ARCHIVE: Rugby United v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. 2001-2 season.

Rugby United    4                 Ashford Town      0

From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent

Rugby away. This is just about the most local game for us – certainly since the sad demise of both Witney Town and Baldock Town last summer. In fact, I pass through Rugby station every morning on the way to work (it’s the one stop between Milton Keynes Central and Lichfield Trent Valley). I suppose I could’ve helped to save the world, by using my season ticket instead of the car; but no, it was dump the kids in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, and then straight up the M1 – past Eddie Stobart’s Transshipment Depot, and the dead badger, on the A428, and then through Rugby to the ground in Butlin Road.

There was no problem in finding the ground, which is situated on the extreme North-Eastern edge of the town, right next to the railway line – rather fitting, really, with this being a clash between two famous railway towns. The ground is full of character, as befits a club with such a proud non-league history (most of which has been under the more familiar name of “VS Rugby”, of course). There are well maintained, light blue stands on three sides of the pitch, with plastic seating for 240 people (apparently) on the half-way line. The place’s character is provided by the ample terracing, complete with light blue stanchions, in most parts of the ground – with a capacity of 6,000, it’s not difficult to imagine that there’d be a great atmosphere here for a big cup game. On the “open” side - in the corner, so that the players come onto the pitch via a concrete walkway by the corner flag - there is a large bar and dressing room complex, and behind this there are plenty of spaces in the large, tarmac car park. All in all, you get the impression that Rugby United shouldn’t be struggling at the bottom of the Doc Martens Eastern Division.

But that’s the fact of the matter, and because they were languishing in 17^th position at the start of the game, with teams below them having played fewer games, there was every expectation that they’d give us more of a game than a limp and disinterested Burnham had the last time I saw us play. This impression was reinforced by the fact that Rugby have been playing pretty well of late, with their previous two home games having seen them beat Sittingbourne 2-0 and Bashley 4-1. (You will already be aware, from the scoreline, that “a game”, with brass knobs on, was exactly what we got !).

I am pleased to announce, however, that this was certainly NOT a relegation six-pointer – now that we’ve hauled ourselves up to a season’s best 11^th position, I think that we can allow ourselves to dispense with such negative thoughts, (but touching all available wood, of course !). The agenda for Ashford Town for the remainder of the season – aside from trying to win one of the two cup competitions that we’re still in, of course – is to try to improve on last season’s “vital statistics”, and it’s interesting to note that there are striking similarities between the two very up-and-down (to say the least !) seasons. For instance, last season’s average home league attendance was 253, whilst this season’s currently stands at 248 – the total attendance for cup games this year is so far 934 “not out”, compared with a total of 956 in 2000-2001. Finally, before I take my anorak off, our final league position last season was 12^th (somehow), one place below where we were this morning.

The most notable item of team news, from Ashford’s point of view, was that there was no John Nolan in midfield (so you might say that we were “Scot free”), but that was balanced by the fact that Rugby were without striker Chris Freestone, their new signing from Shrewsbury Town. The home team also had Jason Pearcey playing his first game of the season in goal for them, in the absence of regular No.1 Paul Shepherd, but, as it turned out, I could’ve played in goal for them myself this afternoon, in my slippers !

Ashford played in an orthodox 4-4-2 formation, but with Tim Thorogood appearing to show his positive intentions by starting with Jeff Ross, on the left. Ian Gibbs and Jay Westwood were the central defensive pairing, with skipper Peter Mortley in the right back position; Sam Saunders wore Nolan’s No.6 shirt in the centre of midfield, alongside Simon Elliott and Ian Ross, whilst Dave Hassett and Adrian Stone battled away up front.

And it was young Adrian who had the first attempt on goal of the match, after four minutes. A long clearance from John Whitehouse was won in the air by “Duracell” Hassett; the ball fell to Stone, but his long-range shot was always going just too high. A good, confident start, though.

The pattern of the game was set just a minute later, however, when Rugby’s excellent No.11, Robbie Beard, beat Peter Mortley in the inside-left position; he laid the ball forward to Jermaine Gordon, in the gap left by Mortley, and the home centre-forward had all the time in the world in which to steady himself and power the ball past John Whitehouse. So after three consecutive games – the whole of February, in fact – without conceding a goal, the chance of keeping another clean sheet went with one enormous defensive bowel movement. It was a well-taken goal, but John Whitehouse was left alarmingly exposed.

Beard, with his pace, and Gordon, with his skill and touch, were a thorn in Ashford’s side throughout the game, but it was the green & white shirts who went forward in search of an equaliser after eleven minutes. Dave Hassett knocked the ball down to Sam Saunders, who spread the ball out to Jeff Ross, for his first attack down the left flank, but his cross was blocked and put behind for a corner.

