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

CHATHAM TOWN      1       ASHFORD TOWN      1

From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

There have been two notable changes since I last saw the boys play – the 0-2 defeat at Rothwell, two weeks ago. Firstly, we’ve seen the departure of two talented young players from the Club – Sam Saunders and Adrian Stone. Totally self-inflicted on their part, you understand, but sad all the same. Apparently, they were found to have gone out on the razzle the night before the Rothwell game, refused to accept the consequent one match ban, and so the Club was left with no alternative but to show them the door. Seven days later, they both started in the first team for Carshalton Athletic – then third in the Ryman Premier Division – and, according to their new club’s web-site, did OK. As I’ve stated elsewhere, if they hold their own at Carshalton, and if Adrianho starts scoring goals again, then it will strongly suggest that Ashford Town failed to get the best out of these two players.

The other change is a little more subtle – after following the Rothwell game with a defeat at home to Sittingbourne (!!), it was announced that, for the remainder of the season, Tim Thorogood would be giving a chance to a few of the youngsters who have been impressing for the reserves. In effect, then, The Management has acknowledged that the game’s up in terms of securing a place in the Premier Division next season is concerned. Whilst I would not entirely disagree with this view, it’s ironic that results elsewhere this week have meant that we are still not that far adrift – although Stamford now look like filling the last of the top seven places, we have just nine points to make up on both Bashley and Burgess Hill Town for eighth place and a play-off with the team finishing eighth in the Doc Martens Western Division, and we’ve both of them yet to play this season.

Having said that, the promotion of some of the promising youngsters at the Club is very welcome. We’ve all been reading encouraging reports of the likes of Stephen Ward, Harry Hrehorow, Danny Barham and Tom Dawes, so it’ll be good to see how they get on in the first team. The first three of these were in the squad for last Saturday’s Hastings game, and Barham came on at half time. Ward and the unpronounceacle Hrehorow (it’s polish !) are both only 16, and have come up through the U-15, U-18 and reserves levels like shit through a goose. According to the reports, Stephen Ward, a midfielder, is the No.1 prospect, and might only be with us for a short time as he passes through. Unpronounceable Harry is a striker, so should have plenty of opportunities between now and the end of the season, with Adrianho gone and Paul Jones still on the sidelines.

One other thing your Milton Keynes Correspondent noticed this week is that we have only kept five clean sheets this season – only Erith & Belvedere, Fleet and Hastings have kept fewer than that. I find that surprising, given that our goal-keeper and centre-half are generally acknowledged as being just about our best players. On the other hand, the worst defeat we’ve suffered all season has been 1-3.

We made an unconventional appearance at today’s game. Whilst I drove the family car as usual, Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent arrived at the ground in a horsebox – don’t ask !  We country folk are a strange lot !  It reminded me of an FA Trophy match a few years ago, when we were drawn away to Grays Athletic. The small band of home supporters taunted us with “Is your tractor parked outside ?”. I thought that was a bit rich – Ashford being a modern, expanding metropolis, and Grays being a scruffy little dock-side settlement, but there you go !  Anyway, if you can’t manage a tractor, then I suppose a horsebox is the next best thing.

The other thing to report from the car park was the appearance of Paul Jones, who yet again turned out to support his team-mates. His commitment to the Club seems first class, and we have to hope against hope that he will still be with us next season. He’s by far our most expensive commodity, and it’s been bitterly disappointing that he’s been absent with injury for virtually the whole season, having scored eight goals in his first nine games. The news of Jonah is that he had an operation on his groin on Thursday, and was able to have a little jog this morning – apparently, he should be able to start sprinting by the end of next week. If he does reappear at all this season, it will be for a token match or two at the tail end, but all attention now has switched to next season.

The slightly disappointing team news was that neither Stephen Ward nor Harry Hrehorow had travelled with the first team to Chatham – they were undoubtedly playing for the reserves at The Homelands, against Corinthians – but there was the unveiling of a new signing. Danny Lye was signed from Sittingbourne on Thursday. Judging by the gnashing of teeth on the Brickies’ message board, he was one of their better players, and they are sorry to lose him; also, the word here is that he joined us because he was offered an increase in his wages of nearly two and a half times what he was getting at Sittingbourne, but this is unconfirmed rumour. He played in central midfield, alongside skipper Joe Wade, today, and immediately looked a good player. Shaven headed, he’s fairly tall and strongly-built, and, more importantly, he’s fairly robust in the air, and won a number of headers in the midfield area.

