shot from outside the penalty area by the home side’s much-touted Dan Wisker was heavily deflected, and fell into the path of Ben Smith, about twelve yards out, and just to the right of goal – but Darren did well to save with his legs. Lee Hockey headed the resulting corner clear.
Throughout the first half, it was Whitstable, in their red shirts, white shorts and red sockies, who passed the ball and kept possession. This contrasted with Ashford’s more one-touch approach to the game this afternoon – that means taking one touch and then giving the ball to the opposition ! Our best chance of scoring seemed, throughout the afternoon, to be from a set-piece, and, in fairness to the lads, they had enough possession in the opposition’s half to create plenty of such opportunities, but, whether it was due to a lack of quality of delivery, or a lack of presence in the penalty area, even this never really looked likely to happen. Lee Hockey had his chances to deliver long throws into the Whitstable penalty area, but with little joy.
Ashford had a promising free-kick situation in the 14th minute, after a foul on Danny Lye, on the corner of Whitstable’s penalty area. Ryan Briggs curled his kick over the red defensive wall, but his effort was headed clear, for a corner on the left, by Gary Sayer. Briggo went across to take the corner, and played a one-two with Mark Lovell, who came short, in order to give himself a better angle for a cross – he eventually found Lee Hockey, who was unable to direct his header. Two minutes later, the visitors had another free-kick, after Mark Lovell was pulled back by Stephen Lloyd, having latched onto a loose ball in midfield. This earnt Lloyd the only yellow card that Referee Neil Baker was to hand out this afternoon – but the free-kick was headed clear by the Whitstable defence.
The impressive Joe Hitchings tried a snap shot from well outside the area, which flashed across the face of goal, in the 19th minute, but The Oystermen went ahead just two minutes later. Lee Hockey headed a high cross behind for a corner, on the Whitstable left. As the resulting cross came in, the home side’s skipper, Sam Denly, met it on the run, and powered the ball into the net, with a bullet header. The Whitstable players celebrated the goal with all the enthusiasm that had marked their play – so there was no doubt that the team at the bottom of the league this morning was up for the fight. Going a goal down was also a pretty ominous development for Ashford, as they had managed to create precisely nothing up to this point.
Things briefly appeared to get even worse for Ashford, in the 25th minute. An ambitious shot from half-way inside the Ashford half was intercepted, about 20 yards out, by Dave Cory, who turned and stuck the ball in the back of the net – but he was well off-side, and the “goal” was ruled out.
On the half hour mark - by which time Ashford had abandoned the 4-5-1 format, and Nick Smith was playing alongside Mark Lovell in a 4-4-2 set-up – a Lee Hockey long throw did cause a flutter in the Whitstable penalty area, when it was met by a Danny Lye back-header, but the ball was cleared. In the 35th minute, Mitch Sherwood went on a good run through the central midfield area; he passed the baton to Nick Smith, on the left, but the Whitstable defence forced the ball out for a corner. Ryan Briggs’ cross, from the left, failed to find an Ashford head in the area, and the ball was cleared, for a throw-in. Lee Hockey delivered the ball into the penalty area, and it was again cleared, but only as far as Ryan Briggs, who was waiting just outside the area – Briggo dinked the ball back in, on the volley, but Laurence Harvey’s flicked header went straight to goalkeeper Kevin Fewell.
The home side was forced into making an unscheduled substitution, in the 37th minute, when right-back Gareth Cornhill had to be replaced by Dean Grant – and I can report that Grant was wearing gloves, so became the first genuine entry in the Pink Register for the season !
A minute later, Mark Lovell had a very speculative attempt at goal, when he turned and shot, from well outside the area, but his effort was always going well over the bar. (I don’t know how much our boys practice shooting in training, but their shots go over the bar more often than George Best’s elbow).
The writing was really on the wall once Whitstable had scored their second goal, in the 42nd minute. This, once again, came from a set piece, but the danger originated when Laurence Harvey was drawn across to the touchline to cover the left-winger, and didn’t quite get there. Young Laurence once again looked very comfortable at this level, but he did make one or two errors – which is only to be expected, at this stage of his career. On this occasion, the consequence was a dangerous cross into the Ashford penalty area, but Steve Springett did extremely well, facing his own goal, to nod the ball behind for a corner, on the right. The ensuing cross was swung in, left-footed, and then was either flicked on by a Whitstable head, or deflected from an Ashford head, at the near post. Anyway, the result was that the ball fell at the feet of centre-half Sam Denly, in a way that managers and players dream of – furthermore, he couldn’t have been in more space if he’d been a leper with a bell around his neck, but you have to say that the Oystermen’s skipper took full advantage of the situation, and smashed the ball into the roof of the net. So it was 2-0 to Whitstable, and two goals for Sam Denly, to add to the one that he had previously scored this season, against Tonbridge Angels in the League Cup.
Ashford did bounce straight back at the home side, in search of an all-important goal before half-time, with Mitch Sherwood making a good run down the left, and winning a corner. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but Steve Springett could only loop his header over the bar. Then, with normal time in the first half almost spent, Lee Hockey launched another long throw into the Whitstable area, but Sam Denly showed his effectiveness in a defensive context, and headed clear. The final chance of the half, however, fell to the home side, in the second minute of injury time, when Joe Hitchings’ shot from outside the penalty area was deflected behind for a corner, on the right. This was slung in by Tom Parker, but Darren Ibrahim made a good catch. (Actually, it must be said that Darren looked very solid this afternoon, so, whatever the outcome of any post-mortem on today’s performance, blaming the goalkeeper simply isn’t an option on this occasion; in fact, he couldn’t be blamed for any of the three goals, and was to make at least one outstanding save in the second half).
So, as Mrs MKC went on a long, half-time hike to find the only toilets at The Belmont, my mind went back to a not dissimilar footballing experience on Tuesday night, when I paid my first visit to Stadium MK, and saw MK Dons lose 3-4 at home to Carlisle United. (I know, I know, I know – but I had the offer of a complimentary ticket, so what can a man do ?!). AFC Franchise were actually 0-3 down after 20 minutes, and I reflected, at the time, that it was just like watching Ashford Town, (except that, on Tuesday, there were two teams out there who couldn’t defend). I loved the chant from the understandably small band of Carlisle supporters, at the time: “Are you Wigan, in disguise ?”.
Back to the World of Dreams, then, and, having failed to string two passes together during the first 45 minutes, Ashford noticeably improved this aspect of their game in the second half – they also came out of the little bungalow with a renewed sense of purpose, (which was, after all, not much to ask). Just two minutes after the break, the lads won a corner, on the left. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, and his cross was met by the head of Danny Lye, but deflected off a Whitstable head, for another corner, on the same side – this was punched clear by Kevin Fewell. Lyesy then showed the other aspect of his game, when he gave the ball away in the centre circle – whereupon Joe Hitchings sprayed the ball wide, to Dan Wisker, who immediately attacked the penalty area, in the inside-right channel. Darren Ibrahim did well to come out and thwart him, diving at his feet.
Ashford created their one and only chance from open play in the 53rd minute, and it was no surprise that it was Nicholas Frederick Smith who was on the end of this, as he had looked lively throughout the game, and as likely as anybody in a yellow shirt to make an impact on the home defence. After latching onto a through-ball, Nick hit his shot well, but Kevin Fewell made an excellent save, palming the ball over the bar.
Whitstable’s third goal came on the hour mark, and was a demonstration of the quality that we let go when Joe Hitchings left the Club. Joe picked the ball up just outside the Ashford penalty area, and fed the ball through to “Whiskers”, who was just inside the area. After a challenge from Laurence Harvey, the ball broke to Joe, who was following up his initial pass, and he calmly slotted the ball past Darren Ibrahim, and into the corner of the net.
Right-back Carl Harrold responded with a pacy run down the right wing, in the 64th minute, which involved a long “one-two” with Nick Smith, but was rewarded with nothing more than a corner, which came to nothing. From the resulting break, Dave Cory, one of Whitstable’s survivors from their 4-1 victory back in February, picked the ball up on the half-way line. He turned, and, unhindered by a combination of Laurence Harvey and Ronnie Dolan, made progress towards the Ashford goal. He checked onto his right foot, but his shot was straight at Darren Ibrahim.
By the 67th minute, Steve Lovell simply had to do something, and, with absolutely nothing to lose, made a triple substitution. Basically, Steve did what many Ashford Town watchers have been calling for for some time – he got rid of the midfield, as far as he was able. Off went skipper Danny Lye, Mitch Sherwood and Ronnie Dolan, to be replaced by new signing Matt Newman, Dan Scorer and Sam Conlon.
If there is anything positive that can be gained from today’s debacle, it is that all three of these substitutes looked better than the men they had replaced. Sam Conlon is a striker from the Reserves, who is slightly built, but looked lively and intelligent up front with Smith and Lovell, in a three-man attack, and immediately seemed to have a good understanding with Dan Scorer – who doesn’t appear to be the most mobile, but looks to be a skilful player with the ball at his feet. Matt Newman, who comes to us from Tunbridge Wells, injected some energy into central midfield, and looks to be a good acquisition.
