Tunbridge
Wells 2 Ashford United 3
From Ashford United’s
Milton Keynes Correspondent
It
is strange to think that, as late in the season as the 22nd of
March, Ashford United went into the first really big test of the 2013-14 league
campaign. There are some very useful sides in the Southern Counties East
League, but Whyteleafe, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford have emerged as the three
best teams in the division – and United have somehow managed to avoid meeting
either of the other two, until this afternoon. (That excludes the two-legged
meeting between Ashford and Wells in the League Cup, of course, which Ashford
won 4-0 at Homelands, and 2-3 at the Culverden Stadium, for a 7-2 aggregate
victory).
Although
these three teams appear to be nailed on to occupy the top three positions at
the end of the season, realistically, with Whyteleafe seemingly unstoppable at
the top, the two Kent sides are fighting for the runners-up position. At the
start of the day, Ashford trailed Tunbridge Wells by one point, with two games
in hand – and were seven points behind ‘Leafe, with just the one game in hand.
Whatever
the result of today’s match, this always promised to be a close game, and a
good advert for football at this level – two strong teams, with plenty of
players with Ryman League experience in their squad, and a game played in front
of a proper crowd. Tunbridge Wells and Ashford are easily the best-supported
teams in the League, and it was no surprise that today’s gate reached 359,
Wells’ best gate in the SCEFL since October.
On the subject of gates, the crowd was greeted, today,
by a pair of shiny, red turnstiles, which have apparently just been installed.
Another innovation was the wooden infills in the red railing that surrounds the
pitch – which will provide additional advertising space. These are all signs
that Tunbridge Wells FC is preparing for sustainable progress up the football
pyramid.
The pitch itself looked to be in excellent condition –
a continuous, flat, green sward – but it actually played more bumpy than it
looked, as Joe Mant was later to find out, to his cost.
Ashford Manager Paul Chambers named a strong starting
eleven, but also named himself as one of the five substitutes, which betrayed a
certain thinning in the personnel department, which has possibly been brought
on by the club having had to play three games in five days, and four in the
last eight. Ronnie Dolan was serving a suspension today, having been sent off
against Beckenham Town, a fortnight ago. Other notable absentees were Kieran
Byrne and Ben Jordan.
Preferred in attack today were Gary Mickelborough and Sam
Conlon, with a midfield quartet of Gary Clarke (captaining the side, against
his former club), Dave Cook, Adam Cuthbert and Tom Scorer. In Ben Jordan’s
absence, Jordan Miller partnered Pat Kingwell in central defence, with Liam
Whiting at left-back and Luke Cuthbert at right-back. Joe Mant was in goal, as
usual. A strong bench included the alternative strike pairing of Jimmy Dryden
and Buster Smissen (who have scored 19 goals between them, this season, and
probably thousands in their career), plus Sam Fisher and Ian Wallace.
The Royal Tunbridge Wells bench also looked strong, including
top scorer Jon Pilbeam, who had scored twelve goals in the season so far, and former
Ashford Town and Ashford United striker Richard Sinden. (Evidently, Ugly Sister
Larkin had told Sinders that he couldn’t go to the ball, and had to settle for
being sub). There was also a familiar face in the Wells starting line-up – Joe Fuller,
who was joint-top scorer (with ten goals) in Ashford Town’s final, 2009-10 season.
Another name that was of considerable interest to the
home faithful was Rhys Lawson, who had been signed by Martin Larkin in
mid-week. A player who can play on the wing or up front, Lawson soon looked the
best player on the park, with most of Wells’ attacks being channelled through him,
on the right flank.
However, it was from Ashford’s right flank that the
first attack in the match was launched, in the first minute, and this resulted
in Sam Conlon stooping low with a header, at the near post, but he was unable
to squeeze the ball into the net. Two minutes later, the visitors, playing in
their first-choice, green & white strip, were awarded a free-kick in the
centre of the Tunbridge Wells half. Liam Whiting, after having been successful
with a power-shot from a free-kick at Lordswood, on Thursday night, stepped up
to try to repeat the trick – but this time his shot deflected off the wall of
red shirts, and it was a comfortable take for goalkeeper Steve Lawrence. Within
a few seconds, Tunbridge Wells had a free-kick in the Ashford half; this was
floated long, to Perry Spackman, beyond the far post, but the big centre-half
could not direct his header goalwards. Soon after, Jake Beecroft hit a low shot
well wide of the Ashford goal.
The first sign that Rhys Lawson was going to give
Ashford left-back Liam Whiting a difficult afternoon came in the seventh
minute, when he beat his man with a great piece of trickery, and fired in a
hard, low cross along the visitors’ 18-yard line. Andy Irvine met the ball with
a first-time effort, but his shot went just wide of the angle of post and bar. Given
that Liam Whiting had been given the hardest job, in trying to cope with
Lawson, he had a pretty good game, battling hard, throughout the 90 minutes.
