ARCHIVE: Rothwell Town v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. March 2002.

Rothwell Town  0       Ashford Town            2

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

Seven league games of the season to go, and maybe time to have a quick look over the shoulder at the relegation situation, now that we’ve gained just one point (and scored just one goal) from the last three games. If we can take it that Tonbridge Angels and Wisbech are the two teams in the shittiest situation at the moment, then they’re the ones for us to watch out for – before today’s game, we were five points and six points clear of them, respectively, but both had a game in hand. Not an enormous cushion, as cushions go, but the main source of comfort, I think, is in the “numbers game” – just as a herd of antelopes fleeing lions knows that only a few of their number will be caught, we can see that there are probably nine teams in the bottom half of the table who could be relegated (including us), but only two actually will. Still, as with the antelopes, it’s a pretty good idea to keep running, so a point or three at Rothwell would not go amiss ! 

I was actually a bit surprised to find that today’s hosts are bang there as relegation outsiders themselves, being level with us on points, having played a game fewer. A look at their recent results, however, explained why they were down in the bottom half of the table, as they haven’t managed a win in the league since January the 12^th, when they beat us 2-1 at The Homelands; since then, they’ve played out three draws and been defeated in the other six games (including a 7-0 shellacking at Stamford !). So a decent result for us wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility !

Another thing that occurred to me during the week was that I hadn’t seen the boys win for some time – in fact, the last victory that I had witnessed was the 3-1 away to Witney, when Tommy Sampson was still in charge and Dave Peachey scored a couple of goals. “Maybe I’m just a Jonah”, I thought ! 

Before we get on to the main business of the day, I expect there are plenty of visitors to the site who don’t know where Rothwell is (come on, admit it !). Rothwell is a smallish market town / large village just a couple of miles to the West of Kettering, in Northamptonshire. It’s also very close to Corby, so that would be their big derby match in the league, and Rugby’s not far away either. More to the point, of course, it’s only thirty-odd miles to the North of Milton Keynes, so it was a straightforward journey up the A509 for us, via Olney and Wellingborough.

The Cecil Street ground is situated on the edge of the town / village, and the first thing that strikes you on arrival is the fact that the pitch slopes quite severely from corner-to-corner. The second thing that I noticed was that both goal mouths were full of sand – obviously a legacy of the wet winter we’ve had. It’s not a particularly imposing ground, but it’s not the worst in our league, either. Plastic seating is provided in the main stand, which is quite elevated, to give a good view of the game. On the other three sides of the pitch are what really amount to shelters – the usual breeze block and corrugated iron efforts that you get at football grounds – but they at least give the ground a balanced and complete look. Not that the club needs a huge stadium in which to accommodate all its supporters, – Rothwell’s highest league gate so far this season is the 208 they got back in August for the Stamford match, with only 125 turning up for the previous home game, against Chatham.

It was good to see John Nolan warming up with the team before the match, as I think we missed him in the Rugby game, but the big shock was the absence of top scorer Dave “Duracell” Hassett – this at least gave Simon Elliott the opportunity to return to the forward line, having spent much of the season in midfield. It was also strange to see an Ashford team without Aaron O’Leary at left-back – it occurred to me that, as he and the Duracell are the front runners for the Player of the Season award, maybe they were just giving the other lads a chance to impress. O’Leary’s No.3 position was taken by Ian Ross, who put in an impressive display in midfield in the 4-0 defeat at Rugby. The other positional surprise was that Stuart White was given a fairly forward role on the right side of midfield, with utility man Jay Westwood finding himself at right back.

So it was 4-4-2 for Ashford Town : Elliott up front with teenager Adrian Stone, Jeff Ross, John Nolan, Sam Saunders and White in midfield, and Ross (I), Ian Gibbs, Peter Mortley and Jay Westwood across the back. John Whitehouse was in goal, as usual.

Ashford kicked off (in warm sunshine, for a change), playing up the slope in the first half. It was obvious that the slope would have a considerable effect on the game, and there was evidence of ground advantage early on, with the Ashford defence having trouble judging the bounce down-slope. In fact, there was plenty of “Route One” aerial stuff from Rothwell – playing in all blue - early on, but with no end product. The only chance to either side in the first ten minutes fell to the home side, with a corner in the fifth minute – the resulting cross was headed well wide by the home side’s big, black No.5, Ossie Mintus. (I’m not totally sure which position Mintus was playing in – he was certainly built like a centre-half, wore the No.5 shirt, but seemed to be all over the pitch).

Our lads had their first half-chance after eleven minutes. Ian Ross took a throw on the left, inside the Rothwell half, and accepted a return pass from Sam Saunders, controlling a difficult ball on his chest. Ross aimed a speculative, lob-cum-cross to the far post – John Hughes in the Rothwell goal let the ball go, and, with Stuart White in close attendance, the ball went just a couple of feet wide.