There were some good passing movements from the beaten visitors during the final quarter of the game, mostly down the left flank, and with Steve Springett as the lynchpin. One such move, in the 75th minute, ended with Ryan Briggs blasting a shot high and wide, from about 20 yards out, but it was at least encouraging to see Ashford actually creating the opening. Soon after, more good Ashford Town pressure resulted in a couple of Lee Hockey long throw opportunities; both of these came to nothing, with Sam Conlon shooting wide, after the second of these. In the 80th minute, another long throw from Hockey resulted in an attempt at a spectacular overhead kick by Nick Smith, but the effort went well wide.
Prior to this belated, and largely unexpected, pressure on the home defences, Darren Ibrahim had had his moment of glory, in the 70th minute. A snap shot from Joe Hitchings, from outside the penalty area, after a half-clearance from Ryan Briggs, seemed to be curling just inside the far post, but Darren made a flying, diving save to his right, tipping the ball wide, for what should have been a corner. It was a travesty of justice that Referee Neil Baker gave Darren no credit for this, as he awarded a goal-kick, but everybody else in the ground appreciated that it had been a fine save. This also gives me the opportunity to say that Neil Baker otherwise had a very fine game.
Nick Smith, who was certainly one man who never gave up trying throughout the entire 90 minutes, did some good work on the right flank, in the 86th minute, and won a corner. This was taken by Steve Springett, and it was an Ashford head that got on the end of his cross, but the ball was cleared off the Whitstable line, to preserve the home side’s clean sheet – only their third of the season. With 90 minutes played, Dave Cory once again led a break, and got the ball wide, to Dean Grant, with his gloves, on the right. The No.14 cut inside, but his left-foot shot was comfortably saved by Darren Ibrahim. As the game went into injury time, Ashford had another couple of corners, to bring their tally for the afternoon to ten, (compared with Whitstable’s five), but both were punched clear by goalkeeper Fewell.
Looking at results elsewhere today, to assess the sum total of the damage that was done in terms of the campaign to avoid relegation, there was a defeat for both Chipstead and Eastbourne Town, but Horsham YMCA got a valuable point away to Croydon Athletic – and it really does seem that two from those three teams plus Whitstable and Ashford will finish in the relegation places at the end of the season. Looking at the league table, we are a point clear of Chipstead, the bottom team, and two points behind Whitstable, but with a game in hand – but Whitstable, having been the only team with a worse goal difference than us this morning, now have a goal difference of -23, compared with Ashford’s -27 !
One possible glimmer of light for Ashford Town is that only five of our 16 league games, to date, have been at home – and our home form has certainly been better than our away form. We might also seek solace in the fact that, having failed to beat Whitstable at The Belmont, in three attempts, since their promotion to the Ryman League from the Kent League, we have beaten them in both games at The Homelands, by 3-1 and 4-0. Weather and ground permitting, we’ll have a chance to do so very soon, next Wednesday evening, but it’s hard to envisage how such a turn-around can be achieved, in such a short space of time, as there generally appeared to be quite a difference between the two sides here today.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Steve Springett
Sunday 29 November 2009
Saturday 21 November 2009
Burgess Hill Town v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 21st of November 2009.
Burgess Hill Town 2 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford Town travelled to Burgess Hill, in West Sussex, occupying a place in the relegation zone – second-bottom, with only Whitstable Town below us. Our hosts, on the other hand, are about as mid-table as you can get: won five, lost five, and with a goal difference of exactly zero. However, there were reasons for the AMb Travel-borne party of supporters to be optimistic. If we ignore the mid-week cup defeat at the hands of Tilbury – and, with a record low crowd of 61, it seems that that’s what most people did – Ashford were coming off a good performance away at Chatham, probably a side of similar strength to Burgess Hill, where a solid defensive performance enabled the lads to come away with a well-deserved 0-0 draw. Well, it’s fair to say that this was also a richly deserved point fought for away from home – but the most pleasing thing was that, as well as looking fairly secure at the back, Ashford also looked capable of scoring, throughout the match, so we’re certainly starting to look more like a football team now.
The performance and the point were all the more creditable for the fact that we had a few youngsters on duty this afternoon. Experienced personnel missing were Danny Lye, Paul Jones and Toby Ashmore; Danny Lye was unable to get to the game today, whilst Jonah is still on the sick list and Toby was serving a one-match suspension. Added to that, Ross Morley is currently suspended for something he did in Sunday League football, whilst there was no sign of Matt Newman, of Tunbridge Wells, who played in the Tilbury defeat, presumably as a trialist.
Laurence Harvey also played in mid-week, and I’m pleased to say that he retained his place in central defence alongside Lee Hockey, who was captain this afternoon, becoming the fifth player to captain Ashford this season, to my knowledge. (The arm-band must have done Lee the power of good, as he put in a commanding performance today). Steve Springett, the Man of the Match for the previous two games, retained his place at left-back, having extended his loan period from Gravesend for a further month, and right-back Carl Harrold completed the back four in front of Darren Ibrahim. There was also a starting place for young Ronnie Dolan, who partnered Ryan Briggs in central midfield, with Mitchell Sherwood on the right, and Nick Smith on the left. In Paul Jones’s continued absence, Mark Lovell and Joe Fuller were the front two. There was also plenty of youth on the bench – apart from the more experienced Bryan Pearce, we had goalkeeper Dan Mason, winger Dan Scorer and striker Sam Conlon, all from Lee Ealham’s Reserves squad. However, for the second away match in succession, Steve Lovell made no substitutions, sticking to the starting eleven for the entire 90 minutes – which illustrates just how well the lads performed as a unit.
Glancing at the Burgess Hill team sheet, there were, as usual, the ominous names of Steve Harper, The Hillians’ excellent, goal-scoring midfielder, and Danny Gainsford, their gigantic centre-half. Gainsford was mostly assigned to marking Joe Fuller, which he did successfully for pretty much the whole game; (when they went up for the ball in the air, young Joe looked like a puppy jumping up against someone’s leg !). But Harper’s the boy. With him in the side, Burgess Hill will always have a half-decent team. He’s on the four-goal mark already this season, including a hat-trick against Fleet Town.
I enjoy coming to Burgess Hill, probably because the footy ground is located on the edge of a housing estate that is very much like the one I grew up in in South Ashford; (The Crusader pub on a Friday night was always a bit like Millwall on a Saturday afternoon – but it was home !). I also have happy memories of Ashford coming to Leylands Park, and walking off with three points, on each of my two previous visits. In 2006-7, we won 0-2, with Kenny Jarrett-Elliott scoring the second, and we won 2-3 here the following season, with Danny Lye smashing home the winner in the 82nd minute. (I missed last year’s 1-1 draw).
This season’s visit was certainly character-building. The weathermen forecast wet and windy conditions, and that was exactly what we got, with the weather getting steadily worse as the game wore on. After a dry trip down from Milton Keynes, there were just one or two spots of rain in the breeze as we left The King’s Head, after a decent pub lunch – I had steak & kidney pudding, and Mrs MKC had ham & eggs – and that was how the weather was as the teams kicked off, under dark, overcast skies. However, it didn’t take Ashford long to catch a cold, as we found ourselves a goal down very early on – not for the first time this season. After Mitch Sherwood had gone on a promising run down the right wing, before planting his cross into the arms of goalkeeper Joe Adams, the home side attacked down the left, through 19 year-old winger Max Barnard. The No.11 cut inside, and his right-footed shot was deflected into the area, into the path of a Burgess Hill player, whose cross-cum-shot was tipped high into the air by Darren Ibrahim. I must confess that I thought the ball was sailing behind the goal for a corner, but Danny Curd had his whey, and charged in to head home from close range. This was Curd’s ninth goal of the season – and Ashford had found themselves 1-0 down as early as the second minute.
In some games this season, an early goal conceded by Ashford has soon led to another, and then, sometimes, another, so we feared the worst as the home side sought to press home their advantage. In the seventh minute, Lee Hockey did well to cut out a cross, at the expense of a corner, on the right. This was slung into the penalty area, and there were several scuffed attempts at goal, before Carl Harrold blocked Danny Curd’s shot at the far post, from close range, for another corner. The resulting cross was well caught by Darren Ibrahim, who appears to be growing in confidence with every game.
Soon, though, Ashford got a foot-hold in the match, and went forward, applying a bit of pressure at the other end. In the eighth minute, we won a corner. This was taken short, and Mark Lovell managed to get on the end of the cross that eventually came in, but his shot was blocked. Mark is yet to get on the score-sheet since coming back from his long-term knee injury, but he has brought plenty to the team since his return. He stitches play together well, gives us a bit of presence in the air, and is willing to get into wide positions. In the twelfth minute, Mark did some good work near the right touch-line, and put in a good cross, but the sliding-in Smudger Smith just failed to get on the end of it.
A minute later, Steve Harper very nearly extended the home side’s lead. At the end of a well-constructed move, he lobbed Darren Ibrahim, who deflected the ball upwards with his finger tips. The ball was about to drop into the net, first bounce, but Lee Hockey, running back, did tremendously well to hook the ball off the line. Then, in the 15th minute, Harper again showed his quality, when he delivered a curling, right-footed free-kick into the Ashford goalmouth, from the left touchline. Although this was a difficult ball to deal with, Darren Ibrahim gathered safely – after some initial juggling, for which we can probably forgive him, on this occasion.
