ARCHIVE: Histon v Ashford Town. Doc Martens Division 1 East. 2000-1 season.

Histon     2       Ashford Town      0

From Your Milton Keynes correspondent

After the killing fields of Grantham two weeks ago, it was off to the Cambridgeshire village of Histon for Ashford’s last match in another fairly traumatic season. But just because Histon is not (yet) one of the big names in non-league football, there was no reason to expect this to be any less difficult for our brave boys than the 6-1 tonking at Grantham. Histon have done extremely well in their first season in the Doc Marten’s League, having been promoted as champions of the Eastern Counties League last year (following in the foot-steps of Ipswich Town (1936), Cambridge United (1958) and Wisbech Town (1997) - you see, it’s always worth buying a programme !). In fact, they were as high as fourth in the division on Saturday morning, having had a run of 15 wins and 3 draws from the previous 18 games, which included four matches in five days, from Saturday to Wednesday - all of them won ! 

In stark contrast, Ashford Town’s fortunes have nose-dived in recent months, but this has already been well documented on this site. Not bad recently, though : we actually WON a match away to Dartford, and got a point at home to Witney last Saturday.

The journey was far less of a hike than the Grantham expedition, Histon being located just to the North of Cambridge - total journey time : 54 minutes. The ground is located within quite a dapper little sports complex, just off the main road. When we arrived, there was already quite a high standard of cricket going on next-door (proper umpires, sight-screens etc.). The footy part of the facility mainly consists of a newish, but dinky, little stand on one side of the pitch, with the other three sides being open, except for a row of tall conifers forming a partial wind-break on the opposite side. The lop-sided nature of the ground was exaggerated by the fact that almost the entire crowd squeezed into the stand, with very few spectators (I counted 19) on the other three sides. The club doesn’t have a huge following, but there was certainly a friendly, family atmosphere about the place, with a large contingent of local kids.

The pitch looked very flat, but with several bare or sandy patches, but this appearance was a shade deceptive - once the game started, it was obvious that the playing surface was hard and bumpy, with the ball behaving rather like a rugby ball when on the deck. Allied to the stiff breeze, which was behind Ashford in the first half, this made it very difficult for both sides to play football, which, let’s be honest, was just as well, as it acted as something of a leveller for the two sides.

Not many surprises in the Ashford side, the main disappointment being the absence of Dave Peachey in the forward-line - he was replaced by Scott Thomas as Smudger Smith’s striking partner. The naming of the old fella, Peter McRobert, as one of the Ashford substitutes, suggested that, once again, Tim Thorogood was a shade short on personnel. It was a fairly conservative formation for the visitors (as you might expect, playing away to a fairly handy side) : 4-4-2, with the strong men, Aaron O’Leary and skipper Tom Binks, holding things together in central midfield.

But it was the green-shirted Ashford side that had the first chance in the match, after three minutes. Aaron O’Leary squared the ball to left-back Richard Radbourne, in loads of space, whose long-range shot was just tipped over for a corner by Histon’s slim ‘keeper (sorry, I’m having a pop at Mr Noden already). It was a good effort by Radbourne, recently signed from Kent League side Sheppey United, as the ball, as usual, was bobbling nastily. It was also a close shave for Barber in the Histon goal. O’Leary took the corner from the right, only for Mike Heather to head wide - and that was our last sniff of a chance for some time.

From then on, it was the home side - playing in red & black stripes, reminiscent of Manchester City in the 1971 FA Cup Final against Leicester - who asserted, and soon the chances came. Seven minutes into the game, Dan Noden’s kick failed to find an Ashford player, and was soon coming back at him in the form of Histon’s Peter Munns, in the inside-left position. Munns’s shot-cum-cross slid across the face of the Ashford goal, with the on-rushing Neil Kennedy just failing to connect. That was a let-off for the lads, as Kennedy has netted 25 league goals this season, making him the division’s fourth-highest goal-scorer. (Look - I paid a quid for that programme, so I’m bloody well going to use it !). Next, two minutes later, it was Matthew Haniver who made a run down the left flank - his cross comfortably found Munns in the penalty area, but the centre-forward sliced his shot badly wide.

