From Ashford United’s
Milton Keynes Correspondent
Today
was a special day. Today was Grand National Day, which, in Your Milton Keynes
Correspondent’s world, ranks right up there with Derby Day (of course), Pancake
Day, Third Round of the FA Cup Day and (I suppose) Christmas Day. On this day
of the year, as the bailiffs have finally found out, I will be in one of two
places: in front of the Telly, or at a non-league football ground supporting my
boys. For the 2013 running of the race, Ashford United had an away match
against Lewisham Borough – so today I took myself off to the Ladywell Arena, in
Catford.
Going
to the footy on this Saturday of the calendar always evokes memories of
previous Grand National Days spent following Ashford around the South of
England. The one that most often springs to mind is the year that Amberleigh
House won the National – as we always remember the winners that we backed, don’t
we ? That was in 2004, when we played
Histon away, (and won 0-2, with goals from Joby Thorogood and Simon Elliott). That
game was very much from another age, and it doesn’t seem possible that it was
only nine years ago. Histon were on their way up to the Conference, and Ashford
Town were grazing in the comfortable green pastures of the Ryman League. Alas
for off-the-field events. (That reminds me – yesterday was the end of the Financial
Year, so I mustn’t forget to pay my VAT, on Monday).
Grand National Day, for Ashford fans, is traditionally
characterised by one of two things: the latest instalment in a relegation scrap,
or the opportunity to bask in the warmth of end-of-season sunshine – or both.
Today, however, neither was the case. For a start, it was fairly chilly in
Catford, in spite of the sunshine. A genuinely cold Winter has lingered on
through March, and into this, the first week in April. At 5ºC at midday, it was
not as cold as it had been in midweek, but it still felt pretty taters.
Also, we don’t “do” relegation scraps anymore, but
last week’s humbling defeat at the hands of seemingly invincible
champions-elect Phoenix Sports effectively put paid to Ashford’s competitive season.
For the first time in the current campaign, Push for Promotion was replaced by
Fulfilment of Fixtures as an objective. With four games remaining, (including
today’s), it looks like Ashford United are nailed on for third place – and there
can be no complaints about that, given that we’ve looked like the third-best
team in the league, all season. What has cost Ashford a higher placing in the league
has been the performances against the three teams that have clearly been better
than the rest of our Invicta League opponents, this season – Phoenix Sports,
Hollands & Blair and Bearsted. Four defeats from those six fixtures have
defined the season.
We have, however, been fairly efficient at beating the
lesser teams in the league, in spite of being consistently outscored by both
Phoenix and Blair, and today’s opponents, bottom club Lewisham Borough, came
into that category. There was the small consideration of Ashford’s earlier 3-2 defeat
here by Lewisham, in the Kent Invicta League Cup, to think about – and that’s a
competition that Blair won, recently, at Homelands, which reminds me that they’ve
also done better than us in the cups – but the general expectation was that the
three points were there for the taking for the visitors, this afternoon.
This was my first visit to the Ladywell Arena, a
well-known multi-sports complex situated just on the other side of the railway
line to the now-derelict Catford Stadium, where they used to have dog racing. I
did this trip on my own, as Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent doesn’t “do” public
transport. In fact, she was on a plane at the precise moment that I loped into
Milton Keynes Central Railway Station, just after midday. (No, she wasn’t
travelling anywhere – she was taking half an inch off the back door). The fact
that the train remained on Platform 4 for 24 minutes, due to some technical
fault, meant that I missed my connection at Blackfriars, but I made it to the
ground in plenty of time, and a very nice lady in the tea bar made me a
sandwich and a cup of tea.
Some football fans make a fuss about football stadia
that have an athletics track around the pitch, but I actually think that it all
adds to the variety of venues in the course of a season. However, whereas, say,
Walton & Hersham’s ground comes into the category of a football ground with
an athletics track, the Ladywell is primarily a high-calibre athletics
facility. There is a large building at one end that houses changing rooms, a
tea bar and other facilities that you might expect of an important community
resource – but it’s not a venue that is geared up for hosting a football match
that is likely to attract any sort of crowd. (There was actually not the usual
large turn-out of Ashford supporters, today, with a number of the Bruce
Willises giving this one a miss, which accounts for an attendance of only 47 -
which is even less than Borough’s seasonal average of 51).
