Erith Town v Ashford United. Southern Counties East Football League. 28th of February 2015.

Erith Town         1      

Ashford United 3

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

The last day of February, 2015, and there have already been signs, in the air, that we are coming to the end of what we must come to accept as being a typical winter – mild, but very wet, with no more than the odd brief cold snap. Because of this undeniable change in our climate, “waterlogged pitch” has replaced “frozen pitch” as the main enemy of non-league groundsmen up and down the country. The south-east had been particularly hard hit by rain over the previous few weeks, so it was a relief that a small dry window of opportunity had allowed today’s game to go ahead.

Today’s venue was Badgers Sports Ground, Eltham, in the London Borough of Greenwich – home to Cray Valley Paper Mills FC, but this afternoon’s match was against ground sharers Erith Town. This was my third visit to Badgers, having previously witnessed this season’s 3-2 defeat at the hands of Cray Valley PM, and the 1-1 draw, here, against Erith Town last season.

Plenty to play for, this afternoon, for both teams. Although Phoenix Sports appear to have had the Southern Counties East championship, and the solitary promotion place, sewn up for some time – with a record of 21 wins and three draws, from 24 games, speaking for itself – an in-form Ashford United side still had the considerable incentive of finishing runners-up, starting the day just seven points behind Erith & Belvedere, with both teams having 15 league games remaining. For Ashford, there is also the chance, over the coming weeks, to test themselves against the best teams in the league, with the upcoming sequence of fixtures being Phoenix Sports at home, Beckenham Town at home, Tunbridge Wells at home, Erith & Belvedere at home and Corinthian away.

First, though, was the prospect of taking on Erith Town. The Dockers were bottom of the table, this morning, with the very real prospect of being relegated to the Kent Invicta League being their incentive !  It’s a real novelty for the Kent League / SCEFL to be fitted with a trap door – and rumours of a potential reprieve for the bottom-placed club, as a result of Lingfield maybe volunteering to demote themselves to Sussex 2, at the end of the season, were scotched, recently, by the SCE Football League’s announcement that they had so far received no such request from Lingfield.

Battling relegation is a strange pastime for The Dockers, having achieved fourth, third and third finishes, in the past three seasons, and not having finished out of the top eight since 2007. The club is clearly taking the situation seriously, though, having signed no fewer than SIXTEEN players over the past three weeks, the big, “marquee” signing being Jon Main, a goal scoring legend whose previous clubs include AFC Wimbledon, Welling, Dartford and Tonbridge Angels.

The Main man was nowhere to be seen this afternoon, but, of the 16 players on show for The Dockers, no fewer than twelve were among these recent signings. Included in the starting line-up were defenders George Savage and CJ Williams, Daniel Willis, Sam Gent, Kery Kedze, Elyon Kutang, Kadeem Ajeon and Richard Monan. Williams, Kutang and Kedze have all come from Cray Wanderers, with Ajeon arriving from Walton & Hersham. New faces on the bench were goalkeeper Joseph Hagan (from Chipstead), Ola Kukoyi (from Eltham Palace), Kobina Botwe (from Dulwich Hamlet) and Marvin Alebiosu (previously of Fisher and Erith & Belvedere).

In contrast, Ashford United, playing in their Norwich City-style away strip, against Erith Town’s red & black stripes – (think back to Manchester City’s 1971 FA Cup Final strip) – sent out a very familiar line-up. The central pairing in front of Joe Mant was Pat Kingwell and Danny Lye, (meaning that Liam Walsh once again had to settle for a place on the bench), with the Cuthbert brothers, Luke and Adam, at left- and right-back, respectively. The midfield quartet consisted of Gary Clarke, Lee Winfield and Micky Phillips, with Gary Mickelborough out wide. Stuart Zanone and Darren Marsden reprised the strike partnership that had worked so well in the 1-4 win away at Greenwich Borough. Joining Liam Walsh on the bench were Tom Scorer, Buster Smissen, Ollie Finch and Jordan Harris.

