Metropolitan Police 3 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Another tough test for the boys. Not only are the
Metropolitan Police a big, tough, physical side – they’re also one of the most
useful outfits in the division. They began the day in 4th place,
which is a big deal when you’re one off the bottom ! What we cling to, though, is that we haven’t
been playing like a relegation-threatened team in the last couple of matches.
Last time out, against second-placed Horsham, we were actually unlucky to only
get a 2-2 draw, having been the better side according to reports from both
clubs. All the signs are that El Tel is starting to turn things around at The
Homelands, although we seem to have a serious problem with throwing away
two-goal leads – it has happened in each of the previous three games, and I can
think of three other occasions this season. It must be the only instance of a
team, in any division anywhere, losing a two-goal lead six times before the end
of November ! (I heard a gag on the
radio the other day, about not letting an Arsenal player take your dog for a
walk, because they can’t hang on to a lead – on that basis, I wouldn’t trust
our boys either).
Imber Court,
the Metropolitan Police Sports Club, has got to be the best facility in the
division. It’s several acres of prime real estate in the really posh part of
South London, with at least three footy pitches, cricket grounds, and indoor
swimming pool and probably plenty more besides, and a nice plush bar. It’s nice
to see that my taxes are being spent wisely !
The ground is actually only about a mile from Sandown Park racecourse;
(the last time I went to Sandown for the races, Branding Iron won The
Whitbread, which shows how long ago it was !)
As it’s Tingle Creek day today I feared some long queues in Esher, but
they’d gone by the time we arrived.
The first
thing I noticed on arrival – apart from the blue blimp in the background that
Channel 4 uses for those aerial camera shots – was the size of the floodlights.
Very reminiscent of “Sportsnight with Coleman” ! The rest of the ground, though, is fairly
modest, but, as you’d expect for a Police facility, very tidy. Seating is
available in a single stand, which stretches along one side – this provided a
good view of the match, with no stanchions obscuring anybody’s view. Apart from
that, the only other shelter was provided over the narrow terracing behind one
goal – which three Railway Boys had all to themselves – with the other two
sides of the pitch undeveloped.
Ashford started
off with the 4-5-1 formation, spearheaded by Paul Jones, that seems to have
worked pretty well for El Tel in recent matches. The five-man midfield was,
from left to right, Leon Dussard, Andre Robinson, Matty Bower (captain), Marvin
Rufus and Joby Thorogood. Barry Gardner was back in the centre of defence,
alongside Tony Ritrovato, who was the only player in our side today who
actually matched the home side in terms of physical size. The identical twins,
Adlington and O’Brien, were at right- and left-back, respectively, with John
Whitehouse in goal. Tom Evans found himself on the bench – which was mainly
because he was unable to get to the ground until a few minutes before kick-off,
but his rival for the No.11 shirt, Leon Dussard, was one of our most impressive
players today. Also warming the bench were Joffy Thorogood, Erron Dussard,
goal-keeper Jake Slade and ……. wait for it ……. Ian Ross, suggesting that Rossi
is months ahead of schedule in his bid to recover from that horrific double
break of the right leg.
From the
start, Ashford’s players showed a level of effort and determination that hasn’t
always been apparent this season. (As under-statements go, that’s a whopper !).
Andre Robinson was actually showing some good pace on occasions, and Matt Bower
kept going for 90 minutes without looking like he was struggling to last –
which does suggest that a general lack of fitness has been a big factor in the
team’s rather disappointing showing so far this season. (And that’s an even
bigger under-statement !). And whilst we’re on the subject of effort, Terry was
on his feet, yelling instructions and encouragement for the whole game –
although he never quite perfected the art during his playing career, he
certainly kicked every ball this afternoon.
Little of note
occurred during the first ten minutes – except for a long-range shot from Matt
Bower, which missed by almost as far - but after that Ashford took control of
the game for the next twenty. Again, this is the first time this season that
I’ve seen our boys apply pressure on the opposition for a sustained period –
the fact that a short pass was usually preferred to a long hoof upfield might
have had something to do with it ! The
biggest danger at this time was that John Whitehouse might get Deep Vein
Thrombosis, due to inactivity, but the bottom line is that Ashford failed to
convert this possession into a goal.
