BURNHAM 3 ASHFORD TOWN 4
From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Today
is Pearl Harbor (sic) Day. December
the 7th. I began my report on the corresponding fixture last season
with the words : “Today is Ground Hog Day” – because it was. The previous
fixture was also notable for being almost certainly the worst game I have ever
seen, surpassing even Corby Town away, two seasons previously. It was 0-0. Some
0-0 draws can be quite entertaining, of course. This wasn’t one of them.
More
to the point, today was the day when the lads had the opportunity to put an end
to the worst sequence of results we’ve had so far this season, stringing three
consecutive defeats together for the first time. Most disturbing is probably
the quality of the opposition that has been beating us – before Tuesday’s 1-4
defeat, we had already stuffed Fisher Athletic twice this season, and both
Erith & Belvedere and Sittingbourne are very ordinary sides. After an
encouraging start to the campaign, which saw us head the table on two separate
occasions, our form has become decidedly mid-table, so it wasn’t entirely
surprising to find Ashford Town in 11th position in the Division on
the morning of the match.
On
the face of it, this game gave us an ideal opportunity to get back to winning
ways, and give the lads some much-needed confidence – Burnham has collected
half as many points as we have, from about the same number of games, and had
themselves managed to lose four consecutive league matches.
Burnham
is also notable for having the most under-developed ground on our personal
roster – in spite of there always being a very friendly welcome from the hosts,
the only real stand in the place is really not much more than a large bus
shelter, with wooden planks for seating. It’s at this point that I can reveal
that, if we beat Crawley Town in the next round of the Doc Martens League Cup –
and it is, I suggest, a very BIG “if” – then we’re back here at Burnham in
Round 3. The ground’s considerable saving grace, however, is a very decent bar
in the corner, from which it’s quite possible to watch the game if the weather
gets too much for you. In fact, there’s what appears to be an Executive Suite
above the bar, as there were people watching the game from here throughout the
match.
Burnham’s
also the only fixture that requires me to drive on the M25, but there were no
problems on this occasion – 55 minutes all told, using the M1, M25 and then the
M4 as far as Junction 7. The weather wasn’t too promising, though – breezy,
drizzling and, appropriately enough on Pearl Harbour Day, with a nip in the
air.
The
Ashford team had a reassuringly familiar look to it. Apart from the continued
absence of captain Matt Bower, we appeared to be at full strength. Skipper for
the day – and a well-deserved promotion it has been – was Aaron O’Leary, but he
was wearing the No.11 shirt today, instead of his usual No.3, and played on the
left side of midfield, pushing up almost as a third striker. The left-back
position was occupied by young Dean Hill, with Martin Anderson at 2 and the
Mitchell Bruvvers, Mortley and Gibbs, in the centre. The combative Simon
Elliott was in the right midfield position, with Ian Ross and Sammy Saunders in
the middle. Whilst it will be good to have Matt Bower back, when he eventually
recovers from injury, the latter pairing is actually quite a good one – Sammy
is a non-stop terrier, who never stops running, whilst Rossy is more of the
strolling midfield general, confident in possession and able to pick his
passes. Lee McRobert and Adrian Stone were the front men in a 4-4-2 system,
meaning that Dave Hassett was the unlucky one of the Three Amigos who had to
take his turn on the bench. In fact, it was a pretty talented line-up of
substitutes, as The Duracell was joined by James Gardner and Stuart White.
After
an abject defeat like the one suffered on Tuesday night, it was always likely
that Ashford would come out like a team with something to prove, and that’s how
it seemed in the opening minutes, with plenty of pace and purpose about our
play. Burnham, wearing blue and white quartered colours, ´
la Blackburn / Bristol Rovers – I refuse to talk about our colours any more ! –
were immediately on the defensive, but it wasn’t until the third minute that we
had our first real chance. Sam Saunders, whose crossing from dead-ball
situations is becoming increasingly important to the team, took a corner on the
left, aimed at Ian Gibbs, but Gibbs blatently pushed a defender once it became
obvious that he wasn’t going to get to the ball.