Another echo of the Greenwich Borough match was that today’s proceedings were presided over by the same referee that had been in charge at Prince Park. A feature of that game in Dartford was that it was played on a pitch resembling a ploughed field – certainly one that was muddier than any pitch that I had seen in the Kent Invicta League. I was therefore extremely surprised to learn, on arriving at Badgers, about 25 minutes before kick-off, that this same referee was quibbling as to whether the game should go ahead. It’s true that a large patch in the centre of the pitch, and one of the penalty areas, were heavily sanded, and there were the remnants of what had recently been a muddy puddle in the other penalty area, but the playing surface was like a cricket field in comparison to Princes Park. I would have been more than a little peeved if the game had been called off, but, in the event, the afternoon’s entertainment began on time, at 3pm.

It is slightly ironic, maybe, but, in spite of the ball not running or bouncing a great deal in some areas of the pitch, Ashford managed to play the best football that I have seen them play this season. Playing up the slope, but against a chilly and damp breeze, in the first half, the visitors made a fast start, with Gary Mickelborough almost creating a chance in the first minute. After the referee had made the strange decision to play the advantage after the lino had flagged for offside – in spite of no real advantage accruing to the home side - Mickelborough was released down the left wing. He put in a low cross, which goalkeeper Joel Hannigan managed to gather in at his near post, with Stuart Zanone waiting to lap up any spillage.

Throughout the first half, Ashford played some really good, passing football, with the experienced trio of Lee Winfield, Micky Phillips and Darren Marsden dominating the midfield – but a decent final ball was invariably sadly lacking, and GazMik, in spite of a lot of effort on both flanks, was as guilty of the latter as anyone.

Life became more difficult for Ashford in the 14^th minute, when Erith Town, understandably searching desperately for rhythm and confidence, took the lead. The goal came from a cross from the right. Big centre-forward Ramone McCrae rose well to direct his header towards goal, but his effort did not have the impetus to cross the line. Pat Kingwell, who had another superb game at the back, for Ashford, was on hand to clear the ball off the line, but McCrae was following up, and blocked Kingwell’s clearance into the net.

In spite of this early reverse, this always looked like a game that Ashford could win, once they had made the breakthrough – but a lack of quality in the final third of the pitch continued to halt their progress during the opening 45 minutes. In the 23^rd minute, a good move saw Darren Marsden advancing through the centre of the Erith defence. With Stuart Zanone as on option on the left, Marsden played the ball right, to Gary Mickelborough, whose cross was cut out by the home defence, looping over the bar, for a corner. From the corner, the ball was fed back to Lee Winfield, but the midfielder pulled a low shot well wide of goal. Two minutes later, Mickelborough went on a great run down the right wing, which began well inside the Ashford half. He beat three men, before cutting inside, onto his left foot – but then hit a disappointing shot high and wide.

Going in at half time with a goal advantage would have been an enormous boost to the home side, as it would have really given them something to hold onto in the second half – so it was extremely important, in the context of the game, that Ashford finally got their act together, and equalised, in the 45^th minute. The move started with Gary Mickelborough, wide on the right, finding Micky Phillips in the middle of the Erith half. Phillips’ chipped cross skidded off the head of Gary Clarke, and then found its way to Stuart Zanone, who controlled the ball on his chest and then tucked it into the net, from close range. This also meant that Stuart has scored in ELEVEN consecutive league matches, which I understand is something that has not previously been achieved for either Ashford Town or Ashford United.

Once the penny had dropped, Ashford almost scored a second goal, in the second minute of first half stoppage time. Adam Cuthbert, who was impressive today, sent a long ball down the right wing for Gary Mickelborough to chase. Gary pulled the ball back to Darren Marsden, whose attempt to chip the ball into the net was well saved by Hannigan, in the Erith Town goal. From the resulting corner, Marsden and Phillips combined in a long “one-two”, before Marsden’s second chipped attempt at goal was well caught by the keeper – at which point the referee blew for half time.

