Tooting & Mitcham United 3 Ashford Town 0
from Your Milton Keynes
Correspondent
By
my reckoning, this was the 50th time that Mrs Milton Keynes
Correspondent had accompanied me to a game. This is a milestone worthy of note,
since, without the support of my perfect miniature, I certainly wouldn’t be
able to spend every other Saturday at the footy. It all began back in the
2002-3 season, on a cold afternoon in January. I remember saying to her: “Get
your coat on, Dear, I’m going to Corby to watch Ashford Town
I
have to admit that she’s had to sit through some rubbish over the past few
years, and in some fairly uncomfortable locations – but we remain optimistic,
of course, as, with Tim Thorogood’s announcement at Corinthian-Casuals that he
was stepping down from his role as Joint Manager, we embark on a new era, with
John Cumberbatch in sole charge. Not that this is a complete sea-change, as
John had, in any case, been on his own with the team for several matches as a
result of Tim’s latest touchline ban – and, according to Tim himself, John has
actually been more responsible for team affairs this season than many people
might have realised. I expect there will be a large element of continuity about
the changeover, at least initially; and, as if to emphasise this point, John
had announced that the first line-up of his stewardship, which should’ve been
against Horsham YMCA, would be unchanged from the side that had beaten
Corinthians, before the Horsham game was called off. Then, last Tuesday, the
re-arranged match away to Sittingbourne was also postponed, due to a
waterlogged pitch, as were the games against Chatham
So
the beginning of the John Cumberbatch era was delayed by four consecutive
postponements, before a fairly creditable performance in defeat at home to
third-placed Fleet
Town
In
case people are losing track of the game of Happy Families we have at The Homelands,
let’s have a recap. At the moment, we have two Fenwicks, one Thorogood and a
Cumberbatch on the pitch, with one Cumberbatch in the dug-out. Two years ago,
we had two Thorogoods and a Cumberbatch on the pitch, and a Fenwick in the
dug-out. About six months ago, we had two Thorogoods and a Cumberbatch on the
pitch, with a Thorogood and a Cumberbatch in the dug-out. Well, I’m no expert
on poker hands, but I reckon that the latter is the best, with a full house of
Thorogoods and Cumberbatches beating two pairs.
One
positive implication of the recent rash of postponements has been the time that
it has allowed for one or two players to recover from injury – whilst the rest
have been losing match fitness ! Among
those returning from short-term injuries have been Drew Watkins (thigh),
Anthony Allman (back) and Simon Overland, although we received the news during
the week that Simon, who was with us on a season-long loan deal, has had his
chain tugged by his retaining club, Dagenham & Redbridge. From what I can
gather, he’s been involved in a player deal that The Daggers have been putting
together, with the result that he’ll now be playing for Ryman One South league
leaders Dulwich Hamlet. We’ve also lost young Dan Tanner, who has left us to
help Whitstable in their quest for promotion from the Kent League.
It
hasn’t been one-way traffic, though, as The Management has been busy recruiting
quality players whilst local pitches have been lying waterlogged. Last week saw
the arrival of Danny Lye (for his second spell at Ashford) from Tonbridge
Angels, and Kevin Lott, who used to be at Dover
There
have also been moves to replace Simon Overland in goal. Rob Lindley was drafted
in for the Fleet Town
But
perhaps the biggest coup for Tim Thorogood so far this season is the most
recent arrival – this week, The Chairman revealed yet another Non-league Galactico
when he added Walid Matata to his galaxy of stars. (OK, that might be an
exaggeration in the wider context, but it isn’t when you compare the current
squad to the raw materials that Terry Fenwick had to work with a couple of
years ago !). Don’t confuse Walid with his younger brother, who played for us
briefly, and unsuccessfully, in pre-season friendlies. This is the Matata that
was playing in the Ryman Premier Division for Folkestone Invicta earlier in the
season, and who scored against us at Cheriton
Road
So
the squad is beginning to look very impressive now, on paper – there’s no doubt
that John Cumberbatch has the tools with which to do the job. The challenge, of
course, is to unite all the talent, and all the egos, with a common purpose, in
order to get the most from the talent that is now available. Player for player,
I don’t think that there will be more than a handful of clubs in our division
with a better squad. Whether or not they can gel together to form an effective
team is not just John’s responsibility – it’s also up to the lads themselves,
as I wouldn’t imagine that the better players are providing their services on
the cheap. (Moving higher up the table than third-bottom would probably be a
good start, please).
Now
confession time. I missed almost all of the first half, due to a horrendous
journey from Milton Keynes that saw us crawl
in traffic for 3½ hours. We arrived just in time to see Tooting’s opening goal,
from the turnstiles in the far corner, in the 40th minute – having
not had any dinner, I was already not in the best frame of mind !