Viewing options are severely limited, being largely restricted
to leaning on a thick, white, plastic railing, that looked like it had been imported
direct from Aintree, which extended for most of one side of the pitch. This was
the side of the pitch that backed onto the railway line, beyond which was an
enormous climbing frame and bouncy castle. This facility provided us with a
backdrop of kids’ voices, which gave the whole occasion a pleasant, parks
atmosphere. The dug outs were located on the opposite side of the running track,
where there was no spectator access – so I am unable to report what feisty
physio Alan Orsbourne said, to get himself in trouble with the referee.
The point to make about the game itself, for the
benefit of those who weren’t there, and so only have the score-line to go by, is
that there was a considerable gulf between the two squads of players. Lewisham Borough
is very much a Community Club, and the team was very young, and looked fairly
lightweight, all over the pitch. Compared with an Ashford side that, in spite
of lacking regulars such as Mo Takaloo, Ollie Finch, Lee Coburn, Ben Jordan and
Luke Cuthbert, still had plenty of accumulated experience of Ryman League
football, it was quite literally men against boys. I mean no disrespect to our
hosts today in setting the context of the game in this way. I am doing this to
explain why I felt that Ashford played poorly today, in spite of winning 2-6,
and why I felt that Damian Abel failed to impress, in spite of bagging a
hat-trick. This also explains how a game that involved eight goals, three
penalties and a sending off could lack entertainment value.
A lack of motivation might have been the main reason
why Ashford struggled to get out of third gear, this afternoon. I know that we,
as supporters, expect players to not need motivation, once they pull on the
holy shirt, but there was never going to be the motivation of fear in this game
– especially with Chambo separated from the pitch by six lanes of running track
– and the lads never had to step out of a fairly snug comfort zone. Although Lewisham
gave a good account of themselves, took their goals well and actually led for
nearly a quarter of the game, Ashford always had plenty of time on the ball,
generally regained possession easily when it was given away, and I don’t think the
eventual result ever looked unlikely at any stage.
The absence of a few regulars gave Paul Chambers the
chance to provide a substantial opportunity for some of his squad members,
notably Tom Scorer, who had previously made 13 appearances for the club this
season, without managing a full 90 minutes. Tom partnered Damian Abel in an
orthodox strike pairing, with Ashford appearing to play mostly with three at
the back, in front of goalkeeper Roddy Hayward. The experienced pair of Roy
Guiver and Sam Marsh played largely as centre-halves, with Danny Morrison, on
the right, and Liam Whiting, on the left, taking turns to drop back as the
third man. Gary Clarke, who was captain today, ran the midfield from a deep
position, with Adam Cuthbert also in the centre, Sam Conlon wide on the left
and Kieran Byrne wide on the right. Those in the know in the Ashford set-up
will probably be laughing their socks off at my amateur attempt to describe the
formation, and it’s probably not what the players were playing to, but that’s
how it looked to my untrained eye. What I can be more confident about is that
the formation on the bench was a “flat five”, in a seated position, consisting
of Sam Fisher, Ben Jordan, Gary Mickelborough, Joe Mant and Mo Munden.
The first quarter of the game was all about Ashford
attacking at will, but they failed to make the breakthrough, in spite of a
succession of corners. What didn’t help the visitors’ cause was a tendency to
carelessly get caught offside, and there were several over-hit passes, as the players
took some time to get used to the hard, bouncy pitch. Best chances fell to
Kieran Byrne, whose shot was parried at the near post by the ‘keeper, in the second
minute, and Tom Scorer, who tried to dink Byrne’s low corner into the net, at
the near post, only to see his effort deflect off the ‘keeper for another corner,
in the tenth minute. Kieran again took the corner from the right, swinging the
ball in with his left foot, finding Danny Morrison unmarked in the six-yard
box, but Danny was unable to wrap his head around the ball and direct it
towards goal.