The second half began in much the same vein as the first half, with Ashford dominating the midfield area and clearly having the majority of possession. In the 50^th minute, the visitors had the ball in the net, after Danny Lye had risen well to nod a Micky Phillips cross down at the feet of Stuart Zanone, but the ref had blown for a foul before Stuart stabbed the ball home.

However, the home side then came into the game a great deal more, and had a good spell, leading up to the hour mark. In the 53^rd minute, Number 11 Richard Morgan found himself with the ball at his feet, inside the Ashford United penalty area, but Joe Mant did well to save with his right foot. The ball looped into the air, but was then scrambled away by the Ashford defence. Two minutes later, the visitors’ goal was again under pressure, with Erith employing the obvious tactic of crowding out goalkeeper Mant – but the yellow barrier held firm. In the 58^th minute, Elyon Kutang did well with a quick turn and shot from the edge of the Ashford area. It appeared that Kutang’s shot had flashed past the diving ‘keeper, but Joe must have got a touch, as a corner was awarded.

With the scores still level, at 1-1, and Erith Town playing their best football of the game, the goal that gave Ashford the lead came at a very good time – and it came from the penalty spot, after Stuart Zanone was, according to the referee, fouled by the Erith ‘keeper. The incident came about after Stuart had run onto a through ball, into the home 18-yard box. He got to the ball before the on-rushing Hannigan, and, in spite of there not appearing to be a great deal of contact, from where I was sitting, there was enough contact to persuade the ref to award a penalty. In fairness to the man in charge, he was well positioned, just a few yards from the incident, and had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

It was at least three minutes before the penalty could be taken. First, the referee took time out to deal with some determined (but futile) protests from the Erith players, which ended with him wielding his yellow card, but it was not clear who was booked, or even how many home players’ names were taken. Then, there was a charade over the placing of the ball on the penalty spot. From memory, I think the “penalty mark” should have been in the vicinity of the dried up puddle that I had noticed when I arrived at the ground – and the home side was insisting that the ball should be precisely positioned. Once the issue was eventually resolved, in the 64^th minute, Stuart Zanone – who else ? – whacked the ball into the bottom corner of the net, with the minimum of fuss, in contrast to the earlier shenanigans.

Once in the lead, Ashford never really looked like relinquishing their grip on the three points, with the midfield continuing to run things in the middle of the park, making light of the difficult surface.

One of the main contributors to the visitors’ possession game, Lee Winfield, was shown a yellow card in the 65^th minute, for a reason that totally escaped me, and was replaced by Tom Scorer, four minutes later, in a substitution that appeared to be a precautionary one. Kobina Botwe was sent on in place of Sam Gent, for the home side, in the 77^th minute, and then, in the 80^th minute, it looked odds-on that Micky Phillips would be shown a card of some description, after he rather dived into a tackle, albeit without making any contact. However, although Phillips was taken to one side and given a patient lecture by the ref – the type of discourse that usually takes place in order to explain the reason for a booking – I did not see a card produced.

The away win was sealed in the 82^nd minute, when the on-fire Stuart Zanone completed his third hat-trick of the season for Ashford, scoring his 26^th goal in his last 13 games, in what is already an unprecedented sequence of scoring. The goal came out of very little, with Zanone chasing a through ball that his marker looked favourite to get to first – but Stuart was simply too strong, easing the defender off the ball, before slotting the ball past the ‘keeper, and into the net.

That was it, “bar the shouting”. There was a run-out for Ollie Finch, in the 84^th minute, when he replaced Darren Marsden – but there was no yellow card to record for all those Ollie Finch Bingo cards you are waiting with at home. Paul Chambers also replaced goal scoring hero Zanone with Buster Smissen, for the final three minutes of normal time and the six minutes of injury time that the referee allowed.