However, the Wells debutant had a hand in his side’s
opening goal, forcing Whiting to concede a corner, on the right, in the
eleventh minute. The resulting cross was well met by Perry Spackman, whose
glancing header looped, seemingly in slow motion, just inside the far post. So,
for the third successive match, and the third time in five days, of course,
Ashford found themselves behind to an early goal.
The response from the visitors was for Dave Cook to play
in a much more advanced position, virtually playing as a centre-forward, with
Gary Mickelborough moving out to the right. Ashford certainly had plenty of
possession in the Tunbridge Wells half, but were unable to bother the Wells ‘keeper.
When the home side launched an attack in the 35th
minute, it was rather against the run of play. This ended with a fluffed
clearance from the Ashford defence presenting Lee Radford with a chance, inside
the penalty area, but his low shot was straight at Joe Mant. Two minutes later,
Dave Cook had his one and only sight of goal in the match – and this was not
really more than a half-chance. The move might be described as “Route Two”, for
those old enough to remember “Quiz Ball”, on the telly, as it began with Pat
Kingwell, from a deep position, spreading the ball out wide, to Gary
Mickelborough, who immediately sent in a cross to Cook, who was just outside
the penalty area. The former Hythe Town captain hit the ball on the volley, but
was wide of the mark.
Jake Beecroft hit a firm shot straight at Joe Mant, in
the 39th minute, and Adam Cuthbert hit a shot well wide of Lawrence’s
goal, in the 41st minute – but it was not until the final minute of
the half that Ashford really looked likely to score. Gary Mickelborough went on
a long run down the left, which took him from deep inside his own half, almost
to the left corner flag, playing a couple of one-two’s with Sam Conlon, in the
process. He eventually pulled the ball back to Adam Cuthbert, whose shot was
deflected behind, for a corner, on the left. The resulting cross was met with a
firm header by Jordan Miller, which crashed against the crossbar. The ball
rebounded back into the melee in the goalmouth, and, in the confusion, the
referee must have spotted an infringement, as he pointed to the penalty spot.
Joe Fuller obviously was not in agreement with the
ref, and he received a yellow card for his protests – but it didn’t stop him
from arguing his point, after the referee had put his card back in his pocket.
So it was well inside the 48th minute before Pat Kingwell was able
to take the spot kick. He side-footed his effort low, to Lawrence’s left, only
to see the ball rebound off the post. He was quick to latch onto the rebound,
and turned the ball into the net, and raised his arms in celebration. The
referee initially awarded the goal, but was soon in earnest conversation with
the lino on the far side. Eventually, the goal was disallowed, on the grounds
that Kingwell had made contact with the ball for a second time without it being
touched by another player. This caused confusion among the crowd, with some,
doubtless, not being familiar with this particular law, and others being unsure
as to whether the ‘keeper had touched the ball onto the post. Nevertheless, the
official version of the event was that Kingwell had hit his shot against the
post, without a touch by Lawrence – in which case the decision to disallow the
goal was the correct one.
The match restarted with a goal-kick, after which the
referee blew his whistle for half time. It must have been a sickening blow to
the visitors’ morale, thinking that they had equalised on the stroke of the
interval, only to have this snatched away from them, and this after a half in
which there was never very much between the two sides.
Elsewhere, things were going very much according to
script, with Whyteleafe having opened the scoring against Fisher as early as
the second minute.
Ashford started the second half very much on the front
foot, and won a free-kick, wide on the left. Adam Cuthbert curled the ball into
the penalty area, and it was headed away as far as Tom Scorer, who struck the
ball beautifully, from just outside the penalty area, but his shot was just too
high. In the 52nd minute, Adam’s brother, Luke, sent a long, high,
looping cross into the Wells penalty area, and ‘keeper Steve Lawrence judged it
well, taking the ball just under the crossbar, inches from his far post. Dave
Cook must have been listening to stories told to him by his grandfather, about
how Nat Lofthouse used to score goals, as Cook bundled both man and ball into
the net. What was acceptable in the 1940s and 1950s is certainly not allowed
now, in these days of free-kicks being awarded when players fall over after the
slightest contact – and Cookie was probably very fortunate to get away with not
being shown a yellow card.
So it was in the context of a very bright start to the
half from Ashford that disaster struck, in the 55th minute – and this
has to be every goalkeeper’s nightmare. Pat Kingwell was under no pressure when
he fed a fairly gentle pass back to Joe Mant. The ball clearly must have
bobbled at the instant that Joe attempted a clearance, as he sliced it just a
few yards, to the feet of Andy Irvine, who had the very simple task of passing
the ball into an empty net, for his seventh goal of the season.