The best Ashford move early on came in the 16th
minute, and this was started by some great work by Danny Morrison in the right
full-back position. Turning well and leaving his opponent for dead, he sent Tom
Scorer off down the right flank, with an excellent long ball. Tom found Kieran
Byrne, who was arriving in support, in the centre, but Kieran’s shot went
straight at the goalie. Five minutes later, Kieran himself supplied a cross,
this time from the left, but it was just too high for Sam Conlon.
Lewisham’s opening goal, which was outrageously
against the run of play, came in the 22nd minute, and stemmed from
the otherwise excellent Danny Morrison getting nutmegged, in the right-back
position. The ball was slid through to Dominic Weston, who was suddenly behind
the Ashford defence. He dummied goalkeeper Roddy Hayward, before side-footing
the ball into an empty net, for a well-taken goal.
There then followed 20-odd minutes of frustration for
the visitors, with The Boro’ taking plenty of time over kicks and injuries, seeming
to enjoy their unexpected lead. Tom Scorer had a couple of opportunities. In
the 38th minute, a good, flowing move, which had Damian Abel at its
heart, ended with Tom being put through on goal, but a defender just managed to
nick the ball away from him. Three minutes later, Tom tried a low, long-range
shot, but it was easy for the ‘keeper to gather it, falling to his right.
It seemed that nothing was going to change without the
help of Paul Chambers’ hair dryer, during the interval, but the half was turned
around with two late goals. The first of these came in the 43rd
minute, when Tom Scorer sent in a cross from the left. The bouncing ball was
miscontroled by Damian Abel, but Adam Cuthbert was arriving behind him, and
struck the ball low, into the net, for his ninth goal of the season. Almost
from the kick-off, Ashford were straight back at the opposition, and Sam Conlon
did well to chase the ball as it was spread wide, to the right, catching up
with it on the by-line, just inside the Lewisham penalty area. Sam pulled his
cross back to Kieran Byrne, who hit a volley with the outside of his left foot,
which screamed just inside the far post.
So the first half ended with the home side’s bench
hurling abuse at its players, and Ashford actually knocking the ball around
with a bit of a swagger – but this was ended abruptly when Gary Clarke’s careless
square pass was intercepted, and its intended recipient, Danny Morrison, had to
get back to defend, but he was able to do so, at the expense of a corner. The
resulting cross was dropped by Roddy Hayward, but the ball was cleared – and that
was half time.
The script was set for Ashford to go on and assert
their superiority in the second half, after a fairly dozy first 45 minutes.
They met the first requirement, which was to start the second half fast, and
with urgency, but were set back on their heels, within a minute of the restart,
when Lewisham equalised. I’m afraid that Sam Marsh needs to hold his hand up
for this one. He appeared to be in command of a long, bouncing clearance,
running back to his own goal, and seemingly having the strength and experience
to hold the challenging Tristan Toney at bay – but somehow Toney managed to nip
in front of him, and dinked the ball over Hayward’s head, for another excellent
finish.
Damien Abel had the opportunity to restore the Ashford
lead, in the 50th minute. A long ball, from the right flank, from
about the half-way line, easily put him through on goal. There was support for
Damian in the centre, but he did what any paid striker would have done, and
went for goal, but his shot looped tamely over the bar.
Ashford’s third goal came in the 53rd
minute, and this demonstrated the class that many people within the club
believe Tom Scorer to have. Again, it appeared to be a relatively simple task
for Tom to be put through on goal, behind the Lewisham defence, but he showed
good strength and composure before thumping the ball into the back of the net.
Just a minute later, it was Damian Abel’s turn to be put through on goal, and
he calmly took the ball past ‘keeper Jack Carthy, before tapping it into an
empty net – and the man supervising the man in charge of the floodgates was
heard to shout: “Were you born in a church ?!”.