Ashford put some good pressure on the Rugby defence early on, often forcing the home defenders to hoof the ball out, but without much end-product. Just about our best chance came in the 17^th minute, when the boys had a corner on the right – Jeff Ross went across to take it, in-swinging, with his left foot, but Adrian Stone’s header was well wide. Six minutes later, we had another corner, this time on the left – the right-footed Sam Saunders, who took most of Ashford’s corners on this side, provided the in-swinger, but Jason Pearcey, in the Rugby goal, claimed it with a good catch. (Alright, then, I probably couldn’t have done that in my slippers, but I’m sure you took my point !).

Things very nearly got worse for Ashford in the 27^th minute, when Gordon challenged for the ball in the air with Jay Westwood (now happily restored to the side, after a spell of injury) – Gordon got his head to the ball first, and found right-back Pete Spacey all on his own on the right side of the penalty area. Fortunately, though, he sliced his shot well wide.

It was fairly good, end-to-end stuff throughout the game, and Ashford were on the attack a minute later. Sam Saunders found Pete Mortley on the overlap on the right, but his cross was cleared; the ball was funnelled back to him almost immediately, however, and, this time, he managed to get the cross into the middle, but Dave Hassett’s glancing effort with the right instep was just wide. Still the Rugby ‘keeper hadn’t had to make a save.

On the half-hour mark, Jermaine Gordon was put through with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. John Whitehouse did all he could by coming out to meet Gordon, but the No.9 lifted the ball over his head. Jay Westwood, sprinting back, managed to slide in and hoike the ball clear, but the referee was certain that the ball was already over the line, and awarded the goal. 2-0 to Rugby, with Gordon getting both goals.

With a two-goal lead, the home side, playing in light blue shirts and navy blue shorts and socks, was, naturally enough, starting to buzz, and a long ball from deep in the Rugby half found Robbie Beard free on the right, after 33 minutes. On this occasion, Beard’s control let him down (although it was a close shave !), and the ball ran through to Whitehouse, who was once again left horribly exposed.

Beard’s pace was again very much in evidence two minutes later, when he pushed the ball past Jay Westwood. Jay showed great strength to get in front of the home No.11, who, in his frustration, wrestled his man to the ground. It was an ugly challenge from the Rugby player (and there’s no pun intended there), who got away with a stern lecture from the referee.

Referee Brockwell wasn’t so lenient after 40 minutes, though, when Simon Elliott had a rush of blood to the head (which isn’t entirely out of character), and was very late with a tackle. He probably deserved the yellow card, which turned out to be the only card shown in the match. The team might have been further punished, as the free-kick was conceded in a dangerous position on the edge of the area, but Jay Westwood, who played an absolute blinder throughout, was there again to head clear. To complete this little saga, Rugby got even with Simon Elliott in the 44^th minute, when one of their number – no names, no pack drill – connected with a fore-arm smash to the back of Simon’s neck when “challenging” for a high ball. Some of the travelling support from Ashford thought they’d assist the referee by reminding him where his cards were kept, but Mr Brockwell took no action.

So half-time came with the Rugby ‘keeper having not had a save to make – come to think of it, John Whitehouse hadn’t made a save in anger either, but the home side had scored those two all-important goals.

Both sides began the second half with plenty of urgency and commitment, with the play flowing both ways, but the home side probably having slightly the better of things. They certainly made their marginal superiority count, in the 56^th minute, when they made the three points safe with a third goal. A free-kick conceded by Ian Ross on the half-way line was used to put Robbie Beard through yet again down the right. Beard pulled the ball back from the by-line, and either Gordon or his lookalike strike partner, Steve Padmore, bundled the ball in from close range. (I realise that the identity of the scorer is an important piece of information, as this could’ve been a well-deserved hat-trick for Jermaine Gordon, but I honestly don’t know which forward got the vital touch).

The bottom line, of course, is that it was now 3-0, and a long way for the green & whites to come back from, but the work rate and commitment never flagged. Dave Hassett certainly never gave up, and, a minute after the third goal, he seemed to try to beat the entire Rugby team on his own; his run ended when he was checked on the edge of the home side’s penalty area. Jeff Ross tapped the free-kick to Sam Saunders, whose curling right-foot shot didn’t bend in enough, and went wide of the far post. (It probably just needed a couple of wallies with brooms, like they have in the Winter Olympics).

After 59 minutes, with Rugby now playing slick, one-touch football, with pace, a long cross-field ball found Padmore out on the right. Padmore got a right foot to the ball, his shot beating John Whitehouse, but Jay Westwood (who else ?!) this time succeeded in clearing the ball off the line.

