Phoenix Sports 3 Ashford United 0
From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
It
was a real surprise that this game was on, today. With night temperatures 3 or
4 degrees below freezing all week, and with the entire Kent League Premier
Division fixtures wiped out, this afternoon, it seemed that Saturday morning’s
10am inspection at Mayplace Road East, in Bexleyheath, would be a mere
formality. It was a shock to the system, therefore, when it was announced on
the AUFC Forum that the match was ON. So I had to (for once) abandon breakfast,
and think fast in terms of what I could, and should, grab, prior to rushing off
to catch the 11.05am train out of Milton Keynes Central, to London Euston.
In
those “Golden Five Minutes”, what are a man’s priorities ? I soon decided that the thermal underwear and
woolly hat were top of the list, followed by Your Correspondent’s notebook and
pencil – and then it was time to fly out the door.
I
was horrified to find that the railway station was absolutely heaving with
people, with queues for the bank of ticket machines – but I managed to get to
the train with seconds to spare, and so embarked on the journey of just over
two hours to Barnehurst, via London Bridge. There were quite a few Arsenal fans
accompanying me on my trip to The Smoke – which suggested that there were still
some who have not given up on Arsѐne Wenger’s tippy-tappy warriors – but my
thoughts were focused on the Kent Invicta League, and Ashford United’s meeting
with Phoenix Sports, who began the day in 4th place, still with a
realistic chance of catching Bly Spartans and Bridon Ropes at the top of the
league. Ashford had been playing well, leading up to this game, thanks mainly
to a mid-season influx of experience and quality, in the form of the likes of
Mo Takaloo, Roy Guiver and Jimmy Dryden – but a poor start to the season has
meant that there was no margin for error left now, with the team lying 13
points behind leaders Bly, at the start of play, with just the two games in
hand.
Mo Takaloo was actually missing today. Along with Club
Captain Ollie Finch, he was continuing to serve a suspension. This provided the
opportunity for Ben Jordan to skipper the side this afternoon. The best news,
however, was that, due to the postponement of Hythe Town’s game at Walton &
Hersham, Jimmy Dryden was able to make one more appearance for Ashford, having
been called back to his parent club earlier in the week.
The other significant piece of team news was that
former Ashford Town captain Matt Bower was back, after a long absence with
injury. He took his place in a back three of himself, Jordan and Lee Coburn, in
front of ‘keeper Billy Rice, with Sam Conlon on the right and Richard Quigley
on the left acting as wing-backs. Roy Guiver started the game in central
midfield, alongside Liam Whiting. Dan Scorer was on the left wing – or wherever
he was required to take a dead-ball kick – and Jimmy Dryden was up front with
Peter Williams.
Completing the roll-call, Stephen McKentishfootball
was present with his reporter’s hat on, with both Tony Betteridge and Ernie
Warren braving the bitter cold alongside the other Ashford United supporters.
Denise Richmond was also in attendance. Denise is Chairperson
of the Kent League, and one of the architects of the new Kent Invicta League. I
am not a mind reader, but I imagine that she would have seen this fixture as
being just about the best advert for Step 6 football in Kent that she could
have. This was an event that was well attended – with the crowd of 141 owing
much to the usual good attendance from Ashford – and which was staged in a nice
facility. Set in the heart of suburban, semi-detached Sarf London, the Phoenix
Sports Ground has a decent bar and a snack bar situated at one end of a post
& railed pitch which is level, if slightly sloping. Whilst there is no
stand or terracing for spectators, a good view on the half-way line was
available from the slightly raised bank behind the dug-outs. The pitch itself
looked to be in remarkably good shape, and played very firm and bouncy.
In spite of the very cold temperature, the day was at
least sunny and bright, certainly in the first half, and the ground had a nice
openness about it. The afternoon began to be spoilt for us, however, at
precisely 2.10pm, when the home side took the lead. Centre-forward Alfie Harris
– who, ironically, is the image of Gary Lockyer in stature and style – sent in
a low, diagonal shot, from about 20 yards out, which found the corner of the
Ashford net, past a diving Billy Rice. It was a well-struck shot, but I am
forming the impression that Billy Rice doesn’t save a great deal, and that
anything heading for the corner of his net is likely to beat him.
Just two minutes later, Alfie Harris again found the
ball at his feet, this time inside the Ashford area, but he was only able to
hit the ball straight at Rice.
Ashford, playing in their Norwich City-style away
strip, given Phoenix’s colours of green shirts, black shorts and black sockies,
took a while to get into the game, and the first sign of any quality came in
the 18th minute, when Sam Conlon did some good work on the left,
forcing the first of a whole succession of Ashford corners in the match – but Dan
Scorer’s cross came to nothing. A minute later, a good, diagonal ball from Dan
Scorer found Sam Conlon on the right, but the Phoenix defence managed to block
the ball behind, for a corner. This time, Scorer pulled something out of the
bag that had obviously been devised on the training ground. He drove the ball
low, to Richard Quigley, who was stationed well outside the penalty area – with
two Ashford players letting the ball go by.
Quigley struck the ball well, and his low, left-footed drive seemed to
be heading for the corner of the net, before the home side’s impressive goalie,
Stuart Harvey, made a good diving save.
The visitors had several corners in a brief period of
dominance, having finally hit their stride – but it was Phoenix Sports who came
close to scoring in the 24th minute. A throw-in, from the right,
skidded off the top of an Ashford head, and found Sam Prett unmarked in the
area – but he was unable to keep his hooked shot down, and his effort went over
the bar.