A
minute later, Gibbs was in action again, this time deep in his own half,
conceding a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, for a late tackle. This
was to prove a costly error, as a glancing header by Burnham’s Alex Toley from
the resulting cross put the home side 1-0 up. Probably the more costly error
was that of the defence as a whole allowing Toley a free header on the six-yard
line, which gave John Whitehouse no chance !
A
bad start, but never mind, as the Lads retaliated as swiftly and as
comprehensively as the Yanks had done 61 years earlier. The equaliser
originated from a free-kick, just inside the Burnham half, awarded for a crude
tackle from behind on Lee McRobert in the eighth minute. Strangely, the goal
had a lot in common with Burnham’s. Adrian Stone got the merest of glancing
headers to the long ball forward, but it was enough to divert the ball past
Danny Honey in the home goal.
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
!!
All
square, and already the game was better than the 0-0 back in February !
A
minute later, Ashford had another free-kick in the home team’s half of the
field. This time, Aaron O’Leary pulled rank on Sammy (well, there’s no point in
having it, if you don’t pull it !), and took the kick. Unfortunately, he curled
the ball just wide of the far post.
John
Whitehouse was having a pretty easy time of it in the early stages, and had his
first touch (if you discount the act of picking the ball out of the net) after
14 minutes. A free-kick, conceded by Martin Anderson after a foul on Michael
Bartley, was floated into the penalty area, but John’s handling was clean and
confident, as it was throughout the match.
Our
boys were certainly having the edge in terms of possession at this point, and,
as usual, tried to play football, on what was a fairly bumpy pitch, with the
goal-mouths being a mix of sand and mud, and with bare patches elsewhere. The
fact that the surface was less than perfect was probably to be expected, as
this was Burnham’s first home game in the League since October the 26th,
after a succession of postponements due to the weather.
After
23 minutes, the Nuts & Bolts were awarded a free-kick for a very bad foul
on Dean Hill, about mid-way into the home half, on the left. The Ashford bench
implored Sam Saunders to whip the ball in low – not just chip it – and Sammy
did just that. Adrianho, usually the target man for free-kicks and long
throw-ins, was narrowly beaten in the air, but the ball broke to Simon Elliott,
who crossed the ball back in, for our pseudo-Brazilian hero to stoop low, and
head the ball into the net from close range.
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
!!
I’d
just about had enough time to scribble the details of Adrian’s second goal in
my note-book when Burnham, with an immediate attack down the left, equalised.
Again, it was amazing how similar the equaliser was to the previous goal. A
long cross to the far post was met with a low, and fairly weak, header by Steve
Lockhart – Ian Gibbs seemed to have it covered, on the line, but he lost his
footing at the crucial moment, and the ball bounced tamely just inside the far
post. A soft-looking goal, but Lockhart deserves credit for having got himself
on the end of the cross.
(At
this point, it was apparent that the PA system, which had announced the teams
at the start of the match in very crackly fashion, had completely given up the
ghost – at least the floodlights were still working, though).
Just
past the half-hour mark, we had yet another free-kick (in what was never a
particularly dirty game), and it was once again Sam Saunders who took it – the
cross was cleared by the Burnham defence, and broke to Aaron O’Leary, who
blasted the ball well over the bar. Maybe a case of the captaincy going to his
head a little !
After
35 minutes, Adrianho was on the ball again. I know it’s easy to praise the
player who’s scored a couple of goals, but the lad looked seriously classy on
the ball today, often showing great skill and control. On this occasion, he
went past a defender, who had no choice but to pull him back. Ian Ross touched
the ball to Lee McRobert, whose curling left-foot shot went over the wall, but
just past the near post. Lee worked hard up front with Adrian, but, generally,
the touches and the flick-ons didn’t quite come off for them, and this was the
nearest that Macca was to come to a goal.
