Ashford
United 0 Beckenham
Town 4
The Kent Senior Trophy Final
From Ashford United’s
Milton Keynes Correspondent
This
week-end was very much cup week-end. There were the semi-finals of both the Scottish
Cup and the FA Cup, (with the sight of plenty of Hull City and Sheffield United
fans, in London, on this sunny Sunday afternoon), and, yesterday, there was the
Final of the London Senior Trophy, in which Bridon Ropes, of the Kent Invicta
League, defeated our old rivals from the Ryman League, Corinthian-Casuals. But
the big event in our tiny corner of the football world was the Kent Senior Trophy
Final, between Ashford United and Beckenham Town.
This
was a big deal for me. I am in my mid-50s, now, and this was the first time
that I had seen my boys in the final of anything. That’s probably not
surprising, given that Ashford’s Roll of Honour, in terms of trophies won, in
my life-time, is three Kent Senior Cups – one in 1962-3, when I was a toddler,
and two in the mid-nineties, when I was unable to follow the team. In other
words, when you support Ashford, it can be a very long time between drinks !
The
nearest experience that I’ve had to this, as an Ashford supporter, was back in
1973, with that Semi-final of the FA Trophy. One of the novelties of that
occasion was that, like today’s final, it was played on a neutral ground –
London Road, home of Peterborough United. I went up to Peterborough with my Dad,
on a coach that was organised by the R.E.M.E. And let’s say, just one more
time, that the goal that Scarborough beat us by, in a 1-0 robbery, that day, was
never a penalty ! (The other remarkable
thing about the FA Trophy that year was that Scarborough went on to play Wigan
Athletic in the Final – the same Wigan that played Arsenal in the FA Cup
Semi-final yesterday).
So it was this historical context, more than anything
else, that made today such a disappointing and dispiriting experience. This was
certainly the worst performance that I have seen from Ashford United, this
season, and I find it hard to explain how the boys managed to lose 4-0, and
deservedly so, to a team that they beat comfortably, by a 3-0 margin, only last
Tuesday.
Beckenham were always likely to be a difficult
opponent. I knew that, having seen them outplay us in a 4-2 victory, in early
March. That day, they looked a lively young side, having several players with
the skill and pace to slice through our defence. By all accounts, Becks merely tried
to kick our lads off the park, at Homelands, on Tuesday. Well, I can confirm
that it was “the other” Beckenham that turned up for today’s Final, played at
Tonbridge Angels’ Longmead Stadium, and they duly outplayed Ashford United, for
a second time.
The day began brightly, with a large contingent of
Ashford supporters, who made up the vast majority of the crowd of 412, enjoying
the spring sunshine. The pitch looked immaculate – green and flat, and not on a
ridiculous slope, unlike some of the pitches we play on in the Southern
Counties East League. However, the first ominous sign came with the team sheet,
which our hosts for the day had kindly printed out. Ashford were setting out in
this Final with big centre-half Pat Kingwell up front, alongside Sam Conlon. What
has tended to happen, with Pat playing as a striker, is that the team has
reacted by simply lumping long balls in his general direction, instead of
playing the ball along the ground. Deploying a centre-half in this manner was made
all the more puzzling by the presence of no fewer than five strikers on the
substitutes bench: Jimmy Dryden, Buster Smissen, Gary Mickelborough, Tom Scorer
and Ira Jackson. The only solution to this conundrum was that Ashford must have
had a game plan, and it could only be that The Management felt that Beckenham
might be vulnerable to a big front man – and this appeared to be confirmed by
the regularity with which Ashford played long, high balls up to Kingwell,
throughout the game. (“The Management” actually consisted of Assistant Manager John
Ovard, with Manager Paul Chambers being absent, due to a long-standing social
engagement).
In spite of the absence of both Ollie Finch and Dave
Cook through suspension, Ashford put out a strong midfield, consisting of captain
Gary Clarke, Adam Cuthbert, Sam Fisher and Ronnie Dolan. The defence, in front
of Joe Mant, lined up with Luke Cuthbert at right-back, Liam Whiting at
left-back and the two Jordans, Ben and Miller, in central defence.