The midfield was made up of Tom Adlington on the right, and loanee Simon Glover on the left, with Joby Thorogood (happily recovered from the clattering he got from the Hastings goalie last week, which resulted in him being carried off and his assailant sent off) and Simon Elliott up front. I was quite happy to see Simon in the attack again. Let’s not forget that, whilst he’s been either in midfield or on the injury list for the past year or so, Elliott started life with Ashford Town as strike partner to Dave Hassett (who spent the afternoon on the substitutes’ bench for Chatham today) – he’s scored four goals in the last six games since being moved to a more forward role, so I reckon we should consider him to be our senior striker right now.

With John Whitehouse in goal (still, in spite of all the rumours !), Barry Gardner at 2 and Aaron O’Leary at 3, there was the now regular central defensive pairing of Rob Gillman and Matt Bower. I’m not convinced of the wisdom of having Matty at the back. On the plus side he’s a great tackler and a great motivator on the field; against that it appears to be a bit of a hopeful compromise, given that, since his recent injuries, he no longer has the pace to operate effectively in midfield.

There was a full complement of five substitutes: Mike Azzopardi, Daniel Barham, Tony Eeles, Martin Anderson and Joby’s younger brother, Joffy (i.e Jonathan). One thing that surprises me is that former favourite Tony “Goal Machine” Eeles has returned to the Club with virtually no comment from the fans on the web-site message board – he seems to have slipped back unnoticed, under cover of all the fuss about Stone and Saunders leaving.

Ashford started slightly the brighter of the two teams. As early as the third minute, Aaron O’Leary found Tom Adlington on the right, with a long, raking, cross-field ball. Adlington managed to break through a tackle, to move into the area, and pulled the ball back to Simon Glover, but Glover’s shot was well blocked, as was Simon Elliott’s attempt from the rebound. After eleven minutes, Simon Glover won a corner on the left. This was taken by Tom Adlington – the game plan for the whole afternoon was based on in-swingers, with the left-footed Glover taking the corners and free-kicks on the right – and was met by the head of Rob Gillman, just a few yards from the Chatham goal-line, but the referee blew for a foul on goalkeeper Hopper, and the ball went over the bar in any case.

Strangely, it was the visitors who did most of the pressing in the early stages, with Chatham looking more dangerous on the break. The first real threat from the home side – playing in red shirts, black shorts and black socks, and captained by former Ashford player Tom Binks – came after 14 minutes. Glenn Billinness took advantage of a slip by Tom Adlington, which gave him a sight of goal, but his long-range shot was just over the bar.

Five minutes later, a promising, flowing move from Ashford resulted in a corner on the right. This was cleared, and Tom Adlington was faced with having to win a challenge on the half-way line, to prevent Chatham from breaking – unfortunately, he lost this challenge, and it was suddenly Chats’ No.9 Frannie Collin against Matt Bower. Collin rounded his man, beating him for pace with embarrassing ease – Matty now runs with a conspicuous limp, but did well to put in a saving tackle, just as Collin was in the area, with only the goalie to beat.

The home side was now having a good spell, and, in the 20^th minute, had a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area, after a push in the back from Matt Bower. Left-back Danny Larkin, clearly Chatham’s free-kick specialist, curled the ball over the wall, but John Whitehouse saved well, tipping it over the bar. Three minutes later, Danny Lye got a harsh yellow card for a late, but fairly soft, tackle on the half-way line, and then, in the 27^th minute, Rob Gillman seemed to control the ball on his chest, but with both arms reaching forward, on the edge of the area. Referee Venamore saw fit to award a free-kick for hand-ball, and Larkin stepped up to take it, in an almost identical position to the previous free-kick. This time Larkin’s kick failed to beat the wall, cannoning off an Ashford head.

Up to this point, as light rain started to fall from an overcast sky, it had been a fairly even game, although Hopper still had to make a save in the Chatham goal. It had also been a fairly entertaining game, considerably better than last season’s uninspiring, end-of-season 1-1 draw.

The deadlock was broken about five minutes before half-time, when the home side scored what looked to be a very simple goal. A long ball from the right side of midfield found Frannie Collin in plenty of space just outside the Ashford box, and the No.9 had plenty of time to volley the ball low into the corner of John Whitehouse’s net. It was one of those incidents that seems to happen in slow-motion, and I’m sure that questions will have been asked in the Ashford dressing-room at half-time as to why there wasn’t a defender tight on Collin, but he took the chance well. (I notice that at least one results service credits the goal to Glenn Billiness, but I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t the one who scored – but I’m always prepared to be corrected).

