ARCHIVE: Ashford Town v Dover Athletic. Ryman League Division 1 South. January 2006.

Ashford Town   3                 Dover Athletic   2

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

The first match of the New Year, and, because it doesn’t impinge on our traditional family New Year’s Day, a chance for us to witness the latest installment of our heroes’ now-traditional fight against relegation. And, because it’s the start of another year, let’s have a special Anorak’s Corner.

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ANORAK’S CORNER.

2005: I’m not one to be taken in by all this Auld Lang Syne nonsense, but I’m sure that the Club is glad to see the back of 2005. Our record for the calendar year, in league and cup games, was as follows: P 45, W 9, D 11, L 25. But look at our away record for the twelve months: P 26, W 1, D 5, L 20 !!  That solitary win was at Dorking – and, with hindsight, is probably the reason why we’re playing Dover today, and not Deal – but at least I can say that “I was there”. The cheerful joke in adversity at Dorking among the few Ashford faithful present was that we couldn’t remember how to applaud the lads off the pitch at the end, as it had been so long since we’d last had to do it. In fact, that was the only away win in the 2004-5 season, and I think that the previous away win to that was at Histon, of all places, on Grand National Day 2004 (early April for those with no healthy appreciation of The Turf), when we won 0-2, with goals from Joby Thorogood and Simon Elliott.

Disciplinary Matters (or lack of discipline): I don’t like having a go at Joff Thorogood, as he never gives less than 100% when he plays, and he’s been struggling manfully with a knee injury this season, but an Anorak’s Corner can’t go by without mentioning his record of cautions this season, as he might be on for a World Record. So far this season, he’s been on the field for ten minutes, and, including the occasion when he got carded for looking at the referee from the subs’ bench at Molesey, he’s managed to pick up three yellow cards. That’s an average of 27 yellow cards per match, so he’s bidding for a place in the “And finally” spot on the “News at Ten”.

And finally: A few years after Peter McRobert made Club History by playing in the same game as his two sons, Lee and Scott, Tim Thorogood went some way towards emulating him when he and his two sons, Joffy and Joby, all got shown the red card in the recent Boxing Day Debacle, at Hastings. This was not due to the introduction of some sort of Family Card that referees have been provided with – it was the result of two separate reds and two separate yellows. (I understand that Thorogood the Manager’s red card was actually rescinded at half time, but let’s not let that small fact get in the way of a good story !).

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So there you have it. Was there anything good at all about 2005 ?  Well, yes, actually, but this happened, quite literally, at the eleventh hour !  With only minutes to go before that ridiculous spectacle of an entire nation getting really horny about counting to ten backwards, we received the news that Adrian Stone is back !  My hero !  Both he and John-Paull Collier have returned to Ashford Town from Bromley (J-P actually played in the 2-0 defeat at Hastings) – and my understanding is that these are permanent, rather than loan, moves, although it is reported that Adrianho has the option of returning to Bromley later in the season. It’s a “big ask” to expect Adrian to turn things around all by himself, as even Paul Jones couldn’t do that, but he’s a big, strong lad, he’s good in the air, he’s skillful, he scores goals and he’s Brazilian (isn’t he ?). (Whisper it, but the Club’s immediate future might depend on the extent to which Adrianho is “up for it”, as he’s had the reputation of being a little lazy in the past). Nevertheless, as a wizard with a white beard once said: “Hope is kindled !”.

On the general subject of lean spells and misery etc, today’s opponents were Dover Athletic. The Whites’ tale of woe is slightly different to our own, in that their presence at The Homelands today is thanks to three successive relegations, starting from the lofty height of The Conference. (All down on one knee at the mention of The Conference, please). What’s worse for today’s guests is that there’s absolutely no guarantee that they’ll bounce straight back up again, as they’re currently experiencing a serious challenge from Kent rivals Ramsgit and Tonbridge Angels, in particular. Dover’s reaction has been to bolster their promotion campaign with the signing of a proven goal-scorer, Jimmy Dryden, from Folkestone; although DAFC is supposed to have certain financial issues, the word is that Mr Dryden’s earnings are equivalent to about half of Ashford Town’s weekly wage bill, which rather sums up the current difference in the status of the two Clubs. Dover having an average home attendance of over 900 is one of the more striking differences !  (It’s as well that I mention Jimmy Dryden now, as he barely featured in the match this afternoon – in fact, although discretion forbids me to go into detail, I reckon that the Dover striker earnt about £100 per kick this afternoon).

