Leatherhead 1 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Your Milton Keynes Correspondent’s new season’s
resolution is to not bore readers with long preambles to these reports – but
this must be an exception. This is because there have been some monumental
happenings since I reported on the 4-1 defeat away to Stamford last season.
For a start, Ashford Town is no longer a Southern
League Club, as it has been for 45 years. With the reorganisation of the
non-league pyramid, we became an Isthmian League club. Apart from losing some
favourite fixtures, and most of our local derbies, this is probably a positive
move. Not only are there new opponents to play and, for me at least, an
entirely new set of away grounds to visit, but there’s also the incentive of
some promotion play-offs at the end of the season. (In spite of our poor start,
including tonight’s result, I still firmly believe that we’ve every chance of
finishing in the top six !).
The main changes, however, happened last week. With
three players – Joe Wade, Martin Anderson and Michael Azzopardi – walking out
on Tuesday night, Ashford’s Chairman, Saviour and Benefactor, Tim Thorogood,
stepped down from his post as Manager on Saturday. As a result, he was a rather
forlorn spectator in the stand at Leatherhead’s Fetcham Grove stadium this
evening. (The other notable member of the crowd was Paul Jones, who yet again
finds himself on the injury list).
I’d been looking forward to this fixture, as
Leatherhead is one of those famous old ono-league clubs with a great FA Cup
tradition. Those of us with grey hair and two chins will remember the exploits
of Chris Kelly as The Tanners made it all the way to the Fourth Round of The
Cup in 1975. In the following four seasons, Leatherhead’s FA Cup record was 2nd
Round, 2nd Round, 1st Round, 2nd Round – and
they were FA Trophy finalists in 1978. Their last appearance in the 1st
Round Proper of the FA Cup was in 1981, so the club obviously isn’t the force
it was in the 70s. We’ve something in common with them there, then !
This was a rare opportunity for Your Milton Keynes
Correspondent to see an evening game. With three work meetings arranged during
the day – Regents Park at 9am, Marsham Street at 2pm and Camden at 4.30pm – it
was always going to be a long day for your correspondent. As Sod’s Law would
have it, the last meeting dragged on until 6.05pm, so it was a mad dash to
Surrey – as far as it’s possible to
“dash” on public transport these days. Taking the Tube from Camden Town to
Vauxhall, and then relying on South West Trains’ Stop Everywhere Service to
Leatherhead, the odds were always against me making it for the 7.45pm kick-off.
In the event, I missed the first 15 minutes, but was relieved to find that the
score was then still 0-0. De Sade was less fortunate, as, reportedly, his
meeting went on for even longer, so he missed the whole match.
Another noteworthy “first” was that, for the first
time in our inglorious history, Ashford Town FC played in an away strip of all
yellow. And this is none of your mustards or golds – this is a bright canary
yellow, and very resplendent they looked , under the floodlights. (I gather
that replica shirts will be available in the Club Shop very soon !).
There were also some new faces in the Ashford team for
me to get used to – in front of the reassuring figure of John Whitehouse in
goal, who already seems to have been our most over-worked player this season.
This was my first sight of Pat Kingwell, a local lad, who I must say looked
very impressive at centre-half. He was our best player tonight – not as classy
with his touch as Rob Gillman, but just as solid and commanding. He played
alongside utility man Tom Adlington, who, in spite of being at least a foot too
short to play in central defence, had a very good game. Paul O’brien is back
with us this season, at left-back – relegating Aaron O’Leary to the subs’ bench
– and we’ve a new number 2. I must confess that I forget the lad’s name, but I
can tell you that he’s a YTS boy on indefinite loan from Brentford, and he looks
the business !
The new man in midfield, Yomi Dada, looked awful – in
fact, he could probably be described as our third notable spectator tonight -
so it’s a good job that he had skipper Matt Bower next to him in the centre
! Tom Evans, who looks good coming
forward, but is clueless defensively, was on the left of midfield, with Barry
Gardner wide on the right.
In the absence of Jones, Joby was partnered in attack
by Lee Blackman, who’s joined us from Folkestone Invicta – he looks a strong,
hold-up forward, in much the same mould as Jonah, but had few opportunities to
impress in this match.