As we reached the half-way point of the first half, the threatened rain materialised. This wasn’t (yet) torrential, but it was steady, and was driven across the ground, from left to right, as Darren Ibrahim looked out from his goal. The one, decent-sized stand at Leylands Park would have given good shelter to this horizontal rain – but we remained on the opposite side, sharing the soaking with the two benches, which, when you think about it, is a level of stupidity that could get a man discharged from the Army ! However, there was quite an entertaining game of football out there, to take our mind off the weather, and the visitors - playing in the green & white home kit, to avoid a clash with Burgess Hill’s yellow and black halved shirts, with sleeves reversed – held their own well, and launched just as many attacks in the first half as the home side.
Ashford’s best chance during this period came in the 28th minute. Darren Ibrahim, who kicked pretty well today, suggesting that his groin strain is currently holding up, sent a long goal-kick into The Hillians’ half. Joe Fuller got up well, flicking the ball on with his head, finding Mitchell Sherwood in the inside-right position. Urged on by the Ashford bench, and having just the one defender to beat, Mitch jinked, to transfer the ball onto his right foot, and then sent in a firm shot, on target, but straight at goalkeeper Joe Adams.
There was then joy, in the 39th minute, as Nicholas Smith put the ball into the home side’s net – but then frustration, as the “goal” was ruled out for off-side. The chance came from a corner, on the left. The hard-working Ryan Briggs took the kick short, to Mark Lovell, who returned the ball to Briggo, providing him with a wider angle. Briggo’s cross was then headed across goal, from the far post, but Smith was, apparently, a yard off-side when he nodded the ball in from close range.
Mark Lovell popped up on the left flank in the 43rd minute, and, after cutting inside, sent in a right-footed shot, but this went over the bar. Then, as the game went into the one minute of first-half injury time, Nick Smith went on a raid down the left; he passed the ball inside, to Ronnie Dolan, whose low shot was fairly comfortably saved by Adams, diving to his right.
So Ashford went in at half time 1-0 down, but there had been no suggestion of an impending landslide defeat, such as those we had witnessed earlier on in the season. On the contrary, we were left thinking that the boys might well get something out of the game, if they could only make a breakthrough, and stick the ball in the net.
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for an equaliser, as the visitors dominated the early exchanges after the break. In the 48th minute, Lee Hockey sent in a long throw, on the right, deep into the Burgess Hill half; this had a low, fast delivery, and Mark Lovell was able to flash a backward header towards Joe Adams’s goal, but the ‘keeper made a brilliant save, catching the ball cleanly, in spite of having very little time in which to react. Two minutes later, Ashford had a corner on the right, which was curled in, left-footed, by Steve Springett. Lee Hockey rose to meet the ball, but his well-timed header was blocked by Adams. The clearance was picked up by Ryan Briggs, 20 yards out, and he drilled a low shot, through the crowded penalty area, into the far corner of the net. This was greeted with yells of delight, both on the pitch and from behind the goal, as Briggo scored his first goal of the season. He only scored three goals last season, and his strike-rate over the two seasons is now equivalent to a goal every 15 games – but Ryan thoroughly deserved to get on the score-sheet this afternoon, as it capped a good, all-round performance.
This was also Ashford’s first goal in open play since the 2-2 draw at home to Dulwich Hamlet, back in October, but, without making any naff analogies to buses, another one came along just seven minutes later, in the 57th minute. An attack down the left flank culminated with Lee Hockey lofting a high, curling cross into the Burgess Hill penalty area. This was always going to be awkward for Joe Adams, and his life was made no easier by the presence of Mark Lovell. As the two men challenged in the air, the ball popped up again. Mitch Sherwood came charging in, and his momentum was always going to make him favourite to get to the ball – and he nodded it into the top corner of the net, for his fourth of the season. Suddenly, Ashford were 1-2 up, and scoring goals seemed, at last, to be not only possible, but distinctly doable !
But Burgess Hill were by no means a beaten side. They definitely have quality up front, and looked well capable of scoring for the remainder of the game. In fact, they hit back hard at Ashford on going behind, and Darren Ibrahim was forced to make a good save, pushing the ball around the post, for a corner, with the 1-2 lead just a minute old ! He then made a good catch from the resulting cross.
By the hour mark, the weather had deteriorated considerably, with the wind continuing to drive the steady rain into the plastic dug-outs, and into the face of Steve Lovell and the few idiots who were still standing on that side of the ground. Lovell actually looked a bit like Jack Hawkins in The Cruel Sea – saturated, but gazing defiantly through the onslaught of the elements, with his hands clasped firmly behind his back.
In the 62nd minute, Max Barnard went on a dangerous run down the left. He sent in a deep cross to the far post, where Steve Harper headed the ball into the Ashford goalmouth – but Lee Hockey was there to clear. The breach was made, however, five minutes later, and it has to be said that the home side equalised with what was probably the best goal of the game. A quick, flowing move by The Hillians, from left to right, found Lloyd Cotton on the edge of the area, and he sent a curling shot around Darren Ibrahim and into the net, giving Darren no chance. I’m surprised to note, in the excellent match day programme, that this is only Cotton’s second goal of the season.
As the game wore on, and the weather worsened further, the match developed into something rather more attritional, and it became all about determination, hard work and concentrating on not making a mistake - having said that, there were still chances at both ends. In the 70th minute, right-back Carl Harrold once again reminded us of the talent he has, when he went on a run through central midfield. This run was continued by Joe Fuller, deep into the Burgess Hill penalty area, but the home defence forced the ball out for a corner, on the right. Steve Springett once again came across to take the kick, and found Mark Lovell, in the centre of the penalty area. Mark got up well, and, in spite of his momentum taking him backwards, got plenty of power into his header – but the ball went just wide of the post. It’ll come ! Three minutes later, a good, flowing move from the visitors ended with Joe Fuller having his shot blocked, from an acute angle; soon after, Darren Ibrahim was in action again, making a good save from a header, at his near post.
Shortly after Hillians Manager Gary Croydon had made the only substitution of the game, when he replaced Max Barnard with Jon Lansdale, there was a major threat to the Ashford goal. This came in the 81st minute. The details of the incident are unclear, but there was the most almighty goalmouth scramble, during which the ball was cleared off the Ashford line, not once, but twice. The end-result was a corner to the home side, and Steve Springett being left in a heap on the wet turf – which at least gave temporary Physio Rachel Long a chance to strut her stuff, having remained on the bench for the duration of the Chatham match.
Nick Smith looked to be Ashford’s most dangerous player in the closing stages, having battled well, on the left, for the entire game. With two minutes of normal time remaining, he led a break for the visitors, down the left touchline, after a Jon Lansdale free-kick had been cleared, but the Burgess Hill defence put the ball behind, for a corner. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but came to nowt. Smudger then blotted his copy book by getting himself yellow-carded, after squaring up aggressively to Lloyd Cotton, who was also booked, in a forehead-to-forehead confrontation.
As the game entered the second of the three minutes of injury time, with the rain still drifting across the ground, Steve Lovell showed a slightly sadistic side to his character, when he called out to his soaked and exhausted players: “Dig in, boys ! Last 20 minutes !”. Of course, he was smiling when he said it, and he was smiling even more when Referee Chris Phillips blew the final whistle, as this was a much-needed point gained.
Ashford knew they needed to get something out of this game, as two of our rivals in the relegation scrap, Horsham YMCA and Whitstable Town, were playing each other today, just a few miles up the A23, so one or both of those teams were going to pick up a point or three. As it turned out, it was YMCA who took all three points, with a 1-0 victory. Biggest shock at the bottom of Ryman Division One South, however, was Eastbourne Town’s 2-0 win at home to Dulwich Hamlet, but, with Chipstead losing, today’s point at Leylands Park was enough to lift Ashford up one place, and out of the relegation zone. Next, we have three crunch games, all against teams in the bottom six – one at home to Walton Casuals, on Wednesday, and then two, home and away, against Whitstable, (all weather permitting, of course). If we can’t get at least four points from those three games, then, quite frankly, we don’t deserve to stay in this division.
It was a good performance by all ten men in a green & white shirt this afternoon – and the goalie, in a grey shirt, also looked pretty solid again, in spite of one or two minor fumbles. Young Laurence Harvey might have been mistaken for a 28 year-old out there today, as he looked completely at home in central defence, and Ronnie Dolan also looked very lively, and didn’t let anybody down – but it was the more senior players who stepped up to the plate this afternoon, and the two who were particularly outstanding were Ryan Briggs and Lee Hockey. Briggo just got the nod as Man of the Match, but Lee probably played his best game to date for Ashford Town.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Briggo
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford Town travelled to Burgess Hill, in West Sussex, occupying a place in the relegation zone – second-bottom, with only Whitstable Town below us. Our hosts, on the other hand, are about as mid-table as you can get: won five, lost five, and with a goal difference of exactly zero. However, there were reasons for the AMb Travel-borne party of supporters to be optimistic. If we ignore the mid-week cup defeat at the hands of Tilbury – and, with a record low crowd of 61, it seems that that’s what most people did – Ashford were coming off a good performance away at Chatham, probably a side of similar strength to Burgess Hill, where a solid defensive performance enabled the lads to come away with a well-deserved 0-0 draw. Well, it’s fair to say that this was also a richly deserved point fought for away from home – but the most pleasing thing was that, as well as looking fairly secure at the back, Ashford also looked capable of scoring, throughout the match, so we’re certainly starting to look more like a football team now.
