ARCHIVE: Histon v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. 17th of August 2002.

Histon     3       Ashford Town      2

From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

I’d been looking forward to this game for some time, as I’d never had the opportunity to see the boys in their first game of any season – last year, my first game (Spalding away) was actually Ashford’s twelfth match of the season, by which time we had already made a terrible start to the season and had been dumped out of the FA Cup.

Also, I’m afraid, Ashford’s early appearance North of the Thames has caused some conflicts. This is the first time that I’ve been tempted to drop out of my cricket team as a result of going to see a footy match, and the day of the match has also coincided with my Wedding Anniversary - so it was quite a heart breaking decision I had to make (as I love my skipper !), but the fact that the Nuts & Bolts aren’t in the area again until late October won the day in the end.

It’s nice to report that the season is starting to a backdrop of an apparent wave of optimism sweeping the old town, which must be filling the doctors’ surgeries back at home !  It seems that pre-season results and performances have been encouraging, and the return of two quality players, in Matt Bower and Lee McRobert, together with the retention of all of the key players from last season, means that we can realistically expect an improved showing this year. For me, the most encouraging thing is that we appear to have hit a period of continuity, which is so important in team sports, and it seems that we’ve now some firm foundations to build upon.

Which brings us to the burning issue of the day – the news that our first team will play in green and navy blue, having been a green & white team for a number of decades. This decision, which has clearly been taken for sound commercial reasons, seems to have put a number of noses out of joint. For the sake of throwing my hat into the ring on this one, I must say that I’m also a bit depressed that such a long tradition has been broken, but I’m consoled by the thought that the change is almost certainly a temporary one – the Management is not fool enough to ignore feedback from the fans, and I’m sure that the next new kit will go back to the traditional green & white. Besides, the fact that today we were about to travel to a Cambridgeshire village to watch a game of football, reminded me of the tragic events taking place this week in another Cambridgeshire village (i.e. Soham), which isn’t a million miles from Histon – in the greater scheme of things it probably wouldn’t matter that much if our lads turned out in pink & violet.

Returning to the wonderful, but largely irrelevant, world that is non-league football, today’s game promised to be a tough one. This is Histon’s third season in the Doc Marten’s League, having finished fourth in each of their previous seasons, and this ambitious little club, having signed a defender and a striker from Chelmsford during the Summer, clearly sees this year as being potentially a promotion year. As we set off up the A428 it occurred to me that a draw against this lot might be a decent result to kick off with.

I missed the corresponding game last season – something to do with falling asleep on a train when pissed the previous night, but I won’t go into details – and I remember the Railway Boys being rather scathing about the Histon set-up. The previous season I thought they had a cracking little facility, for a club that had just been promoted from the Eastern Counties League, but the Railway Boys’ report criticised a number of things, including the appalling state of the pitch and the absence of home supporters. There certainly couldn’t be any criticism on those counts on this occasion – played in lovely, warm August sunshine, the crowd seemed pretty reasonable (helped by a decent turn-out of travelling supporters from Kent, I should add), and the pitch looked absolutely immaculate; a level, flat, flawless green carpet, which could only encourage good football.

For those not familiar with either the village or the facility, Histon is no more than a village, situated just to the North of Cambridge, just the other side of the A14. It’s a fair bet that it’s a fairly affluent place, and, with its proximity to Cambridge, is probably home to a number of university lecturers, surgeons and other technocrats. The football ground is situated within a larger sports complex, which includes bowling greens and a very posh looking cricket ground, where there is obviously a high standard of league cricket played. It doesn’t immediately strike you as being a place that’s a hot-bed of football, but the Club is clearly building a facility for the local community here, and, certainly today, there was very much an atmosphere inside the ground of middle-class families enjoying a day out in the sun. (And who can knock that ?).

The one change that I noticed from my visit of two seasons ago (which was actually just 15 months ago) was that a sort of canopy, which looked a bit like the long shelters you see at some bus stations, had been erected adjacent to the one, dinky little stand on one side. The three other sides of the pitch were still completely open, but with the ground’s location on the edge of the village, this gives the place a nice, rural feel. The red-seated stand appeared to be about half full, so I’m sure that the crowd must have been better than the 123 that attended the corresponding fixture last year, which is to be expected, given the summery weather. For me, I think this is the first time I’ve watched the lads play in these conditions – it was nice to see the wife wearing a pair of shorts and sun block, instead of the usual three fleeces, a scarf and a duvet.

