Tunbridge
Wells 2 Ashford United 3
(Ashford
United win 7-2 on aggregate)
From Ashford United’s
Milton Keynes Correspondent
This
was a return to action for your Milton Keynes Correspondent. My first game of
the season – for reasons that I won’t bore you with – and my first sight of the
lads since we played Eltham Palace away, in the Kent Invicta League, on the 20th
of April, more than six months ago. And what a contrast ! That game came at the end of a season when we
had consistently been third-best to Phoenix Sports and Hollands & Blair –
but someone left the back-door of the (then) Kent League open, and we managed
to sneak up to Step 5 of the non-league pyramid anyway.
Since
then, in my absence, Ashford have made an unbelievably good start to life in
the (renamed) Southern Counties East Football League – seven wins from eight
league games, and we’re still in three cup competitions, including the League
Challenge Cup, which provided this afternoon’s entertainment. It’s very early
days, of course, and, as several people have pointed out, we haven’t yet played
any of the top sides in the league – but there have been reports of the boys
playing some good football, and we’ve beaten Erith Town in the Kent Senior
Trophy, and reportedly outplayed Tunbridge Wells, in a 4-0 victory, in the
first leg of today’s tie.
I
had been looking forward to today’s match, ever since the draw was made. This
always looked like being the first big test for Ashford at this new level.
Tunbridge Wells – last year’s FA Vase Finalists and Kent Senior Trophy winners;
the team that I thought were clear favourites to be champions this year, and
who are showing signs of fulfilling that expectation by sitting on top of the
league, this morning. Some edge was taken from the game by Ashford’s
comfortable dismissal of The Wells, at Homelands, last week, but this was still
an important early-season trial of strength, which neither team would want to
lose.
I am very much a railway boy, now. Gone are the days
of driving to King’s Lynn and the Isle of Wight, following the lads. My roster
of away games is very much dependent on public transport links, and Royal
Tunbridge Wells is just about on the edge of my travel radius. If all went
well, then the day would begin with boarding the 11.22am train from Milton
Keynes Central Railway Station, with Virgin Trains returning me back to (the
other) MKC at 7.50pm – with a salt beef bagel at London Bridge, in the middle.
I am always amazed at how busy the railway network is
on Saturdays. As usual, there was a long queue for the ticket machines at the
station, and there were people standing in most of the carriages on the way to
London. There was the usual high representation of Arsenal fans in evidence –
(Arsenal being the world’s most aptly named football team) – in spite of the
Gooners not playing until this evening. There was also a lad in a Leicester
City shirt, and someone in what looked like it might be a Watford scarf. Both
got off at Watford, so I wasn’t surprised to learn later that Watford were at
home to Leicester. There were also two proper railway nerds in my carriage,
talking loudly about the remarkable size of the gap between the carriages in
this particular train. You get all sorts on trains !
One benefit (for me) of Ashford playing in the
Southern Counties East League is that the majority of its teams play within, or
very close to, the M25, so I can look forward to visiting quite a few grounds
that I’ve never been to before. This was actually my second visit to the
Culverden Stadium, the first being for a pre-season friendly fixture, at the
start of what turned out to be Ashford Town’s final season (2009-10). It was
our first friendly, after what had been a Summer of upheaval, off the pitch. I
remember that the first person I saw, as I entered the ground, was Manager
Steve Lovell, carrying a large bag of balls. He told me that it had only been a
couple of days previously that he had had confirmation that he was still in the
job. My other memory of that game was that a certain Joe Fuller played for
Tunbridge Wells, but started the season as an Ashford Town player. Joe was a
good player for us, in that final Ryman League Division One South season. He
was a member of the side that beat Chatham Town 2-1, in the final game, which
saved us from relegation to the Kent League, and scored ten goals, at a rate
that was not quite as good as a goal every three games. It was good to see him
again.
Gary Clarke, who is Club Captain, these days, was also
playing against his former team, having played plenty of games in Tunbridge
Wells’ midfield, in two spells.
The one surprise in the Ashford United line-up was the
appearance of Kieran Byrne at left-back – which was presumably due to the
unavailability of Liam Whiting, today. Kieran was part of a back-four, in front
of goalkeeper Joe Mant, that also included the very tall Jordan Miller at
right-back, and Ben Jordan and Ian Wallace in the centre. Sam Fisher played in
a very deep, defensive role, just in front of the back four. Otherwise, it was
a fairly attacking line-up that Paul Chambers sent out, with Jimmy Dryden,
playing his third game of the season for Ashford, leading the line, and Gary
Mickelborough the furthest forward in support of him. With Gary Clarke and Adam
Cuthbert in central midfield, Tom Scorer was nominally on the left side, but
mostly pressed forward as a third striker.
Ashford had a very strong bench, this afternoon, which
included first-team regulars Luke Cuthbert, Sam Conlon and Buster Smissen, who
was returning to the squad after he and Jimmy Dryden had both missed last
Saturday’s first leg.
