ARCHIVE: Burnham v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. 2003-4 season.

BURNHAM         2       ASHFORD TOWN      2

From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

It’s always dangerous to go off to an away game expecting your team to win, but I must admit to have been more than just optimistic about our chances at Burnham. It’s been a great start to this very important season – ten points out of twelve, third in the league and still, contrary to the recent trend, in the FA Cup. We’ve also been getting goals, with eleven of the thirteen so far this season scored by new signings. Furthermore, the win against Folkestone on Bank Holiday Monday was probably worth more than three points, in terms of the confidence and belief that it has no doubt generated in the squad.

Hard to know what to expect from Burnham, though. Regulars in the bottom half of the table, they’ve actually made a decent start, with nine points from twelve, although two of their victories have been against Fleet Town and Erith & Belvedere – so they don’t count. Most encouraging for us was that Burnham lost 1-7 at home to Arlesey Town in the Cup last Saturday !  For the cartographically challenged (that means you, girls !), Arlesey is a village just to the North of Letchworth, and South of Biggleswade, in Bedfordshire. More to the point, this ATFC plays in the Ryman League Division One North, so it’s not as if they’re “minnows”. Still, not the ideal preparation for the arrival of a confident Ashford Town.

As at Corby two weeks ago – where I must admit that I was miles out with my estimate that the crowd was up around the 130 mark, as the attendance was actually 77, two fewer than last year (Monsieur et Madame de Sade, obviously) – there was no expectation of an enormous crowd at Burnham, a village-cum-suburb on the outskirts of Slough. This is just as well, as there are few provisions for spectators there; the only cover is provided by one small stand, not much more than a large bus shelter, really, on one side, behind the dug-outs. The other major characteristic of the ground is quite a nice bar which serves food, situated in one corner, next to a car park behind one of the goals. I’ve always resisted the temptation to park in this area, on the grounds that I’m aware of how poor our lads’ shooting is (Adrian excepted). I always park outside the ground, behind the large white building in which the bar is situated – but that still leaves the car in danger from an Aaron O’Leary long-range effort !

When we arrived, I had a surprise, as Burnham FC is in the process of making a number of improvements to the ground, based around the building of a new clubhouse. There is now a metal mesh fence all round the pitch, with a 10-foot tall metal barrier at one end, separating the parked cars and the playing area. Gone are the dug-outs in front of the old stand – they’ve actually been filled in ! – to be replaced by new, Perspex versions on the other side of the pitch. But the best innovation is the pitch. It’s actually been completely relaid, and looked as good as any surface you’ll see at any level. Obviously, the club is making an effort to attract more spectators, so good luck to them.

There was another surprise to come when the game started, as the home side looked lively and dangerous from the off, and Ashford had to endure a really torrid first 15 minutes. This was made worse after only three minutes, when Burnham opened the scoring. The ball was played forward to centre forward Michael Bartley, in the Ashford area. He crossed to his strike partner, Darren Moore, who slammed the ball home from close range. These two black strikers looked sharp, and were a threat to our defence throughout the game.

Ashford’s team is starting to have a very settled look about it – even at this early stage – with virtually the same eleven that started the match at Corby: Whitehouse, Anderson, O’Leary, Tucker, Gillman, Ross (capt.), Adlington, Beale, Phillips, Jones and McRobert. The only change, then, was that Lee McRobert was given a start in preference to Adrian Stone, who scored a hat-trick in our 3-4 victory in the corresponding fixture last season. Adrian was joined on the subs bench by James Gardner, Lee Westwood, Joby Thorogood and Kevin Skinner. Again, Tim employed the 4-4-2 formation, with the wide midfield players, Lewis Phillips and Michael Beale, pushing forward.

So, just as happened in this game last season, Ashford found themselves a goal down early on. The first opportunity to equalise came after five minutes, when a long clearance from John Whitehouse was flicked on by Paul Jones, for Lee McRobert to chase, but Macca was just beaten to it by the covering defender.

But the early part of the game was dominated by the home team, playing, as usual, in their Blackburn Rovers blue & white quarters. (The issue of Ashford Town’s colours is, according to the Management, closed, so I will content myself with saying that the lads played in shirts, shorts and socks). In the eighth minute, Burnham won the third of three corners in quick succession. This was cleared, but Geoff Neville swung a left-footed, in-swinging cross back into the box. This would have gone into the net if John Whitehouse had not tipped the ball over the bar for a fourth corner. Again, the ball was swung in, and Whitehouse managed to get a fist to the ball just before the in-coming striker.

On twelve minutes, good work by Burnham’s Bartley, on the right, found Chris Rose in a dangerous position in the box – Lyndon Tucker came across to cover, to concede yet another corner. When the resulting cross came in, Martin Anderson headed clear, almost from under his own cross-bar.

