CORBY TOWN 2 ASHFORD TOWN 5
From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This trip was
an unexpected bonus. With both Ashford and Corby dumped out of the FA Cup at
the Preliminary Round stage (bitterly disappointing, once again !), this game
was hastily rearranged to take place whilst most of our Doc Martens East
colleagues were competing in the First Qualifying Round. The bonus, of course,
was that we got to go to Corby on what was expected to be a sunny September
afternoon, instead of in the middle of January.
Corby is a
s**t-hole – a partially-derelict, former iron & steel settlement, full of
Jocks*. The
Rockingham Triangle Stadium isn’t the place to be when it’s cold & windy,
as it’s an open, wind-swept ground, with a full athletics track around the
pitch. Open on three sides, all seated accommodation is located in one long
stand on one side. The last time I went to Corby, fully three seasons ago, this
stand was perfectly orientated for a freezing wind to blow straight in to it.
(I remember that as being an awful match, ruined by the blustery conditions,
and by two early Ashford goals, both, I think, from Lee McRobert, which
effectively killed the game off).
I thought we
were going to lose Corby from the roster – finishing second-bottom last year,
with the smallest average home gate in the division, and amidst rumours that
they were going to pack up anyway, Corby Town were only saved from relegation
when Rugby United went back (totally illogically !) to the Doc Martens Western
Division. Nevertheless, the Club deserves credit for having regrouped so well,
and they’re making a decent fist of things this time, lying just three points
behind Ashford, with a game in hand.
I really had
grave reservations about travelling to this game – as some of you will have seen
from the message I stuck on the Message Board, the local Press and TV up here
had been advertising a big motor racing event taking place at Rockingham
Raceway, in Corby, and the local Police had been warning people to avoid
venturing out onto the roads unless absolutely necessary. In the end, I decided
that supporting the boys was, in fact, absolutely necessary. I did, however,
wonder about what effect the holding of such a big event might have on the
match attendance. In the corresponding fixture last year, the game was played
out in front of a crowd of 55 people, whilst Corby’s smallest home attendance
last season was 29 (twenty-nine !).
By the time the
boys in green & navy blue kicked off, many of those fears and reservations
had been proven to be unfounded. The Indycar Championship had no noticeable
effect on traffic levels on the approach to Corby (meaning that, having set off
from home a good hour earlier than we needed to, there was time for a decent
meal in the nearby hotel), there was hardly a breath of wind and, most
surprising of all, there was a pretty healthy crowd in attendance. The number
was boosted by a decent-sized contingent from Kent, and there was plenty of
good-natured banter between the two sets of fans during the game. No sign of
the forecast sun, though, and it was an overcast, but mild, day throughout.
No sign of a
number of familiar names on the Ashford score-sheet, either, and it soon became
clear that we were missing some key personnel. Most noticeably, we were without
both Mitchell Brothers (Mortley and Gibbs) in central defence, but that brought
about the welcome return of young Jay Westwood, alongside the experienced
Stuart White, who wore the captain’s arm-band again today. Matt Bower was not
even on the bench. Another striking feature of the starting line-up was that
there was a place for all three of our star forwards – McRobert, Stone and
Hassett – and it was soon obvious that Tim Thorogood had gone for a genuine
attacking 4-3-3 formation. Adrian Stone was the man supplying the width, on the
left – I wondered if this might be Tim’s long-term solution to the fact that
Jeff Ross won’t go on forever ! Rossy,
once again, was on the bench, leaving us with a midfield trio of Simon Elliott,
Sam Saunders and the versatile James Gardner. Martin Anderson and Aaron O’Leary
were the full-backs.
My impression,
from other match reports of games this season, is that we’ve had a problem with
starting slowly, and giving away silly goals early on – that was very nearly
the case again today ! After only four
minutes, a long ball bounced over Stuart White’s head. Corby striker Kevin
Byrne raced onto it, and easily lobbed the advancing John Whitehouse. It looked
like the ball was finding it’s way into the net, but, incredibly, the SECOND
bounce took it just over the bar. Maybe this was the little bit of luck that
the boys needed.
After this,
there was a spell of Ashford pressure, with the visitors camped in the Corby
half. The home side, playing in white shirts, black shorts and black socks,
instead of their usual Newcastle United strip, mostly played with one man up
during this spell, but with ten minutes on the watch a hopeful ball up the
field found this one man, Kevin Byrne, just inside the penalty area. In spite
of being closely marked by Jay Westwood, and with two other Ashford defenders
in attendance, Byrne twisted and turned and looked a serious danger.