The
first thing we noticed, though, was that the boys were clad in an away strip of
all yellow. The original away kit, of yellow shirts, with black shorts and
sockies, has suffered from the fact that about a third of our opponents in the
league this season have a home strip that features black (or very very dark
navy blue) shorts and sockies – so the yellow shorts and socks are probably a
worthwhile investment. I must say that Tooting & Mitcham’s home kit was a
little “off the wall”. Whilst, technically, they were wearing their traditional
“Newcastle United” black & white stripes, their shirts were actually
largely white, with two black stripes sweeping up from the naval and curving
away over the right shoulder, and a single black stripe mirroring this with a
similar trajectory over the left shoulder. All a bit unnecessary that. Give me
proper vertical stripes, any day.
So
here are the main points about the first half, based on what I can gather from
some of the 235 souls that were in attendance. First, the team. I’ve already
mentioned that we had a new goalkeeper – Jake Whincup. My first impressions of
Jake were that he appears to be perfectly competent. He looked decisive when
coming out to intercept through-balls, made a couple of good saves in the
second half and had little or no chance with either of the second-half goals –
but he was beaten at the near post for Tooting’s first. The defence was, as in
the Fleet game, a little makeshift, though, with Tommy Adlington playing in
central defence alongside Marc Cumberbatch, and Anthony Allman again filling in
at right-back. Ian Ross was at left-back, now that he’s returned from his
holiday. Apparently, Rossi spent his 30th birthday jumping out of an
aeroplane in Australia – he
also told me that he stopped off in Bangkok
In
midfield, we had the beauty & the beast combination of Simon Glover and
Matt Carruthers in the centre, with Joby Thorogood on the right, and Kenny
Jarrett-Elliott on the left. Walid Matata partnered top-scorer George Fenwick up
front, in a 4-4-2 formation. I’m guessing a bit about the substitutes, but the
ones that were used were Kevin Lott, Drew Watkins and Adam O’Neill, and I’m
pretty sure that Joe Hitchings and Rob Lindley were also on the bench. It was
good to see Graham Porter, Luke Coleman and Nick Fenwick (still not quite over
a back problem) in attendance as well.
The
other salient points from the first half were that Joby went off injured at
some point, to be replaced by Kevin Lott, and Ronnie Green scored United’s opener
in the 40th minute. The consensus among the Ashford faithful was
that Walid Matata was our best player during the opening 45 minutes.
The
second half began with a reshuffle. Ian Ross did not reappear, and was replaced
by Drew Watkins, who took up a position on the right side of midfield; this
meant that Kevin Lott moved into the centre, Simon Glover moved out to the left
and Kenny Jarrett-Elliott dropped back to left-back.
There
were some promising positions early on in the half for our boys. Just after the
restart, George Fenwick (of all people) put in a cross from wide on the right;
this found Simon Glover, in the penalty area, but, although Gloves took the
ball well on his chest, it was stolen away from him before he could get a shot
in. A couple of minutes later, George had the ball on the left-hand corner of the
area; he attempted a precise, right-foot curler, and, although it didn’t go all
that wide of the target, Dave King, in the Tooting goal, didn’t appear to be
too worried.
At
the other end, in the 51st minute, Ronnie Green tried a shot from an
acute angle, but Jake Whincup was right behind it; then George Fenwick sent in
a shot that bobbled across a muddy goal-mouth, but this was also straight at
the goal-keeper.
A
feature of the second-half play up to this point was that Ashford’s offside
trap had been working well, but this came unhinged in the 52nd
minute. The yellow-shirted defence came out to catch two Tooting forwards
offside, and then rather stopped to await the lino’s flag – this allowed Paul
Vines to stroll onto the ball, from an onside position, but he shot wide. Vines
nearly made amends three minutes later, when he threaded an effective little
ball between two Ashford defenders, to put Alan McLeod through on goal, but the
little bald bloke dragged his shot wastefully wide.
I
must say that what I saw of the game gave me the impression that this was an
entertaining game between two good sides. In spite of the eventual scoreline,
Ashford played some really good football, albeit in little bursts, so there is
already evidence that John Cumberbatch is encouraging them to get the ball down
and play. There was one move, in the 62nd minute, which illustrated
this perfectly – this was a one-touch move that started from defence, after
Alan McLeod had fluffed a free-kick. Anthony Allman fed the ball forward to
Simon Glover, who passed it on again to George Fenwick; there was a back-heel
in there somewhere from George, as a quick flurry of passes set the ball up for
Gloves, but his shot was blocked. Walid Matata and Kenny Jarrett-Elliott
followed up with a shot each from rebounds, but these were also both blocked.