On a mild, still summer’s evening, and a nice, flat
pitch, the game started fairly quietly – (at least it did from the point at
which I arrived). The first semblance of a chance fell to Leatherhead, in the
29th minute, and really came from nothing, as a result of a
defensive mix-up. Tom Adlington tried to let a through-ball run on to John
Whitehouse, but the ball was never going to reach the ‘keeper. Leatherhead No.9
Marc Charles-Smith pounced, but, as Whitehouse lost his footing, Charles-Smith
completed the commedy of errors by side-footing tamely wide.
That chance apart, Ashford looked the better side
before the interval, led by a driving performance from Matt Bower. In the 31st
minute, a home defender, running back towards his own goal, pursued by Joby
Thorogood, attempted a back pass, but clumsily put the ball behind for a
corner. The in-swinging kick fell into a ruck of players in the centre, but a
clear shooting chance was snuffed out by the school-masterly referee – at one
point he insisted that Matt Bower stand up straight when he was talking to him
– blowing his whistle.
Another chance came after 35 minutes, when Tom Evans
lobbed a through-ball from midfield for the pacey Thorogood to chase, but
Joby’s flick over the ‘keeper went just wide of goal.
A minute later, Yomi Dada spread the ball wide to
Evans on the left – Tom’s cross was flicked on by the head of Lee Blackman, but
rebounded off the foot of the near post, and this was to be the closest Ashford
would come to scoring.
The Tanners started the brighter of the two teams
after the break, and it was noticeable that the tiring Matt Bower – who still
has a tendency to run with a marked limp – hardly had a kick in the second
half. This probably made all the difference to the balance of the game, and the
home side almost went ahead in the 56th minute. A cross from the
left was headed on to Damian Panter, unmarked on the right, who slid the ball
home, but the visitors were saved by an off-side flag. Nevertheless, it was
cause for concern, as, from what I gather from the Message Board, this business
of leaving wide players unmarked in the penalty area is becoming a common
failing.
Two minutes later, the ball was up the other end. Joby
picked the ball up in the centre, after a defensive clearance, and wisely –
under instructions from Caretaker Manager Tony Reynolds – held the ball up, as
Barry Gardner made his run down the right. Joby’s through-ball was timed to
perfection, but Barry hit his shot straight at Tommy Dunn in the Leatherhead
goal. “He couldn’t finish a bag of crisps !”, was Thorogood Snr’s immediate
comment.
By this time, the game was starting to open up, and
John Whitehouse had to make a save, falling to his left, after 61 minutes, to
stop a long-range effort. In the 66th minute, Rambo made his first
substitution, replacing Dada with Joffy Thorogood, but three minutes later the
home side scored what turned out to be the winner. During an attack down the
right, Paul McKay’s cross was met with a beautifully-timed header by Marc
Charles-Smith, who buried the ball in the corner, for his second goal of the
season. John Whitehouse had no chance. This was always likely to be the
decisive goal, in a game in which neither side really deserved to win. Ashford
certainly never looked likely to equalise.
With three minutes left, Dan Hunwick – this is almost
certainly mis-spelt, so apologies for that – had a run out, coming on for Tom
Adlington, but had no time to make an impact. Tony reynolds had to make his
final substitution a minute later when Lee Blackman went down, and stayed down
for fully five minutes. Eventually he was helped off, looking very shakey.
I suppose it’s worth mentioning that the lads had the
ball in the back of the net in the dying moments of the game. John Whitehouse
took a free-kick from inside the Ashford half, hitting it long, into the
Leatherhead penalty area. It was over-hit, so should’ve been the ‘keeper’s
ball. Somehow, Dunn missed it, and the ball went in – but the biggest certainty
of the night was that the ref would blow up for a foul. In fairness, there were
few complaints from the Ashford players.
So Leatherhead maintain their unbeaten start to the
season, with two wins and two draws now – Ashford Town, on the other hand, have
only one point to show for the first four games, and remain second-bottom, but
there was nothing between the two sides on tonight’s evidence.
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