Ashford played up the Culverden slope, in the first
half. This is a slope that runs diagonally, from corner flag to corner flag.
This is a slightly strange ground, in as much as it is very two-sided. All of
the seating and the covered standing accommodation is laid out down one side,
and runs for almost the length of the pitch. At the highest end of the pitch,
behind some steep terracing, are the turnstiles and the bar and the small club
shop etc. The other two sides of the ground are vacant, but are lined with tall
trees, making it a very attractive ground.
In spite of two sides of the pitch being unpopulated,
there was certainly no shortage of atmosphere, today. In fact, it was something
of a rarity to attend a game, at this level, where both teams are backed by
cheering, singing fans throughout the 90 minutes. Tunbridge Wells and Ashford
are easily the two best-supported teams in the SCEFL, which was all the more
reason for this being an eagerly-awaited two-legged contest. In terms of the
attendance figures, the honours went to Tunbridge Wells, with today’s gate of
285 just edging the 279 that were at The Homelands last week.
However, the overall result of the cup-tie was never
in doubt, this afternoon. The home side really needed to score one or two early
goals, if they were to have a chance of shaking Ashford’s confidence and
self-belief, and this just never looked likely. In fact, the fate of the tie
was sealed by a first quarter of the game in which there was not a single
clear-cut chance for either side, with little incident and precious little
quality on show.
On the subject of quality, Tom Scorer appears to be
blossoming into a very accomplished player. He looks strong, and very comfortable
on the ball, at this level. He provided the only action worthy of note in this
early spell of the game, when, in the 19th minute, he showed great
close control to dribble his way past two defenders, and get to the by-line –
but was then closed down by the home defence.
It was probably appropriate for Tom to set up
Ashford’s opening goal, in the 24th minute – which effectively
confirmed Ashford’s place in the Second Round. Picking the ball up on the left,
on the corner of the penalty area, he switched inside, transferring the ball
onto his right foot. He hit the ball like a bullet, straight at Wells’ ‘keeper
Chris Oladogba, one of the home side’s Wembley heroes, from last May. Oladogba
is a good goalie, but could only parry Tom’s shot, and Gary Mickelborough had
the simple task of tucking the rebound into the net. That made the score 5-0 on
aggregate, and even Lazarus wouldn’t be able to come back from there.
Having said that, Tunbridge Wells hit back almost
immediately, to level the scores on the afternoon. A ball down the right flank,
in the 26th minute, was squared to the prolific Ross Cable, in the
centre. Cable, who would probably score in a convent, took a touch, and then
drilled the ball low, into the corner of Joe Mant’s net.
These goals in quick succession did liven things up a
bit. Ashford certainly continued to commit plenty of players forward, but Jimmy
Dryden had a very quiet first half, having almost no service to speak of.
Kieran Byrne created a chance for himself, in the 32nd
minute, when he easily robbed Joe Fuller of the ball, when a Wells break looked
on – but his shot went straight at Oladogba. Byrnsie had a very solid game at
left-back – so, given that he’s a midfielder who has a goal scoring rate that
is just a little bit shy of one every other game, he’s not a bad player ! Joe Fuller had an effort on goal himself,
just four minutes later. This was a long-range shot, which Joe Mant pushed
wide, diving low to his right. Ross Cable latched onto the loose ball, but his
attempted cross was put behind for a corner. Before Cable could take the
corner, Wells boss Martin Larkin made a substitution, replacing Jack Funnell
with Ian Parsons. When the corner eventually came in, centre-half Billy French,
who was to be named as the home side’s Man of the Match, glanced his header
across the face of the Ashford goal.
In the 41st minute, Gary Mickelborough made
a raid down the right wing. His cross found Gary Clarke in the penalty area,
and the Ashford skipper managed to flick the ball up in the air, behind him, to
Adam Cuthbert – but Cuthbert’s volley went over the bar. A minute later, Sam
Fisher was fortunate not to be shown a yellow card. There was nothing malicious
about his sliding tackle, in the middle of the park, but he had lost control of
his momentum, as he crashed into his opponent. It is a tackle for which, at all
levels of the game, referees are instructed to show a yellow card – and,
invariably, the player booked doesn’t seem to understand why he has been
cautioned. On this occasion, the referee, who I thought was very good
throughout the game, erred on the side of leniency – maybe due, to some extent,
to the mediation efforts of the Ashford captain.
So a fairly even half ended all square, at one each,
but with the visitors seemingly home and dry in the tie, at 5-1.
Ashford started, after the break, in lively fashion,
with Tom Scorer trying his luck with an optimistic, long-range effort which
went well wide. After that, though, the second half tended to follow the
pattern of the first half, with many over-hit passes going straight through to
each ‘keeper. In fact, it was Joe Mant who had the next shot on target ! He raced out of his area to deal with an
attempted through-ball – and his “clearance” was taken by Chris Oladogba just
inside his right-hand post.