In the 62nd minute, Carthy, who had
replaced his injured colleague at half time, almost presented Ashford with a
fifth goal, when his fluffed goal kick spiralled straight to Kieran Byrne,
whose first-time header into the penalty area gave Tom Scorer a great chance to
equal Adam Cuthbert, with his ninth goal for the club – but he sliced the ball
wide. Tom did, however, have a very similar chance, just a minute later, having
only the ‘keeper to beat, but being put under strong pressure from behind by
the big Lewisham centre-half. This time, Carthy made the save, but the Lino
stationed by the 200m start flagged for a foul. As this was such a clear
goal-scoring opportunity, the referee had no choice but to send the No.5 off –
and a difficult afternoon for Boro’s young side suddenly got harder. Kieran
Byrne took the penalty, but Carthy made a good save, diving to his right.
The classy Byrne was responsible for winning the
penalty that led to Ashford’s fifth goal, in the 74th minute. There
were some murmurs from the home players that Kieran had taken a dive, but I
think it was a good decision by the ref, as Kieran was brought down just inside
the area. (That wasn’t the case, just a minute later, when Byrno did fool the
ref into awarding a free-kick on the left touchline, but the resulting kick
came to nothing). This time, Damien Abel took responsibility for the penalty,
and expertly side-footed the ball into the net, sending the ‘keeper the wrong
way, for 2-5.
Kieran Byrne was replaced by Sam Fisher, in the 78th
minute, after which Roddy Hayward became the next Ashford hero. A Lewisham corner,
from the right, was headed down, at the far post, and Roddy made a great save,
parrying a shot that was well struck, from about six yards. It looked like his
effort was to be in vain, as the ball fell at the feet of a Lewisham striker,
but Roddy dropped a paw on the follow-up, and halted the ball on the line.
Substitute Sam Fisher had a good chance to score his
first goal for Ashford, in the 82nd minute. After a move in which it
looked like Ashford were determined to walk the ball into the net, Sam found
himself inside the six-yard box, with just the ‘keeper to beat at the near
post, but the angle was too acute, and the shot, from close range, deflected
off Carthy’s body, to safety. However, the diminutive midfielder had a hand in
Ashford’s sixth goal, in the 89th minute. Fisher might have been
angling for a penalty, as he dribbled the ball into the Lewisham box, but he
was clearly knocked over, and the referee had no choice but to award the third
penalty of the match. Damien Abel stepped up to the penalty mark, and it was a
replica of his earlier goal, as he side-footed the ball into the vacant half of
the goal, to complete his hat-trick.
Prior to this sixth goal, there was confirmation that
the end of term is nigh, when Paul Chambers sent on first-choice goalkeeper Joe
Mant as an outfield substitute, in the 83rd minute. By my reckoning,
Joe became the first dual-purpose Ashford player since centre-half Stuart
Playford had a stint in goal during the 2005-6 season, conceding three goals in
17 minutes after he replaced Dave Wietecha, (who had already let in four).
Happy days ! Well, I’m pleased to report
that Joe appeared to be anything but a goalie, playing in a forward position, confirming
what a good athlete he is.
The surprising news from elsewhere, today, was that
the outfit formerly known as the seemingly invincible Phoenix Sports actually
got turned over, just up the road, away to Bridon Ropes. This means that they
lost their excellent unbeaten record in the league, in the 25th
match of 30. The other, not unconnected, news wafting around the Ladywell Arena,
today, was that, contrary to previous announcements, there would be two clubs
promoted from the Kent Invicta league, at the end of the season. With the near
mathematical certainty that Phoenix Sports will finish in the top two, the
Phoenix will certainly rise to the Kent League, now that their floodlights and
other necessary facilities are in place. That leaves one place. I read
somewhere that Hollands & Blair are close to having the required ground
grading – but they have obviously not achieved the requirement by the stated
March deadline. My own personal view, (and I stress that), is that Hollands
& Blair will be awarded a place in the Kent League if the relevant powers
decide to waive their own rules on this issue – otherwise, Ashford United FC is
the next taxi on the rank.
We’ll soon know, as I gather that a decision is to be
made very soon.
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