The performance and the point were all the more creditable for the fact that we had a few youngsters on duty this afternoon. Experienced personnel missing were Danny Lye, Paul Jones and Toby Ashmore; Danny Lye was unable to get to the game today, whilst Jonah is still on the sick list and Toby was serving a one-match suspension. Added to that, Ross Morley is currently suspended for something he did in Sunday League football, whilst there was no sign of Matt Newman, of Tunbridge Wells, who played in the Tilbury defeat, presumably as a trialist.
Laurence Harvey also played in mid-week, and I’m pleased to say that he retained his place in central defence alongside Lee Hockey, who was captain this afternoon, becoming the fifth player to captain Ashford this season, to my knowledge. (The arm-band must have done Lee the power of good, as he put in a commanding performance today). Steve Springett, the Man of the Match for the previous two games, retained his place at left-back, having extended his loan period from Gravesend for a further month, and right-back Carl Harrold completed the back four in front of Darren Ibrahim. There was also a starting place for young Ronnie Dolan, who partnered Ryan Briggs in central midfield, with Mitchell Sherwood on the right, and Nick Smith on the left. In Paul Jones’s continued absence, Mark Lovell and Joe Fuller were the front two. There was also plenty of youth on the bench – apart from the more experienced Bryan Pearce, we had goalkeeper Dan Mason, winger Dan Scorer and striker Sam Conlon, all from Lee Ealham’s Reserves squad. However, for the second away match in succession, Steve Lovell made no substitutions, sticking to the starting eleven for the entire 90 minutes – which illustrates just how well the lads performed as a unit.
Glancing at the Burgess Hill team sheet, there were, as usual, the ominous names of Steve Harper, The Hillians’ excellent, goal-scoring midfielder, and Danny Gainsford, their gigantic centre-half. Gainsford was mostly assigned to marking Joe Fuller, which he did successfully for pretty much the whole game; (when they went up for the ball in the air, young Joe looked like a puppy jumping up against someone’s leg !). But Harper’s the boy. With him in the side, Burgess Hill will always have a half-decent team. He’s on the four-goal mark already this season, including a hat-trick against Fleet Town.
I enjoy coming to Burgess Hill, probably because the footy ground is located on the edge of a housing estate that is very much like the one I grew up in in South Ashford; (The Crusader pub on a Friday night was always a bit like Millwall on a Saturday afternoon – but it was home !). I also have happy memories of Ashford coming to Leylands Park, and walking off with three points, on each of my two previous visits. In 2006-7, we won 0-2, with Kenny Jarrett-Elliott scoring the second, and we won 2-3 here the following season, with Danny Lye smashing home the winner in the 82nd minute. (I missed last year’s 1-1 draw).
This season’s visit was certainly character-building. The weathermen forecast wet and windy conditions, and that was exactly what we got, with the weather getting steadily worse as the game wore on. After a dry trip down from Milton Keynes, there were just one or two spots of rain in the breeze as we left The King’s Head, after a decent pub lunch – I had steak & kidney pudding, and Mrs MKC had ham & eggs – and that was how the weather was as the teams kicked off, under dark, overcast skies. However, it didn’t take Ashford long to catch a cold, as we found ourselves a goal down very early on – not for the first time this season. After Mitch Sherwood had gone on a promising run down the right wing, before planting his cross into the arms of goalkeeper Joe Adams, the home side attacked down the left, through 19 year-old winger Max Barnard. The No.11 cut inside, and his right-footed shot was deflected into the area, into the path of a Burgess Hill player, whose cross-cum-shot was tipped high into the air by Darren Ibrahim. I must confess that I thought the ball was sailing behind the goal for a corner, but Danny Curd had his whey, and charged in to head home from close range. This was Curd’s ninth goal of the season – and Ashford had found themselves 1-0 down as early as the second minute.
In some games this season, an early goal conceded by Ashford has soon led to another, and then, sometimes, another, so we feared the worst as the home side sought to press home their advantage. In the seventh minute, Lee Hockey did well to cut out a cross, at the expense of a corner, on the right. This was slung into the penalty area, and there were several scuffed attempts at goal, before Carl Harrold blocked Danny Curd’s shot at the far post, from close range, for another corner. The resulting cross was well caught by Darren Ibrahim, who appears to be growing in confidence with every game.
Soon, though, Ashford got a foot-hold in the match, and went forward, applying a bit of pressure at the other end. In the eighth minute, we won a corner. This was taken short, and Mark Lovell managed to get on the end of the cross that eventually came in, but his shot was blocked. Mark is yet to get on the score-sheet since coming back from his long-term knee injury, but he has brought plenty to the team since his return. He stitches play together well, gives us a bit of presence in the air, and is willing to get into wide positions. In the twelfth minute, Mark did some good work near the right touch-line, and put in a good cross, but the sliding-in Smudger Smith just failed to get on the end of it.
A minute later, Steve Harper very nearly extended the home side’s lead. At the end of a well-constructed move, he lobbed Darren Ibrahim, who deflected the ball upwards with his finger tips. The ball was about to drop into the net, first bounce, but Lee Hockey, running back, did tremendously well to hook the ball off the line. Then, in the 15th minute, Harper again showed his quality, when he delivered a curling, right-footed free-kick into the Ashford goalmouth, from the left touchline. Although this was a difficult ball to deal with, Darren Ibrahim gathered safely – after some initial juggling, for which we can probably forgive him, on this occasion.
As we reached the half-way point of the first half, the threatened rain materialised. This wasn’t (yet) torrential, but it was steady, and was driven across the ground, from left to right, as Darren Ibrahim looked out from his goal. The one, decent-sized stand at Leylands Park would have given good shelter to this horizontal rain – but we remained on the opposite side, sharing the soaking with the two benches, which, when you think about it, is a level of stupidity that could get a man discharged from the Army ! However, there was quite an entertaining game of football out there, to take our mind off the weather, and the visitors - playing in the green & white home kit, to avoid a clash with Burgess Hill’s yellow and black halved shirts, with sleeves reversed – held their own well, and launched just as many attacks in the first half as the home side.
Ashford’s best chance during this period came in the 28th minute. Darren Ibrahim, who kicked pretty well today, suggesting that his groin strain is currently holding up, sent a long goal-kick into The Hillians’ half. Joe Fuller got up well, flicking the ball on with his head, finding Mitchell Sherwood in the inside-right position. Urged on by the Ashford bench, and having just the one defender to beat, Mitch jinked, to transfer the ball onto his right foot, and then sent in a firm shot, on target, but straight at goalkeeper Joe Adams.
There was then joy, in the 39th minute, as Nicholas Smith put the ball into the home side’s net – but then frustration, as the “goal” was ruled out for off-side. The chance came from a corner, on the left. The hard-working Ryan Briggs took the kick short, to Mark Lovell, who returned the ball to Briggo, providing him with a wider angle. Briggo’s cross was then headed across goal, from the far post, but Smith was, apparently, a yard off-side when he nodded the ball in from close range.
Mark Lovell popped up on the left flank in the 43rd minute, and, after cutting inside, sent in a right-footed shot, but this went over the bar. Then, as the game went into the one minute of first-half injury time, Nick Smith went on a raid down the left; he passed the ball inside, to Ronnie Dolan, whose low shot was fairly comfortably saved by Adams, diving to his right.
So Ashford went in at half time 1-0 down, but there had been no suggestion of an impending landslide defeat, such as those we had witnessed earlier on in the season. On the contrary, we were left thinking that the boys might well get something out of the game, if they could only make a breakthrough, and stick the ball in the net.
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for an equaliser, as the visitors dominated the early exchanges after the break. In the 48th minute, Lee Hockey sent in a long throw, on the right, deep into the Burgess Hill half; this had a low, fast delivery, and Mark Lovell was able to flash a backward header towards Joe Adams’s goal, but the ‘keeper made a brilliant save, catching the ball cleanly, in spite of having very little time in which to react. Two minutes later, Ashford had a corner on the right, which was curled in, left-footed, by Steve Springett. Lee Hockey rose to meet the ball, but his well-timed header was blocked by Adams. The clearance was picked up by Ryan Briggs, 20 yards out, and he drilled a low shot, through the crowded penalty area, into the far corner of the net. This was greeted with yells of delight, both on the pitch and from behind the goal, as Briggo scored his first goal of the season. He only scored three goals last season, and his strike-rate over the two seasons is now equivalent to a goal every 15 games – but Ryan thoroughly deserved to get on the score-sheet this afternoon, as it capped a good, all-round performance.
This was also Ashford’s first goal in open play since the 2-2 draw at home to Dulwich Hamlet, back in October, but, without making any naff analogies to buses, another one came along just seven minutes later, in the 57th minute. An attack down the left flank culminated with Lee Hockey lofting a high, curling cross into the Burgess Hill penalty area. This was always going to be awkward for Joe Adams, and his life was made no easier by the presence of Mark Lovell. As the two men challenged in the air, the ball popped up again. Mitch Sherwood came charging in, and his momentum was always going to make him favourite to get to the ball – and he nodded it into the top corner of the net, for his fourth of the season. Suddenly, Ashford were 1-2 up, and scoring goals seemed, at last, to be not only possible, but distinctly doable !