The announcement of the Ashford team confirmed the reassuringly familiar list of names, with the two quality Summer signings added to last year’s stalwarts. The only one I didn’t know was James Gardner, the right-back, who actually had a very good game. It was nice to see Aaron O’Leary on the other side of the defence, after suggestions in some quarters that he might be on the injured list, but there was no place for Steve Smith, and Adrian Stone started on the bench. In fact, if a measure of a side is the quality of what it has on the bench, then things must be looking fairly rosy for Ashford Town – the three subs named were Adrian Stone, Ian Ross and Ollie Finch. The one slight surprise was that newly-arrived Matt Bower wore the captain’s arm band for Ashford. The Histon side included, appropriately enough, two men called Cambridge, including Ian, who had been signed from Chelmsford for a club record fee – not that he had much influence on the match !

And so to the new strip. Let’s get it over with !  After various descriptions of the colour and the design, I can give the following, definitive description, exclusively to the infinite world of cyberspace. The shirts are largely a bright, lime green – brighter than “Kermit” green, but not quite dayglo. The dark blue bit (it’s not really dark enough to be called navy blue) is a flash, which extends from each armpit to each wrist, accounting for about 30% of each sleeve. The shorts are dark blue. The socks are bright, lime green. There’s actually nothing wrong with the kit as a football kit – it’s just that it isn’t quite Ashford Town. Nevertheless, we’ll be purchasing a large one and a small one as soon as the replica shirts are available, and I’d urge all other fans of the Club to do the same.

Histon turned out in their usual “AC Milan” red & white stripes, with black shorts and socks – for older visitors to the site, this was Manchester City’s second strip from 1971 onwards.

Ashford started with what was probably the most predictable first-choice eleven, given recent signings : Dave Hassett and Lee McRobert spearheading a 4-4-2 formation, with a midfield of Jeff Ross, Sam Saunders, Matt Bower and Simon Elliott, and a defensive four of Ian Gibbs and Peter Mortley in the middle, flanked by O’Leary and Gardner; John Whitehouse was in goal, as usual.

Having Saunders and Bower in central midfield gave Ashford a very solid look from the start, and enabled us to boss the midfield and dominate the first half. The first chance actually fell to Saunders, after four minutes of play, but it was a fairly speculative, long-range effort, which sailed over the bar. A minute later, Sam was fouled on the edge of the penalty area; he took the free-kick himself, but it was rather a tame shot, and Histon ‘keeper Paul Barber collected easily.

After eight minutes, Sam the Man had another chance - sustained Ashford pressure culminated in Lee McRobert laying the ball off to his former Folkestone Invicta colleague, but Sam once again blasted the ball over the fence, and onto the cricket ground.

This was all very encouraging for i verdi-azzurri (even the bloody Italian name has to change with the change of kit !), who were looking more like the home side, in truth.

The next major opening came after 15 minutes. Aaron O’Leary fed Lee McRobert (generally operating about ten yards behind the Duracell), who cut inside onto his right foot, but his tame shot was straight at the ‘keeper once again, continuing the theme of poor shooting by our lads.

The main outlet from defence for Ashford was James Gardner, always making himself available for John Whitehouse, during this period, and James actually found himself with space opening in front of him in the Histon half after 17 minutes – he was able to carry the ball forward into a shooting position, but, yet again, the shot was fairly tame, and off target in any case.

Four minutes later, Jeff Ross found Lee McRobert with his back to goal – Macca, to complete the ex-Folkestone treble, laid the ball off to Matt Bower, who (at the risk repeating myself) hoofed the ball well over the bar, from distance.

Twenty-two minutes gone, and at last I can report some action at the other end – and it very nearly resulted in a goal against the run of play. Neil Kennedy broke through the Ashford off-side trap, which had worked well a short time before, and was clean through on goal, only for John Whitehouse to come out and save well at his feet.

Ashford’s best chance of the half came after 28 minutes. Lee McRobert used his pace to break down the left, leaving Neil Andrews, the Histon right-back for dead, and his cross found Simon Elliott’s head, in the penalty area; unfortunately, Elliott’s header went wide, but the ‘keeper had it well covered anyway.