Two minutes later, Simon Elliott laid the ball off to Adrian Stone, who spread the ball wide to Stuart White, who was again well forward on the right. White took an early decision to shoot, right footed, from well outside the area, but his shot went just wide.

Rothwell’s main attacking strategy was still to pump long balls down the slope, but Gibbs and Mortley coped pretty well with this. At the other end, Elliott and Stone were winning nothing in the air – this was partly because they were physically out-matched by the home defenders, but also because the referee repeatedly allowed the defence to get away with the forearm in the back of the neck, providing our boys with very little protection. So not much action in either goal mouth, and the next clear-cut chance was not created until the 31^st minute, and was carved out by Rothwell’s Ryan Nash – he easily went past Ian Gibbs, to give himself a clear shooting chance from 18 yards out, but his left-foot shot was well saved by John Whitehouse, diving low to his left.

In truth, there was very little constructive stuff produced by Ashford, and no link-up play between the front two in evidence. The most entertaining moments of the first half were probably provided by Gary Anderson, with his verbal exchanges with the Rothwell Manager keeping the crowd in the main stand richly entertained. (There is a theory in some parts of the Western World that all Scousers are gob-shites, but we must all pull together to insist that our Gary is an exception to that apparent rule !). The conversation got a little heated at times, though, so the linesman had to intervene with a few words, to calm things down a little.

Back on the pitch, there is no doubt that “The Bones” (I’ve no idea !) had the better of the play in the first period, in terms of possession and territorial advantage, and, after 33 minutes, they won a free-kick in a dangerous position near the corner flag, after an obstruction by Jeff Ross. The resulting cross into the crowded penalty area was a dangerous one, but it was deflected well wide by a Rothwell boot.

In the 39^th minute, the home side won another free-kick, in a similar position – this resulted from Ian Ross doing well to get his body between the ball and a Rothwell forward, but the referee took the view that he fouled his man. The free-kick came to nothing, but the decision by the ref was an example of a pretty poor performance from the man in black throughout the game. Ranting about the officials is something that I almost never do in these match reports, but it has to be said that there were many transgressions that went unpenalised – and more about some of these later – and there were some pretty strange decisions at other times. I would also go as far as to say – and I know I’ll be accused of bias here – that the majority of the poor decisions went against our lads. Needless to say, (and there’s no great surprise here), the Ashford bench certainly thought so, and it was looking a close-run thing as to whether Tim would cut his own throat before Gary did ! 

The exasperation of the Ashford management was increased further about a minute before half-time, when there was a minor spat between Ian Ross and Rothwell’s Craig McIlwain. It was the usual sort of thing : Ross fouled McIlwain - McIlwain reacted angrily - there was a brief nose-to-nose confrontation between the two. The result was that Ian ended up with a yellow card – the only caution in the match, as it turned out. Whether this was for the original foul, or for a little kick that he half-aimed at the Rothwell man whilst he was on the ground, I don’t know.

So 0-0 at half-time, with few chances created by either side – The Bones ahead “on points”, but, with Ashford being the away team, and having to climb the slope in the first half, I reckon that Tim was fairly happy to be all-square at the interval.

The expectation, of course, was that the green & white shirts would turn defence into attack when playing down the slope, but this didn’t really materialise, as Rothwell maintained their territorial dominance at the start of the second half. Their pressure could well have resulted in their taking the lead, in the 52^nd minute, after a long-range shot had been deflected for a corner. The resulting cross, from the right, led to the ball bobbling around in the Ashford area, and it certainly bounced up and hit Sam Saunders somewhere on the arm – whether the ball hit him on the shoulder or the bicep or somewhere else, I cannot be sure, but there was plenty of disbelief among the Rothwell players that the ref didn’t award a penalty. Maybe we were a little lucky with that one.

Still Rothwell pressed, leading to Jay Westwood conceding a free-kick on the edge of the area. There was no malice intended, but Jay was pretty late, and it looked like he might receive a caution for it – but, fortunately, he got away with just a lecture from the referee. The free-kick, from the edge of the “D”, was blasted wastefully wide by Jason Turner.

This was pretty much the pattern of it for quite a spell in the second half – the home side moving forward, with the Ashford defence forced into conceding a number of free-kicks – but the line was held, and John Whitehouse remained untroubled.

On the hour mark, we very nearly took the lead, completely out of the blue. Rothwell’s Andy Bullimore completely miskicked a routine clearance, and, for a second, it looked like Simon Elliott was clean through for a “gift” goal, but the ball trickled through to John Hughes, the home goalkeeper. Shortly afterwards, however, there was no reprieve, as Ashford successfully stole a lead. Straight from a poor goal-kick, Stuart White guided an accurate header for Simon Elliott to run on to – the striker made no mistake, as he passed the ball past Hughes, and into the net. Simon was clearly delighted to score, this being his first goal since January the 5^th !

