ARCHIVE: Molesey v Ashford Town. Ryman League Division 1 South. 2005-6 season.

Molesey        1       Ashford Town   1

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

Like stray dogs rummaging through litter bins, Tim Thorogood and his boys continue to scavenge around for whatever points they can collect. Today, the search continued at Molesey, in South West London. It was a similar situation in the corresponding fixture last season, when Ashford were second-bottom, and five points adrift of the team above us - our old rivals Newport (IoW) - and with Molesey four places higher. That was in mid-February, so the threat of relegation was writ large on the wall. Today’s match marks the half-way mark in the league season, but the situation is similar. We’re actually currently third-bottom, this time level on points with Newport, and two places behind The Moles.

About time we had an Anorak’s Corner.

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ANORAK’S CORNER.

Striker statistics: Having recently met Stephen McKentishfootball, I’d hesitate to refer to myself as an anorak – as there’s a difference between the professional and the keen amateur ! – but even he has recently identified the inability to score enough goals as being Ashford’s main problem area. (With six goals in the last 13 games, he wouldn’t need to be Stephen Hawking to spot that one). What Stephen McK probably doesn’t know is that the figures for Ashford’s two main strikers are a goal every 313 minutes (about 3½ games) for Joby Thorogood, and one every 471 minutes (about 5¼ games) for Shaun Bradshaw. It’s difficult to compare these strike rates with the alternatives up front, as Steve Humphrey’s one goal in every 161 minutes is based on the equivalent of just over five games, and Jazhel Bonaparte’s one goal has come from less than 2½ games’ worth of appearances. (Humphrey was again missing today, but Jazzy was on the bench).

Goalkeeping statistics: We have a new goalkeeper. Dave Wietecha was today making his seventh appearance in his current spell for the Club, and has so far looked an excellent goalie (as he was again today). The statistics, in that case, lie, as Big Dave has conceded a goal every 42 minutes, compared with a goal every 53 minutes by Sean Glover, who he has displaced as first-choice ‘keeper, and one every 54 minutes by the departed Jani Seitsonen.

And who has appeared most for Ashford this season, now that Lynval Duncan has left us for pastures, and shirts, greener (i.e. Leatherhead) ?  It’s Sol Henry, who’s now the only player to have started every game so far.

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The one change today for Ashford, from the team that lost 0-3 to Ramsgate last time, was that Mark Banks was absent, so that Gary Croxton returned, alongside Tom Adlington in what was yet another central defensive pairing. This was a little surprising, given that news emanating from the Reserves Squad is that David Bourne has been consistently outstanding, and has been ear-marked by Ressies Manager Mike Robbins as being one player who might one day graduate to the first team, and given also that Gary has been reported to have put in one or two shaky performances for the Reserves since coming back from injury. I expect the answer is that Tim and John picked Gary on the strength of his previous solid performances for the 1^st XI. As it turned out, he did OK, offering us some much-needed physical presence at the back, and showing himself to be an intelligent defender, but he was responsible for two moments of sheer madness. (More on those later).

With skipper Ian Ross and Jamie Smith (on loan from Billericay, which explains why he’s so good) the full-backs, the midfield, from left to right, was Sol Henry, Gary Clarke (a goal every 567 minutes), RJ Boorman (one every 662 minutes) and Manny Sackey. With Joby and Shaun Bradshaw up front, there were few genuine attacking options up Tim and John’s collective sleeve, with the subs today being Jazzy Bonaparte, bench specialist Anthony Pace, Joffy Thorogood, Denver Birmingham and Kennickson Jarrett-Elliott.

It was particularly good to see Joffy “Yellow Card” Thorogood back in the squad, as he’s been off for a long time now with that knee injury. He hasn’t had the opportunity to get himself booked in all that time, so he must be beginning to suffer from withdrawal symptoms !

One thing that didn’t change from last season’s February meeting was that it was bloody cold, and it needed several layers of clothing, a flask of fortified coffee and a very good lunch at “The Royal Oak” to keep the body temperature up. The home side, in their usual white shirts, black shorts and black socks, needed little warming up, as they took the lead as early as the third minute, with Ashford barely being given a feel of the ball before going behind. The goal came about as a result of a push by Ian Ross. The free-kick, from near the right touch-line, was curled, left-footed, to the far post by Russell Pym. The ball was headed back into the six-yard box, where Sam Lampard, who also scored in Molesey’s 3-0 victory in the corresponding game last season, was able to score from close range. A very simple goal, and an early blow for the visitors.

This might have caused heads to drop, but instead Ashford, in all yellow, went on to produce clearly their best half of football I’ve seen so far this season – the second-half comeback at Horsham not excepted. Responding to John Cumberbatch’s urgings to get the ball down and play the ball quickly, they looked bright and full of ideas coming forward. RJ Boorman was putting his foot on the ball and switching play in the middle, and Sol Henry looked threatening on the left, getting into some forward positions. However, clear-cut chances were hard to come by, and many promising situations were spoilt by Joby Thorogood’s habit of carelessly being caught off-side (although Shaun Bradshaw and Ian Ross were also caught during the first half). Joby’s problem is that he doesn’t realise that he can give defenders a two-yard start and still skin them for pace. When he starts fearing the off-side flag, instead of being frightened of not getting to the ball in time, then this will drastically increase the number of scoring chances the team gets. With Molesey maintaining a very high defensive line, there was definitely an opportunity missed today.