There were
chances, though. In the 13th minute, Matt Bower managed a weak shot
at the ‘keeper, then, four minutes later, a Police operation from deep in their
own half broke down, and Leon Dussard headed the ball through for Andre
Robinson to chase. Andre was fairly cynically bundled over, but the defender
made it look merely clumsy, so nothing more than a free-kick resulted. This was
taken by Joby, who was our free-kick taker today, chipping the ball into the
area. After a brief goal-mouth scramble, the ball broke to Barry Gardner, whose
superb, curling shot was well saved by Stuart MacKenzie in The Met’s goal; but
the ref’s whistle had already gone, and we had a free-kick, right on the edge
of the area this time. Joby was again the taker, and his curling shot over the
wall went just past the angle of the goal.
In the 26th
minute, Paul Jones was rewarded for his hard work in harassing the Police’s left-back,
and was able to put Andre Robinson through with a clear sight of goal.
Unfortunately, Andre made a real hash of this, fluffing a chip when he might
instead have passed the ball, or taken it on. A minute later, Joby won a corner
on the right. Leon Dussard floated the ball long, aiming for the only Ashford
head that stood as far from the ground as some of the defenders’ (i.e. Tony
Ritrovato’s), but the ball was headed behind for a corner by Michael Mison.
(Incidentally, in spite of his nickname of “Mice”, Mison is comfortably the
biggest man I’ve ever seen on a football pitch – an enormous man, who looks
like a one-man crime deterrent !). The second corner found Ritrovato, who had
stayed up, on the right, and his cross found Andre Robinson, who again shot
wide.
Ashford were
made to pay for not capitalising on their superiority, (Mackenzie hadn’t
actually been called into action), in the 33rd minute, when the boys
in blue – light blue shirts, and darker blue shorts and socks, to be exact –
took the lead against the run of play. A long throw-in – not an unusual tactic
for a big team – was headed on to left-back Andy Oxby, but his shot was
blocked, for the home side’s first corner of the game. This resulted in some
head-tennis in the Ashford penalty area – which our boys could moreorless do
nothing but watch – ending with an over-head kick by Mison, from close range.
This effort initially hit the cross-bar, but John Whitehouse was unable to
prevent the ball from bouncing up into the roof of the net.
As often
happens, the goal gave the team scoring it a rush of confidence, and Ashford
now had some defending to do for a while. In the 37th minute, a
long-range shot by Andy Oxby, straight at John W, was comfortably saved, and
then a diving header from skipper Jon Daly went just wide of the post. After 40
minutes, Kevin Cooper twisted and turned on the edge of our box, but could only
manage a tame shot, again straight at Whitehouse. Two minutes later, a Police
raid down the left resulted in a deep cross which found Paul Sears on the
right, but Sears’s angled shot across goal was always going just wide of the
far post.
In spite of
the turn-around caused by the goal, the last chance of the half fell to the
visitors. The Police lost the ball in defence, and it was once again Paul Jones
who was able to pounce – he set Leon Dussard on a run through the inside-left
channel, but Leon, after a neat body-swerve to make room for a shot,
disappointingly sliced well wide. So we were a bit unfortunate to go in at the
break 1-0 down, but that can happen when you don’t convert chances into goals,
especially against the better teams.
Things could
have got much worse in the first minute of the second half. Craig Brown
attacked down the left, and crossed the ball to the far post. Big Rob Haworth
was there, totally unmarked, with plenty of time, but he managed to head the
ball wide. Five minutes later, Brown was again the danger, wide on the left,
with another cross to the far post – this was headed down into the ground, and
John Whitehouse managed to keep the ball out, gathering it in at the second
attempt.
In the 63rd
minute, the home side spread the ball wide to Haworth, who had popped up on the
left; he found Kevin Cooper in the area, again in loads of space, but Cooper
inexplicably shot straight at John Whitehouse. For some reason, the referee
then called Tony Ritrovato over and booked him – possibly for attempting to
bring Cooper down earlier in the move.
Although the
Police should have gone further ahead with at least one of these chances in the
second half, both teams had been playing pretty poorly since the break, with
many passes going astray and many forwards getting caught off-side. Ashford
were certainly looking flat, and, in the 66th minute, El Tel
prepared to put Tom Evans on in place of Paul O’Brien, and gave the team a
thorough verbal gee-up – although the number boards made an appearance on the
touch-line, the substitution never actually happened, but the verbals might
have made a difference, since the game was turned around (for a while, at
least) by two goals in four minutes.
