Burgess Hill Town
from Your Milton Keynes
Correspondent
With
any fears of relegation all but laid to rest by the seven points gained in the
three games over the Easter period, it was time to relax and enjoy a day out in
East Sussex . This was our first visit to
Burgess Hill, so there was the inevitable fiasco over finding the ground, but
we eventually found Maple Drive by accident, and had time to have some lunch in
the nearby “King’s Head”. Leylands
Park
The
playing surface was flat, but extremely hard and dusty – which is remarkable,
considering that the whole of the Ryman League seemed to be waterlogged just a
few weeks ago. It was also a very hot day, reckoned to be the hottest day of
the year to date, and certainly the hottest conditions that I can remember
watching footy in. In the circumstances, therefore, although the rest of us
could bask in the sun, it was unrealistic to expect the lads to reproduce the
high-tempo performance that enabled them to beat Cray Wanderers 0-4 at Hayes Lane
There
was just one change from the side that beat Cray – Steve Sodje was back, in
place of Ambrose Kamara, in attack, partnering Wednesday’s two-goal hero Jason
Stuart. The full starting line-up, therefore, was Whincup, Andrews, Glover,
Hall, Cumberbatch (M.), Hitchings, Wright (N.), Clarke, Sodje, Stuart and Ross.
We had a full complement of substitutes – unlike Burgess Hill, who only had
three – although one of them, Anthony Allman, was certainly not fit enough to
take part, and Tommy Adlington was certainly only going to be risked in an
emergency. The options, therefore, were effectively Kenny Jarrett-Elliott,
Steve Rowles and Graham Porter, who was returning after suspension.
With
the home side playing in yellow & black (that’s yellow & black
quartered shirts, black shorts and yellow sockies), Ashford once again turned
out in the green & navy blue kit, and faced the sun in the first half. This
meant that Jake Whincup had to don the cap to start off with. After a fairly even
and low-key opening ten minutes, Jake very nearly blotted what had been a near
immaculate copy book of late, when he clearly handled the ball outside the
area, in the eleventh minute. This was to intercept a ball lobbed forward by
The Hillians’ ginger-haired Adam Pullin, (who played at left-back, in spite of
wearing the No.6 shirt), for Jamie Martin to chase. Luckily, Referee Briffitt
was the only man in the ground not to see the hand-ball, so we could breathe
again. The home side got behind the Ashford defence again, two minutes later,
when Shaun Grice lobbed the ball over the top, to put Ashley Jarvis through,
but Jarvis’s first-time effort was weak, and Jake only had to fall on the ball.
Chances
for Ashford were few and far between in the opening 20 minutes, with the only
threats to the Burgess Hill goal being a corner, a free-kick from inside the
centre circle and a long throw, all taken by Ian Ross, and all coming to
nothing. As we approached the half hour mark, things started to look more
promising at the business end: Steve Sodje fed the ball forward to Jason
Stuart, in the penalty area, and Jason once again showed that he has the
strength to hold the ball up in a forward position, before laying the ball back
to Gary Clarke – but Gary’s shot, from outside the area, was scuffed well off
target. Shortly after this, Ian Ross won a corner when his attempted cross from
the left was blocked. This was taken by Nick Wright, but he disappointingly
curled the ball straight to the first defender – the clearance found Rossi,
about five yards outside the penalty area, but he volleyed his
goal-of-the-season attempt well over the bar, and out of the ground.
We
had a better chance in the 33rd minute, with a break out of defence.
Joe Hitchings, who had another excellent game today, got an important head to
the ball, to knock it into the path of Steve Sodje, and suddenly we had a
two-against-one situation. Sodj squared the ball to Jason Stuart, who was
trying hard not to sucker himself into drifting off-side, but, as the home
defences streamed back, Jason’s shot was blocked. Two minutes later, Burgess
Hill again threatened to put a man through on goal, when Ashley Jarvis chased a
little lob from Shaun Grice, but Simon Glover managed to get to the ball first,
nodding it back to Jake Whincup.
As
the sun beat down, the half appeared to be about to end goal-less – which would
have been a fair and apt reflection of what we had all witnessed – when the
tireless, indestructible Simon Glover brought the ball out of defence, in the
44th minute. He fed the ball forward to Steve Sodje, who returned
the ball to his captain, who had continued his run. Gloves’ shot was blocked,
but the rebound fell into the path of Sodje, who swept the ball into the net,
for his fourth Ashford goal.
Burgess
Hill began the second half, not only with ‘keeper André Foster sporting a natty
yellow cap over his dreadlocks, but also with Neil Watts coming on in place of
Mike MacDonald, who had been fairly anonymous in the first half. Watts almost had a chance to make an immediate impact,
five minutes after the break - a through-ball down the left flank gave Adam
Pullin the opportunity to put in a dangerous cross, which flashed through the
Ashford six-yard box, but the substitute was unable to make that vital
connection at the far post.