In spite of the midfield looking good, there were still some defensive frailties shown in the first half, and it was a good thing that Dave Wietecha was superb in goal. An example of this was in the eleventh minute, when an attempted clearance from Jamie Smith, from the heart of the Ashford defence, went straight to a Molesey player. The ball was fed wide to Russell Pym, who was free in the gap left by the right-back, but Big Dave made a good, diving save. On 20 minutes, a good through-ball by Phil Ruggles put James Mepham in with a clear sight of goal, but Tom Adlington, who’s at the top of his game at the moment, saved the situation by getting an important toe to the ball. Wietecha’s save of the match, though, came in the 23^rd minute, when, almost from nothing, Russell Pym hit a tremendous volley, from well outside the penalty area. The ball was about to dip just under the bar when Big Dave rose to tip it over.

Another feature of Ashford’s performance was that there was quite a physical side to their play – which didn’t always please the locals. In fact, Joby Thorogood was lucky, in the 22^nd minute, to get away with a stiff talking-to from the referee when he was careless with his elbow when challenging for a header.

The Hobbit redeemed himself, and Ashford were rewarded for their good football, when he equalised, in the 25^th minute. Shaun Bradshaw, who again did a lot of good things, mostly with his back to goal, without ever having a squeak of a chance to score, was fouled just outside the penalty area, on the right side of the field. Ian Ross came across to take the kick, and curled the ball, left-footed, in towards the near post. I’m not sure how many readers remember the children’s TV programme of the sixties called ”The Magic Boomerang”, but the Molesey defence certainly seemed to stand still, and Joby was on his own in the six-yard box, to toe-poke the ball home.

Although Ashford probably had most possession in the first half, the home side still had their fair share of chances to score. In the 29^th minute, James Mepham was put clean through by a clearance from The Moles’ defence, but his weak shot from 18 yards out was never going to trouble Dave Wietecha, and, in the 37^th minute, Sam Lampard’s flicked header, from a corner, went well wide of the far post.

The chances started to come for Ashford towards the end of the half. In the 39^th minute, Emmanuel Sackey turned and beat his marker, but his right-foot shot went across the face of goal, and wide. Two minutes later, a push on Joby Thorogood gave Ashford a free-kick to the left of the penalty area. This was taken by Gary Clarke, with Gary Croxton going up to offer some rare aerial threat at the set-piece. Clarke’s cross just eluded Croxton’s head, and curled just past the far post. In the 43^rd minute, Manny Sackey was fouled when going on a promising run through the centre. This gave Ashford another free-kick just outside the area, but this time in a central position. There was a collection of yellow shirts around the ball, facing the white wall, but RJ Boorman, who now seems to be the No.1 free-kick taker, as well as being the main midfield play-maker, was the one to take responsibility. He went for power, and fired the ball just over the bar – a corner was given, so the ball must have taken a slight deflection off a defender. Gary Clarke’s corner, on the left, was headed behind for another; the second corner, taken by Ian Ross on the other side, went through the area, and out for a throw-in.

Such was the encouraging nature of the first-half performance that I expected Ashford to go on and win this game, but the boys never really recaptured the rhythm and momentum that they had shown in the first 45 minutes. Tim Thorogood was inclined, after the match, to attribute this to a general lack of fitness, but it might have been more due to the fact that Molesey had the chance to regroup during the interval, and improved their level of performance in the second half. In fact, it was the home side who really should have regained the lead, in the 49^th minute, after being awarded a free-kick for a foul by Gary Croxton on Lampard; (you know which one !). The ball was chipped to the far post, rebounded off Jamie Smith and fell comfortably to Mark Longley, on the six-yard line. Somehow Longley managed to side-foot the ball over the bar.

In the 54^th minute, Referee Osborne stopped the game and went over to the Ashford dug-out, for what looked to be Tim Thorogood’s obligatory public warning for mouthing off. Instead it was a classic case of mistaken identity, as Joffy Thorogood was shown a yellow card for something that someone else had said. Good ol’ Joff !  Not only does he get booked when he’s not even on the field, but he does so without doing anything. What a star !

Shaun Bradshaw also got himself booked, a minute later, for what I think was an unfair challenge, and then was pushed over himself, in the 61^st minute, on the edge of the Molesey area, to give Ashford another free-kick in a dangerous position. This time Gary Clarke took the kick, opting to chip in a cross, but the ball was headed clear by the home defence.

The first of Gary Croxton’s two dodgy moments came in the 63^rd minute. He managed to get himself caught in possession, right on the edge of his own penalty area, but did well to get the ball back with a recovery tackle.