But Burgess Hill were by no means a beaten side. They definitely have quality up front, and looked well capable of scoring for the remainder of the game. In fact, they hit back hard at Ashford on going behind, and Darren Ibrahim was forced to make a good save, pushing the ball around the post, for a corner, with the 1-2 lead just a minute old ! He then made a good catch from the resulting cross.
By the hour mark, the weather had deteriorated considerably, with the wind continuing to drive the steady rain into the plastic dug-outs, and into the face of Steve Lovell and the few idiots who were still standing on that side of the ground. Lovell actually looked a bit like Jack Hawkins in The Cruel Sea – saturated, but gazing defiantly through the onslaught of the elements, with his hands clasped firmly behind his back.
In the 62nd minute, Max Barnard went on a dangerous run down the left. He sent in a deep cross to the far post, where Steve Harper headed the ball into the Ashford goalmouth – but Lee Hockey was there to clear. The breach was made, however, five minutes later, and it has to be said that the home side equalised with what was probably the best goal of the game. A quick, flowing move by The Hillians, from left to right, found Lloyd Cotton on the edge of the area, and he sent a curling shot around Darren Ibrahim and into the net, giving Darren no chance. I’m surprised to note, in the excellent match day programme, that this is only Cotton’s second goal of the season.
As the game wore on, and the weather worsened further, the match developed into something rather more attritional, and it became all about determination, hard work and concentrating on not making a mistake - having said that, there were still chances at both ends. In the 70th minute, right-back Carl Harrold once again reminded us of the talent he has, when he went on a run through central midfield. This run was continued by Joe Fuller, deep into the Burgess Hill penalty area, but the home defence forced the ball out for a corner, on the right. Steve Springett once again came across to take the kick, and found Mark Lovell, in the centre of the penalty area. Mark got up well, and, in spite of his momentum taking him backwards, got plenty of power into his header – but the ball went just wide of the post. It’ll come ! Three minutes later, a good, flowing move from the visitors ended with Joe Fuller having his shot blocked, from an acute angle; soon after, Darren Ibrahim was in action again, making a good save from a header, at his near post.
Shortly after Hillians Manager Gary Croydon had made the only substitution of the game, when he replaced Max Barnard with Jon Lansdale, there was a major threat to the Ashford goal. This came in the 81st minute. The details of the incident are unclear, but there was the most almighty goalmouth scramble, during which the ball was cleared off the Ashford line, not once, but twice. The end-result was a corner to the home side, and Steve Springett being left in a heap on the wet turf – which at least gave temporary Physio Rachel Long a chance to strut her stuff, having remained on the bench for the duration of the Chatham match.
Nick Smith looked to be Ashford’s most dangerous player in the closing stages, having battled well, on the left, for the entire game. With two minutes of normal time remaining, he led a break for the visitors, down the left touchline, after a Jon Lansdale free-kick had been cleared, but the Burgess Hill defence put the ball behind, for a corner. This was taken by Ryan Briggs, but came to nowt. Smudger then blotted his copy book by getting himself yellow-carded, after squaring up aggressively to Lloyd Cotton, who was also booked, in a forehead-to-forehead confrontation.
As the game entered the second of the three minutes of injury time, with the rain still drifting across the ground, Steve Lovell showed a slightly sadistic side to his character, when he called out to his soaked and exhausted players: “Dig in, boys ! Last 20 minutes !”. Of course, he was smiling when he said it, and he was smiling even more when Referee Chris Phillips blew the final whistle, as this was a much-needed point gained.
Ashford knew they needed to get something out of this game, as two of our rivals in the relegation scrap, Horsham YMCA and Whitstable Town, were playing each other today, just a few miles up the A23, so one or both of those teams were going to pick up a point or three. As it turned out, it was YMCA who took all three points, with a 1-0 victory. Biggest shock at the bottom of Ryman Division One South, however, was Eastbourne Town’s 2-0 win at home to Dulwich Hamlet, but, with Chipstead losing, today’s point at Leylands Park was enough to lift Ashford up one place, and out of the relegation zone. Next, we have three crunch games, all against teams in the bottom six – one at home to Walton Casuals, on Wednesday, and then two, home and away, against Whitstable, (all weather permitting, of course). If we can’t get at least four points from those three games, then, quite frankly, we don’t deserve to stay in this division.
It was a good performance by all ten men in a green & white shirt this afternoon – and the goalie, in a grey shirt, also looked pretty solid again, in spite of one or two minor fumbles. Young Laurence Harvey might have been mistaken for a 28 year-old out there today, as he looked completely at home in central defence, and Ronnie Dolan also looked very lively, and didn’t let anybody down – but it was the more senior players who stepped up to the plate this afternoon, and the two who were particularly outstanding were Ryan Briggs and Lee Hockey. Briggo just got the nod as Man of the Match, but Lee probably played his best game to date for Ashford Town.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Briggo
Sunday 8 November 2009
Chatham Town v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 7th of November 2009.
Chatham Town 0 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Thirteen games now gone in the season, at the start of this one, and Ryman Division One South was starting to take shape – and I think it’s probably significant that the bottom six teams in the table were also the bottom six teams in the Current Form table, and very much the sides that, on recent form, we’d expect to be involved in the relegation scrap: that’s Chipstead, Horsham YMCA, Eastbourne Town, Walton Casuals, Whitstable Town and, I’m afraid, Ashford Town. If the league table didn’t convince ourselves of that, then Ashford’s previous two performances certainly should have done – at Horsham YMCA, two Tuesdays ago, we were able to compete on equal terms, and were just edged out 2-1; at Walton & Hersham, in mid-week, we were out-matched by a mid-table team, unable to manage a single shot on target.
However, one glimmer of hope I’ve managed to detect is that Ashford’s away form, with the lads having lost every single game away from The Homelands, bar one, is far worse than our home form, since our home record is actually three wins and two draws from six matches. What dawned on me recently was that no fewer than NINE of the last twelve matches, including today’s at Maidstone Road, have been away – so we must have a few at Fortress Homelands to come !
It was certainly good to be back at Chatham, after The Chats’ ridiculous one-year exile in Ryman Division One North, and they’ve made a great start this season, lying in sixth place this morning – which has not been entirely surprising, since the signing of the excellent Brendan Cass, from Dartford, in the Summer. Looking through some old match reports, I noticed that there is just one man who played in all four matches at Maidstone Road between these sides, in the 2002-3, 2003-4, 2006-7 and 2007-8 seasons - I’ll spill the beans as to who it was, at the end of the report.
First news from the Ashford camp concerned a change in Physio. There had been rumours in mid-week that Alan Orsbourne, who has been our Sponge Man in recent weeks, was so exhausted from running on and off to attend to Mark Lovell on Tuesday – first it was Mark’s ankle, then it was his face, then it was his knee, etc. – that he would have to have a lie-down this week-end. There were also counter-rumours that Steve Lovell was planning to use Alan in a man-to-man marking role, following Mark around the pitch, with his bag. In the end, neither was the case, as Alan was due to attend a physio course – so in stepped Rachel Long, who is one of the so-called Physy Fillies, a group of trainee physiotherapists at Canterbury Hospital. Unfortunately, we never had the chance to see Rachel in her faster paces, but she’s an attractive, leggy filly, with a kind head and plenty of bone.
Long Rachel has arrived just in time, as it’s all about groins in the Ashford dressing room at the moment. Paul Jones continues to suffer from wedding-related fatigue in that area, and ‘keeper Seb Barton, Man of the Match on Tuesday, picked up an injury, towards the end of that game, that has also been diagnosed as a groin problem. As if that weren’t enough, Darren Ibrahim also has a groin injury, but was still preferred, in goal, to Dan Mason, which must be interpreted as a major vote of confidence from Manager Steve Lovell. It’s impossible to know the extent of the injury, but it was serious enough for Toby Ashmore to take all of Darren’s goal-kicks this afternoon.
The other injury blow for Ashford Town was that, as expected, top-scorer Joe Fuller had not recovered from the knock that forced him to come off after 20 minutes against Walton & Hersham – in fact, he was limping around the ground this afternoon every bit as feelingly as he had limped to his car at Stompond Lane on Tuesday. That left us distinctly short of strikers, but it’s quite likely that Steve Lovell would, in any case, have opted for the 4-3-1-2 formation, with son Mark “in the hole”, that served Ashford pretty well in the second half of the Walton game.
With our only available recognised striker playing just behind the front two, it was a couple of wingers who played up front: Mitchell Sherwood and Nicholas Frederick Smith. The midfield three were the experienced Ryan Briggs and Danny Lye, with Ross Morley operating on the right; the back four in front of Darren Ibrahim were Carl Harrold, Toby Ashmore, Lee Hockey and Gravesend loanee Steve “Geordie” Springett.
There were some interesting names on the bench, including three who had featured in the Reserves’ 0-2 defeat at home to Hythe Reserves on Wednesday – these were Dan Mason, Ronnie Dolan and Dan Scorer. It was good to see the elder of the two Scorer brothers involved again; the last time we saw Dan was when he went down with a freak knee injury, just 16 minutes after coming on as a substitute in the opening game of the season, at Croydon Athletic. Bryan Pearce was also on the bench, as defensive cover, but I was a bit surprised to see Jamie Forshaw, our other loanee from Gravesend, named as a substitute.