Eventually, he managed to poke the ball across the Ashford goal, six yards out,
and Sam Saunders’ instinctive interception turned the ball into the net.
This early
set-back made little difference to the overall direction of flow of the game,
and Ashford continued to have most possession. After 12 minutes, Sam Saunders
was fouled on the edge of the Steelmen’s area, and took the free-kick himself;
unfortunately, his weak shot bobbled straight to Richard Lavin in the Corby
goal. If only all of our players could strike a ball like Adrian Stone ! Adrian actually got himself into some good
positions during this period, but each time he was unable to get a shot in on
goal.
Most of
Ashford’s attacks began with Martin Anderson, on the right side of defence, and
it probably didn’t help the team’s cause that poor Martin couldn’t do a thing
right during the first half an hour here – in fact, he made errors both
defensively and with his distribution of the ball, and his control was often
sloppy. I realise that far too much has been written and spoken about the lad
in recent weeks, but I’m bound to report objectively on what I see, and I
believe that Martin’s form had a significant impact on the early part of the
game. What doesn’t help Anderson jnr is that he appears to be very lady-like in
everything that he does, and this is bound to attract the attention of the
yobboes on the terraces – although I must say that I heard no flack for him
from the travelling fans on this occasion. Added to that, I reckon he’s
probably a little out of position at full-back, as there aren’t many tall, slim
lads who can be effective in that position. I’m convinced that, once he fills
out a little, and learns to be a bit more assertive, and a little less
careless, he’ll develop into a decent central defender.
It was poor
control from Martin, in the 20th minute, that showed too much of the
ball to Corby’s Danny Marlow – Marlow got to the ball first, and our boy was
rather late with the recovery tackle. In fact, Anderson’s studs sunk deep into
Marlow’s left buttock (a couple of inches to the right, and Martin would never
have seen his right boot again !), and the ref had no choice but to show him a
yellow card.
Two minutes
later, Corby were on the break, as Byrne spread the ball to Dean Hutchison,
wide on the left, but the Number 8 tried a speculative shot, instead of
crossing the ball, which would’ve been a better option. John Whitehouse seemed
to have the shot well covered, but then seemed, for some reason, to palm the
ball behind for a corner – a goal-kick was awarded, so it appears that the ball
actually came off the post. Coolly done, John !
Up to this
point, it had been fairly frustrating for us all, as Corby looked like a side
we could beat, and we were a goal down, without having created a really
worthwhile chance. The word “tepid” sprang to mind, to describe the
performance. Worse still, as the half-hour mark approached, the home side had
started to come into the game more, having more possession, and Ashford were
forced to bring more players behind the ball.
After 28
minutes, Corby had a free-kick just outside the penalty-area. Marlow rolled the
ball to big centre-half Andy Eastel, who hit an excellent shot, just over the
angle of the goal.
Two minutes
later, Ashford were once again building an attack down the right flank.
Eventually, the ball found its way to Aaron O’Leary, who had been largely
unemployed up to this point, on the left. Last season’s Manager’s Player of the
Year took his time with a measured cross to the far post, where Dave Hassett
rose with two defenders and headed the ball down into the corner of the net.
1-1, and the Duracell has now scored in the last three matches against Corby.
On 32 minutes,
the home side tried to retaliate straight away, and No.11 Jamie Hawthorn was
put through with a classical pass-inside-the-full-back, Martin Anderson in this
case. This put Hawthorne clean through on goal, but his control let him down,
and he could only shoot wide from a now-impossible angle.
The ball was
going back in the opposite direction a minute later, with Corby left-back David
Glass (strange to have a Glass playing for the Steelmen !) running towards his
own goal, covering a through-ball. In spite of having Dave Hassett snapping at
this heels, Glass seemed to have the situation under control, but stooped to
try to head the bouncing ball back to Lavin. Obviously, the telepathy wasn’t
working, as he only succeeded in knocking the ball past his ‘keeper. The
Duracell was bundled over in the mad scramble that ensued, and so the referee
awarded a penalty. Howls of disapproval from Scottish voices in the stand, but
it was probably the right decision. Lee McRobert stepped up to take the
penalty, which was well saved by the ‘keeper, diving to his right, but McRobert
drove the rebound into the corner of the net. “Jesus Saves, but Lee Mac gets
the Rebound !”, (to paraphrase a famous slogan from the seventies). Two goals
in about three minutes, and the boys were 2-1 up. (I should add, here, that I
don’t recall Martin Anderson putting a foot wrong once we went ahead, which
might illustrate how important confidence is to his game).
