ARCHIVE: Molesey v Ashford Town. Ryman League Division 1 South. 2004-5 season.

Molesey       3       Ashford Town   0

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

The struggle continues. That’s not a left-wing political mantra – it’s a description of Ashford Town’s season. The thing about a relegation scrap is that it’s like being chased by two hungry tigers – you don’t necessarily have to outrun the tigers, but you do have to run faster than at least two of the other poor buggers in the same predicament. Given the resources available to this Club, and the lowliness of the standard at the bottom of Ryman League Division 1, it’s a continuing disappointment that we’re struggling to run faster than the other teams with us in the relegation zone. Today’s opponents, Molesey, are one of them.

With last Saturday’s home game against Bashley postponed because of The Homelands resembling a marsh – which is fairly unsurprising, given that it’s built in the middle of one – today’s game was the third away game in succession. It’s our away form that’s been the real problem this season. We’ve actually LOST 16 of our 19 matches away from home. In comparison, our home record is fairly respectable. In fact, at The Homelands, Ashford have lost just two of the last twelve games, and those defeats have been against probably the two best teams in our division: AFC Wimbledon and Walton & Hersham (who were recently narrowly beaten in the FA Trophy, after a replay and penalty shoot-out, by Premier Division Stamford). We also haven’t been too fussy about who’s beaten us on our travels, managing to lose to the likes of Fleet, Croydon and Banstead (among many others).

The boys really haven’t performed very well in the relegation dog-fights, the six-pointers, to date, and how we do in the three remaining fixtures of this kind will hold the key to whether we’ll be playing in the Kent League next season or not. (I realise that the FA Vase Final will be played at Wembley Stadium next season, but that’s neither a comfort nor a motivation at this stage !). These three big games are at home to Croydon, against Newport overseas and away at Molesey (today).

So after an evening dash to the Hampshire market town of Fleet last time, this afternoon it was a return to the posh end of London. Leaving the M25 at Junction 12, we passed through the distinctly up-market districts of Chertsey, Sunbury and Hampton, past Kempton Park racecourse and the Metropolitan Police’s sports complex, and arrived at Molesey FC, just off Walton Road.

The ground is what we’ve come to expect as being fairly standard for Ryman Division 1, with the majority of the accommodation being provided in one main stand, and a rough shelter covering a small section of terracing behind one goal, the other two sides of the ground being open. The one stand was a little different, though, with a small number of plastic seats effectively on the first floor (with a function room underneath), which gave us an elevated view of the game – a bit like watching a game at Highbury on Match of the Day. The raised seating also gave a view of the housing on all four sides of the ground, confirming that Molesey FC is located in the heart of the local community.

*** THE MATCH ***

To start with the player roll-call, the main absentees were Tony Ritrovato and Erron Dussard, but Club Captain Matt Bower was back, albeit on the bench to start off with. Ritrovato’s absence meant that Barry Gardner went back into central defence, alongside Marc Cumberbatch, with John Whitehouse in goal and the Adlington-O’Brien twins in their usual full-back positions. We had the now-established midfield partnership of Joffy Thorogood and Eddie Achoko in the middle of the park, with Solomon Henry (who’d looked good at Dulwich) on the right, and Leon Dussard preferred to Tom Evans on the left. Joby Thorogood partnered Paul Jones up front, leaving Shaun Bradshaw to join Matt Bower and Tom Evans on the bench, along with defender Chris Holmes and reserve ‘keeper Jake Slade.

The one surprise was the choice of captain, in the absence of Tony Ritrovato and Matty in the starting line-up – the arm-band was given to Joffy. Whilst I can see the logic in this – the junior Thorogood is an aggressive presence in midfield, and The Gaffer’s idea was that his enthusiasm and energy might rub off on the others - I thought that Barry Gardner, or John Whitehouse, or Jonah, or one of the twins, might have had a stronger case.

The home side, The Moles, played in Corby’s colours, of white shirts, black shorts and black socks, which brought back encouraging memories of our boys going up to Northamptionshire and coming away with a 0-5 victory, but that game seems a life-time away now. That game was actually LAST SEASON !  There were four survivors from that team today: John Whitehouse, Tommy Adlington, Paul Jones (who scored) and Joby Thorogood (who played 20 minutes as sub).

For reasons that I won’t go into (let’s just say that it’s a “wardrobe malfunction”), Ashford played in their home strip of lime green and navy blue, meaning that the only person wearing the away strip in South West London today was Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent.