We arrived in good time today, so there was the opportunity to go to the bar and watch fellow Step 4 club Paulton Rovers playing at home to Norwich City in the First Round of the FA Cup. Paulton’s participation at this stage of the competition reminds us of what we ourselves can achieve – Lest We Forget, to use a phrase that has been well-used this week-end – but it was also good to see a team playing in Ashford Town’s away strip score seven goals away from home.
One of the major questions of the day was whether the team playing in yellow & green at Maidstone Road this afternoon could improve on Tuesday’s effort, by actually managing a shot on target during the 90 minutes. Well, this question was answered within the first 90 seconds, when a pot-shot from Mark Lovell, from outside the penalty area, was comfortably saved by Dean Ruddy, in the Chatham goal. This was the cue for something else that was missing on Tuesday – the first chorus from the travelling Ashford fans, who had arrived in Chatham in good voice, and in good numbers, considering that there was no Supporters’ Club coach available today.
Shortly after Mark Lovell’s triumphant shot on target, the home side counter-attacked at the other end, with a long cross, from the right, looking for Brendan Cass. The Chats’ No.9 got up for the header, which was also on target, but Darren Ibrahim made a good catch. Moving into the second minute of the game, Ashford had a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. This was crossed to the far post by Ryan Briggs; Danny Lye got up well, and his downward header forced Ruddy Dean to make a good diving save, low to his right.
So this was a bright start from the visitors, and they looked a different side to the one that we had seen at Walton. Everyone seemed up for this one, and Mark Lovell, in particular, was an inspirational force, dropping short to collect the ball from the midfield and defence, and showing a lovely touch. From the outset, it was clear that Steve & Hugo weren’t setting out to blind the opposition with science. Short of numbers in midfield, we were never going to try to pass them to death. The idea was to release the ball early from the back, using the pace of the two lads up front, and to look for the aerial prowess of Danny Lye and Mark Lovell at set pieces. This was all very positive, as far as I was concerned. Ashford had a plan – and it looked like we might have the tools to make something happen.
There wasn’t much between the two sides in the early part of the game, or throughout the game, for that matter – certainly no evidence of the twelve league positions that separated the teams at the start of the day – with both having good situations, through corners and long throws. The first incident of real note, however, came in the 16th minute, when Mitchell Sherwood clearly barged Dean Ruddy, after the Chatham ‘keeper had taken the ball. It was an incident that Mitch might have got away with on another day, but, with the dreaded Referees’ Assessor in the stand, Mr Hicks was always going to demonstrate who was boss, and waved a yellow card.
I’m not sure what the Assessor thought of Craig Hicks’ overall performance, but the players were sometimes frustrated by what seemed to be a fairly esoteric interpretation of the advantage rule, and Steve Lovell clearly thought that he was a bit over-keen on blowing up for free-kicks, remarking: “Has he got a new whistle for his birthday ?”. For the record, the total count was 14 free-kicks awarded for fouls against Ashford, and 18 awarded against Chatham; (thanks, Rob & Tim, for the stats).
One of those free-kicks was awarded to Ashford in the 34th minute, and, for once, Ryan Briggs went for goal, from just outside the penalty area. Whilst our set-pieces on Tuesday tended to be awful, Briggo got this one right on target, curling his shot into the top right-hand corner of Dean Ruddy’s goal, but the ‘keeper once again made a good save. Seconds later, Lee Hockey sent one of several long throws into the Chatham area, but these refused to fall to an Ashford player this afternoon. (In fact, to coin a footballing phrase, we had about as much “second ball” as Adolf Hitler today).
The ball did, however, break Ashford’s way in the 38th minute. Carl Harrold sent a high, looping ball into the home side’s penalty box. Dean Ruddy, Mitchell Sherwood and a Chatham defender waited for the ball to come down, and, somehow, the Chatham pair made a mess of this. The ball fell to Mitch, who had little time in which to react, and his instinctive shot was blocked.
So the first half ended all square, at 0-0, thanks to an energetic team performance, and some uncomplicated defending (particularly from Toby Ashmore), by the visitors.
The home side had a dangerous-looking free-kick situation, as early as the second minute of the second half, after Toby Ashmore appeared to have been unlucky to have been penalised for what looked to be an excellent challenge – but Matthew Solly’s low shot was cleared. Then ,a minute later, a Lee Hockey long throw, from near the left corner flag, was headed clear at the near post, and, finally, fell to an Ashford Town player, waiting on the edge of the area – unfortunately, the player was a defender, and Steve Springett’s left-footed effort was hopelessly ill-directed.
In the 50th minute, a foul by Danny Lye, (who, as usual, tested the boundaries with the referee), on Ray Powell led to the first appearance of a Physio on the field, and so we discovered that Chatham’s sponge bearer was also a lady. The resulting free-kick, about 25 yards out, just to the right of centre, was crossed in by Justin Ascheri, but Brendan Cass’s glancing header went just wide of the target.
Cass was in the thick of it again, in the 54th minute, when he appeared to go down under a challenge from Toby Ashmore. Well, Toby must have thought that this was an example of what the bureaucrats at You Wafer refer to as “simulation”, as he reacted angrily; there was a squaring-up session, which quickly led to both teams congregating in the Ashford penalty area to join in the discussion. After a lengthy consultation with his Lino, Craig Hicks showed Toby a yellow card. Three minutes later, the same card was out again – this time it was waved at Chatham’s James Lyons, for a really daft deliberate hand-ball, on the half-way line.
The free-kick for the hand-ball was pinged in by Ryan Briggs towards the far post, where it was cleared for a corner, on the left. Again, Briggo launched the ball into the goalmouth, where Dean Ruddy was fouled by Danny Lye as he rose to catch the ball. Again, there were a few fairly direct words exchanged between the players. In the 61st minute, Danny Lye finally ran out of rope, and he was yellow-carded for a foul on Brendan Cass. It was a fairly regulation Lyesy foul, so the card must have been for persistent offending. The resulting free-kick, taken by Ashley Probets, went straight through to Darren Ibrahim.
Two minutes later, the well-worn whistle was blown for a “foot-up” offence in the vicinity of Nick Smith, on the half-way line. Steve Springett pumped the ball to the edge of the Chatham area, where Danny Lye got up to win a header; Lye’s flick on found Mark Lovell, who helped the ball on to Nick Smith, who hooked a shot over the bar.
It’s probably a measure of how well Ashford’s eleven men were playing that Steve Lovell made no substitutions at all in the match - Chats Manager Alex O’Brien, however, used all three subs, starting with Thomas Davey, for James Lyons, in the 69th minute – and, as the second half wore on, there were some green shoots of hope that a solid defensive performance from the visitors might actually produce a goal. In the 73rd minute, a fairly typical long hoof from defence, this time by Lee Hockey, was successfully chased down by Nick Smith, who caught up with the ball near to the corner flag, on the right. Smudge was surrounded by three Chats defenders, who, between them, committed a foul. The resulting free-kick was swung in towards the far post by Steve Springett. Mark Lovell, who had had a quieter second half, was definitely pushed as he closed in on the cross, but the ref had already blown up for an infringement by an Ashford player. Then, in the 77th minute, Ashford actually created a chance from open play, and, unusually, it came when one of our boys got to the by-line and crossed the ball from one of the flanks. On this occasion, it was Ross Morley who showed an impressive turn of pace, down the right, but a Chatham defender managed to put the ball behind for a corner before Mark Lovell could get on the end of the cross. The corner, from the left, was met by Steve Springett, who had made a great run into the box, but he couldn’t keep the ball down, and his header went well over the bar.
In the 79th minute, a ridiculous free-kick award to the home side gave Matthew Solly the opportunity to put the ball into the Ashford penalty area. His cross was cleared as far as David Hall, but he shot well wide.
The most significant of Alex O’Brien’s substitutions came with just ten minutes of normal time remaining, when he replaced Justin Ascheri with Byron Walker, in a like-for-like swap up front. Walker made an immediate impact, picking the ball up near the right touchline, just inside the Ashford half – he turned and went off on a run which took him past three Ashford players, before the third of these, Lee Hockey, hacked him down. Yellow card to Lee !
We then witnessed the pivotal incident of the game, from the resulting free-kick. The difference between gaining a well-deserved point and going away frustrated and empty-handed hinged on this. Mark Green took the kick, swinging the ball to the far post. This was bundled away, but broke to where Brendan Cass was lurking, around about the penalty spot. Now the mark of a top-class striker is the ability to hit the target with that one chance, even though he might have been very quiet for the rest of the game. Cass certainly proved himself worthy of being spoken about in these terms, when he swivelled and shot in one motion. Thankfully, Darren Ibrahim was also equal to the test, and flung himself to his left, to make a brilliant save. It was the only time that Darren was really asked a serious question this afternoon, and he wasn’t found wanting.
Whilst, in retrospect, Darren’s save effectively secured the point, the action was certainly not over. In the 86th minute, Lee Barnett became Chatham’s third substitute, replacing David Hall, and, a minute later, Ray Powell was booked for a foul on Nick Smith, deep inside The Chats’ half. Ryan Briggs hit the resulting free-kick towards the far post, but Dean Ruddy was able to punch clear, conceding a throw-in, near the right corner flag. Predictably, this led to another Lee Hockey long throw. Whilst Lee’s initial effort was cleared, the ball came straight back to him, whereupon he sent in a good cross, which was met with a glancing header by Danny Lye, but this went straight at the ‘keeper.