So Ashford United left Badgers with three points that took them above Tunbridge Wells, (whose home game was postponed, this afternoon), into third position in the SCEFL. Today’s victory was our eighth league win in succession, a sequence that began after the 3-2 defeat to Cray Valley PM, at the same venue. Erith Town, of course, remained at the bottom of the league, but they will have received some relief from the news that, elsewhere, Deal Town, just one place above them, had lost 6-1, at Beckenham. The most surprising result of the day was Phoenix Sports’ 0-0 draw away at Woodstock Sports – but I think it would be premature to speculate as to whether Phoenix could possibly falter in their march towards the championship.  

Greenwich Borough v Ashford United. Southern Counties East Football League. 7th of February 2015.

Greenwich Borough           1                

Ashford United           4

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

In case anyone thinks that following Ashford United on the road in the Southern Counties East Football League might be a little “samey”, today’s fixture away to Greenwich Borough was a complete contrast to the visit to Holmesdale, just a fortnight ago. Whereas facilities at Oakley Road, with its seemingly improvised corrugated iron stands and lack of information, were fairly basic, today’s game was played at Dartford FC’s Princes Park Stadium, Dartford Borough Council’s 4,100-capacity ground, which was opened as recently as 2006.

Greenwich Borough FC is a transformed club, these days. Until recently, Borough were notable for surviving on ultra-low crowds – of the 30 or less type – and last season’s much-improved ninth-place finish in the SCEFL followed the ignominy of finishing last of 16 in 2011-12, and 15^th of 17 in 2012-13. Ground-sharing at Princes Park, since August 2013, has coincided with the club being reportedly extremely well bankrolled, and with the creation of a strong squad. One unsubstantiated rumour I’ve read is that two of Greenwich’s squad are both on a weekly wage that exceeds Ashford United’s entire weekly playing budget. Whether or not there is any truth in that, it is likely that the top earner in the club’s squad is 35 year-old Gary Alexander, whose Football League career, which consisted of 500-plus games, included spells with Leyton Orient, Millwall, Hull City and Brentford.

Starting today’s game in seventh place in the league – three points behind fifth-placed Ashford, but with two games in hand -  Greenwich were always going to be tough opponents. This was underlined by our hosts’ most recent result in the league – a 0-6 thrashing of Holmesdale, the same team that Ashford rather struggled against in a 3-4 victory, just a week earlier.

This was not my first visit to Princes Park, although the previous occasion had been eight years ago, for the Ryman League Division One South game between Dartford and Ashford Town.

And what a game that was !  The result was a 4-3 win for Dartford, with the winner coming from what appeared to be a fairly dodgy penalty in the 93^rd minute, over a struggling Ashford side. The game was memorable for the seven goals, a brilliant solo effort from Walid Matata, a howling goalkeeping error from Jake Whincup that gave The Darts their third goal, an earlier penalty save by Jake, two red cards, a disallowed goal, and Ashford Manager John Cumberbatch being dismissed and sent to the stands. The game was also remarkable for being played in front of a crowd of 1,470.

Ashford’s line-up that afternoon was interesting. Legendary right-back Tom Adlington played at centre-half, alongside Marc Cumberbatch; Anthony Allman, a midfield playmaker, was at right-back; Simon Glover was at left-back, (although Gloves played in virtually every position for Ashford); Luke Coleman, who captained Holmesdale, a fortnight ago, from the centre-forward position, was on the right side of midfield; Matt Carruthers, an attacking wide midfield player, was in central midfield. Steve Sodje partnered Walid Matata, up front, on this occasion, in place of the injured George Fenwick.

Two interesting players in the Dartford line-up were Ryan Briggs and John Guest, who both joined Ashford Town at a later date – but the star of The Darts’ side, on that particular afternoon, and on many others, was winger Dave Martin. He was brilliant in that game, which I think was his last for Dartford before joining Crystal Palace, and then Millwall.

Well, today’s game at Princes Park didn’t quite live up to the 2007 occasion, but it was a remarkable game in its own right, and did produce five very good goals, just the one red card and the frame of the goal was hit at least four times.