What
had started as a distinctly nippy afternoon was fast becoming absolutely
perishing, and a cup of tea at half time in the bar was more than welcome for
the predictably small crowd, which, as far as the eyes could see and the ears
could detect, was entirely made up of Ashford supporters. There’s a terraces
chant going around the leagues at the moment – “Shit ground, no fans”. The
chant’s spiritual home is Burnham, Buckinghamshire.
Two
minutes into the second half, Lee McRobert was once again fouled with a tackle
from behind. The cross from the free-kick fell to Adrian’s feet, and the
expectation was that this was, as we cricketers say, the “hat-trick” ball;
unfortunately, Stoney’s shot on the turned was blocked, and the ball trickled
tamely to the ‘keeper. (There you are, Honey).
It
wasn’t long before Tim Thorogood made a tactical change. In fact, the half was
only five minutes old when he put James Gardner on in place of Dean Hill, the
versatile Gardner operating in midfield, with Aaron O’Leary reverting to his
familiar left-back role.
Two
minutes later, Sam Saunders picked the ball up on the right. He cut inside,
onto his left foot, and got a hail of abuse from the bench for what they thought
was the wrong decision. Nevertheless, Sam got his shot on target, which was
saved, but Adrianho was there to tuck in the rebound from an acute angle.
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
!!
That
put us 3-2 up, with young Adrian getting all three goals. I wish I knew the
Portuguese word for “hat-trick” – I’ll work on that one.
Of
course, the theme of the match had been that it was much easier to take the
lead than to hang on to it, and, sure enough, Burnham came back strongly. I’m sure
that we all feared the worst when the Blues had a free-kick on the corner of
the area, but John Whitehouse saved the day with a confident catch. There was
more apprehension when Sam Saunders conceded a free-kick near the left-hand
corner flag, but big centre-half Terry Mitchell – not to be confused with our
own Mitchell Bruvvers – headed the cross well over.
With
the storm weathered, the action was once again at the other end of the pitch,
with Ashford actually putting together a very nice move. A throw-in near the
corner-flag – a result of Sam Saunders’s persistence and tenacity – found Lee
McRobert, about 18 yards out. For once, a good idea actually produced results,
as Lee Mac’s deft back-heel found Martin Anderson in the area, in space. Martin
did everything right : he controlled the ball, transferred it to his left foot,
but then remembered that he’s a defender, and blasted well over.
After
66 minutes, Adrian Stone added a little blot to what was a good day for him,
when he needlessly got himself booked. The referee awarded one of a succession
of very strange free-kicks to the home side, and Adrian tried to stop them from
taking the kick quickly, mainly on the grounds that they were attempting to
take the kick from a good ten yards from where the foul was committed. It’s one
of those little incidents that happens all the time on football pitches up and
down the country, but it was enough for the yellow card to be waved.
That
decision didn’t go down very well on the Ashford bench, but there was already
no chance of Mr Webb being on Tim Thorogood’s Christmas Card list – Tim was
going absolutely barmy at the referee for most of the match, for what he saw as
a number of very poor decisions against his team. By this time, he’d just about
run out of swear words to use and names to call the ref, so probably didn’t
know whether to laugh or cry at this point. (I’m normally very loathe to
criticise match officials, as they’ve a desperately difficult job to do, and
everyone sees incidents differently, but I have to say that I’ve some sympathy
with our management team on this occasion, as we were hard done by with a
number of free-kicks for fouls which never were).
Tim
actually had a thoroughly miserable time of it in the second half, as he kept
performing the near-impossible feat of missing his mouth with the squirty water
bottle – that’s the equivalent of missing the Dartford Tunnel from the inside,
but he nevertheless managed to give his track-suit top a good soaking.
One
good decision he made was to pull Adrian off, and replace him with Dave
Hassett, a couple of minutes later, to ensure that the lad’s day didn’t go
further downhill, and he got a generous round of applause from the Ashford
supporters behind the dug-out. Quote of the day, though, came from Stuart
White; as Adrian sat down, he said, “How many’d you get ?”. “Three”, said our
hero.