The first came
shortly after Leon Dussard won a corner; this was floated long, towards the
head of Ritrovato. Whether or not the tall No.5 got to the ball before the
defender, the ball found itself being knocked back to Andre Robinson. There was
no pace on the ball, so Andre did well to find the strength to head the ball
into the net, just over two defenders who were on the goal-line.
The second,
after 69 minutes, was the best goal I’ve seen Ashford score for many months –
it was a beautiful goal. Good work from Tom Adlington, near the touch-line,
began a neat move, full of short passes, that ended with Andre Robinson
breaking away down the right flank. Robinson sent in a cross, with plenty of
pace, to Paul Jones on the near post, and Bang !, Jonah buried a header into
the corner of the net.
Not
surprisingly, our boys started to play with confidence for a while after this –
in fact, it was like a dream sequence, with all the strife of the season
seeming, for a few minutes, to be in the past. Two minutes after the second
goal, Leon Dussard was teasing two defenders with his ball skills, until one of
them up-ended him. Five minutes after that, in the 76th minute,
Jonesy picked the ball up near the half-way line – he carried the ball down the
right flank, until Kori Davis slid in with a late challenge that might have
been late enough to earn him a yellow card on another day. Two minutes after
that, Police sub Chris Rose fouled Marvin Rufus; before the free-kick was
taken, El Tel finally put Tom Evans on, for a hobbling Leon Dussard, and then
Joby’s low, hard shot from the dead-ball situation forced a good save from
MacKenzie, diving to his left.
The Police
made their second substitution in the 80th minute, bringing on Byron
Brown for Dave Newman, and really deserved to equalise a minute later. Craig
Brown had John Whitehouse well beaten with a sweet, curling shot that hit the
bar, and John did well to save the shot from close range that came in from the
rebound.
By the 83rd
minute, Ashford, quite understandably, had one eye on the clock, taking plenty
of time with free-kicks and throw-ins, and frustrated the home side by keeping
them in their own half, with two corners, and then a free-kick, in quick
succession. With just four minutes of normal time left, the home side, looking
increasingly anxious, made their final substitution, with Steve Finn replacing
Ian Batten. This decision coincided with the equaliser, but the goal was really
all about the home side’s considerable height advantage. A corner on the right
went deep into the Ashford area; the ball was headed back across goal, and
Kevin Cooper nodded the ball in from close range. 2-2.
Ashford’s
second substitution was, like the first, enforced, with Tom Adlington limping
off, to be replaced by Erron Dussard. But this is a mere detail, since The Met
was soon to snatch all three points, in the 91st minute. A throw-in
near the corner flag was launched into the penalty area, (no surprise there !),
and Rob Haworth held the ball up, with his back to goal, just about on the
six-yard line. He laid the ball off to Cooper, who drilled the ball into the
corner of the net for his second goal, and the Police’s third. The relief felt
by the home side can be measured by the mad celebrations of their management
and substituted players – there was such a wild party there that the linesman,
who got caught up in it, actually went down injured, delaying the restart.
Yes, folks,
this was a real sickener. In a season where we think that nothing else could go
wrong – we’ve been robbed by the Police !
The boys certainly didn’t deserve to leave East Molesey with nothing,
and El Tel must have been bitterly disappointed at the end. If there’s a
criticism of what was a pretty good, and certainly a fighting, performance,
then it’s that we tended to play well in patches, instead of maintaining the
level of play for the 90 minutes. Also, looking back, John Whitehouse was left
exposed on a number of occasions, and more goals might have been conceded if
the home side had finished better.
The first job,
on returning home, was to make an anxious ‘phone-call to the Ryman Newsline, to
see if Croydon had won, which would have dumped us at the bottom of the table
again. Fortunately, they had lost at home to Newport IoW (who have suddenly
managed to pull three quick victories out of their arse), and all of the other
bottom-six teams had lost. More to the point, though, we’re certainly not
playing like a bottom-of-the-table side, so surely we must start to climb the
table soon. The problem now is that, just as we’re getting our best players
available and fit again, and hitting some form, we’re also playing the better
teams in the division. In fact, next up is the big one – AFC Wimbledon. We
won’t have the chance to end their record-breaking unbeaten run, as Cray
Wanderers beat them 2-0 this afternoon, but we can certainly get something out
of the match if we play like we did today.
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