Five minutes later, Histon were on the attack again, with Neil Kennedy running into the penalty area through the inside-left channel. James Gardner had this move well covered, and made a good tackle, to put the ball behind for a corner – unfortunately, the referee took a rather different view of the incident, and awarded a penalty !  This was a cruel blow to the boys, who had looked much the better side. I’m not one to indulge in the pointless practice of slagging off referees, as it’s a horrendously difficult job to do – suffice it to say that Gardner’s tackle was an excellent one, so he shouldn’t feel in any way responsible for conceding the penalty. Predictably, the Ashford players were in a less diplomatic mood, and it was a little surprising that their protests didn’t result in any yellow cards – thankfully, the damage was limited to the boys going a goal behind, with Adrian Cambridge sending John Whitehouse the wrong way, to side-foot into the corner of the net.

Ashford responded pretty well to going behind, continuing to press for an equaliser, and after a short break when Histon skipper James Saddington went down with an injury – during which there was a general break for cold drinks, which resembled a cricket match more than a game of football – Lee McRobert picked the ball up a few yards inside the Histon half. He turned Neil Coburn brilliantly, but his chipped shot went just over the bar.

After a minute of first half injury time, it was Ashford captain Matt Bower’s turn to go down with an injury. Matt had done an excellent job in midfield, winning a lot of possession, especially in the air, and it was going up for a 50 / 50 ball which resulted in a clash of heads. He lay motionless on the ground for several minutes, but eventually ran off the field clutching his head, presumably trying to stop the flow of some blood, to leave Ashford to play out the remaining couple minutes of the half with ten men.

There was just time for one more chance before the interval, when Sam Saunders was fouled on the right hand corner of the penalty area. Jeff Ross came across to take the free-kick, but his floated cross found a Histon head.

Half-time, then, and the lads were very unlucky to find themselves a goal behind, although it must be said that they hardly made Paul Barber break sweat in the Histon goal. As the sun continued to blaze down, it was time to seek out a cold drink, rather than the traditional cup of tea.

The big news for the second half was that Matt Bower failed to reappear, being replaced by Ian Ross, who, unusually for a substitute, actually came out wearing the captain’s arm band. That’s not to say that he didn’t wear the arm band with distinction – in fact, he played a blinder, running the show for us in midfield.

However, it was Ian’s name-sake, Jeff, who got the equaliser for Ashford, in the very first minute of the half. He picked the ball up inside the Histon half, and passed in-field to Dave Hassett; Hassett’s return pass found Rossy in the penalty area, and the veteran withstood a challenge from a defender, before aiming his left-foot shot across the goalkeeper, and just inside the far post.

Histon immediately replied to this, though, with an attack of their own, which led to Sam Saunders handling on the edge of his own penalty area. Sam wasn’t impressed with this decision – and, by now, the Ashford players were all convinced that the referee had something personal against them – and he was fortunate not to talk his way to getting a yellow card. It was also fortunate that the resulting free-kick was blasted straight into the defensive wall.

Generally, the second half was not as one-sided as the first, with Ashford having to do some defending, and, on 52 minutes, Peter Mortley conceded a corner on our right. The in-swinging kick was floated in, and hit the middle of the Ashford cross-bar; the ball fell to Histon’s Louie Farrington, who rammed the ball in from a couple of yards out. That made it 2-1 to the home team, with the Green & Navy Blues (I’m never going to get used to calling them that !) level for all of six minutes !

Three minutes later, Ian Ross was orchestrating another attack; he slipped the ball wide to Jeff Ross, whose good cross found the head of Dave Hassett in the centre, but the Duracell, who had a fairly quiet match, by his standards, couldn’t direct the header.

It was now that Ashford started to show signs of frustration, with squabbling breaking out between the back four. Histon, for their part, continued to turn in a strangely anonymous performance – whilst they looked comfortable with their 2-1 lead, and showed a few good touches, they looked anything but penetrative, and never really threatened to break down, or through, the Ashford defence. It was no surprise, then, that their third goal actually came from a set-piece – a corner, on the hour, was floated across, and a good glancing header from Chris Tovey steered the ball into the corner of John Whitehouse’s net. 3-1 down, then, with none of the three goals coming from open play.

