ARCHIVE: Ashford Town v Fleet Town. Ryman League Division 1 South. 2005-6 season.

Ashford Town   0                 Fleet Town         2

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

There has been no league game for Ashford Town since the 2-1 loss away at Lymington & New Milton, two weeks ago – I concluded my report on that game by describing the management team’s distinct air of despondency and resignation at the growing realisation that the current squad of young players is not good enough to succeed at this level. Well, sure enough, the intervening fortnight has been used for the search for new players, with an emphasis on injecting some experience and resilience into the side. As promised, there were some new faces on show this afternoon: the return of an old favourite, a goalkeeper returning after having been here on loan four seasons ago, an experienced striker on loan from Dover, a youngster making his home debut, having appeared in the friendly at Chesham and in Tuesday’s Kent Senior Cup tie at Bromley, and a lad about whom I know nothing, as he started on the subs’ bench and stayed there.

The ‘keeper today was the giant Dave Wietecha. The last time his (mis-spelt) name appeared in one of my match reports was in the 2001-02 season. This was his debut for Ashford, away at Spalding, in a team that included Andy Morris, Jeff Ross, Stuart White and Tony Eeles. It appears that he’s the new permanent No.1, displacing a bitterly disappointed Sean Glover. The old favourite is ex-skipper Matt Bower, who is on a month’s loan from Folkestone (Your MKC spits on the floor). His presence in the dressing-room can do nothing but good for the squad, but he was rather wasted today – with Tommy Adlington suspended today and Terry McCann injured, Matty was employed at right-back. Andrew Burke continued on the left side of midfield, with Dover loanee Chris Wright playing up front and Ricky Whyte being the mystery sub. Wright is a big, strong target man – the sort of player that almost every non-league team seems to have, but which Ashford Town has been crying out for. He partnered Joby Thorogood in attack today, and it might be argued that Joby is the striker who has been most in need of playing alongside a big man.

In front of Wietecha today, as well as Matt Bower, were Lynval Duncan and Mark Banks, with Ian Ross – the captain – at left-back. With RJ Boorman suspended (and also suffering from a knee ligament injury) and Terry “Wonder Volley” McCann not even fit enough to test his strained hamstring, the central midfield partnership was Gary Clarke and Nathan Thomas, with Sol Henry and Andy Burke the wide men. Anthony Pace occupied his usual seat on the bench (having started in mid-week), alongside Shaun Bradshaw, Kenny Jarrett-Elliott, Ricky Whyte and Sean Glover.

This was always going to be a difficult game, as Fleet Town are a much improved side this season. In recent seasons they’ve been fellow strugglers, so that games between the two sides have usually been “six-pointers”, but, under Player-Manager Andy Sinton, they started today’s game in a very respectable 12th position, with games in hand of most teams above them. Former Spurs, Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday etc. and England winger Sinton – the only International that Ashford has is its railway station ! – named himself as a substitute, but never looked likely to be needed.

On a cold but clear day, the pitch looked in great condition, as usual, having escaped the frost that had affected other parts of the country. (For the benefit of readers in Malaysia, the temperature in Milton Keynes was -8˚C overnight, so that I had to scrape the ice off the car in the morning – do you remember that ?).

Almost from the kick-off, Ian Ross by-passed the pitch with a long, high ball, which, for once, was not futile, in that Chris Wright managed to win the ball in the air, but was unable to find his strike partner with the header. Ashford’s first chance came in the fifth minute, after Rossi had done well to beat James Field in the tackle; he fed Andy Burke, who made ground down the left channel. Twisting and turning to make space to get the ball across, Burke eventually got his cross in, but this was headed clear; the ball fell to Sol Henry (who is still yet to open his account for Ashford), but his shot was always going wide.

A minute later, it was panic stations at the other end, when Lynval Duncan carelessly gifted the ball to Fleet’s James Field, who promptly skipped past Lynval’s attempted recovery tackle, and into the penalty area, but Mark Banks did a good covering job, saving his team-mate’s blushes.

The home side was soon on the attack again, and the already impressive Andy Burke beat three Fleet defenders, continuing his run into the box, but the ball ran out for a goal-kick as he tried to round Justin Gray in the Fleet goal. Burke was in action again in the eleventh minute when, having won a corner when his attempted cross was blocked, he took the corner short to Sol Henry. Sol’s cross found Joby Thorogood in the area. Joby twisted and turned in an attempt to find some space, and his eventual shot struck a Fleet defender, but loud appeals for a penalty were ignored by Referee Greg Smith.

Left-footed Burke looked easily our most likely source of a goal, and he was again seen to good effect in the 17^th minute, this time on the right. His cross, aiming for the head of Joby Thorogood, was predictably headed clear by the Fleet defence, but the ball fell to Gary Clarke, scorer of Ashford’s only goal on Tuesday night; this time, Gary’s firm, side-footed effort was well caught by Gray.

