ARCHIVE: Rothwell Town v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. 2002-3 season.

Rothwell Town  1       Ashford Town   0

from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

This will have to be a very brief report, as I have to work mid-week !  Seems that’s also the case with many of the playing staff, as Ashford Town turned up with just 13 players.

Ignore the scoreline. This was a very good performance by the boys. We dominated the game, with some decent football – with only ten men for an hour, following Sam Saunders’s red card – and were only beaten by a penalty by a decidedly ordinary-looking Rothwell side.

In spite of the lack of numbers and the long list of injuries and suspensions, Tim Thorogood managed to put out a pretty experienced side, with only Saturday’s Man-of-the-Match, Ian Gibbs, a surprise absentee. This meant a now fairly rare start for former skipper Peter Mortley. Whilst this appeared to be ominous news at first, there was no cause for alarm, as the defence really shone in what was a good all-round team performance. With Martin Anderson moving up to midfield following Sammy’s sending off, Ashford played most of the match with a back three of Aaron O’Leary, Mortley and Stuart White, and all three looked confident and composed on the ball. Rarely was an opportunity missed to play and pass the ball out of defence, and the Three Amigos sometimes toyed with the Rothwell attack. Aaron O’Leary deserves a special mention – he was born solid, but he’s now developing into a seriously good defender, and, in terms of technique and ability, looked to be our best player last night.

When we had eleven players on the pitch we had a 4-4-2 formation, with Simon Elliott and Sam Saunders in the middle of midfield, Paul O’Brien on the left and young Barry Gardiner on the right. The reason for the “nil” in the scoreline was that we were, with the suspension of Lee McRobert, a bit lightweight up front. Dave Hassett and Adrian Stone have plenty of pace, but can sometimes lack strength in the tackle. Neither had a bad game, but our main tactic – that of straight balls over the top, to utilise the pace of our front men – never quite worked, and the Duracell was caught offside innumerable times, as if he’d discovered a new toy or something.

Our main problem at the moment is, quite clearly, a lack of discipline, and our cause wasn’t helped by a referee who wasn’t shy about producing his cards. Adrian was the first to get a yellow card, in the 14^th minute, after he rather “jumped into” his opponent when challenging for a high ball – although the ref’s gestures indicated that the card was more for persistent fouling. Two minutes later, Peter Mortley became the third player altogether to get booked, and, again, it might have been a little harsh. Having to deal with a long, high pass from defence, Mortley clearly never took his eyes off the ball and headed clear, but then landed on top of the home striker, who was backing in slightly. The free-kick should have been awarded to us, but the booking was for Mortley’s prolonged tirade of abuse as he protested to the referee at being penalised. With school-teachers like Mortley, who needs foul-mouthed and insolent school-children ?!

Neither side had had a sniff of a chance when Rothwell got their penalty in the 20^th minute. Top scorer and Blue-eyed Boy Jason Turner had possession of the ball on our penalty spot, with his back to goal and either Mortley or Whitey marking him close behind. Turner laid the ball off and then went down in a heap. John Whitehouse and the Ashford defenders clearly weren’t impressed with him, but the ref must’ve seen something, and No.5 Dean Foley smashed the ball in for what turned out to be the winning goal.

Ashford’s only clear chance of the first half an hour came after 29 minutes. After a foul on Adrianho, Aaron O’Leary came over to the right to take the free-kick left-footed. His in-curler was flicked on towards the far post, where Sam Saunders headed straight at John Hughes, in the Rothwell goal, from close range.

The incident for which the match will be remembered happened two minutes later. Saunders was twice fouled on the half-way line, and obviously lost his rag, diving into an opponent with both feet after the whistle had gone for an Ashford free-kick. It was a revolting lunge, right in front of the main stand, and all hell broke loose for a couple of minutes afterwards. Sammy’s best friend was the referee, who ushered him away whilst a 19-man ruck developed behind them. The bringing out of the red card was a formality – Ashford’s fifth red card in the last four matches, including the Manager’s, and Sam’s second sending-off in 2003.

So Ashford Town’s players trooped off at half-time a goal down, and a man down – Ashford Town’s Chief Executive mooched off for his half-time cuppa ruefully anticipating the Club being hammered financially (again) by the League for our appalling disciplinary record of late.

If anything, the boys were even more on top in the second half, and created more chances, but the clear-cut openings wouldn’t come. Early in the half, Simon Elliott sliced a shot well over the bar, from a corner, and, a minute later, saw his lobbed cross-cum-shot taken by the ‘keeper, just under the bar.

Approaching the hour mark, Dave Hassett and Adrian Stone twice linked up well in attack. First, Adrian just failed to latch onto the ball after an interchange of passes between the two; then, a minute later, he put David through on goal, but the Duracell’s finish was a poor one, firing a shot high and wide from inside the area.

On 66 minutes, Paul O’Brien became the third Ashford player to get a yellow card – this was for a late, but fairly gentle, challenge, so it must rate as a soft booking.

The home side didn’t put a decent attack together until the 76^th minute. A cross from the by-line, on the right, should have produced a goal, but the ball was put wide, from the six yard line. A minute later, John Whitehouse was called upon to deal with a one-on-one situation when Jason Turner (I think) was put through – John didn’t let us down, diving at the forward’s feet, and the ball actually ricocheted out for a goal-kick.

There was just one more chance for the boys to equalise, on 81 minutes. After a period of being compressed in the corner, near our own corner flag, there was a break-out led by Dave Hassett. The Ginger Ninja put Adrian through on goal in the inside-left channel. If the ball had been on his right foot, I reckon he would’ve gone for goal, but, probably because he doesn’t have a left foot, he squared the ball to Simon Elliott, in space. Simon hit it first time, but well wide.

That was it for goal opportunities and bookings etc. Both substitutes who made the trip were given a run out – Kevin Skinner replaced Barry Gardiner, with eight minutes to go, and Dean Hill went on for Paul O’Brien, with two minutes left.

The fact that Ashford seemed to be the side with a man advantage was not lost on one or two of the Rothwell supporters in the decent-sized crowd. Makes you wonder what we might have achieved with eleven.