In
the 58th minute, after both teams had had an impromptu drinks break,
Ian Ross, who will clock up 250 appearances for Ashford if he plays in all
remaining games this season, took a free-kick, on the right-hand side of the pitch,
which he floated deep, into The Hillians’ penalty area; this found the head of
Asa Hall, whose header was blocked, for a corner. The resulting kick, taken by
Nick Wright, on the left, was easily headed clear. Three minutes later, Rossi
committed a foul, near the right corner flag, and, when the home side’s
free-kick had been cleared from the penalty area, it was Rossi himself who set
Steve Sodje off on a break. Starting from well inside his own half, Sodje
attempted to go on a run that would take him all the way to the heart of the
Burgess Hill penalty area, but a clumsy touch eventually saw the ball run away
from him, and into touch, for a goal-kick. (If this had been a cricket match,
we’d be talking about the lightning-fast outfield).
As
we approached the three-quarter mark, the home side certainly started to boss
the game, and, for a while, it was very much a case of Burgess Hill pressure
and Ashford clearances. In the 65th minute, a good move by our
hosts, which went from left to right along the edge of the Ashford penalty
area, ended with a hoofed effort from giant centre-half Danny Grainsford going
well over the bar. This was a typical defender’s attempt on goal from
Grainsford, who was so big that he actually made Steve Sodje look small when he
was marking him. Three minutes later, a Burgess Hill free-kick, on the left,
awarded as a result of a foul by Ryan Andrews, was whipped into the box by Adam
Pullin, but it missed everything, and went out for a goal-kick.
The
home side put together another good move, again sweeping from left to right, in
the 72nd minute, which culminated with Neil Watts’ brilliant reverse
pass splitting the Ashford defence, and putting Lloyd Cotton through on goal.
As Jake Whincup braced himself for a shot from about eight yards, Asa Hall came
across with a saving block. Asa was again on hand to clear imminent danger, in
the 76th minute, at the expense of a corner. As the ball came across
from the right, it was Simon Glover who headed clear, at the near post, finding
Nick Wright, who carried the ball, with some pace, down the left flank, deep
into the home side’s half. He checked, about 20 yards out, transferred the ball
onto his right foot, and then attempted a low, curling shot which was destined
to creep just inside the far post, but for a brilliant diving save by André
Foster, (Burgess Hill’s Adebayor look-alike between the sticks).
At
the other end, the fact that Jake had not so far actually had to make a
recognisable save was testimony to the fact that Ashford deserved to be in
front, in spite of Burgess Hill’s spell of pressure. This was to change in the
82nd minute, however – shortly after Ryan Andrews had been booked
for a late block (78 minutes), and Kenny Jarrett-Elliott had come on as
substitute for Ian Ross (79 minutes). Adam Pullin broke away, down the left,
from about the half-way line, and his left-foot shot from a fairly acute angle
was well saved by Jake, who then did well to punch clear the resulting corner.
The
home side had another promising situation in the 85th minute, with a
free-kick just outside the penalty area, after Lloyd Cotton had flopped to the
ground after a light touch from Joe Hitchings. The kick was taken by Ashley
Jarvis, who curled the ball over the defensive wall, but also comfortably over the
bar. An even better chance came in the 91st minute, when the Ashford
defence was rather caught napping. The Burgess Hill attack again channeled the
ball along the line, from left to right, and eventually found Neil Watts, on
the overlap, but he sliced his shot wide, from close range.
With
the Ashford faithful, who were fairly well represented among the crowd of 170,
letting out a sigh of relief, there was one more twist in the tale. Two minutes
into injury time, a huge, towering clearance from Jake was nodded on by the
head of Steve Sodje. Jason Stuart, whilst having had a quiet game, in
comparison to his efforts on Wednesday, again showed his spirit and tenacity
when chasing the ball down towards the by-line. He managed to reach the ball
before it went out, and stuck up a high, lobbed cross, beyond the far post.
Adebayor appeared to have given it up, but Kenny Jarrett-Elliott got his head
to the ball, and, from what seemed to be an impossible angle, nodded the ball
down, and just inside the far post.
There
is no doubt that the 0-2 score-line flattered our heroes this afternoon, but
they nevertheless deserved the three points which, with Godalming Town and
Corinthian-Casuals both losing this afternoon, made it mathematically certain
that we would not be finishing in the bottom two this season.
Asa
Hall was given the MK Man of the Match medal, but was run close by Marc
Cumberbatch, who never looks out of place alongside his full-time professional
defensive partner, Joe Hitchings and, as usual, Simon Glover.
Man of the Match
(to go towards
the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Asa Hall
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