On the 62 minute mark the visitors tried a new tactic – Ian Gibbs launched an unabashed “Route One” ball from defence, trying to exploit Lee McRobert’s pace. Lee Mac latched onto the ball inside the Histon penalty area, and laid it back to Jeff Ross; Ross J then squared the ball to Ross I, whose left-foot shot went just over the bar. This was Jeff’s last real involvement, as, two minutes later, he was replaced by Adrian Stone – this meant that Ashford fell into the main variation to the starting formation, with Adrian and the Duracell operating as twin strikers, with Lee Mac playing just behind them, in the “hole”.

After 65 minutes, Sam Saunders surged forward, playing a “one-two” with McRobert, and spread the ball to Simon Elliott on the left. Elliott was blatantly brought down on the corner of the area, but the ref continued to keep his cards in his pocket. Sam drilled in a hard cross, which was headed behind for a corner, and then floated the corner straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.

Three minutes later, Ashford swept forward again, after a Histon corner had come to nothing, and the ball was eventually fed across to Lee McRobert, who had been unmarked, wide on the left, for some time. Lee passed the ball in-field to Adrian Stone, who transferred the ball onto his right foot and drove a beautifully-timed shot into the net, from about 25 yards. The ball went in like an exocet, and gave the goalie no chance – a lovely sight, given that Ashford’s shooting had been fairly poor throughout the game. 3-2 now, and there was time enough if we were good enough !

In the 72^nd minute, alarm bells were ringing again, as Histon had another set piece, this time a free-kick just outside the penalty area – this had been the result of another baffling decision by the referee, this time for a foul by Ian Ross, and the Ashford players’ frustration with the ref was now bordering on the paranoid. Fortunately, the wall did its job again, and further damage was averted.

A minute later, Tim Thorogood made his third and final substitution, throwing on young Ollie Finch in place of James Gardner, who had worked hard throughout the match.

On 77 minutes, Ian Ross impersonated his substituted namesake by slinging over a high, looping cross from the left, but Adrian Stone, heading the ball down at the far post, could only find the Histon goalkeeper. Two minutes later, a period of sustained Ashford possession and pressure culminated in Sam Saunders breaking through in the inside-right position, but his shot was, yet again, always going too high. If only they could all shoot like Adrian Stone – in fact, Adrian’s short appearance in the game was an inspired little cameo, as he played, at times, like a Brazilian. After 81 minutes, he was off on a run, during which he beat three Histon players; he laid the ball off to Ollie Finch, but Ollie’s cross-cum-shot was always sailing over the bar. Any more performances like this, and we should think of giving Stoney a Brazilian-style, one-word nickname – how about “Adrianho” ? 

As we entered the final five minutes or so of normal time, the Ashford players started to look tired – this was not surprising, given the high temperature in which the game was played, and given the fact that it was the visitors who had forced the pace for most of the game – and Histon actually started to look dangerous in open play. A sign that a few cracks were appearing came in the 84^th minute, when Peter Mortley conceded a free-kick on the edge of the area – for his trouble, he became the only man in the game to be shown a yellow card, but it was not certain whether he was booked for persistent dissent, or for persistent fouls. The free-kick was curled into the near post side-netting. Seconds later, though, Histon’s Adie Cambridge dribbled his way through the Ashford defence, and looked odds-on to bang a final nail into our coffin, only for his team-mate, substitute Gary Walker, to take the ball off his toes and shoot wide.

With three minutes left of normal time, Adrianho showed great skill with a mazey run down the right; he nutmegged the last defender, on the by-line, and his cross was deflected across the goal – unfortunately, no Ashford player was there to put the ball in.

At this late stage, the game was finally beginning to open up, and a wilting Ashford defence was saved on a few occasions by the off-side trap, which had been working pretty well throughout the game. Up front, though, the boys continued to look for that elusive (second) equaliser, and fully two minutes into injury time, a corner on the right broke to Sam Saunders, but, inevitably it seems, he sliced his long-range shot well wide.

So 3-2 was the final score, with the visitors fairly hard done by to come away with nothing. On the way back to the car, we overheard a few Histon fans muttering about their team’s fairly lukewarm performance, about Ashford being the better side and about three points being, after all, three points.

A disappointing return for the lads, from a lot of hard work, but the considerable consolation is that, based on a very good performance against one of the better teams in the division, there must be plenty of cause for optimism for the rest of the season.