Somehow, the visitors survived this early onslaught without conceding another goal, in spite of playing for a time with ten men whilst young Rob Gillman received treatment on the touchline for a knee injury. Rob continued for a while, but eventually, after 18 minutes, had to be substituted by Jay Westwood.

One-nil was still the score on the half-hour mark, with Ashford unable to create a worthwhile chance, in spite of playing some neat and tidy football. One very surprising feature of the game so far was that the Ashford bench was actually out-shouted by Jimmy Greenwood, the Burnham Manager. This was mainly due to the fact that our very own Tim Thorogood is apparently a reformed character – in fact, he was virtually a silent witness for the duration of the game.

The first shot on target from Ashford came after 32 minutes. Good work by Paul Jones won a corner on the left, which Tom Adlington basically wasted. However, Martin Anderson picked the ball up near the corner flag on the opposite side of the field, and pulled it back to Aaron O’Leary. In spite of my earlier remarks about The Ox’s shooting, his speculative long-range shot was on target, but Danny Honey in the Burnham goal saved comfortably.

A much better chance – a “sitter”, in fact – came five minutes later. As usual, Paul Jones was the target man, collecting a long clearance from defence, and spreading the ball out on the left to Lee McRobert. Lee Mac’s floated cross found Michael Beale, free in the penalty area. Michael had time to bring the ball down and pick his spot, but he instead hit the ball straight at Honey, from almost point-blank range. It really should’ve been 1-1.

On forty minutes, Beale had a chance to redeem himself, and his through-ball found Paul Jones in the inside-right position. Jonah (well, that’s what the lads call him) crossed to Lewis Phillips, at the near post, but a defender just managed to get in a covering tackle.

A minute later, we had the misfortune to lose our other central defender to injury, when Lyndon Tucker had to go off. He was replaced by the versatile James Gardner, who formed a makeshift defensive partnership with Jay Westwood. Makeshift or not, the partnership worked well for the remainder of the game. Both are excellent defenders, again showing the benefits of the extra strength in depth we have in the squad this year.

The home side was finishing the half strongly, and Ashford’s defence was glad of a few off-side decisions just before the break. We were even more glad of an equaliser in the 45^th minute !  Skipper Ian Ross took his time over a free-kick, mid-way inside the Burnham half. The intention was clearly to exploit the height of Martin Anderson, the only player with any real aerial presence in the Ashford side. Sure enough, the ball was floated into the Burnham area for Martin to attack it, coming in from the right; he headed the ball down to Paul Jones, who held the ball up and laid it back. Anderson, continuing his run, squeezed a low shot under the body of goal-keeper Honey. An excellent time to score, and we went in at half-time all square.

Ashford started the second half well, and there was a good chance within a minute of the restart. James Gardner punted an excellent ball from one penalty area to the other, and found (you’ve guessed it !) Paul Jones in the inside right position. Jones found Lee McRobert in the centre, and with plenty of time and space, and anything seemed possible. Unfortunately, Lee seemed to have some sort of aberration, and merely touched the ball to a defender, and the chance was gone. He had a pretty good game throughout the 90 minutes, but this was not the confident, instinctive goalscorer of a few seasons back.

The boys had a good spell of possession at about this time, and in the 53^rd minute a flowing, cross-field move found Aaron O’Leary on the left. He pushed the ball through to Lewis Phillips, whose shot was well saved by the ‘keeper.

The biggest cheer of the afternoon from the travelling Ashford faithful came two minutes later. Burnham Manager Jimmy Greenwood, who had shown great tonsil stamina throughout the game, was more incensed than usual when the referee waved away the linesman’s flag for a foul on one of Burnham’s players. Mr Comerford strode calmly to the touch-line and ordered Greenwood from the dug-out. Let’s hope that Tim T, who was “sent off” himself towards the end of last season, could see both the funny side of this, and the wisdom of keeping schtoom.

Ashford took the lead on 58 minutes – and it was a brilliant goal !  It also showed what a class act we now have in Paul Jones. One of our defenders – I wish I knew who, as it was a great pass – found Jones in the inside-left position, with a long ball. Jones cut inside, transferring the ball onto his right foot, and drilled the ball into the top, far corner of the net. For anyone who hasn’t yet seen Paul Jones, he’s a striker very much in the Alan Shearer mould – Shearer would certainly have been proud of this goal. He’s strong and compact, and holds the ball extremely well. He’s also a great finisher and, at the age of 22, is already a proven goalscorer. That’s eight goals in six games now, and Jones could easily be a 30-goals-a-season man. If he stays fit, then who knows what might be possible for us ? 

The lads were starting to play with a bit of confidence now, and, two minutes later, another flowing move ended with Aaron O’Leary crossing to Michael Beale at the far post. Beale was just unable to wrap his foot around the ball, and the ball ended up high in one of the tall pine trees behind the goal. (And as far as I know, it’s still there !).