I have to say that it was a bit of a “steal” by the lads (although none of us will complain about that !), but it’s amazing how the goal transformed the game, as Ashford were pretty well in control of the game from here, and visibly grew in confidence. A minute later, in the 62^nd minute, Adrian Stone had the presence of mind to look up and spread the ball wide to Jay Westwood, overlapping on the right; Jay pushed an easy through-ball into the path of Simon Elliott in the inside-right position; Elliott put a good cross into the area, which was clearly handled by a Rothwell defender, but, incredibly, the referee failed to award a penalty. It was fairly inexplicable this one – the ball hit the blue-shirted defender somewhere around the wrist area, with his arm fully extended, and the ref was only about five yards away. Still, as Ned Kelly, the notorious Australian outlaw, said just before he was hung : “Such is life !”. I suppose the best we can say is that it was probably 1-1, in terms of legitimate penalty appeals being turned down.

As so often happens, it took the home team a while to recover from going behind, but they were back on the attack again after 66 minutes – Sam Saunders went in, whole-heartedly, for a 50/50 ball on the edge of the Ashford area, and was a little unlucky to concede a free-kick for arriving a bit late. Rothwell debutant Jamie Kearns – who took the majority of the team’s free-kicks, and generally looked a useful recruit – put in a curling cross, but John Whitehouse claimed it with great authority.

On the 70-minute mark, it was finally Ashford’s turn to have a free-kick on the edge of the area – for a push on Sam Saunders. John Nolan and Ian Ross both stood over the ball as the blue wall was forming; eventually, Ross took the free-kick direct, but blasted the ball high and over the bar. There was a delay just prior to the free-kick being taken, whilst Stuart White received treatment from Peter McRobert. After the administering of some “Old Bastard Spray” to the knee, Stuart struggled on, but soon, after 75 minutes, was replaced by Steve Smith.

Two minutes before the substitution, Adrian Stone did well to manufacture a chance out of next-to-nothing – Adrian won the ball from another fairly poor goal-kick, and immediately unleashed a shot from long range; it didn’t seem like an effort that should’ve troubled Hughes in the Rothwell goal, but he struggled to make ground to the ball as it skidded across the sand-pit, and he was probably relieved to see the ball go just wide of the post.

As time began to run out for the home team, and clear-cut chances for an equaliser were proving elusive, there were signs of frustration creeping in, and big Ossie Mintus – it was a toss-up as to whether he, or our own Ian Gibbs, should be awarded the prize for “Biggest Bugger on the Pitch” – was fortunate not to receive a caution for a late tackle on John Nolan. Ashford were playing it absolutely right at this stage : taking plenty of time over free-kicks and throw-ins, and generally slowing the game down.

After 83 minutes, Simon Elliott gave Adrian Stone a through-ball to run on to – the teenager gave the defender a head-start of about a length, but still managed to get to the ball first; he then showed good strength to hold his man off, but his right-footed shot was well saved by the ‘keeper.

The game opened up considerably during the last five minutes, with Rothwell throwing men forward in search of the equaliser, leading to some proper end-to-end footy. The home side’s best chance during this spell came in the 89^th minute : a corner from the right was headed clear by John Nolan, and Rothwell’s Graham Keast shot over the bar from outside the area. Once again, John Whitehouse was not troubled.

There was a session of Head Tennis in the home half with 91 minutes on the clock, which ended with Jeff Ross – who was, unusually, about to complete a full ninety minutes – putting Adrian Stone clean through on goal. Again, the youngster showed good strength to hold off the challenge of the defender, rounded the keeper, and slotted the ball into the empty net. The goal was celebrated on the Ashford bench like New Year’s Eve, which showed how much the victory meant to the management. Three points away from home is always welcome, but, when Adrian slotted the ball into the net, it looked like we’d won promotion and the Kent Senior Cup all at the same time !

A long-range shot from Rothwell’s Chris Smith forced John Whitehouse into making a save, diving to his left, as late as the 94^th minute, but the second goal effectively put the lid on the match. It wasn’t a pretty performance from the boys, but they took their chances well when they came, and the ‘keeper was very rarely troubled – you might call it a good “away team’s performance”. It was certainly good to see the players get a generous ovation from the travelling Ashford supporters as they left the pitch.

So let’s have no more talk about relegation in these reports !  Although I think that Rothwell might start to look a little anxiously at the league table, as that’s now ten successive league matches without a win, seven of those games being defeats – that’s the sort of run that can cause any club relegation worries. It’s probably a good job for them that, for once, just about all the teams struggling at the bottom of the table also lost !