Ashford’s attempts on goal in the first half were
restricted to shots from long range. Lee Coburn let fly with a shot from some
30 yards, in the 31st minute. Whilst this effort was always going
wide, Peter Williams very nearly diverted the ball goalwards with an
instinctive header. In the 34th minute, shortly after Matt Bower had
deflected an Alfie Harris shot, from close range, behind for a corner, Lee
Coburn again hit a well-struck shot, from a similar distance to his previous
effort, and this time it required another good save from Harvey.
Constructive passing movements from Ashford United
were very rare, this afternoon, but, in the 37th minute, Jimmy
Dryden spread the ball wide to Sam Conlon, on the right, in a move that
culminated in Dan Scorer hitting a left-footed shot wide of the far post. Still
Ashford pressed forward, and the corners kept on coming – but the home defence
stood firm, with the tall Stuart Harvey catching whatever crosses his defenders
could not clear.
The sun disappeared at the start of the second half –
which did nothing to ease the biting cold.
In the 48th minute, a shot by Dan Scorer
was well caught by Harvey, and Liam Whiting hit a shot over the bar in the 51st
minute – upon which Ashford Manager Paul Chambers immediately made a
substitution, replacing Richard Quigley with Aaron Firth.
In the 55th minute, there was the rare
sight of Roy Guiver bursting into the opposition’s penalty area. Guiver tried
to touch the ball over the tall ‘keeper, who palmed the ball out to Jimmy
Dryden, who was in a central position, just inside the penalty area. This was
Ashford’s best chance of the match to date, and there was no other man that the
visiting fans would rather have seen the ball fall to than Jimmy – but he was
unable to get over the ball, and sliced his shot high, and over the bar. Two
minutes later, the visitors had an even better chance to equalise. Sam Conlon
did some good work, moving through the Phoenix half, and found Roy Guiver in
the penalty area, with a clear sight of goal. Roy virtually had a one-on-one
with the ‘keeper, here, but he shot the ball straight at Stuart Harvey, who
saved with his knee.
And that was the closest that Ashford came to scoring.
In the 66th minute, Tom Scorer was sent on
in place of Peter Williams – but it was a minute later that there was a
potentially pivotal incident in the game, and one which completely went against
Ashford. Liam Whiting made a superb tackle on Phoenix’s Danny Frost. It was
hard, but fair, and he won the ball cleanly – but his momentum caused him to
upend Frost, and that now appears, according to a ludicrous modern fad in
football, to be a free-kick offence. Worse was to follow. Frost obviously took
exception to being tackled, so retaliated with a right cross to Liam’s jaw. I
actually thought that the Ashford No.7 did well to ride the punch – but the key
point was that a punch was thrown, and everybody in the ground saw it, except,
apparently, for the referee and his linesman on the far side. After discussing
the issue between them, the result was that the ref booked Liam Whiting for his
excellent tackle – and no action at all was taken against Frost. To say that
the Ashford bench was incensed would be an understatement – and their mood wasn’t
improved when the lino in front of them admitted that he had seen Frost throw
the punch, but thought that he’d let his two colleagues sort out the incident themselves.
This is the sort of injustice that football fans dwell
upon, especially when they’re desperate for a break to go their way – and those
on the Ashford bench were certainly never able to let it drop – but the truth
is that United were never able to get behind, or around or through the Phoenix
defence. I didn’t think that Phoenix looked anything out of the ordinary, to be
honest, but they did the simple things well, and Ashford never really bothered
Harvey in their goal. That is in spite of the fact that Ashford actually had
the better of the second half, and looked impressive when either of the Scorer
brothers was on the ball. In the 73rd minute, for example, young Tom
showed great skill and footwork on the left flank – but his efforts resulted in
nothing better than yet another corner.
Whilst Phoenix looked fairly workmanlike for most of
the game, it was a moment of great individual skill that led to the home side’s
second goal, in the 80th minute. Adam Cuthbert picked the ball up on
the left side of the field, and took it infield, before drilling the ball into
the bottom corner of the net. The fact that Ashford United is the team that
every other team in the Kent Invicta League most wants to beat was reflected in
the celebrations of the Phoenix Sports bench, which spilt out onto the playing
area.
Three minutes later, Phoenix completed Ashford’s
humiliation when Alfie Harris scored the home side’s third goal, and his second.
The strong No.9 collected a through-ball, well inside the Ashford box, and with
his back to goal. He looked every inch the accomplished centre-forward when he
turned and hammered the ball past Billy Rice – but there was just a suspicion
that the Ashford bench thought that his task had been made too easy, by some
slack Ashford defending.
By this time, Roy Guiver had been operating in the
front line, with Jimmy Dryden either playing in the hole behind the two front
men, or trying to create something from midfield – but the game was all over,
bar the shouting. Aaron Firth had a chipped attempt that went over the bar,
from just outside the area, and Lee Coburn attempted yet another long-range
shot – but the visitors never found the net, and the game finished 3-0.
There was much swearing and muttering from the Ashford
bench at the final whistle – mostly aimed at the performance of the three
officials – but I am sure that they must have been disappointed that the team
had failed to really bother the Phoenix defence. Having said that, Ashford’s
performance was nowhere near as bad as the 3-0 score-line seems to suggest –
but this defeat must surely have finally put paid to any chance that they had of
gaining promotion from the Kent Invicta League this season.
