Spalding United 3 Ashford Town 2
From Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
It’s a job to know how to set the scene
for this one. A week ago, of course, it would’ve been easy : it was a doom
& gloom scenario. Virtually bottom of the league with four points from the
first ten games, and dumped out of the FA Cup at the hands of Hassocks (!) in
front of a crowd of 81. Owner / Manager Tim Thorogood receiving torrents of
abuse both from the terraces and via the Club’s internet Message Board (which
is less gratitude than most knights in shining armour get when they play the
role of saviour). And most worryingly, a squad of players who, by all accounts,
are mostly not up to it at this level. A journalist’s dream, really : Ashford
Town FC’s lowest ebb in terms of results and league position, whilst,
paradoxically, the Club is reportedly in its best financial position for many
years.
I was going to make quite a meal of all these issues, but
Tuesday night’s result has rather clouded things – instead of the expected tonking
at the hands of third-placed Erith & Belvedere, we actually beat the
buggers ! It was 3-2, and it could have
been quite a few more ! And all this
probably thanks largely to the Boss bringing in half a dozen quality players in
the past ten days or so. Suddenly we’re out of the bottom three and the Message
Board regulars have forgotten about slagging off poor ol’ Tim, and they’re
making optimistic noises : the new boy Currey looks a class act – Simon Glover
is back; he’s good – Andy Morris is also back; he’s class as well – the new
front two look a real striking partnership. By the end of the week, it’s all
banter, and (I kid you not) they’re now quoting Voltaire at one another. (For
any Lincolnshire peasants who have stumbled upon the site, Voltaire was the
bloke who invented electricity).
So it was going to be interesting to see how the lads got on
against Spalding United, a relatively small Club now beginning their third
season in the Doc Martens League, having won the United Counties League in
1998-9, and starting the day in a respectable 11th position. It was
also my first sight of the team this season, my previous game being the last
game of last season, when what was, for all intents and purposes, our reserve
side put up a brave performance away to Histon. (Incidentally, I notice that
Tim’s record with the team at the end of last season, following Tommy’s
departure, has been used against him by at least one of his tormentors – this
is ridiculously unfair, as we played the last 14 games of last season with a
mixture of boys and old men (literally 15 year-olds and 50 year-olds), and they
never had any chance at this level). I was also looking forward to seeing some
of the old favourites that have recently returned from Folkestone Invicta.
For the uninitiated (and I know there are plenty of you out
there), Spalding is a market town in Lincolnshire, well off the beaten track,
really. In fact, it’s in deepest Fenland – about a hundred miles West of
Helsinki (only joking). I’ve always considered it to be right on the edge of
our travelling radius, from our Milton Keynes base, but it actually only took
us an hour and 35 minutes to make the 78-mile trip – straight up the A1, then
onto the A16 at Stamford.
The football ground is well located – towards the centre of
town, adjacent to a shopping centre. That’s how it ought to be – at the centre
of community life, as opposed to being shoved out of town somewhere, as if it’s
some sort of embarrassment. It’s just across the road to a scruffy, 1960s-style
bus station, but at least that provides plenty of handy parking on match days.
The actual site of the ground – the Sir Halley Stewart Field – looks like it
used to be the site of an old cattle market. It’s spacious, making for a nice,
relaxed atmosphere, and the pitch looked lush, flat and even. In fact, it
looked like Wembley (before they ploughed it up) compared with some pitches at
this level – I reckon I’ve played cricket on outfields worse than Spalding’s
pitch, so there’d be no excuse for not keeping the ball on the grass. As at
many grounds in our division, three sides of the pitch are completely open, but
there was a good view from the raised stand on one side of the pitch, and there
was more than enough seating accommodation for the small crowds that Spalding
normally get. (In fact, today’s attendance was 170, comfortably the home side’s
biggest league gate of the season – it’s not a huge gathering, but it’s still
20 more than we had at home to Erith on Tuesday, which is worrying !).