Generally, though, it was the home side on top, boosted by the pace and skill of Byron Walker, in the closing stages, and there was certainly plenty more work for the Ashford defence to do. Walker was certainly looking threatening, in the 90th minute, when Toby Ashmore attempted to muscle him off the ball. Unfortunately for Toby, he did so with his elbow raised and his arm quite a long way from his body, and made contact with his much smaller opponent right in front of the linesman. Referee Craig Hicks was also right on the spot, so it was inevitable that Ashmore was about to make the short, but early, trip to the dressing-room in the large, whitewashed building behind Darren Ibrahim’s goal. It was really just a question of whether the ref would show Toby a straight red card, or a second yellow card in the match. Mr Hicks opted for the latter. There really wasn’t time for Steve Lovell to reorganise the side, so it was left to the remaining ten men to hold out until the final whistle – starting with avoiding conceding a goal from the resulting free-kick. Fittingly, it was Lee Hockey who headed clear Mark Green’s cross.
I use the word “fittingly” because it was very much the Ashford defenders who were the heroes this afternoon. Both Lee Hockey and Toby Ashmore put in a tremendous shift today, although Lee did also make a number of errors, and Toby blotted his copy book by getting sent off. He will certainly be missed, as he has, at times, looked Sean Rayesque in central defence this season, and he’ll be hard to replace when his suspension kicks in. Darren Ibrahim put in a flawless performance this afternoon, and must be feeling triumphant in making an important contribution to Ashford’s first clean sheet of the season, but the real credit should go to the men in front of him, who restricted an on-form Chatham Town to just that one clear chance that fell to Brendan Cass. Of course, the acknowledgement for this should go to the whole team, but the other man who stood out in defence today was Steve Springett, and he was our MK Man of the Match.
So a point each – and a point that lifted Chatham to fifth in the division, but, ironically, caused Ashford to move down a place, to third-bottom, thanks to Chipstead’s 2-4 victory in the relegation six-pointer at Eastbourne Town. However, the league position hardly matters. What was important today was that Ashford discovered that, with an all-round team effort, they could comfortably hold one of the form teams in the division. Whilst I think that our well-documented problem with the goalkeeping position is far from being solved, defending well all over the pitch and restricting the opposition to very few, if any, chances is a good way of minimising the impact.
[ The answer to the little teaser I posed earlier on – it was John Whitehouse, who played in goal for Ashford in the first two of those games, and then for Chatham in the other two. ]
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Steve Springett
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Thirteen games now gone in the season, at the start of this one, and Ryman Division One South was starting to take shape – and I think it’s probably significant that the bottom six teams in the table were also the bottom six teams in the Current Form table, and very much the sides that, on recent form, we’d expect to be involved in the relegation scrap: that’s Chipstead, Horsham YMCA, Eastbourne Town, Walton Casuals, Whitstable Town and, I’m afraid, Ashford Town. If the league table didn’t convince ourselves of that, then Ashford’s previous two performances certainly should have done – at Horsham YMCA, two Tuesdays ago, we were able to compete on equal terms, and were just edged out 2-1; at Walton & Hersham, in mid-week, we were out-matched by a mid-table team, unable to manage a single shot on target.
However, one glimmer of hope I’ve managed to detect is that Ashford’s away form, with the lads having lost every single game away from The Homelands, bar one, is far worse than our home form, since our home record is actually three wins and two draws from six matches. What dawned on me recently was that no fewer than NINE of the last twelve matches, including today’s at Maidstone Road, have been away – so we must have a few at Fortress Homelands to come !
It was certainly good to be back at Chatham, after The Chats’ ridiculous one-year exile in Ryman Division One North, and they’ve made a great start this season, lying in sixth place this morning – which has not been entirely surprising, since the signing of the excellent Brendan Cass, from Dartford, in the Summer. Looking through some old match reports, I noticed that there is just one man who played in all four matches at Maidstone Road between these sides, in the 2002-3, 2003-4, 2006-7 and 2007-8 seasons - I’ll spill the beans as to who it was, at the end of the report.
First news from the Ashford camp concerned a change in Physio. There had been rumours in mid-week that Alan Orsbourne, who has been our Sponge Man in recent weeks, was so exhausted from running on and off to attend to Mark Lovell on Tuesday – first it was Mark’s ankle, then it was his face, then it was his knee, etc. – that he would have to have a lie-down this week-end. There were also counter-rumours that Steve Lovell was planning to use Alan in a man-to-man marking role, following Mark around the pitch, with his bag. In the end, neither was the case, as Alan was due to attend a physio course – so in stepped Rachel Long, who is one of the so-called Physy Fillies, a group of trainee physiotherapists at Canterbury Hospital. Unfortunately, we never had the chance to see Rachel in her faster paces, but she’s an attractive, leggy filly, with a kind head and plenty of bone.
Long Rachel has arrived just in time, as it’s all about groins in the Ashford dressing room at the moment. Paul Jones continues to suffer from wedding-related fatigue in that area, and ‘keeper Seb Barton, Man of the Match on Tuesday, picked up an injury, towards the end of that game, that has also been diagnosed as a groin problem. As if that weren’t enough, Darren Ibrahim also has a groin injury, but was still preferred, in goal, to Dan Mason, which must be interpreted as a major vote of confidence from Manager Steve Lovell. It’s impossible to know the extent of the injury, but it was serious enough for Toby Ashmore to take all of Darren’s goal-kicks this afternoon.
The other injury blow for Ashford Town was that, as expected, top-scorer Joe Fuller had not recovered from the knock that forced him to come off after 20 minutes against Walton & Hersham – in fact, he was limping around the ground this afternoon every bit as feelingly as he had limped to his car at Stompond Lane on Tuesday. That left us distinctly short of strikers, but it’s quite likely that Steve Lovell would, in any case, have opted for the 4-3-1-2 formation, with son Mark “in the hole”, that served Ashford pretty well in the second half of the Walton game.
With our only available recognised striker playing just behind the front two, it was a couple of wingers who played up front: Mitchell Sherwood and Nicholas Frederick Smith. The midfield three were the experienced Ryan Briggs and Danny Lye, with Ross Morley operating on the right; the back four in front of Darren Ibrahim were Carl Harrold, Toby Ashmore, Lee Hockey and Gravesend loanee Steve “Geordie” Springett.
There were some interesting names on the bench, including three who had featured in the Reserves’ 0-2 defeat at home to Hythe Reserves on Wednesday – these were Dan Mason, Ronnie Dolan and Dan Scorer. It was good to see the elder of the two Scorer brothers involved again; the last time we saw Dan was when he went down with a freak knee injury, just 16 minutes after coming on as a substitute in the opening game of the season, at Croydon Athletic. Bryan Pearce was also on the bench, as defensive cover, but I was a bit surprised to see Jamie Forshaw, our other loanee from Gravesend, named as a substitute.
We arrived in good time today, so there was the opportunity to go to the bar and watch fellow Step 4 club Paulton Rovers playing at home to Norwich City in the First Round of the FA Cup. Paulton’s participation at this stage of the competition reminds us of what we ourselves can achieve – Lest We Forget, to use a phrase that has been well-used this week-end – but it was also good to see a team playing in Ashford Town’s away strip score seven goals away from home.
One of the major questions of the day was whether the team playing in yellow & green at Maidstone Road this afternoon could improve on Tuesday’s effort, by actually managing a shot on target during the 90 minutes. Well, this question was answered within the first 90 seconds, when a pot-shot from Mark Lovell, from outside the penalty area, was comfortably saved by Dean Ruddy, in the Chatham goal. This was the cue for something else that was missing on Tuesday – the first chorus from the travelling Ashford fans, who had arrived in Chatham in good voice, and in good numbers, considering that there was no Supporters’ Club coach available today.
Shortly after Mark Lovell’s triumphant shot on target, the home side counter-attacked at the other end, with a long cross, from the right, looking for Brendan Cass. The Chats’ No.9 got up for the header, which was also on target, but Darren Ibrahim made a good catch. Moving into the second minute of the game, Ashford had a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. This was crossed to the far post by Ryan Briggs; Danny Lye got up well, and his downward header forced Ruddy Dean to make a good diving save, low to his right.
So this was a bright start from the visitors, and they looked a different side to the one that we had seen at Walton. Everyone seemed up for this one, and Mark Lovell, in particular, was an inspirational force, dropping short to collect the ball from the midfield and defence, and showing a lovely touch. From the outset, it was clear that Steve & Hugo weren’t setting out to blind the opposition with science. Short of numbers in midfield, we were never going to try to pass them to death. The idea was to release the ball early from the back, using the pace of the two lads up front, and to look for the aerial prowess of Danny Lye and Mark Lovell at set pieces. This was all very positive, as far as I was concerned. Ashford had a plan – and it looked like we might have the tools to make something happen.
There wasn’t much between the two sides in the early part of the game, or throughout the game, for that matter – certainly no evidence of the twelve league positions that separated the teams at the start of the day – with both having good situations, through corners and long throws. The first incident of real note, however, came in the 16th minute, when Mitchell Sherwood clearly barged Dean Ruddy, after the Chatham ‘keeper had taken the ball. It was an incident that Mitch might have got away with on another day, but, with the dreaded Referees’ Assessor in the stand, Mr Hicks was always going to demonstrate who was boss, and waved a yellow card.