Ashford came here with what looked to be very nearly a full-strength side. In front of Joe Mant was the very experienced central defensive pairing of Pat Kingwell and Danny Lye. Both of these lads had a towering game, particularly Kingwell, who was an immense presence in the Ashford defence, and always seemed to be in the right place. (This was just as well, as Greenwich Borough were to prove themselves to be an extremely potent force going forward). On either side of the defence were the Cuthbert brothers – Adam on the right, and Luke on the left – who completed 90 minutes together for the first time since the Canterbury City game on the 27^th of December. I haven’t seen enough of Ashford this season to know how Adam is coping in this new, defensive role, but he did pretty well this afternoon.

Gary Clarke, the Club Captain, battled away in central midfield, alongside Lee Winfield, with Liam Whiting on the left and Tom Scorer on the right. Up front were Stuart Zanone and Darren Marsden, in what looks a very good combination. We know about Stuart, with his pace and his strength and his natural ability to score goals – and 19 in ten matches, coming into this match, speaks for itself – but Darren Marsden is looking like his ideal partner. He’s hard working and he’s intelligent, and has the skill to retain position and manoeuvre the ball into the right areas. Although the home side had the large majority of the possession in this game, with most of the match being played in Ashford’s half, every time the ball found its way to the visitors’ front two, they looked dangerous, and made life a misery for a hapless Greenwich Borough defence.

Both teams had a strong bench. In fact, the ten players named could probably form a team that would hold its own in the top half of the SCEFL table. For Ashford, there was Liam Walsh, Kieran Byrne, Ollie Finch, Andy Irvine and Gary Mickelborough; Borough’s substitutes were Jamie Wood, Lewis Wood, Paul Vines, Danny Phillips and Jack Clark. For good measure, Buster Smissen warmed up, in full kit, with the other Ashford subs, before the game, but was left out of the final XVI.

I mentioned that this was “a remarkable game”. In fact, it was one of the strangest games I have seen. This is because the visitors were under the cosh for at least the final 87 minutes of this match, being at full stretch to deny what is obviously a very good Greenwich side – but nevertheless managed to score four goals, and win comfortably. That they were able to do so was due to a solid and determined all-round team display – by eleven men in the first half, and then by ten men for virtually all of the second half. I have never seen a team lead by four goals, but yet appear to have to hang on so grimly – but hang on they did, and Paul Chambers and his boys deserve a great deal of credit for coming away with a 1-4 victory.

Ashford did, at least, make a fast start, and I thought that it was all Ashford in an opening three-minute spell that culminated in the visitors opening the scoring, with what might be described as a “Liam Whiting Special”. Stuart Zanone spread the ball wide to Whiting, on the left, and the script – certainly as far as Greenwich goalkeeper Craig Holloway was concerned – was for Liam to cross the ball into the centre. Instead, Liam lashed the ball into the roof of the net, with a left-footed drive that went just inside the near post.

That was the ideal start for Ashford, but, just a minute later, the home side gave an indication of what was to come, when former Beckenham winger Jake Britnall created a chance for an equaliser. Although Gary Alexander is the big name in the Greenwich side, their main threat this afternoon appeared to come in the shape of two very skillful wingmen – No.7 Mohammed Eisa and No.11 Britnall. On this occasion, it was Britnall who easily beat two Ashford defenders, to break into the heart of the visitors’ penalty area, but Joe Mant saved his shot from about ten yards out.

From this point, it looked a bit like Rorke’s Drift out there – except that it was the red shirts that were doing the attacking, with the yellows manning the barricades. I should add that there were also echoes of the Battle of Passchendaele, as the Princes Park pitch was in an appalling state, consisting of considerably more mud than grass, even before the game started.

In spite of the relentless assault on the Ashford defence, what made the game interesting, and enjoyable for the Ashford faithful, who made up the majority of the crowd of 117, was that the visitors always looked like they had the quality to score, when they did get the ball forward. In fact, Tom Scorer very nearly doubled the score in the tenth minute. Receiving the ball from a throw-in, on the left, Tom made room for a shot at goal, and his thunderous shot cannoned off Holloway’s right-hand post. Stuart Zanone, on the poach, about eight yards from goal, was unable to control the rebound, but the lino had already flagged him offside.