It’s to Corby’s
credit that they responded tenaciously to going behind, but a tackle by Danny
Marlow on Sam Saunders, after 35 minutes, was a little too rich – and about a
week late – so it earned him a yellow card. More dissenting Scottish voices ! (Music to our ears).
The game was
pretty even for the remainder of the half, with both teams doing their share of
pressing for a goal. I was left with the distinct impression that Corby have
some good players, who are very skilful when on the ball. It would also seem
that they are encouraged by their coaching staff to use those skills, which is
quite refreshing at this level, where brute force and ignorance often take
centre stage !
One other
noteworthy observation was that Sam Saunders limped off at half-time, looking
rather battle-weary, after what was, for him, a bruising 45 minutes. Didn’t
stop him from coming out for the second half, though !
The interval
itself was unremarkable, except for the fact that, after compiling sixteen
match reports as the Club’s anonymous, mysterious Magic Lantern, Your Milton
Keynes Correspondent was finally unmasked. Appropriately enough, the man – or
is he just an entity, a vision ? – who did the outing was de Sade, himself no
stranger to lurking in the shadows, shrouded in an obscure pseudonym. I’m not
sure that the meeting ranked alongside that of Stanley and Livingstone, or even
that of Harry and Sally, but it was nice to be able to put a face to two names,
and we had a good natter about the Club and its future prospects.
Just as de Sade
disappeared into a mist that had suddenly risen – this was rather curious,
because none had been forecast – Corby came out for the second half, clearly
fired up, with biting tackles flying in all over the pitch. This new resolve
also resulted in Corby doing most of the attacking in the early part of the
half, and this resulted in them having a half-chance after 50 minutes – Kevin
Byrne, who looked to be their best player, managed to get in a quick shot, on
the turn, on the edge of the area.
After this, the
game settled down, to say the least – in fact, it went through a period where
the main activities were the referee blowing his whistle and players retrieving
the ball from across the running track.
With 58 minutes
on the clock, Danny Marlow was once again late with a tackle, this time leaving
Simon Elliott in a heap. This was clearly a booking – two yellows equal a red,
so Corby were now down to ten men. Two minutes later, Jay Westwood cleared his lines
at the back, and Dean Hutchison not only clattered him late, but landed on top
of him, leaving Jay in a crumpled mess on the floor. Another yellow card for
the home side.
All of these
set-backs didn’t stop the Steelmen from coming forward, though, and, after 64
minutes, they won a corner on the right, but this was headed clear by Martin
Anderson. Still Corby pressed, and a minute later Aaron O’Leary was forced to
concede a free-kick out on the left. This resulted in a good cross, which an
unchallenged Stewart Marshall met with a glancing header – in truth, he should
have scored, and would have done, with a firmer contact.
This might have
been an important incident, as a minute after this Ashford were back in
attacking mode, with Lee McRobert and Adrian Stone combining with a pacey
one-two down the right flank. Lee Mac found Simon Elliott free on the left.
Simon ignored the crowd in the penalty area, and instead pulled the ball back
to Adrian Stone, in space. Knowing how cleanly the Stone can hit the ball,
there was only one result – low and hard, into the net. We all enjoyed the
Ashford players’ celebration, throwing themselves into the large pole vault
mattress behind the goal.
There seemed to
be an element of “Game, Set & Match” in all this, as surely Corby wouldn’t
come back from this, with only ten men. Not a bit of it ! Corby came back with an attack almost
immediately, which the Ashford defence did well to repel, blocking and forcing
the ball out to the right flank. It appeared that their right-back and skipper,
Gary Kennedy, would pump the ball back into the box, but he instead unleashed a
fierce shot, which went over John Whitehouse, and dipped just under the bar. An
absolute screamer, and, in case you’re losing track, the score was now 2-3.
This goal was
the signal for a round of substitutions. Corby threw on Anton Sgroi (that’s not
a misprint !) and Lee Vallance, for Sean Brennan and David Glass, and Ian Ross
replaced Jay Westwood. Jay was clearly feeling the effects of the earlier foul,
and there was immediate interest from the bench on the condition of his left
leg. This substitution caused a reshuffle, with James Gardner, who is already
becoming the Club’s key utility man, dropping back into defence, with Ian Ross
going into midfield.