Burnham were not going to lie down, though, and the home side’s twin strikers – who are a bit like a non-league Andy Cole & Dwight Yorke – continued to pose a threat. After 62 minutes, a good move down the left saw Geoff Neville feed Bartley with a through ball. John Whitehouse was in two minds as to whether to come for the ball, when Jay Westwood swept across with a great saving tackle. Two minutes later, Aaron O’Leary sliced an attempted clearance, and the ball was picked up near the corner flag by a Burnham player. This resulted in a dangerous cross, but Jay Westwood once again flew across with the saving tackle.

Burnham pressed hard for an equaliser, and Ashford’s young defenders were certainly tested. In fact, there was action at both ends, as this very competitive game continued at a good pace.

After 73 minutes, a long throw from Aaron O’Leary found Lee Mac in the area – he laid the ball off to Lewis Phillips, who beat one man, but then fired a shot straight at the goalkeeper. Lewis is obviously a very skilful player, and he’s going to be a great crowd-pleaser, but things didn’t quite come off for him today. In fact, he was probably the only Ashford player who had anything approaching a poor game. One product of Lewis’s shot a the goalie was that the ball bobbled around in the area for a time, and Dan Honey ended up making a save at the feet of Tom Adlington. This caused Honey to suffer a knee injury, which meant that he was unable to take goal-kicks.

After 78 minutes, there was action at the other end. A cross from the Burnham right found Michael Bartley in the centre, and John Whitehouse was forced into making a good save. It wasn’t a particularly busy match for John, compared with recent games, and considering the amount of attacking that the home side did, and this is really a tribute to the quality of the work done by the defence in front of him. Whitehouse was in action again two minutes later, though, as Jay Westwood just had the ball nicked away from him, whilst in possession. This put Darren Moore clean through on goal. Whitehouse made the decision to come out of his goal, so Moore rounded him and slid the ball into the empty net. 2-2.

There were now fifteen minutes to go, including injury time, and the game really could have gone either way from here. It was pretty competitive stuff, with neither side settling for a point. It got slightly over-competitive in the 82^nd minute, with Martin Anderson and Michael Beale combining down the right. Martin was just a shade careless when lungeing in, trying to retrieve a lost ball – it was nothing malicious, but he went in with his studs up, and caught his man, and it earnt him a yellow card.

A minute later, Paul Jones was pulled back, just outside the penalty area, in a dangerous position. Michael Beale bent it over the wall, “like Beckham”, but the ball crashed against the cross-bar. It was a good effort, which deserved a goal.

With nine minutes of normal time left, Tim Thorogood made his final substitution – Kevin Skinner on for Martin Anderson, who appeared to be struggling a little with something. More significantly, Danny Honey decided that he could limp on no longer, so was substituted, with an outfield player pulling on the ‘keeper’s jersey. (This substitution took place whilst Ian Ross was being yellow-carded for a late tackle !).

The appearance of a non-specialist goalie should have been the cue for Ashford to bombard the Burnham goal with crosses, but the next scoring opportunity fell to the home team. Good work by Jay Westwood in closing down Darren Moore resulted in a corner on the left-hand side. In a confusion of bodies in the six-yard box, the ball appeared to strike a Burnham player on the back-side, before falling at the feet of John Whitehouse – although it could have gone anywhere.

First pressure on the makeshift Burnham ‘keeper came in the 89^th minute, when Michael Beale crossed from the right. Sensibly, the stand-in didn’t attempt a catch, and punched clear. (I felt sorry for the Burnham defence, as it must have been like having David James in goal !). The ball fell to Lee McRobert, who waited for the ball to come down, and let loose with a curling left-foot shot – this was nicely tipped over the bar. In the 91^st minute, the ‘keeper rather flapped at a cross from McRobert; this time, the ball fell to Lewis Phillips, who blasted the ball high and wide. A minute after this, well into injury time, we were awarded a free-kick just outside the penalty area for a foul on Paul Jones. Disappointingly, Ian Ross didn’t test the goalie with the free-kick, merely floating the ball in at a catchable height.

The final chance of the game came in the fifth minute of injury time, and again it was an opportunity for Ashford. As the first spots of rain began to fall, Tom Adlington took a corner on the left – his deep cross found Lewis Phillips at the far post, but Lewis’s header was aimless, and went well wide.

So a point each, after an eventful and entertaining match, and I reckon that that was a fair result, on the balance of play. It’s probably a measure of the Club’s progress that this will no doubt go down as two points dropped, but this was a much improved Burnham side, compared with other seasons, and it keeps our unbeaten start to the season going. Later news that Folkestone had been beaten at home, and that Histon and Tonbridge had both drawn, means that both Ashford and Burnham are up with the leading pack.