Fleet, playing in their away strip of red shirts, black shorts and black socks, used James Mann’s long throw as a potent attacking weapon. In the 22^nd minute, Mann, using a run-up most often associated with Brett Lee, launched the ball deep into the Ashford box – this was met with a glancing header by the blonde head of Eddie Smith, but his attempt went well wide. He came much closer two minutes later. Ex-Aldershot Town midfielder James Field put in a deep cross from the right, which ran all the way through the Ashford penalty area; the ball was returned into the danger area, where the ensuing goal-mouth scramble ended with Smith flicking the ball wide of the post, from a sitting position.

A minute later, Ashford found themselves 0-1 down, and this was the result of a well-taken goal by the visitors. A corner, on the right, was flicked on by the head of James Mann, and was then headed powerfully into the net by Eddie Smith, from about five yards out. It looked like a well-rehearsed set-piece, and there was little that Wietecha could do, in the home goal.

Whilst the boys pressed for an equaliser, with an Ian Ross free-kick and a corner coming to nothing, the next clear-cut chance fell to Fleet. With the big men going up for a corner, in the 30^th minute, Nathan Thomas was the man left behind to deal with any counter-attack. When the ball was cleared, long and high by the Fleet defence, Nathan probably made an error in allowing the ball to bounce. This enabled Eddie Smith to nick the ball away from him, to have a clear one-on-one with Wietecha. Big Dave did well to block the striker’s attempt, to prevent Ashford from going further behind.

Five minutes later, James Mann launched another long throw, deep into the home side’s penalty area, and managed to find the talented James Field with his back to goal. Whilst there seemed to be little danger, Field turned and shot, in one movement, and his effort went just over the bar, with Wietecha looking beaten.

Ashford’s best chance of the half – of the match, in fact – came in the 39^th minute. A cross into the Fleet area appeared to be cleared to safety, but Matt Bower, typically, showed great determination to hoike the ball back into the box. Joby, with the ball falling over his right shoulder, turned and volleyed in one movement, but his shot went across the face of goal, and wide.

In the 43^rd minute, Fleet created a chance almost from nothing. A long ball from inside their own half found Eddie Smith, who had managed to get the wrong side of Matt Bower, running through in the inside-left channel. Although Matty got in a challenge, Smith got in a shot, at the second attempt, but this went wide of the post.

Going in a goal to the good at half time, the visitors almost doubled their lead three minutes after the restart. Although Mark Banks had an excellent game at the back, in spite of once again having a height disadvantage in the face of the opposition’s strikers, he was beaten in the air by James Field when competing for a long ball from the Fleet defence. Field’s glancing header was latched onto by Matty Lewis, who found himself in the penalty area with only Wietcha to beat, but the big man once again came out on top in the one-on-one.

Chris Wright worked hard in his role as target man, and showed that he is well able to gather the ball, hold it up and then lay it off to a team-mate – but never got near to a sight of goal, so no comment can be made on his finishing ability. Part of his job is to win free-kicks in dangerous positions, and this he did, in the 49^th minute, when Fleet’s big No.6 Paul George gave him a heavy clattering from behind. Just outside the area, and just to the right of the “D”, this was a perfect position for Andy Burke to try to curl one in with his left foot – and he shaped up to take the kick in the manner of a man who’d done this before !  Andy got the ball over the defensive wall, and it was heading for the near top corner, but Justin Gray saved well, but not without carrying the ball behind for a corner as he fell. (For some reason, Fleet’s skipper Steve Noakes – “Down, Shep !” – received a yellow card before the corner was taken, presumably for something that he said to the Referee). Ashford’s man with the arm band, Ian Ross, sent in a deep cross, looking for Lynval Duncan, but Mr Smith blew his whistle, having spotted some pushing from Lynval.

In the 57^th minute, Sol Henry, who had been fairly ineffective up to this point, picked the ball up in his own half of the field, and, playing a quick one-two with Chris Wright, who had once again come deep, launched a through-ball for Joby to chase, but the Halfling failed to show the necessary pace on this occasion, and the danger was easily snuffed out by the Fleet defence.

Shortly after this, Nathan Thomas was yellow-carded for nothing particularly obvious – judging by the Referee’s gesticulations, I would guess that the booking was for persistent fouling.

Our lads certainly had a let-off in the 61^st minute. There again seemed to be little danger when James Field picked the ball up mid-way inside the Ashford half, but the 18 year-old unleashed a cracking shot, which cannoned off the crossbar. The rebound was crossed back into the danger area, and bounced up and hit Lynval’s arm for what looked an obvious penalty, but this was not spotted by the Ref. As if to illustrate the truism that these things tend to even themselves out over a season, that particular stroke of luck evened itself out within a minute, as Sol Henry’s cross from the right struck a Fleet arm for an equally obvious penalty, but Referee Smith again gave nothing. The same for both teams, of course, but the official didn’t exactly cover himself in glory for missing both incidents.