The visitors retook the lead in this second leg in the
52nd minute. A long, cross-field ball was chased down by Jimmy
Dryden, into a left-wing position. Jimmy took the ball to the by-line, and his
low cross was manoeuvred in, at the near post, by a sliding Gary Mickleborough.
This is another player who has really found his form, lately. That’s three
goals in the last two games for Gary. His previous goal was in the game away to
Eltham Palace, about six months ago !
In the 56th minute, Jimmy Dryden had his
first sight at the Wells’ goal. Gary Clarke, who showed one or two flashes of
sublime skill, this afternoon, to show that he’s more than just a tackler, put
Jimmy through in the inside-left channel, but the master finisher’s low shot
went straight at the ‘keeper.
The first yellow card of the game was produced just
after the hour mark. Billy French earned this for a late tackle on Jimmy
Dryden, just as Dryden was putting Gary Mickelborough through, on a break.
Former Ashford Town Reserves Manager, Martin Larkin, took the opportunity of
making a double substitution, replacing Lee Radford and Carl Cornell with Brett
Ince and Andy Irvine. (It was appropriate that Andy Irvine wore the No. 15
shirt, as a Scottish rugby union full-back of the same name used to wear that
number !). Mickelborough took the free-kick, spreading the ball wide to Tom
Scorer, on the left. Tom’s cross was met by Jimmy Dryden, at the near post, but
the header was wide. This was Scorer’s final touch of the ball, as he was
subsequently replaced by Sam Conlon.
In the 63rd minute, it looked odds-on that
Tunbridge Wells would equalise for a second time, as Ross Cable raced clear of
the Ashford defence. The Cable guy should have scored, but he put his shot
wide, from about 16 yards out. This was a significant miss, as, just three
minutes later, what should have been 2-2 was turned into 1-3. The visitors
broke down the right wing, and, as the ball was fed into Gary Mickelborough, in
the Wells’ penalty area, the Ashford No.11 beat Perry Spackman with a deft
piece of footwork, and was tripped. Spackman seemed not to like the decision,
but the ref awarded a penalty. Adam Cuthbert easily scored from the spot, with
Oladogba going the wrong way, to notch his twelfth goal of the season, and his
18th in Ashford colours. This puts Adam level with past strikers
Mark Lovell, George Fenwick and Joby Thorogood.
So, with an aggregate score of 7-1 in Ashford’s
favour, the travelling faithful afforded themselves the luxury of an “Easy,
Easy” chant – but the match continued to be lively enough, with neither team
losing interest in going forward in search of more goals, and the home side
kept Ashford honest by pulling a goal back, in the 72nd minute.
Knocking the ball around quite nicely, the team playing in all red – for the
purpose of visualising the teams’ colours, imagine Liverpool playing Norwich
City – manoeuvred the ball out to the right flank, and the resulting cross was
met, on the full, by the left foot of Andy Irvine, giving Joe Mant no chance,
from close range.
Sam Fisher’s ration of goodwill from the referee ran
out in the 77th minute. He was late with a tackle, as Tunbridge
Wells streamed forward. The ref did well to play an advantage, but, before
Brett Ince could take the corner that had resulted from the attack, Sam was
shown a yellow card.
Buster Smissen was given a run-out by Paul Chambers in
the 79th minute, replacing Gary Mickelborough, and there was a
chance to see 16 year-old prospect Ira Jackson, when he replaced Sam Fisher,
five minutes later – but it was the other substitute, Sam Conlon, who had a
wonderful chance to seal a victorious afternoon for Ashford, with a fourth
goal. A careless error by Joe Fuller, deep inside his own half, in the 89th
minute, gifted Conlon a one-on-one with Oladogba, but the ‘keeper made himself
into a formidable barrier, and there was no way through for Sam’s shot.
In truth, a two-goal margin might have been slightly
flattering for Ashford, and the one-goal lead was almost rubbed out, in the
second minute of added time, when Wells once again had the ball in the
visitors’ net. Joe Mant made a good save, from a long-range shot, and Andy
Irvine tapped in the rebound – but the lino was flagging for off-side. This
incident made little difference in the tie, as this was still a right Royal
thrashing for promotion hopefuls Tunbridge Wells, over the two legs, but it was
important for Ashford to keep their winning run going. This afternoon’s victory
made it eight wins on the bounce for Paul Chambers’ improving side, since that
careless reversal at home to Lordswood, in the league.
It’s difficult to assess where Ashford stand in
relation to the other top teams in the SCEFL, on the evidence of today’s
performance, as this second leg did lack a little in intensity, with the Nuts
& Bolts having effectively killed the tie in the first leg. However, it
can’t be ignored that the lads brushed aside one of the teams that are supposed
to be one of our promotion rivals this year, and did so fairly comfortably,
over the two games. Wells will be considerably strengthened by the addition of
prolific striker Andy Constable to their squad, so I wouldn’t like to predict
which way the two league games between these sides will go – but Paul Chambers
and John Ovard must be delighted with how the season has gone, so far.