On the 61 minute mark, the Doc Martens League Manager of the Month for January (lest we forget !) decided that it was time to chance his arm, and try to salvage something from the game – he brought on a striker, in Steve Smith, for Peter Mortley; Smithy taking his place on the right side of a three-man attack, leaving us three-against-three at the back. It was good to see Smithy back in the fray, after a spell in the reserves, and he might have been called into action a minute later. Dave Hassett picked the ball up mid-way inside the Rugby half, and again dribbled the ball as far as the edge of the penalty area. He was always being ushered wide by the home defence, and he shot tamely wide, when a pass to Smith would have been the better option.

So that first shot on target was proving elusive for our boys, and Tim made his second substitution in the 66^th minute – Jeff Ross made way for young Gavin Tomlin. Two minutes later, the third, and final, sub was thrown on, but this time it was more of an enforced change. Simon Elliott, on the break, was tackled heavily from behind by Pete Spacey – commentators often describe this sort of tackle as “clumsy”, when we all know that the challenge was quite deliberate, and calculated to snuff out the opposition’s break – and he stayed down for some time. Peter McRobert was paying a great deal of attention to Simon’s right knee, and, although he got up and soldiered on for a minute or so, was soon replaced by Thorogood Jnr. With poor Paul Hobbs in hospital after being attacked in Maidstone in mid-week, let’s hope it’s not a serious injury. The referee obviously took the view that the tackle was merely “clumsy”, so Spacey got away with just a fatherly chat.

Thorogood Snr seems to have settled on the idea of using Simon Elliott in midfield; although he’s never let us down in that position, my own opinion (for what it’s worth) is that we look a better side with Simon partnering the Duracell in attack. Adrian Stone is obviously a good striking prospect, but he’s still very young, and a bit lightweight, and at times today he looked a bit of a boy amongst men. Elliott has certainly never set the world alight with the number of goals he scores, but his aggressive style would give us more of a cutting edge up front. In fact, although none of the Ashford players had a particularly bad game (which might be hard to believe, in the context of what was to become a bit of a thrashing on paper), the one general criticism of the team in general was that they were shrugged off the ball, beaten to the ball and caught in possession a little too often.

And whilst we’re handing out the medals, in the face of defeat, I should also mention that, in addition to Jay Westwood having a blinding game at the back, Ian Ross managed to shine in midfield; a pity, though, that he really played too deep to have a telling influence on the outcome of the game.

Back to the blow-by-blow account, then, and Aaron O’Leary (who was also pretty solid – again !) did some good work on the left, in the 79^th minute. He found Steve Smith on the right, whose cross found Dave Hassett, in the centre, but the Orange Man’s header was blocked. In the 81^st minute, after some quite sustained Ashford pressure, our defence was once again tormented by Robbie Beard’s pace; Beard beat a green-shirted defender to put himself through in the inside-right position, but, for the first time in the game, John Whitehouse was able to show his quality, with a fine diving save.

Five minutes later, Ian Gibbs – who’s a big, strong lad at the back, but a little (shall we say) lumbering – was caught in possession, but Jay Westwood was there to save his blushes with an excellent covering tackle. The ball wasn’t completely cleared, though, and was drilled in again from the by-line – Jermaine Gordon (or maybe it was his mate !) forced the ball in from a position almost on the goal-line, but it wasn’t difficult for the linesman to flag up for off-side. A minute later, just three minutes from the end of normal time, Robbie Beard was, yet again, the “danger man”, on the right – he threaded the ball through to Ian King, in the penalty area, and John Whitehouse again made a good save from a firmly hit shot.

With the forecast drizzle just starting to fall from the overcast sky that had shrouded the ground from the first whistle – and with my wife now just about completely frozen (bless her !) – the home side launched Beard down the right, with a long ball from defence. This time, Ian Gibbs barely bothered to trot after him – you have to understand that this was the ultimate tortoise .v. hare match-up ! – but Jay Westwood saved the day yet again, sprinting across to cover with what was probably the tackle of the match. It was to no avail, though, as the cross from the resulting corner fell among a crowd of players - Ian King was first to react, and planted the ball into the corner of the net. 4-0 !

I timed the fourth goal as coming in the 92^nd minute, but there was time for one more chance for the home side. Inevitably, it was Beard, looking for what would have been a well deserved goal to cap a brilliant performance – he picked the ball up on the right, cut in, onto his left foot, but then could only shoot straight at John Whitehouse.

Visitors to the site who have been following Ashford’s excellent run of results of late – certainly our friends in Australia and Malaysia – will probably be puzzled to find that we’re suddenly on the wrong end of a 4-0 score-line. I was at the game, and I can’t really offer much in the way of explanation. I’d certainly stick to my guns and say that we didn’t really play all that badly, and that you couldn’t really point the finger at any individuals. I suppose the answer is that Rugby were mighty impressive. They were lively in attack – and might have scored even more goals – and their defence was easily able to cope with an attack that has been full of goals recently. On this showing, they definitely won’t have to worry about relegation, so I’ll look forward to making a return visit to Butlin Road next year.