I can also report that it was a sunny, mild day throughout,
so I had the rare pleasure of watching footy (to use a quaint, old expression)
“in shirt sleeves”. (I didn’t like the rest of the shirt, so I threw it away
and just kept the sleeves). Speaking of shirts, I also had my first sight of
the team’s new kit (reminding me that I haven’t bought a replica kit since,
well, about four teams ago !). The
traditional green & white contrasted with the tangerine (which was really a
“dayglo” orange) and black of the home team’s shirts – strangely, this used to
be the colour of Ashford’s “change strip” years ago, when we had such a thing.
I managed to have a quick chat with Tim Thorogood before the
match, and he was clearly encouraged by Tuesday night’s result, whilst still
acknowledging that there was still plenty of work to do. His main preoccupation
was that, whilst the team was playing quite well, we were gifting our opponents
with silly goals, and this was causing us to lose so many games by the odd
goal. He was also frustrated at not being able to have a full squad of players
to work with in the middle of the week, but, as he realises, that’s the way it
is at this level.
Team news : and as expected, there was a first appearance
for Dave Wietcha, in goal, and a return to the Ashford line-up for old soldier
Andy Morris, after both had received clearance to play following their return
from New Zealand. With Dave Hassett on the bench, there was a starting place
for Steve Smith, which was nice to see – he’s always struggled to hold a regular
place in the side under successive Ashford managers, but he’s had an excellent
goal scoring record recently now that he’s been given a chance, in spite of
having precious little support up front. Along with Aaron O’Leary and Paul
Hobbs, Smudger was one of three survivors from the team that faced Histon last
May.
(My Word Count tells me that I’ve now
written 1,176 words without reporting on a single ball being kicked, which must
be a record, even for me !).
Things started brightly for the boys,
with Spalding looking surprisingly dozy and vulnerable in the opening five
minutes. In fact, we opened the scoring after only two minutes. A Jeff Ross
cross from the left was allowed to run all the way to John Nolan, the last man
on the right, unmarked, in the penalty area. The scotsman had plenty of time to
drill the ball into the corner of the net. The perfect start to the game,
carrying on from Tuesday night.
A minute later, Ashford might have struck again, with a long
throw-in deep inside the Spalding half flicked on by Simon Elliott at the near
post, only for Steve Smith to head fairly tamely straight at the ‘keeper.
It wasn’t until the sixth minute that the home side – “The
Tulips”, believe it or not – had their first attack. Their lively
centre-forward, Lee Stevenson, cut in from the left, into the Ashford penalty
area, and his cross-cum-shot was steered behind to safety by left-back Aaron
O’Leary. The resulting corner was cleared by Steve Smith, who set Jeff Ross
away on a break. Rossy’s cross found Simon Elliott in space, and Elliott’s shot
hit the post – Tony Eeles (“miss-machine”), the Club skipper this year, should
have scored from the rebound, but blasted over.
On the ten minute mark, we had yet another chance to go
further ahead. Like most of our attacks, it was Jeff Ross who was the supplier
down the left – his high, floated cross found Smithy in the box, but the ball
broke to Andy Morris on the edge of the area – Morris chipped the ball back in,
but Simon Elliott’s glancing header went just wide.
Ashford looked good at this stage. Paul Hobbs and Andy
Morris in the middle of the back four, flanked by the two youngsters, O’Leary
and Martin Anderson, with Stuart White occupying the holding midfield position
just in front of them. The artistry in midfield came from Eelesy in the centre
and John Nolan on the right, with veteran Jeff Ross playing effectively as a
wing-back, tucking in on the end of a back-five (when he could get there) when
the home side had the ball. Simon Elliott was furthest forward, with Smudger
dropping off about ten yards behind him.
After 17 minutes, i verdibianchi (I like that
expression) were on the attack again, with 18 year-old Martin Anderson pushing
forward down the right. He linked up with Elliott, who neatly beat one player
before sliding the ball back to Anderson, who hit his shot across the goal from
inside the area. Young Anderson has been one of the players who’s been getting
most stick from the Ashford faithful, but I thought he looked OK. He’s a tall,
spindly lad, who sometimes looks like Bambi on ice - he certainly needs to fill
out a bit before he really looks at home. Unfortunately, because of his build,
and because he can look a little lady-like on occasions, he looks really bad
when he does make a mistake, but he certainly has ability. When he puts on a
stone or two I can see him being a really good ball-playing central defender,
rather in the Alan Hansen mould. As a complete contrast, Andy Morris, probably
quite understandably given his recent lack of match-practice, looked a bit
burly – if he were a racehorse, you’d say that he was carrying plenty of
condition, and needed the race – but was always comfortable on the ball, and
looked a class act.