The boys should
really have sealed the game in the 73rd minute. Adrian Stone,
tightly marked, received the ball in the Corby penalty area, and squared the
ball to Sam Saunders. Sammy had lots of time to stick the ball in, but he
instead curled the ball wide of the post.
By this time,
however, the three-man Corby defence began to look seriously stretched, and the
pace and movement from Ashford’s three front men looked like producing any
number of goals. Chances started to come almost as quickly as I could write
them down ! Adrian Stone had a shot
deflected for a corner, and, soon after, Lee McRobert was in the penalty area
with a dilemma as to whether to cross the ball or score himself, but finally
could only square the ball into the arms of ‘keeper Lavin.
After 76
minutes, an opportunity was accepted. After two successive corners, the ball
was crossed back into the danger area, where a line of five lime green shirts
was waiting – for a moment, it looked like a line of defenders, so I had to do
a quick reality check on which way we were kicking ! Eventually, the ball was knocked into the
Corby area, and Dave Hassett volleyed it into the net from close range.
I should
mention that Stuart White had a very good game for us in central defence. He
also, unfortunately, got himself booked in the 78th minute for pulling back a
Corby forward whilst he was running onto a through ball – he did well, though,
to force the ball behind for a corner. Whilst the referee was dealing with the
paperwork, Sam Saunders was being treated in the opposite penalty area, after
taking yet another knock.
White was in
action once again after 82 minutes, when he completely sliced an attempted
clearance – the ball was heading for his own corner flag, but he again did well
to move his creaking bones and make sure the ball went behind for a corner. Straight
from this corner, Ashford broke away, with Lee Mac sprinting down the right
wing. He crossed the ball to Aaron O’Leary, arriving on the left overlap. The
Ox didn’t hold back with the volley, which was either going to fly into the
net, or go into orbit, never to be seen again – in the event, it was a very
good effort, which went just over the bar.
With 84 minutes
gone, Sammy was finally put out of his misery, and was replaced by Jeff Ross.
It was a brave effort from the diminutive midfielder in a three-man midfield,
and he limped off to the dressing-room to an appreciative ovation from the
travelling fans.
Corby did have
a couple of half-chances in the dying minutes. The hard-working Dean Hutchison
showed plenty of energy to chase a through ball after 85 minutes, and managed
to round John Whitehouse. Unfortunately for the home side, he was unable to
steer the ball into the empty net from an acute angle, with Martin Anderson
running back to cover. With three minutes of normal time left, the same player
managed a decent shot on the turn, but John Whitehouse was right behind it.
But this,
Gentlemen, was our day, and I’m pleased to report that, during the last 20
minutes or so of the match, with his marker tiring and gaps appearing in the
Corby defence, young Adrian Stone, like a Superhero, found a telephone box and
took on the persona of “Adrianho”, the strolling Brazilian Showman, always
looking for the opportunity for a nutmeg, a drag-back or a step-over. It was
fitting, then, that Adrianho put the seal on the team’s performance. With 90
minutes on the clock, he picked the ball up on the edge of the Corby penalty
area, drifted past one defender, glided past another, wrong-footing the pair of
them, and then casually thumped the ball into the corner of the net.
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
!!
He did it with
such ease that it almost appeared to be in slow motion – this boy can really
play ! It would also have made a nice
photograph – both defenders still on the deck, the ‘keeper rooted to the spot,
the ball in the net, and Adrianho turning away in triumph !
After
supervising a post-match warm-down, Tim Thorogood appeared to be in the
contented and relaxed mood of a man who had just seen a plan work out to
perfection. He explained that, in the absence of so many key defensive
personnel, the strategy had been to play an attacking formation, with the three
amigos up front, in order to keep the opposition fully occupied. Since his team
had just scored five goals, with the three forwards getting all five, I think
we can give him the benefit of the doubt, and say that it worked !
So that’s 13
points from the last five league games, and three away league wins on the
bounce. We’ve now played a game more than most teams, but (whisper it !) we’re
just a point off the lead !
* Before I start a diplomatic incident, I
should stress that all of these reports are very tongue-in-cheek in nature, so
I sincerely hope that any off-the-cuff, laddish remarks don’t offend the people
of Corby. Besides, as an Ashford boy, born & bred, I am aware that, as I
cast such stones, I inhabit a building constructed almost entirely of glass
panels.
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