One factor that certainly helped to alter the balance of the game was the Molesey Manager’s decision to replace Mark Longley with Liam O’Leary, on the hour mark. O’Leary looked quite a threat on the left flank, and he set up a clear chance for centre-forward James Mepham, in the 64^th minute. Picking the ball up on the edge of the area, O’Leary squared it to Mepham, whose shot went well over. Two minutes later, O’Leary got on the end of an angled cross to the far post, but, instead of pulling the ball back from the corner of the six-yard box, he attempted a shot, which he was always going to slice wide.

In the 68^th minute, young John Ashwood, in the Molesey goal, put a clearance straight to the feet of RJ Boorman. RJ instinctively side-footed the ball forward, for Joby Thorogood to run on to. For once, Joby didn’t have time to stray off-side, and found himself faced with a one-on-one with Ashwood. Unfortunately, as happened several times in the Ramsgate game, Joby managed to hit the goalkeeper, and was unable to wrap his foot around the rebound. A minute later, Thorogood Jnr reverted to type when another promising opportunity was wasted when he was caught off-side. Infuriatingly, not only was he off-side when the ball was played through to him, he was never on-side at any point in the attack, which made it easy for both the Lino and the Molesey defence. (One good feature of the otherwise unimpressive Herds Renault Stadium is that the few seats in the only stand are in a raised position on the half-way line, so I was able to get a good view of the off-side situation).

In the 71^st minute, Ashford made their first substitution, with Denver “Two Cities” Birmingham coming on for Manny Sackey; Denver took his place in central midfield, meaning that RJ Boorman moved out to the right. Almost immediately, however, it was Molesey who had a good scoring opportunity. Russell Pym played a through-ball from midfield, and presented Phil Ruggles with a one-on-one with Dave Wietecha – although he slid the ball past the Ashford ‘keeper, he also saw the ball go wide of goal when he really should have hit the target.

By this time, half-time optimism had turned to realism, and, given the way the game was now going, those of us with the Club’s interests at heart would have settled for a well-deserved point for the afternoon’s efforts. This view was heightened in the 75^th minute, after Gary Croxton’s second, and worst, gaff. This was a howler that keeps central defenders awake at night, and makes fans throw their hands up in horror. Tracking back towards his own goal, Gary’s routine back-pass to the ‘keeper never even got half-way to its destination, and effectively merely laid the ball into the path of James Mepham. Luckily, Mepham’s poor finishing continued; although he managed to get the ball past Wietecha, Tom Adlington was able to get back and clear the ball from the mouth of an empty goal.

Two minutes later, there was another promising free-kick situation for Ashford, when Joby Thorogood was bundled over, right on the edge of the penalty area, in a dead central position. With a packed defensive wall to face, RJ Boorman again went for power, and would have scored but for a wonderful, diving, one-handed save by Ashwood. It was probably this save which earnt the Molesey ‘keeper the Man of the Match award from the home side’s sponsors (as I don’t remember him making too many other saves).

With ten minutes to go, Ashwood was involved again, but the incident had nothing to do with the ball. Sol Henry, quite uncharacteristically, rather “lost it” with a late challenge, and this incensed The Moles’ goalie so much that he came racing out of his goal to protest. After a brief push & shove session that involved a number of players, Henry got himself a yellow card and, on the recommendation of the Lino on the near side, so did Ashwood. Almost immediately, the Ashford bench wisely, and understandably, pulled Solly off, to save him from getting into further trouble – what was less understandable, however, was that it was Kenny Jarrett-Elliott who was the preferred replacement on the left side of midfield, instead of the long-suffering Anthony Pace. (I can only assume that Pacey doesn’t have any boots, as his bum has been glued to the bench all season).

In the 84^th minute, there was another yellow card shown to an Ashford player – this time it was Tom Adlington, and this time it was absolutely daft. Having previously shown all his experience in getting away with far worse during the course of the match, Tommy clattered an opponent from behind, in a position of no danger. Like putting a penny in a slot, the Referee immediately reached for his pocket.

Kenny Watch: The final chance for Ashford to sneak the three points – and, let’s face it, we’d deserve something to go our way, against the run of play, for a change – came in the 89^th minute. RJ Boorman, with a quickly-taken free-kick, swept the ball out to Kenny Jarrett-Elliott, on the left corner of the penalty area. The Man With Three Names showed good close control, but was unable to get a cross in, and the ball went out for a corner. The corner was wasted.

The final scare at the other end came with 90 minutes on the watch, with that man Liam O’Leary in possession in a two against two break. He moved the ball wide, to his left, to James Mepham, but Mepham, with six goals to his name so far this season, once again made a hash of it – his first touch was poor, and the Ashford defence was easily able to put the ball behind for a corner.

So a fair result in the end, and, with Newport and Corinthians both losing, this must be regarded as a point gained. That makes it 15 points from the first half of our 44 league games this season, so we’ll definitely need to improve on that in the second half.