With Shaun Bradshaw injured, it was Joby Thorogood who partnered Adrianho up front – Adrian wore the No.10 shirt today, but it would have been No.36 if we used a squad numbering system. J-P Collier was on the right side of midfield, in his second game of his second spell with Ashford, with Sol Henry on the left; with RJ Boorman suspended, the central midfield partnership was Gary Clarke and Denver Birmingham. Jamie Smith was back from suspension, so regained his place at right-back. With Skipper Ian Ross on the left, and Tom Adlington and Mark Banks in the centre, the defence again had a very U-shaped look about it, with both full-backs being taller than the centre-halves. Ressies’ right-back Richard Vidler, having made his first team debut at Hastings on Boxing Day, was one of five substitutes, along with Emmanuel Sackey, Joffy Thorogood, Kennickson Jarrett-Elliott and Joseph Momoh. The last of these is another new face – a striker – and he became the 37^th player to be used by Ashford this season when he later came on as sub.

The most notable name on the Dover teamsheet was, of course, Marc Cumberbatch, the former Ashford captain and son of Joint Manager and Spin Doctor John; this was Marc’s first match at The Homelands since transferring to The Crabble.

The first chance for The Whites, playing in their away strip of red & blue stripes, white shorts and socks, came in the third minute. Centre-forward Craig Wilkins was set free down the left flank, getting around Mark Banks fairly easily, and made it into the Ashford area, before Tom Adlington came across with the covering tackle. The ball was cleared by the Ashford defence after the resulting corner, and Sol Henry was off on a break. Sol seemed to have fluffed the chance when he allowed himself to be levered off the ball by a Dover defender, but the ball broke to Joby Thorogood, who gave Henry a second chance. This resulted in quite a weak effort, which was neither a cross nor a shot.

Three minutes later, the visitors had a free-kick in a dangerous position, on the left side of the field. This was curled in by James Rogers, but the ball missed everybody, and went beyond the far post, for a goal-kick.

Adrianho was back for this free-kick, and for most other Dover set-pieces, giving the Ashford defence some much-needed height, and leaving Joby Thorogood on his own up front. This was only one aspect of the tremendous difference that Adrian made to the team, as he at last provided us with a strong and confident target man. At 6’ 2”, he not only has the height to win balls in the air, but also has the assurance to do something with the ball when he gets to it. Whilst Shaun Bradshaw tends to cushion the ball with his head, and make a glancing contact, Adrianho is able to direct a firm and decisive header. Today he both showed the ability to hold the ball up when receiving the ball from defence, and, of course, has great feet, and showed some good touches.

There were also one or two early signs of understanding between the front two; one such occasion was in the ninth minute, when a deft Adrianho flick set Joby off down the right. The Hobbit, whose pace and quick feet seemed to trouble The Whites’ defence in the early stages of the game, was brought down, and Ashford had a free-kick just to the right of the penalty area. This was taken, left-footed, by Ian Ross, and, after the faintest of glancing headers at the near post, found Joby Thorogood, inside the six-yard box. Joby made no mistake, and turned the ball into the net. This was very much against the run of play for the season, so to speak, and must have come as a shock to the large and vociferous band of Dover supporters. (The attendance was actually 691, which is – and will be – far and away the biggest gate of the season).

In the 18^th minute, Dover ‘keeper Darren Smith put his side under pressure with a poor kick-out, which was picked up by Sol Henry. Sol spread the ball wide to Joby Thorogood, who again induced a foul from the visiting defence, on the left corner of the penalty area. This time it was J-P Collier who took the free-kick, and he whistled the ball across the face of goal, but his cross went just wide of the far post.

Both the crowd and the Dover players were getting frustrated at some of the decisions made by a very young Referee, Steve Briffitt, and this boiled over a little after a fairly innocuous foul by Jamie Smith, in the 23^rd minute. This led to a bit of a spat between J-P Collier and Dover’s Dave Clifford, but resulted in a yellow card for Smith, presumably for the original challenge.

In the 26^th minute, Joby Thorogood was once again fouled by Mark Cumberbatch, and this time the referee booked him for (I think) the persistence of his offences. As the resulting free-kick was on the left, it was J-P who was again the taker, but the ball was readily cleared by the Dover defence.

The players continued to get tetchy and argumentative with one another, and, in the 29^th minute, this caused Craig Wilkins to be the second Dover player to get shown the yellow card – this was for a verbal protest at a refereeing decision. The game had also become a very scrappy affair, and this probably suited Ashford, as Dover failed to develop any rhythm or fluency.

With Sean Glover not having been seriously tested up to the 34^th minute, Tom Adlington then gifted Dover a corner, with a sloppy back-pass that Sean had no chance of getting to. This resulted in a long, deep cross; Craig Wilkins rose well to meet the ball, but headed over the bar. Four minutes later, a long ball from the Ashford defence caused Marc Cumberbatch some problems, and the ball slid off his head, for a corner on the right side. Ian Ross took this corner, but Darren Smith punched the ball behind for a corner on the other side of the field. The second cross was cleared, but fell to J-P Collier, well outside the area - J-P’s low shot went wide.