This was quite an ominous blow to Ashford, given that we hadn’t created a chance in open play, but the boys tried to hit back immediately – Simon Elliott won a corner on the right, but Simon Glover floated the ball straight down the goalkeeper’s throat. Glover was also on hand to take a free-kick on the right, for a foul on Tom Adlington, with 45 minutes on the clock. Again, the ball was floated high, into the Chatham box. It really should have been the ‘keeper’s ball – and the word after the game was that he had actually called for the ball, and not come to collect – but Matt Bower it was who was first to the ball, equalising with a powerful header from close range.

Ashford made one change at half-time – Joe Wade, who had been gingerly feeling his neck towards the end of the first half, was replaced by Danny Barham (one of an estimated 15,300 Barhams in the world, about 7,200 residing in the USA and 6,700 in the UK), who took his position on the right side of midfield. Fifteen minutes later – and I regret to report that nothing of note had occurred in the mean time – Martin Anderson was sent on in place of Tom Adlington, playing at right back, in what is probably not a particularly suitable position for him, with Barry Gardener moving to central midfield so that young Danny could remain on the right. In fact, there was now more action on the Ashford bench than there was on the pitch during this time, as the game degenerated into a succession of failed attacks and wasted corners and free-kicks. Unfortunately, Tim’s third substitution, made in the 63^rd minute, was the last he could make – this time Joby Thorogood made way for his brother, Joffy, another hobbit striker in the same, unmistakable Thorogood mould. (Actually, I’m beginning to think that these boys are more likely to be clones of the boss, rather than off-spring – I reckon the Doc Martens League should send some inspectors down to The Homelands, to make sure that there isn’t some dodgy little laboratory under the stands).

Ashford did have three corners in quick succession from about the 65 minute mark, but all these came to nothing. (I don’t want to lay all the blame on the corner takers, but Simon Glover could do with a little less float, and a little more pace and whip). Between them, the two sides had eight or nine corners between the 65^th and 80^th minutes, all of them coming to nothing.

There was half a scare for Ashford after 67 minutes, when Chatham’s Adam Douglas rounded Our Mart’n, down the left wing, doing him for pace, but Aaron O’Leary came to the Evertonian’s rescue, heading the cross behind for a corner, from a few yards out.

Daniel Barham came more into the game as the half wore on, and showed one or two nice touches. He did well to control a long ball from defence, after 80 minutes, and attempted a through-ball into the area for Simon Elliott to chase, but the pass was slightly too strong – he must have momentarily forgotten his family’s motto: “Tout bien ou rien” (All good, or nothing). He was in action again two minutes later – this time on the edge of his own area – trying to control the ball on his chest. Unfortunately, he used a bit of arm to do it; even more unfortunately, the ref was only a few yards away, and gave a free-kick. Ballinness curled the ball over the wall, but his effort went well wide of the near post. On 85 minutes, Danny combined well with Martin Anderson on the right, and had space to run into – his shot from outside the area was wide, but at least the visitors had managed a shot on goal as a result of a move in open play, which was quite a rarity this afternoon.

The only real complaint about the pretty good facilities at The Sports Ground, Maidstone Road, is that the PA system was almost silent for much of the match, meaning that I’m indebted to our Chief Executive for identifying the new lads for me. The announcer eventually piped up towards the end, to announce that Chatham’s Frannie Collin was the Man of the Match, but in truth the award could have gone to just about anyone in what was a fairly ordinary match for the 168 spectators. Over the full ninety minutes, I suppose, this wasn’t very different to the dull, end-of–season 1-1 draw that we witnessed last year.

So we drew with Chatham. I find it very difficult to be critical of either the players or The Management, as this was a very honest performance by the lads. The team maintained a decent shape throughout, the defence was tight and I don’t think that a single Ashford player had a poor game today. The hard truth is that this is as good as we are – we’re about on a par with Chatham. We’ve enough evidence from this season’s games to confirm that, and our league position doesn’t lie. Of course, with the greatest respect to Chatham, this isn’t good enough for a Club that commands the fifth-highest average home gate in our division, and there’s no doubt that The Management has higher ambitions than this. For now, though, we continue to under-achieve.