Well, the news on the tactical front is that the “Route
1”, in the air, approach simply didn’t work. Kingwell won his fair share of
headers from Joe Mant’s clearances, but the Beckenham defence looked strong,
and no chances were created using this ploy. In the meantime, Beckenham
completely dominated a very one-sided opening ten minutes. The first chance for
the team playing in all red came in the sixth minute. After Liam Whiting had
conceded a free-kick on the right touchline, the resulting cross found Jake
Britnell, on the edge of the “D”, but Britnell’s optimistic flick looped well
over the Ashford bar. But it was not long before Beckenham took the lead. Ben
Jordan gave the opposition a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area,
for pulling back Britnell. A five-man wall of green shirts faced the free-kick,
but to no avail, as James Marshall stepped up and thumped the ball, low and
hard, into the corner of the net, giving Joe Mant no chance.
United’s most promising moments came when they played
the ball to Ronnie Dolan, who played wide on the left, and well up-field,
during the first half. In the twelfth minute, Ronnie created Ashford’s first
half-chance. Collecting the ball from a free-kick, taken from inside the centre
circle, he curled a long, right-footed cross towards the far post, but Sam
Conlon just failed to connect with a diving header. In the 23rd
minute, shortly after Joe Mant had saved a shot from Travis Gregory, at his
near post, Dolan again carved out an opportunity. Sent wide by a cross-field pass
by Jordan Miller, Ronnie managed to get around the Becks defence, and pulled
the ball back from the by-line, but it was scrambled away.
Beckenham seemed to be very well-drilled when they had
a corner, with clusters of players making carefully rehearsed runs – but the
Ashford defence tended to deal well with corners. Ashford’s corners, in
contrast, appeared to be hammering away at the theory that Becks’ goalie Rilwan
Anibaba, and the defenders in front of him, were vulnerable to an aerial
attack. This was seen in the 30th minute, when Liam Whiting looped a
corner right under the crossbar, which Anibaba just managed to tip away, for
another corner, this time on the left. Adam Cuthbert also sent in a high,
looping cross, but this was cleared by the defence.
Three minutes later, a foul on Sam Conlon almost on
the by-line gave Ashford what looked very much like a short corner in hockey,
on the right. Liam Whiting again went up to deliver the cross, but Pat Kingwell’s
flicked header was saved, and, as the ball was scrambled away, Beckenham
immediately launched a very pacy counter-attack. As the Ashford defence
back-pedalled, Jamie Humphries bore down on Ben Jordan, in the penalty area. The
Beckenham No.10’s quick feet beat the Ashford defender all ends up, to give
himself just Joe Mant to beat, but the ‘keeper saved at the near post, with his
foot.
The quickness of Beckenham’s front players continued
to give Ashford problems, and they were drawn in to committing fouls – and in
the 41st minute, Liam Whiting was shown a yellow card for a foul on
Jake Britnell.
Ronnie Dolan switched to the right wing, at the start
of the second half, but it made little difference to the balance of play, with
Beckenham remaining in control. In fact, it was good wing play by Jake Britnell
that led to his side’s second goal, in the 54th minute. He did well
to get behind the Ashford defence, and, from the by-line, pulled the ball back
to Travis Gregory, who was unmarked and had plenty of time in which to place
the ball past Joe Mant.
That goal brought an immediate response from John
Ovard, who replaced Sam Fisher with Tom Scorer, in midfield. This made an
immediate, and very noticeable, difference, as Tom showed his ability to run
with the ball, beat opponents and spray passes around from the centre of the field.
In fact, if I were to nominate a Man of the Match for Ashford, I’d make it Tom,
in spite of the fact that he was only on the field for just over half an hour.
In the 59th minute, he spread the ball wide to Ronnie Dolan, whose
long cross, from near the touchline, was met by what amounted to not much more
than a glancing header by Pat Kingwell, from close range, when a firmer contact
would probably have been enough to beat Anibaba.