Incredibly, Ashford went further ahead in the 40^th minute. A clearance from defence was laid off by Joby Thorogood, in spite of a push in the back, into the path of Adrian Stone, who burst through on goal. Adrianho had time to control the ball, look up and hit a shot past the ‘keeper, into the corner of the net.

G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-L !!  A-d-r-i-a-a-a-a-a-n-h-o-o-o-o-o-o-o !!

One chance, one goal, for our returning hero. This was also the first time that Ashford had scored more than one goal in a match since the 3-1 victory over Corinthians, on the 4^th of October !

Two minutes later, the boys achieved “on fire” status, with a third goal – and this was a real beauty. Gary Clarke carried the ball through midfield, in the inside-left position, and laid the ball wide to Ian Ross, who was well forward. Rossi’s curling cross into the Dover six-yard box was met by Denver Birmingham, stooping low to head the ball into the back of the net. It was fitting that Denver celebrated with our intrepid groundsman behind the goal, as he could just as easily have been congratulating The Lawnmower Man in his efforts to make sure that today’s game would be on. It was also a fairly rare style of goal for Ashford Town – a cross supplied by a full-back in a forward position, and a midfield player getting himself into the opposition’s penalty area !  I’d also like to point out that two of the three goals had now resulted from an Ian Ross cross – whilst Rossi still considers himself to be a midfield player, (he’s been employed almost exclusively in defence since returning from a broken leg), the quality of his delivery from the left-back position has been a definite plus this season.

It’s easy to imagine that Dover might have been a little shocked to be trailing 3-0 to a team struggling at the bottom of the table, but there were some opportunities for them to pull a goal back before half time. In the 45^th minute, a long cross into the Ashford area, which went beyond the far post, was well caught by Sean Glover, but Shaggy carried the ball over the line, for a corner, as he fell. The resulting cross was cleared by the Ashford defence. Two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the half, Dover had another corner, as a result of a great tackle by Mark Banks, this time on the right. A looping cross into the Ashford goalmouth was met by the head of Tommy Tyne – who had been the subject of many of the moans from the visiting fans, for his first-half performance – but the ball went wide of the far post.

For the second match report in a row – following my account of the game at Molesey – I have to suggest that this was the best half of football that Ashford have played so far this season. The crucial difference between the two games, of course, is that, whilst the boys went in at Molesey with the score 1-1, this afternoon they went in 3-0 up, and deservedly so. It’s fair to say that Dover were generally very poor – and it’s not difficult to take the view that the visitors are capable of doing much better than they showed in the first 45 minutes here – but, as the Great Brian Clough would have said, they played as well as they were allowed to play. The influence of Adrian Stone has already been described, but this was a good, all-round team performance.

The ten-minute interval enabled the unreality of it all to sink in for fans of both teams, and it must have affected the Ashford players in a similar way, as they appeared to play the second half with the sole intention of hanging on grimly to the three-goal lead. Of course, Dover also had the opportunity to regroup, and it was to be expected that they would come out with all guns blazing for the second half. This made for a fairly one-sided contest for the remainder of the match, with the first ten minutes of the half being played almost entirely in Ashford’s half. The home side’s predicament was not helped by the fact that Sean Glover’s dead-ball kicking was particularly poor, so that we struggled to get the ball upfield – (although Shaggy limped away from the ground, after the game, with a thigh injury, so this might have had something to do with it). In spite of having the majority of possession, however, Dover never really hit top gear, and an eerie atmosphere was created by the silent hordes of Dover fans behind Sean Glover’s goal.

Dover’s first real chance came in the 55^th minute. Good work on the right involving Tony Browne and skipper Lee Spiller resulted in a cross to the far post. I couldn’t see which Whites striker was on the end of the cross, but, after his initial header was blocked, his second attempt, from the rebound, went just wide of the post. Soon after, Craig Wilkins had a header that went just over the bar, and then, in the 58^th minute, Dover Manager Clive Walker – who seemed very quietly spoken and undemonstrative, in comparison to the cabaret we’re used to from the Ashford bench - made his first substitutions. Dave Clifford and Tommy Tyne were replaced by Dale Skelton and Carl Rook, with the latter joining Wilkins and Dryden to form a three-man attack.

Almost immediately, Rook was in action, down the right wing – no pun intended. A through-ball played by a Dover boot that came perilously close to Tommy Adlington’s front teeth set Rook off on a run, and he managed to get to the by-line, but his tame cross was easily gathered by Sean Glover.