On a dry and bright afternoon, but with a bitterly cold wind, both teams were slow to create chances, and it began to look like one of those tight encounters where one mistake either way might make all the difference. Honours were fairly even during the first 20 minutes. Both sides had free-kicks which provided crossing opportunities, but nothing came of any of these.

Molesey were the first to make some headway towards their opponents’ goal. In the 17^th minute, Paul O’Brien had to put in a good tackle to deny Phil Williams, who had managed to carry the ball into the Ashford area, but the Moles’ first real chance came after 20 minutes. A long ball was played towards new-boy Rob Gibbons, who was making his first-team debut, having scored for Molesey’s reserves in mid-week. He looked off-side, although there was no appeal from the Ashford defence, but his speculative shot was hooked well over the bar. Gibbons was typical of the Molesey side, in that they are quite a tall side, particularly in contrast to our lack of inches in the back four, and our Hobbiton FC up front.

Concerning Hobbits, the first public warning for a Thorogood came in the 24^th minute, when Referee Fay took Manager Tim to one side, and gave him a very long explanation of who was running the game. Something similar happened at Fleet a few days ago, when the ref that evening made a slow and dramatic walk across the whole width of the pitch to the dug-out, to give The Gaffer a similar lecture. I think that all concerned should accept that, with Tim, it’s genetic, so that he’s never going to sit there impassively, like Sven ! 

Tim’s mood wasn’t improved a minute later, when Molesey took the lead. His Number Two, John Cumberbatch, who had been just as vocal in pointing out the officials’ errors, couldn’t have felt much better, as it was a rick from his son, Marc, which led to the goal. A fairly regulation cross came into the penalty box, and Marc simply missed with his clearance. The ball fell to Danny Thomas, another relative new-boy, from Redbridge, who had the simple task of nipping the ball past John Whitehouse, from close range.

Ashford’s first real chance to hit back came in the 32^nd minute. Paul Jones, who was given absolutely no room to turn or manoeuvre at all every time he received the ball, was clattered late by Thomas, the goal-scorer. The free-kick was in a position where Leon Dussard could have tried a shot over the defensive wall, or put in a cross to the waiting throng of players just inside the Molesey penalty area. In the event, Leon curled a good shot over the wall, and just under the bar, but ‘keeper Luke Garrard was able to tip the ball over for a corner. It was a good effort, from a talented player, but there was insufficient pace on the ball to really trouble the goalie. It turned out to be the only save that either goal-keeper made in the first half.

Ashford pressed again, four minutes later, and this took the form of a rather undignified scramble on the edge of the Molesey penalty area, involving Leon Dussard and Joby. Eventually, the home defence managed to block the ball behind to safety – unfortunately, the final touch was Leon’s, so we didn’t even get the corner. In the 42^nd minute, we again had the ball in a promising position, with “Thierry” Henry scheming on the edge of the area – he managed to find Leon Dussard on the angle of the 6-yard box, but the ball wouldn’t sit properly for a shot, and Leon’s eventual effort was blocked for a corner. This might as well have been a goal-kick, as Joby tamely curled the corner tamely behind. This was one of a number of wasted corners from Ashford – Joby was by no means the only offender, but it must be said that he had another totally ineffective game, and is now sorely lacking in confidence.

Ashford made an energetic start to the second half, no doubt realising that they needed to get back into the game quickly, if they were to have any chance of turning the scoreline around, and Joby did well to win a corner, off Danny Thomas (who, predictably, towered over him), in the 47^th minute. Disappointingly, Leon Dussard curled the corner into the side-netting.

A minute later, the pendulum swung further in favour of the home side, when they made it 2-0, to snuff out any hopes of an immediate revival. Phil Williams dribbled the ball into the Ashford area, and slipped a ball through to Sam Lampard, who then just had the ‘keeper to beat. The second-last hope for Ashford was the linesman’s flag, for off-side, but the flag stayed down. The last hope was for John Whitehouse to make a save at Lampard’s feet, but this wasn’t a day that John was able to bail the defence out, and the Molesey No.8 slid the ball under him, for 2-0. (I suppose the obvious quip is to point out that it was a good job that it was Sam, instead of Frank, playing against us – but it’s probably a little too obvious !).

The Moles had a chance for a third goal in the 54^th minute, although there shouldn’t have been a problem. A break was initiated with the home attack outnumbered 3-to-2 by the Ashford defence. Phil Williams had his back to goal, and was being marshalled by Paul O’Brien (who generally had a pretty solid game). Somehow, though, Williams managed to put in a deep cross to the far post, and found Rob Gibbons, but Gibbons was unable to get over the ball, and his header looped over the bar.