Simon Elliott also looked the part as a front-man – always
dangerous, battling for every ball – and it was a foul on him that gave the
boys a free-kick just two yards outside the penalty area, after 18 minutes.
Jeff Ross took the kick left-footed, bent the ball over the wall
(Beckham-like), and was unlucky to hit the post. Elliott, following up, looked
like he had to score – he did everything right, but Martin Bunce (apologies if
I’ve got the name wrong) in the Spalding goal did well to tip the ball over the
bar.
The most encouraging thing about Ashford’s dominance in the
first half hour was that we seemed to dominate merely because our players
looked better than theirs – quicker to the ball, more skilful and looking more
comfortable on the ball as a result of that skill. John Nolan looks
particularly good, and, with Eelesy having a quiet game, he looked our class
act in midfield. Jeff Ross also played a useful role on the left, always in
space and always providing an outlet for the defence to start an attack. He’s
no spring chicken, Ross, and it’s hard to imagine him going past anyone, but
his crossing was quality throughout.
If I’ve barely mentioned the names of Spalding players, then
this is merely because they weren’t in the game up to this point, but after 27
minutes they finally put a good attack together. Any threat that they had shown
had come from long passes from midfield into the inside-right channel, and it
was one of these through balls that put No.9 Stevenson through on goal. Dave
Wietcha in the Ashford goal didn’t panic, and saved well with his feet. (The
first thing that the home fans noticed about David was the sheer size of him,
as he’s a big lad ! They should’ve seen
Dan Noden, last year !).
Everything changed after 32 minutes. With Ashford’s defence
having been barely threatened up to this point, a throw came in from the left,
and Paul Hobbs rather let it bounce off him, in the penalty area – the ball
broke straight to Lee Stevenson, who fairly slammed the ball into the corner of
the net, giving Big Dave no chance. Bang !
1-1 ! It was definitely Hobbs’s
fault, I’m afraid, and he looked suitably crest-fallen afterwards. Just the
sort of silly error at the back that Tim was talking about before the match,
and I’m sure that he must’ve been fuming.
Predictably, this woke Spalding up, and, after 36 minutes,
the skilful Robbie Williams – less ugly than his famous namesake – ran onto a
chipped through-ball. Wietcha came out of the Ashford goal, but Williams coolly
lifted the ball over him, into the empty net.
Suddenly, we were behind in a game that we had, up to that
point, been controlling. What was worse was that our defence was certainly
rocking, demonstrating the frailty that had probably been the reason for our
undoing on many occasions before this season. After 38 minutes, Martin Anderson
got his head to a floated through-ball in the penalty area, but the ball merely
glanced off his head, for a Spalding striker to run on to. Fortunately, the
resulting shot flashed across the face of the goal, but Wietcha must have got a
touch, as the ref gave a corner. The ball was floated over from the right, only
for Spalding’s Martin Cocksworth to head over the bar, with a free header – the
boys looked decidedly shaky with the cross !
Ashford badly needed a foot-hold, but they wanted the
half-time whistle even more. Unfortunately, the half was characterised by a
number of stoppages, with the trainers running around like Kabul paramedics, so
there was plenty of first-half injury time to play. A brief Town attack,
culminating in John Nolan shooting well over the bar, after 45 minutes, offered
little respite, and Spalding were pressing again two minutes later. It was
Stevenson again who broke down the right, into the Ashford penalty area, but
his cross into the six-yard box was cleared for a corner. Dave Wietcha came out
well to claim the resulting cross from the right.
The agony didn’t end there. After 49 minutes, another long
ball from midfield was latched onto by Stevenson, who again was clean through
with only Wietcha to beat, but the ‘keeper made himself big, and Stevenson
fluffed his left-foot shot wide. (Our defence was looking for off-side with the
through-ball, but Martin Anderson definitely played him “on”. That was another
feature of the game – we hardly ever caught the opposition off-side, which is an
organisational thing that the boys need to work on).