Whitey
will also go down in my personal record book for being the first substitute
I’ve ever seen to avail himself of a hip-flask ! Very sensible on a bitingly cold day like
today, but it’s not something that you often see on Match of the Day. Stuart
tried to kid me that he had tea in the little silver flask, but the fumes
didn’t smell much like tea to me !
Back
to the match, as I need to tell you about what was the best goal of the match.
A free-kick on the left, after 72 minutes – and it seems that most of the
chances in this particular game came from dead-ball situations – was taken by
Sam Saunders. Again, he whipped in a quality cross, with curl and pace, and Ian
Gibbs met it beautifully and buried it firmly in the net.
4-2,
and that really should’ve been the clincher. Burnham were certainly there for
the taking, with Dave Hassett’s fresh (but chicken-white) legs being used to
good effect. The Duracell applied his pace well, down the left, after 74
minutes, and squared the ball to Ian Ross, but Rossy’s shot was blocked, with
nothing coming from the resulting corner.
Burnham
continued to press, and Martin Anderson did well, showing good strength, to get
himself between an opposing forward and the ball – the fact that Referee Webb
saw fit to award a free-kick for that, when there was virtually no contact
between the two players, typified the official’s poor performance. More howls
of disbelief from the Ashford bench, with young Martin kicking the ball away in
anger – good job the ref didn’t see that, as there might have been another
needless yellow card. Fortunately, John Whitehouse was there once again to
pluck the cross from the free-kick out of the air.
Our
boys were starting to buzz now, and, after 79 minutes, a nice move started with
Simon Elliott – he threaded a measured ball through to Dave Hassett, who
squared to Lee McRobert in the centre. Lee Mac let the ball run to Sam
Saunders, who cut inside onto his left foot, only to slice his shot just too
high and wide. Hassett was left on his arse in the penalty area, appealing for
a foul off-the-ball – I can’t say that I blame the ref for not seeing this, as
I didn’t see it either ! Two minutes
later, Simon Elliott again found Sammy in space on the right – Sam’s cross
managed to find Hassett in the centre, but The Duracell couldn’t quite wrap his
foot around the ball, and the ball lobbed gently into the ‘keeper’s arms. Well
done, Honey !
With
six minutes left on the watch, Burnham won a corner on the right. The cross
found two players unmarked at the far post, and, when a firm cross was drilled
across the goal, Michael Bartley did well to direct a header goalwards – in
spite of a diving attempt to clear the ball off the line by an Ashford
defender, the ball went in, to make it 3-4.
Suddenly
it was panic-stations, with the Boys now hanging on a little in a game that
they should really have sewn up. Tim Thorogood’s reaction was to throw Stuart
White on for Lee McRobert, leaving Dave Hassett up front on his own, to help
with the defensive effort. This effort was a little frantic at times, but the
green shirts held on for the three points. Burnham’s best effort came in the 88th
minute, when Bartley attempted an ambitious bicycle kick to a cross from the
right, but the effort went high into the freezing night air.
A
very much-needed win for the Lads, and one which should have punted us up the
table a couple of places. A strange sort of game, really. Seven goals, but neither
goal-keeper actually made a save. (Except for the save that the Burnham ‘keeper
made from Sammy, before Adrianho turned in the rebound for his hat-trick –
sorry, Honey).
Looking
around the pitch at the end, I can’t say that any of the Ashford players had a
poor game. Adrian Stone certainly made the outstanding contribution, Sam
Saunders never stopped running, Gibbs was mostly very solid at the back,
Whitehouse looked good in doing what he had to, and everyone else played
solidly enough. The fact remains, though, that Ashford are still not quite
clicking as a team, and, as with Corby (at home) and Newport IoW, we’ve once
again only managed to beat a fairly poor side by the odd goal. We’ll have to
improve pretty soon if things aren’t to go rapidly downhill again, though, as
we’ve four very tough games to come – Rothwell, Histon, Crawley, then
Eastbourne !
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