A minute later, Ashford had yet another corner – this was conceded by Phil Caughter, who had to deal with a good cross from O’B. This time, Joby was able to put in a half-decent cross, and found Barry Gardner just beyond the far post, but Barry could only head the ball behind.

The Gaffer made his first substitution in the 61^st minute, when Matt Bower made a welcome return, replacing Eddie Achoko. Eddie has good feet, and provides some height in a vertically-challenged team, but he doesn’t seem to be able to impose himself on a game, or to really make his physical presence felt.

Matty, on the other hand, seemed to make a difference when he came on – of course, this was only a marginal improvement in what was a generally very poor performance, but his appearance certainly made things start to tick. After our defence had survived another Gibbons half-chance – with a header from a free-kick in the 62^nd minute – Bower set Paul Jones off on a run down the right side of the Molesey defence, in the 66^th minute. Jonah crossed from near the by-line, inside The Moles’ penalty area, and found Leon Dussard. Not being the greatest in the air, Leon was unable to get any power or direction on the header, but the ball broke to Joby. The Hobbit kicked the ball against a defender’s arm, but his appeals for a penalty were never going to be upheld, and the chance was gone.

Ashford had three corners in quick succession during this brief period of pressure, which resulted in no more than a good long-range shot from Matt Bower, which the ‘keeper had to tip over the bar, and a sliced effort from Joffy from well outside the area.

These green shoots of hope were well and truly crushed in the 71^st minute, when Molesey scored their third goal – this was the best, but also the simplest, of the three. A through-ball was lobbed over the Ashford defence to Rob Gibbons, on the right flank. Gibbons should have been miles off-side, but Barry Gardner must have had his head in the clouds – and I’m not sure where his thumb was ! – because he was loitering around in the centre, playing Gibbons on-side. The Molesey No.11 had a free run into the Ashford penalty area, but took his goal well, curling a left-footed shot around the helpless John Whitehouse, into the far, top corner of the net. This capped an excellent performance from Gibbons, who was deservedly awarded the Molesey Supporters’ Club man-of-the-match award. On the other hand, it was a shame for Barry to be responsible for the goal, as he had a solid game otherwise, being stronger at the back than you might expect for a lad of his age and stature. He’d also be one of the first on my short-list for Player of the Season (not that there are many candidates jumping up and down for that prize !).

Tim’s last throw of the dice came in the 73^rd minute, when Tom Evans and Shaun Bradshaw replaced Leon Dussard and Joby – although trying to turn a 3-0 scoreline in 17 minutes was probably a tall order !  Tom’s first contribution was to fluff a corner, within two minutes of coming on, so that was hardly inspiring.

During the closing five minutes of the game, Ashford actually showed some signs of putting together some flowing moves – whether this was more evidence of the Bower Effect, or just the result of the players relaxing once the three points were beyond recall, I’m not sure, but the Molesey defence remained fairly untroubled. In fact, it was a very comfortable afternoon for the home back-four – they marked Paul Jones very tightly indeed, and that effectively snuffed out the visitors’ attacking threat.

My conclusion from this performance is that there is barely a glimmer of hope of us avoiding relegation to the Kent League now. In the last two games we’ve played against two of the weakest teams in the division – Fleet and Molesey – and we’ve simply been unable to create chances against them. A bit of head tennis, aimless balls pumped up-field and then a few individual errors in defence. The result: abject 2-0 and 3-0 defeats. Whilst relegation to the Kent League seemed unthinkable at the start of the season, the stark truth of the form book tells us that, not only is this a growing certainty, it’s probably precisely what the current team deserves. Banstead, Fleet, Molesey and Croydon are all poor sides, inhabiting the lower reaches of Ryman Division 1, and they’re managing to beat us quite comfortably – that suggests pretty strongly that our standard is already at the level of the Kent League Premier Division or Ryman Division 2.

I feel quite sorry for Paul Jones, as I remain convinced that he’s a class player, but he can’t achieve anything on his own. He battles hard up front, but gets no support from a strike partner, and no service to speak of from midfield. I’d also suggest that talented footballers like Barry Gardner, Paul O’Brien and Leon Dussard would actually look very good players in a better team (just as the likes of Sam Saunders, Adrian Stone and Simon Glover are currently doing).

The only ray of consolation for me is that I only see the boys away from home – at The Homelands we not only create chances, but also score a few goals, and our results are far better, so the current squad of players can’t be incapable of performing. Unfortunately, I don’t think, looking at our run-in and our rivals’ remaining fixtures, that our home form will be enough to save us from the abyss. Nevertheless, with twelve games still to play, I trust that nobody who matters is throwing in the towel just yet.