This was another body blow to Ashford’s morale, and,
if they needed any excuse to implode, at this point, having had such a busy
schedule, then this was it. It is hugely to the lads’ credit that they never
let this happen. Manager Paul Chambers also deserves a great deal of credit for
immediately making the substitution that turned the game, replacing Tom Scorer
with Jimmy Dryden.
Dryden’s first notable involvement was to set up Gary
Mickelborough for Ashford’s equaliser, in the 62nd minute. Jimmy met
a long clearance from Joe Mant with a firm header, which went square and into
the path of Mickelborough, in the centre, who side-footed the ball onto the
underside of the bar. For the first time this afternoon, the rub of the green
went in favour of the visitors, with the ball coming down just over the line,
and bouncing up into the roof of the net.
This very much sparked Ashford’s revival, and was to
be the first of three goals in 16 minutes. With 70 minutes on the clock, Sam
Conlon sent in a cross from the left which was actually too deep, but Gary
Mickelborough picked the ball up on the right wing. Gary’s attempted cross
struck the arm of left-back Lewis Mingle, who was just inside the 18-yard box,
and the referee had no hesitation in awarding Ashford a second penalty. Once
again, there were prolonged protests from the Tunbridge Wells players, and Jon
Pilbeam, who had earlier replaced Lee Radford, in the 67th minute, was
yellow-carded, for dissent. Pat Kingwell stepped up to take the kick, in spite
of his earlier miss, and waited in position for what must have seemed to him
several minutes, as the referee had a long conversation with his linesman. Eventually,
the ref strolled across to Wells’ No.5 Scott Whibley, and showed him a yellow
card, as well. It was actually in the 73rd minute that Kingwell took
the penalty, side-footing the ball low to Lawrence’s left, just as he had done
at the end of the first half, but, this time, he found the corner of the net,
and the match was all square, at 2-2.
Both managers made a substitution in the 75th
minute; Andy Irvine limped off, to be replaced by Richard Sinden, for Tunbridge
Wells, and Buster Smissen replaced Sam Conlon, for Ashford. Then, what turned
out to be the winning goal was scored in the 77th minute. Jimmy
Dryden once again got up well, winning a challenge in the air after Luke
Cuthbert had played a long ball forward. This time, the ball was much closer to
goalkeeper Lawrence, but Gary Mickelborough managed to bundle the ball past
him, at the second attempt.
The remainder of the game became rather tetchy and
untidy – which was precisely what suited the visitors. The final 15 minutes, or
so, were certainly more notable for the referee’s decisions to award or not
award free-kicks, and to show or not show a yellow card, than for clear-cut
chances. It certainly seemed a very harsh decision to yellow card Jordan Miller
for a push on Richard Sinden, in the 79th minute, for what looked a
simple case of Sinders playing for, and winning, a free-kick in the centre
circle. In the 88th minute, Perry Spackman committed a very similar
foul on Buster Smissen, but was not punished.
The best chance for the home side to equalise came in
the 89th minute. Pat Kingwell blocked Joe Fuller’s attempted cross,
at the expense of a corner – and Paul Chambers reacted by replacing Gary
Mickelborough with Ian Wallace, presumably partly because he thought that
Wallace’s height might be an asset in dealing with the forthcoming corner. When
the corner, on the right was eventually taken, the ball was crossed deep into
the Ashford area, but the defence managed to bundle the ball away, at the far
post. Richard Sinden went down in the six-yard box, as a result of this
defensive effort, but the referee waved away the penalty appeals.
A full eight minutes of injury time were played, mostly
due to the time it took to treat Steve Lawrence, after he had gone down under
Dave Cook’s earlier challenge, and to the break in play that followed Joe Mant
having to be seen to, after he received a knock when jumping to collect the
ball, in the 93rd minute. When the referee finally brought
proceedings to a halt, Steve Lawrence was hobbling around his penalty area, and
Adam Cuthbert limped off the field to the dressing room, so a keenly-fought
game had obviously taken its toll.
It was a strange game, in as much as we witnessed five
goals and a penalty miss, but both goalkeepers had few saves to make. It was
also a game in which Ashford rarely looked in full control, but the visitors
were certainly the dominant force in the second half, and so deserved this
hard-fought victory. Judging by the raucous celebrations by Paul Chambers and
one or two of the Ashford players, at the end of the game, this was a win that
meant a great deal to the squad.
Elsewhere, Whyteleafe completed a 7-2 victory over
Fisher, with the game having been level at 2-2, at one point. With Ashford
moving up into second place, as a result of this afternoon’s victory,
Whyteleafe now have a lead of seven points, having played a game more than the
Nuts & Bolts. The title race continues into next week, with Ashford playing
away to Fisher on Monday and away to Corinthian on Wednesday, and Whyteleafe
travelling to Greenwich Borough on Tuesday.
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