The very welcome half-time whistle went after 50 minutes –
the lads being a little unlucky to be 2-1 down at the interval.
They make a nice cup of tea at Spalding. We also had a bacon
roll and a cheeseburger, made with proper cheese ! I took the opportunity to have a piss at
half-time – the “Gents” was very clean, with a pale blue and white colour
scheme. (You’ll understand that, as usual, I find it hard to know what to leave
out in these reports !).
The home side was quickest off the mark in the second half.
The Ashford defence failed to adequately deal with an awkwardly bouncing ball
in their own half, and young Anderson let Stevenson bully him out of
possession; luckily, the centre-forward’s shot was saved by Wietcha.
It took a while for the second period to really come to the
boil – partly due to a lengthy delay for Peter McRobert to attend to a cut over
Andy Morris’s eye – but the Green & Whites had a free-kick on the right, in
a dangerous position, five minutes into the half. Jeff Ross came over from his
left-sided position to take the kick – he provided a quality left-footed cross,
but the ball just wouldn’t settle properly for Steve Smith in the box.
After 54 minutes, Ashford put together a flowing move, from
right to left, involving Eeles, Smith and Ross. Ross’s cross was put behind for
a corner, with Elliott bearing down on the defender. The resulting corner was
easily cleared, but another corner – this time from the right – a minute later was
flicked on by Elliott, then helped on again by Paul Hobbs, but the danger was
snuffed out by the home defence.
It seemed that the crossed ball was Ashford’s most potent
weapon at this point, with the ball not quite going to an Ashford head at the
crucial moment, but, after 57 minutes, Tim took off Jeff Ross and replaced him
with Chris Currey. It seemed a slightly strange decision, but I suppose Rossy’s
age is bound to dictate that he won’t often do the full 90 minutes. Currey, who
got some rave reviews from the fans in mid-week as a “commanding defender”,
slotted in at left-back, allowing Aaron O’Leary to push further up down the
left (although it must be said that the quality of service from the left for
the rest of the match was never of the same quality as it had been).
Currey was soon in action, two minutes later, but he failed
to clear the ball from his own six-yard line – in fact, he looked more like
John Curry, and fell on the seat of his arse. The ball seemed to be in the box
for an eternity before a teasing chipped cross came across the face of goal –
the ball was headed down at the far post to the home side’s Steve Waiton, who
was wait’n close by, and he couldn’t miss from close range. That made it 3-1,
and the game looked to be slipping away.
Ashford came back immediately, though, with Simon Elliott
cutting in from the left – he was robbed inside the penalty area, but was lucky
to be awarded a corner. The corner-kick was wasted, but we managed to force
another a few seconds later. There was a delay as Tim Thorogood made Ashford’s
second substitution – the aggressive Dave Hassett on for the fairly ineffective
Steve Smith, in a straight striker-swap – but when Eeles eventually took the
kick from the right it was forced in from close range by the right foot of Andy
Morris, charging in through a crowd of players.
So 3-2, and still 28 minutes to go on the watch (plus plenty
of stoppage time, after another spate of injuries). There was plenty of belief
that Ashford could come back and beat this lot, certainly judging from the way
the boys had been playing, and we were awarded a free-kick for hand-ball in the
Spalding half after 65 minutes. With Ross now finished for the day, it was
Nolan who took the kick, floating the ball to Elliott’s head at the far post,
but the ‘keeper did well to tip the ball around the post for a corner.
A minute later, Bunce was in action again, coming out to
clear the ball for a throw-in, a clearance that almost put the ball into The
Wash – the first “lost ball” of the match !
Ashford strived really hard for the equaliser, with the two
lads up front, in particular, showing plenty of aggression and spirit. On the
67 minute mark, however, Dave Hassett overstepped the mark a little, when he
helped a Spalding player into the white metal railings that surround the pitch.
The lad was OK on this occasion, but it could have been nasty, and the referee
gave Hassett a bit of a talking-to.
Three minutes later, though, Hassett was in more acceptable
action, glancing a header from O’Leary’s cross, which was just saved by the
home ‘keeper.