That penalty would have been Ashford’s best chance of equalising, as the Fleet goal was barely threatened after this; in fact, Gray had very little to do in the visitors’ goal all game. This was not due to any lack of effort from our boys, but the midfield and wide men failed to supply any meaningful service to the front two, who, in turn, showed few early signs of effectively linking up. Furthermore, The Management cannot be accused of not trying different formations and strategies. Approaching midway in the second half, Ashford switched to 3-5-2 with Mark Banks in the centre of a back three, allowing Matty Bower to drive things from midfield, but the first substitution was an enforced one: Ian Ross, having previously come to the bench to have some spray administered to a thigh, gave way to Kenny Jarrett-Elliott, in the 71^st minute. (The captain’s arm band was passed to Lynval Duncan, but it was Mark Banks, beside him, who was the one urging the team on). Three minutes later, Nathan Thomas, who has been disappointing since his very promising performance against Lymington & New Milton, was replaced by Shaun Bradshaw, and the team switched to 3-4-1-2, with Joby supposed to be playing in the hole behind Wright and Bradshaw.

In spite of these changes, Fleet – who made their own substitutions during this period, with Arron Lennon replacing Diak John in the 67^th minute, and Damian Panter coming on for the dangerous Eddie Smith in the 78^th minute - continued to look the better side, and appeared more likely to score the next goal. Whilst Ashford’s biggest obstacle to scoring was individual errors, (no names, no pack drill), Fleet added to the home side’s frustration by taking as much time as possible over throw-ins, corners and free-kicks.

The visitors had a great opportunity to wrap things up in the 82^nd minute. A long cross from the right was allowed to go all the way through the Ashford penalty area, and found Martin Girling unmarked at the far post. The blonde striker, who looked remarkably like team-mate Eddie Smith, only had Wietecha to beat, from close range, but tamely fluffed the ball wide of the post.

Ashford’s reprieve only lasted for five minutes, though, as, in the 87^th minute, Girling cut inside, from the left, and looked like he was shaping up to shoot; instead he found James Field in the area, with his back to goal, much as he had been in the first half. He again turned and shot, but this time his shot went inside the far post. It was a well-deserved goal for a young player who had looked quality throughout the game, and there’s no doubt that Fleet had deserved the three points. However, a third goal might have flattered them a bit, but they almost got one two minutes later, when a corner from the right was flicked on by the head of Field, with Paul George sliding in and just failing to connect, at the far post. What was thoroughly deserved was a yellow card for Joby Thorogood, in the 90^th minute, when he hacked at an opponent in what was a gesture of pure frustration.

Whilst James Field was the outstanding player on view this afternoon, the decision as to who received the sparkling wine from match sponsors PDC Copyprint as Ashford’s Man of the Match had to be a toss-up between Mark Banks and Gary Clarke, who never stopped running and competing for the whole 90 minutes. It was Gary who got the nod, but Banksy must have run him very close.

I must say that Fleet Town were just about the best team I’ve seen this season, and, rising to 10^th in the league, with games in hand, will probably finish in the top half this season. They certainly were not extended in coming away with a comfortable victory today. The quality of the opposition should not, of course, hide the fact that Tim and John still haven’t got the personnel and / or the blend that is going to be competitive in this division. There are, though, encouraging signs, with Chris Wright looking just the sort of player we need to support our more lightweight strikers, Andy Burke showing that he has good control, and the ability to go past players, on the left side of midfield, and the prospect of Matt Bower having a bigger impact for the remainder of his loan spell once employed in his best position, in central midfield. There’s also the encouraging news that Steve Humphrey, Darren Raymond, Denver Birmingham and Gary Croxton, all recently on the injury list, turned out for the Reserves today, so should soon be available for the First Team (along with RJ, Terry Mac, Joffy and Tommy Ad).

We certainly need to find some form soon, as today’s defeat was the fourth in succession (even not counting the shellacking in the friendly at Chesham), and we’ve lost six of the last eight games, scoring only four goals in the process.

There is another explanation for the poor from, of course – I’m beginning to think that I’m a Jonah, a sort of antidote to a lucky scarf !  Having failed to see us win a game so far this season, and not seeing many wins last season either, I was hopeful of seeing the boys get a result at Fortress Homelands, but it never looked likely today. I won’t be there to jinx the lads against Cray on Tuesday, so maybe there’s a chance of a better performance, and I’m considering doing the team a favour by staying away from Leatherhead next Saturday – it’s either that or shooting an albatross !