That was Pat’s final attempt at goal, for, in the 73rd
minute, John Ovard threw the dice for the last time, replacing Kingwell and
Adam Cuthbert with Gary Mickelborough and Buster Smissen. However, it was a Beckenham
substitute, Alex Wilks, who had replaced Damon Ramsamy in the 62nd
minute, who had the next clear chance in the game. Wilkes, who had looked to be
Beckenham’s best player during their earlier 4-2 league win over Ashford, was
put clean through on goal, with a one-on-one with Joe Mant – until Liam Whiting
intercepted, with a saving tackle.
Beckenham had previously been forced into a
substitution as early as the 30th minute, when Joe Jackson replaced
Steve McNamara, presumably because of injury – but Jackson’s game was to end
prematurely, in the 78th minute, when he was dismissed by Referee
Steve Brown, after bundling into Ronnie Dolan, earning him a second yellow
card. Beckenham Manager Jason Huntley made his final substitution in the 80th
minute, replacing the scorer of the second goal, Travis Gregory, with Jalloh
Gassium – and this substitution came seconds after Buster Smissen had headed
just high and wide of the angle of post and bar.
Ashford, inspired by Tom Scorer, were applying plenty
of pressure on the Beckenham defence, albeit without really testing Rilwan
Anibaba, when Becks scored their third goal, in the 83rd minute.
Ironically, this was a straightforward “Route 1” goal, with Jamie Humphries
chasing a kick-out from the ‘keeper. He won the race for the ball, and his
angled shot into the corner of Joe Mant’s net effectively sealed the Trophy for
Beckenham.
It was probably no coincidence that Liam Whiting got
himself sent off, just a minute later. This was for an ugly-looking late challenge,
with Liam ploughing into Jake Britnell, and appearing to lead with his forearm.
He had already been booked, but it looked like Liam was shown a straight red
card for this. It was a shame that Liam had apparently let frustration get the
better of him, as he had looked one of Ashford’s best players, this afternoon,
as he has done throughout the season.
Ashford never stopped pressing forward, looking for a
goal, even when down to ten men, and after the game had appeared to be
effectively over – and Anibaba had his first proper save to make, as late as
the 86th minute. On this occasion, Tom Scorer picked the ball up,
just outside the Beckenham penalty area. He jinked, to make room for a shot,
and hit a powerful drive, but his effort went straight at the Becks ‘keeper.
In spite of Ashford’s efforts, it was Beckenham who
scored the fourth goal – and this was again pure “Route 1”. Ben Jordan, with
Jamie Humphries in close attendance, failed to deal with a high kick-out from
Anibaba, three minutes into added time, and then Joe Mant came out to try to
clear the bouncing ball – but his effort lacked conviction, and he looked like
a man who had already been beaten three times, and who was just about ready for
the final whistle. The result was that Humphries was left with the simple task
of tapping the ball into an empty net, for his second goal.
So a thoroughly bad day at the office, for Ashford –
if it’s possible to have one of those on a Sunday – and Beckenham Town won the
Kent Senior Trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
What made a miserable day considerably worse was the
brawl that broke out, after the match, in the stand occupied by Ashford United
supporters. I will say very little about this incident, because I was a long
way away from it, (on the halfway line), and I didn’t see how it started.
However, given that some of Beckenham Town’s players had gone into the stand,
and were seen to be trading punches with members of the public, in full view of
any number of Kent FA officials, I think it’s very likely that the club’s
victory in today’s Final will have come at some cost.
The officials, in their blazers, were, of course,
there to present the shining Kent Senior Trophy to the victors. This looked to
be about to happen, once the fracas had died down and the players and officials
of both sides had wandered back to the centre of the pitch. The Referee’s
whistle had demanded the attention of all present, and the PA announcer began
proceedings – but then another scrap broke out, between two blokes in the same
stand, and three of Beckenham’s players decided that they would break ranks and
go across and get involved again, in spite of pleas from one of the club’s
officials for them not to do so. This was the last straw, and caused the PA man
to announce that the presentation of the trophy had been abandoned, and that
everyone should wend their way home. This was a disgraceful and embarrassing way
for the day to end, and I felt quite sorry for the County officials, who had
given up their Sunday afternoon to be at the game.
I have learnt to take the rough with the smooth when
supporting Ashford, over the years – it sort of goes with the territory – but,
as football experiences go, I can safely say that this wasn’t one of the best.
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