We certainly had one or two chances in this period of the
game, but to no avail – a corner from the right, and then a floated free-kick
from Currey, both straying too close to Bunce in the Spalding goal. But after
76 minutes, the alarm bells were ringing in our defence again. A throw came in
from the Ashford right, into the penalty area, and the Tulips’s big No.5 – who
looked more like a triffid ! – flicked on a free header. Fortunately, there was
no team-mate in the box, so Big Dave gathered the ball in easily enough, but
this was another example of the silly defensive lapses that are driving the
Manager up the wall !
The game was just starting to go a bit flat at this stage,
with Spalding having weathered Town’s surge after Morris’s goal, and further
stoppages for injuries. The home side did, though, have a clear chance to seal
the match, after 81 minutes, when they virtually walked through the Ashford
defence with a neat “one-two” – again, Wietcha pulled off a good save, with the
striker only having him to beat. He looks a handy ‘keeper !
The match started to get a bit ill-tempered towards the end.
Simon Elliott was the main culprit, his patience wearing thin, having battled
away like a trooper for the entire game, without much reward. Whilst there’s
never an excuse for tantrums, it’s quite nice to see that our boys were not too
chuffed at being on the losing side – especially as most of the complaints from
the Ashford faithful have been accusing the players of not caring, and the
Manager of being incapable of motivating his team ! Elliott certainly looked motivated after 82
minutes, when he thought he’d been fouled by a home defender, and reacted
angrily after the ball had gone. A very lenient ref had finally had enough, and
booked the pair of them. Even during the lecture, Elliott refused to shake
hands with his opponent, so the boy certainly has an “edge” to his game.
After 86 minutes, Andy Morris conceded a free-kick – it was
pretty difficult to see exactly what happened, but somehow Morris’s hand made
contact with an opponent’s face, although I’m sure it was accidental. The
cleverly-worked free-kick again put a Spalding forward clean through on goal,
but Big Dave again came to the rescue, saving well.
Throughout the closing 15 minutes or so we were being pushed
back by Spalding, and there was often a large gap between the two lads up front
and our midfield, which limited our effectiveness on the break. The only other
incidents of note in the match were further little outbreaks of frustration
from our boys – little spats which did nothing to help our cause. The worst of
these was when Martin Anderson floated a cross into a crowded penalty area,
which the Spalding ‘keeper did well to collect – unfortunately, he must’ve got
a little kick, for his trouble, from one of our lads (Stuart White, maybe), who
got a cuff round the head from a disgruntled defender. A brief skirmish ensued,
but there was little more than just a bit of pushing & shoving. A minute
later, John Nolan was fouled, and reacted angrily – confirming that he’s a
Jock, in case we didn’t already know – and there was another ruck. Nolan could
easily have got himself a card (either red or yellow) for his behaviour at this
point, but the ref seemed prepared to let the matter pass, without action.
The final whistle wasn’t actually blown until the 98th
minute, but, although the lads never stopped trying, and never lost their sense
of urgency, we were never going to get the point we deserved. To be honest, I
wasn’t too bothered about the result at this point, as I’d seen enough to
convince me that we’ve the makings of a very good squad of players here, with
probably more quality than Tommy Sampson had at his disposal, and it’s really
just a matter of time before the results start going our way. I certainly
didn’t rush home to see how the likes of Sittingbourne and Bashley had got on,
as I reckon we’ll soon pull clear of that lot.
From reading the Message Board of late, you’d get the impression
that Tim Thorogood is no more than a rich fool who knows nothing about the game
and so can deliver nothing but failure on the field of play – apparently, he’s
no idea of tactics, he can’t motivate the players, and he’s got a big nose, but
I saw no evidence of any of this today. (In fact, my beak is far larger than
his !). I am, though, worried that we’re a bit insecure at the back, but that
should sort itself out once we get a settled defensive unit, and once Tim has
had some time to work with them. And, of course, the intention is very much to
keep strengthening the squad as we go along. All a question of time, really
(which is a commodity that Tim has plenty of, as he’s hardly going to sack
himself !).
No comments:
Post a Comment