I’m not sure what the Assessor thought of Craig Hicks’ overall performance, but the players were sometimes frustrated by what seemed to be a fairly esoteric interpretation of the advantage rule, and Steve Lovell clearly thought that he was a bit over-keen on blowing up for free-kicks, remarking: “Has he got a new whistle for his birthday ?”. For the record, the total count was 14 free-kicks awarded for fouls against Ashford, and 18 awarded against Chatham; (thanks, Rob & Tim, for the stats).
One of those free-kicks was awarded to Ashford in the 34th minute, and, for once, Ryan Briggs went for goal, from just outside the penalty area. Whilst our set-pieces on Tuesday tended to be awful, Briggo got this one right on target, curling his shot into the top right-hand corner of Dean Ruddy’s goal, but the ‘keeper once again made a good save. Seconds later, Lee Hockey sent one of several long throws into the Chatham area, but these refused to fall to an Ashford player this afternoon. (In fact, to coin a footballing phrase, we had about as much “second ball” as Adolf Hitler today).
The ball did, however, break Ashford’s way in the 38th minute. Carl Harrold sent a high, looping ball into the home side’s penalty box. Dean Ruddy, Mitchell Sherwood and a Chatham defender waited for the ball to come down, and, somehow, the Chatham pair made a mess of this. The ball fell to Mitch, who had little time in which to react, and his instinctive shot was blocked.
So the first half ended all square, at 0-0, thanks to an energetic team performance, and some uncomplicated defending (particularly from Toby Ashmore), by the visitors.
The home side had a dangerous-looking free-kick situation, as early as the second minute of the second half, after Toby Ashmore appeared to have been unlucky to have been penalised for what looked to be an excellent challenge – but Matthew Solly’s low shot was cleared. Then ,a minute later, a Lee Hockey long throw, from near the left corner flag, was headed clear at the near post, and, finally, fell to an Ashford Town player, waiting on the edge of the area – unfortunately, the player was a defender, and Steve Springett’s left-footed effort was hopelessly ill-directed.
In the 50th minute, a foul by Danny Lye, (who, as usual, tested the boundaries with the referee), on Ray Powell led to the first appearance of a Physio on the field, and so we discovered that Chatham’s sponge bearer was also a lady. The resulting free-kick, about 25 yards out, just to the right of centre, was crossed in by Justin Ascheri, but Brendan Cass’s glancing header went just wide of the target.
Cass was in the thick of it again, in the 54th minute, when he appeared to go down under a challenge from Toby Ashmore. Well, Toby must have thought that this was an example of what the bureaucrats at You Wafer refer to as “simulation”, as he reacted angrily; there was a squaring-up session, which quickly led to both teams congregating in the Ashford penalty area to join in the discussion. After a lengthy consultation with his Lino, Craig Hicks showed Toby a yellow card. Three minutes later, the same card was out again – this time it was waved at Chatham’s James Lyons, for a really daft deliberate hand-ball, on the half-way line.
The free-kick for the hand-ball was pinged in by Ryan Briggs towards the far post, where it was cleared for a corner, on the left. Again, Briggo launched the ball into the goalmouth, where Dean Ruddy was fouled by Danny Lye as he rose to catch the ball. Again, there were a few fairly direct words exchanged between the players. In the 61st minute, Danny Lye finally ran out of rope, and he was yellow-carded for a foul on Brendan Cass. It was a fairly regulation Lyesy foul, so the card must have been for persistent offending. The resulting free-kick, taken by Ashley Probets, went straight through to Darren Ibrahim.
Two minutes later, the well-worn whistle was blown for a “foot-up” offence in the vicinity of Nick Smith, on the half-way line. Steve Springett pumped the ball to the edge of the Chatham area, where Danny Lye got up to win a header; Lye’s flick on found Mark Lovell, who helped the ball on to Nick Smith, who hooked a shot over the bar.
It’s probably a measure of how well Ashford’s eleven men were playing that Steve Lovell made no substitutions at all in the match - Chats Manager Alex O’Brien, however, used all three subs, starting with Thomas Davey, for James Lyons, in the 69th minute – and, as the second half wore on, there were some green shoots of hope that a solid defensive performance from the visitors might actually produce a goal. In the 73rd minute, a fairly typical long hoof from defence, this time by Lee Hockey, was successfully chased down by Nick Smith, who caught up with the ball near to the corner flag, on the right. Smudge was surrounded by three Chats defenders, who, between them, committed a foul. The resulting free-kick was swung in towards the far post by Steve Springett. Mark Lovell, who had had a quieter second half, was definitely pushed as he closed in on the cross, but the ref had already blown up for an infringement by an Ashford player. Then, in the 77th minute, Ashford actually created a chance from open play, and, unusually, it came when one of our boys got to the by-line and crossed the ball from one of the flanks. On this occasion, it was Ross Morley who showed an impressive turn of pace, down the right, but a Chatham defender managed to put the ball behind for a corner before Mark Lovell could get on the end of the cross. The corner, from the left, was met by Steve Springett, who had made a great run into the box, but he couldn’t keep the ball down, and his header went well over the bar.
In the 79th minute, a ridiculous free-kick award to the home side gave Matthew Solly the opportunity to put the ball into the Ashford penalty area. His cross was cleared as far as David Hall, but he shot well wide.
The most significant of Alex O’Brien’s substitutions came with just ten minutes of normal time remaining, when he replaced Justin Ascheri with Byron Walker, in a like-for-like swap up front. Walker made an immediate impact, picking the ball up near the right touchline, just inside the Ashford half – he turned and went off on a run which took him past three Ashford players, before the third of these, Lee Hockey, hacked him down. Yellow card to Lee !
We then witnessed the pivotal incident of the game, from the resulting free-kick. The difference between gaining a well-deserved point and going away frustrated and empty-handed hinged on this. Mark Green took the kick, swinging the ball to the far post. This was bundled away, but broke to where Brendan Cass was lurking, around about the penalty spot. Now the mark of a top-class striker is the ability to hit the target with that one chance, even though he might have been very quiet for the rest of the game. Cass certainly proved himself worthy of being spoken about in these terms, when he swivelled and shot in one motion. Thankfully, Darren Ibrahim was also equal to the test, and flung himself to his left, to make a brilliant save. It was the only time that Darren was really asked a serious question this afternoon, and he wasn’t found wanting.
Whilst, in retrospect, Darren’s save effectively secured the point, the action was certainly not over. In the 86th minute, Lee Barnett became Chatham’s third substitute, replacing David Hall, and, a minute later, Ray Powell was booked for a foul on Nick Smith, deep inside The Chats’ half. Ryan Briggs hit the resulting free-kick towards the far post, but Dean Ruddy was able to punch clear, conceding a throw-in, near the right corner flag. Predictably, this led to another Lee Hockey long throw. Whilst Lee’s initial effort was cleared, the ball came straight back to him, whereupon he sent in a good cross, which was met with a glancing header by Danny Lye, but this went straight at the ‘keeper.
Generally, though, it was the home side on top, boosted by the pace and skill of Byron Walker, in the closing stages, and there was certainly plenty more work for the Ashford defence to do. Walker was certainly looking threatening, in the 90th minute, when Toby Ashmore attempted to muscle him off the ball. Unfortunately for Toby, he did so with his elbow raised and his arm quite a long way from his body, and made contact with his much smaller opponent right in front of the linesman. Referee Craig Hicks was also right on the spot, so it was inevitable that Ashmore was about to make the short, but early, trip to the dressing-room in the large, whitewashed building behind Darren Ibrahim’s goal. It was really just a question of whether the ref would show Toby a straight red card, or a second yellow card in the match. Mr Hicks opted for the latter. There really wasn’t time for Steve Lovell to reorganise the side, so it was left to the remaining ten men to hold out until the final whistle – starting with avoiding conceding a goal from the resulting free-kick. Fittingly, it was Lee Hockey who headed clear Mark Green’s cross.
I use the word “fittingly” because it was very much the Ashford defenders who were the heroes this afternoon. Both Lee Hockey and Toby Ashmore put in a tremendous shift today, although Lee did also make a number of errors, and Toby blotted his copy book by getting sent off. He will certainly be missed, as he has, at times, looked Sean Rayesque in central defence this season, and he’ll be hard to replace when his suspension kicks in. Darren Ibrahim put in a flawless performance this afternoon, and must be feeling triumphant in making an important contribution to Ashford’s first clean sheet of the season, but the real credit should go to the men in front of him, who restricted an on-form Chatham Town to just that one clear chance that fell to Brendan Cass. Of course, the acknowledgement for this should go to the whole team, but the other man who stood out in defence today was Steve Springett, and he was our MK Man of the Match.
So a point each – and a point that lifted Chatham to fifth in the division, but, ironically, caused Ashford to move down a place, to third-bottom, thanks to Chipstead’s 2-4 victory in the relegation six-pointer at Eastbourne Town. However, the league position hardly matters. What was important today was that Ashford discovered that, with an all-round team effort, they could comfortably hold one of the form teams in the division. Whilst I think that our well-documented problem with the goalkeeping position is far from being solved, defending well all over the pitch and restricting the opposition to very few, if any, chances is a good way of minimising the impact.
[ The answer to the little teaser I posed earlier on – it was John Whitehouse, who played in goal for Ashford in the first two of those games, and then for Chatham in the other two. ]
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Steve Springett
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