Histon had settled down, to play some good stuff - keeping posession well, with good movement and passing. Their movement was shown to good advantage after 15 minutes, when Paul Hobbs was robbed of the ball by Peter Munns, near the touch-line. Munns sent Kennedy down the left flank, and immediately headed off to take a central position - when Kennedy’s shot came over, Munns was there to hit a thunderous shot into the net, for his 12th league goal of the season.

Four minutes later, it nearly got much worse for the Greens. Darryl Bartholomew, playing as a right wing-back, had no choice, when tracking back, but to lay a backpass to Noden in the Ashford goal. Noden’s kick missed the ball completely, and he was lucky that the ball trickled behind for a corner - it could easily have been one of the most embarassing own-goals ever !  I should emphasise once again that the pitch was making the ball bobble about all over the place, so it was an understandable error - unfortunately, though, there’s something about Dan’s tubby appearance that tends to add to the comedy when such incidents occur, and there were, predictably, hoots from the home supporters. (Incidentally, and turning again to my match programme, Dan Noden’s pen picture described him as a “young, well-built ‘keeper” - must’ve been written by an estate agent !). Nevertheless, Dan recovered some self-esteem by dealing well with the resulting corner. He also showed what he can do after 24 minutes, when he did well to save Matthew Haniver’s long-range shot, diving low to his left.

Smith and Thomas, up front for Ashford, received hardly any service from their mates in midfield - there’s no Eelesey any more ! - but there was, finally, an opportunity at the other end after 32 minutes. A free-kick from deep inside Ashford’s half found Steve Smith on the left corner of the Histon penalty area, and Smudger’s cross found Darryl Bartholomew, well forward, at the far post. Bartholomew’s header was just inches over the bar.

Three minutes later, having got the taste for it, we managed yet another shot on target. A corner on the right from Aaron O’Leary was cleared to Paul Hobbs, whose firm, accurate shot was just tipped around the post by Barber in the Histon goal, for a corner. The kick, taken from the opposite side, was headed just wide, at the far post, by Mike Heather.

The home side hit back almost immediately, and Darryl Bartholomew was forced into a clumsy tackle near the by-line, about a yard inside the penalty area. It should’ve been a penalty, but the ref. thought that the offence occurred about two centimetres outside the box - funny how many offences seem to occur just a couple of centimetres outside the box, isn’t it ?  Anyway, the free-kick was wasted.

The half ended with Ashford actually having a fair share of posession, and knocking the ball around a bit - it was good to see that our lads were prepared to feed the ball back to the back four if the move broke down. (Little acorns, and mighty oaks, and all that ...). But it was 1-0 to Histon at half time.

The interval was actually quite entertaining, with a kids’ penalty shoot-out tournament being arranged. Whilst this might have explained the unusually large proportion of youngsters at the ground, it appeared to be fairly typical of the community-related activities of a small club, which clearly has the right idea, and should go places.

If the first half had been tough for Ashford, the second half was probably going to be a little harder, as they had to play both into the wind, and up the slope - this was reflected in the problems that Dan Noden had with making the half-way line with his kicks. And sure enough, it was Histon who were fast out of the traps in the second half, forcing two corners in the first three minutes, but these were easily dealt with by the Ashford defence.

On the 52 minute mark it was Ashford on the attack, when Bradley Hobbs put Smith through down the left flank. Smith chipped the ball over his own head, to find Scott Thomas in the middle, but Scott headed just wide.