There
was action at both ends throughout most of this second half, and, in the 67th
minute, Tooting had a chance to double their lead. A long cross from wide on
the left just cleared the head of the leaping Tommy Adlington; Paul Vines
seemed to be surprised by the fact that the ball came through to him, as he put
his header well wide. Two minutes later, Matt Carruthers, careering through the
midfield, tried a speculative lobbed shot, which Dave King took just under his
cross-bar. Shortly after, Kevin Lott teed up Anthony Allman for a shot, from
miles out, that was blocked on the edge of the area; Kevin then lobbed the
rebound just over.
The
match took a decisive turn in the 74th minute – and I reckon that we
were a little unlucky with the decision that turned it. Anthony Allman made
rather a mess of what should have been a defensive header, after a long clearance
from Dave King; Anthony’s header went backwards, rather than forwards, and this
presented Tommy Adlington with an awkward one-on-one situation with Paul Vines.
I reckon that Tommy was initially being held by Vines, preventing him from
getting on the “right” side of his man. As usually happens on these occasions,
they were soon in a mutual and warm embrace. Down they went, in the penalty
area, and, unfortunately, the referee – who had made most of his errors in
Ashford’s favour this afternoon, saw this one Tooting’s way. As the ref called
Tommy over, there was the immediate, horrible realisation that, as the last
man, Tom might also get a red card, but the colour of the card shown was
yellow. Jake Whincup had no chance with the penalty, as Alan McLeod thumped it
in, off the underside of the bar.
Shortly
after the goal, Paul Vines and Tommy again went down in a heap together, in the
Ashford penalty area, and this time the ref saw it in Ashford’s favour – but
the damage had been done by now. By the 76th minute, John
Cumberbatch made the very sensible decision to take Tommy off – before he got
himself sent off – and replaced him with a striker, Adam O’Neill, who had, in
any case, already been warming up. Two down, with a quarter of an hour left,
John Cumber had little option other than to play three up front, but he did so
by switching to a 3-4-3 formation – this did leave us a little outnumbered at
the back on several occasions, as Tooting continued to press forward. (I’ve
previously avoided describing us as being “short at the back”, as Tommy is a
little sensitive about his height).
Ronnie
Green continued to be a threat, on the right wing, for the home side. In the 78th
minute, he easily beat Matt Carruthers, but his cross was cleared by the
Ashford defence. Two minutes later, Green again had an opportunity to set up a
chance. This really came about as a result of Kenny lungeing in, and rather
“selling himself” upfield. This presented Tooting with a two v two situation,
with Green on the ball; he beat Anthony Allman, and his cross found Paul Vines
in the centre, but Vines missed what amounted to an open goal, with just the
‘keeper to beat, from about 12 yards out. Seconds later, Adam O’Neill had
almost as good a chance at the other end. Simon Glover took great care to
measure his cross, from the left, and Adam met the ball running, at the far
post, but his headed attempt bounced comfortably into the arms of Dave King.
Tooting
& Mitcham’s third goal was the best of the three, and it came in the 81st
minute. Carl Gibbs squared the ball, from the right, into Alan McLeod, who was
in the penalty area, with his back to goal. He controlled the ball, turned and
thumped it into the corner of the net, giving Jake no chance.
Ashford
strived for a consolation goal – as that was all it was going to be at this
stage. In the 83rd minute, Matt Carruthers went on a determined run
through the centre, and laid the ball off to George – he was tripped right on
the edge of the area, to give Ashford a free-kick in a dangerous position. Drew
Watkins took the kick, and this was the closest we came to scoring, as Drew
curled the ball over the wall, only to see it bounce back off the bar. With a
minute to go of normal time, the ball broke to Adam O’Neill, from the midfield;
he spread the ball wide, to the left, to Simon Glover. Again, Gloves measured
his cross carefully, and found George Fenwick in the centre, but George’s
ambitious overhead kick was never going anywhere but over the bar.
Naming
the MK Man of the Match was tricky, as we’d missed half of it. We therefore
went for a Committee decision, and the verdict went to Walid Matata, largely on
the strength of his first-half performance, as he was fairly quiet in the
second.
Consulting
the Ryman League web-site, after a relatively trouble-free journey home, it
appeared that the defeat had cost us little in terms our league position, as
only Walton Casuals, of all our rivals at the bottom of the table, didn’t lose
– they earnt a point at a very muddy Bourne Park. Honestly, though, we
shouldn’t be looking over our shoulder at what the relegation candidates are
doing, as we should be looking to climb up to at least a mid-table position,
with the squad we now have. It all depends, of course, on how they play
together as a team. If John Cumberbatch can get them together so that the whole
can equal somewhere near the sum of the parts, then we shouldn’t have too many
problems.
Man of the Match
(to go towards
the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Walid Matata
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