There were very few Ashford attacks in the second half to relieve the pressure on the defence, and one of these, on the hour mark, actually left us exposed at the back. On this occasion, Adrianho did well to win a corner, but this soon led to Dover launching a quick counter-attack, with a two against two situation. This really boiled down to Carl Rook, in the inside-right position, against Tommy Adlington – Rook cut inside, onto his left foot, but his attempted curled shot was always going well over the bar.

Two minutes later, Tommy again had to deal with Carl Rook, and the Dover sub appeared to have got away from him before he bundled him over. Tom had no team mate between himself and his own goal, so he might have been in big trouble if the ref had been sure that the foul had been deliberate (which it probably was). Mr Briffitt probably admitted to not being a mind reader when he gave Tommy the benefit of the doubt, and settled for just showing him a yellow card. Nevertheless, this was yet another yellow card for Adlington, so he should be due for what jockeys euphemistically refer to as a “holiday” fairly soon. Dale Skelton took the free-kick, and wasted it by lofting the ball over the bar – to the increasing frustration of the travelling support. Their mood was not improved when, soon afterwards, possession was given away with their second foul throw of the game.

Jimmy Dryden’s first meaningful contribution came in the 65^th minute, when he ran onto a fairly speculative, lobbed through-ball – but his first-time shot across the face of the goal was quite a tame effort. Dryden popped up again three minutes later, when he got on the end of a diagonal pass from inside the Dover half, on the “wrong” side of Ian Ross, in the left-back position. The Dover No.10 made ground down the right, but his shot, from an acute angle, was easily saved by the shin of Sean Glover. The resulting corner, on the right, was headed behind by Mark Banks; the follow-up corner was bundled away at the near post.

In the 71^st minute, a Dover free-kick was floated into the Ashford penalty area, and Mark Banks was again there to head the ball behind, for a corner. Before the corner was taken, Clive Walker made his third, and final, substitution when he replaced James Rogers with Anthony Hogg. Hogg went across to take the kick himself, and his deep cross to the far post was easily met by Craig Wilkins, who headed the ball down, into the Ashford net. That made it 3-1, and, not only were there still 19 minutes for our heroes to hold out, but maybe Dover had sussed out our obvious defensive weakness in the air !!

The reaction of Thorogood and Cumberbatch – the “Snr” versions – was to immediately make a double substitution. Manny Sackey was thrown on in a one-for-one swap with Sol Henry, and Joseph Momoh replaced Adrian Stone (presumably on the grounds of match fitness) up front. The main strategy appeared to be to break up play, and run down the clock, at every opportunity – there was no sign of the fluent, attacking football that had given Ashford the first-half lead – and the home side’s only glimmer of a chance in the remainder of the game was a shot from an acute angle by J-P Collier, in the 75^th minute, which was comfortably saved by Darren Smith.

The next chance for Dover came in the 84^th minute, when Anthony Hogg launched a free-kick into the Ashford penalty area; Carl Rook got up well with a header, but Sean Glover was able to make the save, going down to his left, at the foot of the post. In the 88^th minute, with Dover fans starting to make their way to the exit, John-Paull Collier was booked for (stupidly) kicking the ball away, after a free-kick was awarded to the visitors. As the ball was curled into the Ashford area, from the free-kick, it appeared to bounce up and strike a green-shirted defender on the arm. In spite of frenzied appeals for a penalty, the referee waved play on, indicating that he thought the ball had hit the defender on the chest. (OK, so we might have been a shade fortunate with that one, but we’ve been overdue some luck this season !).

On the stroke of full-time, and with several minutes of injury time expected, due to several breaks for (apparent) injuries to Ashford players, Dover scored their second goal, ensuring a nervy finish to the game. A firm, right-foot shot by Dale Skelton was well saved, one-handed, by Sean Glover, but Craig Wilkins was there, following up, to thrash the ball emphatically into the net, for his second goal.

Four minutes of added time were actually played, and these were four crucial minutes in the context of the season. An equaliser now would have been a morale-sapping blow to the home side, but the boys somehow managed to hold on. Ashford’s second-half performance couldn’t be described as “pretty” by any stretch of the most vivid imagination, but they deserved this win on the strength of an excellent first-half display. Fittingly, however, given the amount of pressure that was soaked up by the Ashford defence, Tommy Adlington was named as Man of the Match. It was probably human nature for the lads to go into their shell in the second half, which makes it quite a difficult performance to evaluate, but I’d prefer to remember the attacking football that provided us with a 3-0 scoreline at half time against one of the strongest sides in the division. Most importantly, of course, the team did the job, and secured three priceless points. With Newport (IoW) and Burgess Hill Town both losing today, Ashford progressed to 20^th in the league, but all three teams below us have at least two games in hand. Whilst the fate of Dover Athletic FC is not my prime concern, I note that they have now slipped to sixth, so they’ve plenty of work still to do if they’re to bounce back to the Premier Division at the first attempt.