Two minutes later, it was Histon going forward down the Ashford right - a left-footed cross by Wayne Goddard glanced off a Histon head and into the net, but the goal was disallowed, presumably for off-side. Soon afterwards, though, the home side had a free-kick, awarded for a push by Richard Radbourne, on the edge of the Ashford penalty area. Again it was Goddard’s left foot that delivered the cross, but the ball went straight to Tubby Noden. This provided the opportunity for an Ashford break, and Noden’s clearance put Robert Ford through on the right - he’d been sent on, in place of Scott Thomas, when I wasn’t looking !  Ford managed to cross the ball to Steve Smith in the centre, but the header was straight at Barber in the home goal. This was the first time that I’d seen Robert Ford, who is obviously a young lad, thrown on for the experience - whilst he’s got plenty of filling out to do, he showed some nice touches, and seems to have some ability.

The boys were seeing plenty of the ball during this phase of the match, and were going forward with some ambition of finding an equaliser. It was in this context that Jonathan Thorogood, son of the new owner / manager, was put on in place of Darryl Bartholomew, to play on the right side of midfield. Histon also made a double substitution at this point, to confirm the end-of-term status of the match.

It wasn’t until the 70th minute that there was the next note-worthy incident. A long ball, floated in the wind from deep inside Histon’s half, was headed clear, rather aimlessly, by the Ashford defence, and fell to a black & red shirt - the long-range shot was well saved by Dan Noden, diving low to his left.

Then two minutes later, and quite out of the blue, we had easily our best chance of the game; and it was such a simple move. Skipper Tom Binks played a long ball over the Histon defence, which put Steve Smith through, with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper - with the home crowd silent, Smith fluffed his left-footed shot wide of goal. Binks’s head-in-hands reaction said it all !  It was a surprising lapse by Smudger, who has scored six of the eight goals that Ashford have managed under Tim Thorogood to date - he continues to impress, though, receiving and holding the ball well, and looking like he’d make a good target man, in the right team.

From this point, the game rather went to sleep, with the wind, particularly, continuing to make life difficult for both sides. Ashford made very little headway, and Histon looked very comfortable with the one-goal lead. It should also be said that big Dan had very little to do in the Ashford goal ... until the last minute, that is, when the home side had a corner on the right. The ball was floated over into the six-yard box, into a crowd of players, and appeared to be bundled over the line (who cares who by ?). Noden hoiked the ball out with his right hand, and the defence scrambled it clear, but the lino on the near side (we can’t afford carpet at this level) ruled that the ball had crossed the line. You can’t really argue with the decision, as the official was right on the line, but it was slightly unjust for our lads to lose a second goal, as they’d done enough to at least “draw” the secong half.

The young Ashford side appeared visibly deflated on going two down, and, as concentration lapsed, Histon had a chance to made the score look really bad, two minutes into injury time : Neil Kennedy attacked through the inside-right channel, turning Jay Westwood (who had looked fairly solid for most of the ninety minutes) inside out, but the ball was forced behind for a corner. The referee blew his whistle for the final time as the ball was in the air from the corner, so 2-0 was the final result.

A satisfactory end to an excellent season for Histon, which ended with a run of 16 wins and three draws from 19 games - a sequence that started, ironically, after we had beaten them 2-1 at our place in February - including five victories in the last eight days !  As for Ashford Town, well, we finished in 12th position - a bare statistic which tells very little about the misery that was endured along the way, in a season during which the Club was, once again, passed from one man to another, like an old tart.

Nevertheless, we live in hope (‘cos what else is there ?!) that Mr Thorogood can give the old girl a bit of a make-over, so that she can emerge fresh, and smelling of roses, next season. It is also to be hoped that the public of Ashford warms to the new man, and that those attendance figures pick up : this season’s average league attendance has been a shade below 250, compared with 381 last season. (Even without the bumper home crowd we had for the Folkestone match, the average would’ve been around the 330 mark).

At least we’ve some Doc Martens League football to look forward to next year. When I returned home I looked up the rest of the results from our league, using Ceefax page 399, to see that Sittingbourne had lost their final game. That means that even with five of the players that walked away following Tommy Sampson’s resignation - Nicky Arundel, Steve Lovell, Jason Ash, Paul Ribbens and former skipper Steve Robinson - The Brickies were relegated to the Kent League. Just goes to show that, no matter how bad things are, you can always find someone who’s worse off !