A minute later, Joe Mant, for the first time, reminded me of Jake Whincup !  Rising to make a regulation catch, after Chris Edwards had floated a free-kick into the Ashford box, Joe made a complete hash of things, but was fortunate to drop the ball at the feet of one of his own defenders. After a bout of head tennis, the ball was partially cleared, before Mohammed Eisa’s looping header, from a Chris Edwards cross, went just over the bar.

Greenwich looked particularly dangerous from set pieces, and Mr Nketiah, who kept very good control of the game, but was pretty fussy about any physical contact, gave the home side plenty of free-kick opportunities. In the 18^th minute, Danny Lye did well to get his head to the ball as a free-kick on the left was whipped in with great pace – and then Adam Cuthbert headed away the resulting corner, at the near post. Three minutes later, the Ashford defence failed to clear another Edwards corner from the left, and the visitors’ one-goal lead was preserved thanks to a good save by Joe Mant, and then a clearance, after a goalmouth scramble, by Adam Cuthbert.

Borough must have regretted their failure to convert pressure into goals, in the 25^th minute, when Gary Clarke made it 0-2. This came from an Ashford free-kick, awarded for a very harsh hand ball decision which appeared to me to be very much a case of ball-against-hand. The home defence had plenty of time to get organised, as Lee Winfeld and Darren Marsden stood over the ball. Eventually, it was Marsden who floated a cross to the far post, and Gary Clarke got up well to head the ball into the far corner of the net, for his 22^nd goal in an Ashford shirt. There’s no doubt that it was a well-taken goal, but the Greenwich Management was probably wondering how one of the smallest players on the pitch had managed to comfortably get his head to the ball.

The third Ashford goal came in the 31^st minute, and came on the break, after a period of Greenwich Borough pressure. Darren Marsden led the charge, down the right, and effectively played a “one-two” off a defender, who got in the way of an attempted pass to Stuart Zanone. Darren’s second ball was a cross into the heart of the Greenwich goalmouth, which was intercepted but not cleared. The ball fell at the feet of Stuart Zanone, about ten yards from goal – at which point there was only going to be one outcome. As usual, Stuart fairly slammed the ball into the net, decisively and without hesitation, in the manner of a clinical goal scorer.

In the 35^th minute, Liam Whiting, who reminds me increasingly of a young, and very lean, Stuart Pearce, made what I thought was a good, clean tackle – but this was from behind, and Liam’s angle of approach, and the fact that he made some slight contact with his opponent, meant that he not only conceded a free-kick, but also received a yellow card from Referee Nketiah. From the resulting free-kick, Gary Borrowdale pumped the ball into the Ashford area, and Joe Mant cleared with a decisive punch. The ball found Jake Britnall, on the edge of the 18-yard box, and Adam Cuthbert put in a challenge with studs showing, catching Britnall in the ribs. I am sure that there was nothing malicious in the challenge, but it looked bad, and Adam might have been a little fortunate to only be shown a yellow card.

It was Borrowdale who took the free-kick, and this was an excellent effort, eluding a six-man wall, before crashing against the crossbar.

A sending off looked even more likely in the 43^rd minute, when Liam Whiting miss-timed another genuine attempt to play the ball, instead catching Jake Britnall on the foot. This led to several Greenwich players forming a ruck around the referee, in what was obviously a concerted effort to get Liam sent off. To the ref’s credit, he refused to be intimidated by the mob, and, instead, gave Liam a lengthy lecture, which, as was clear to all present, was very much a final warning.

So the travelling faithful were delighted to see the lads go in at half time with a 0-3 lead, whilst acknowledging that the score-line hid the fact that we had actually been fighting a rearguard action for most of the first 45 minutes. Chief topic of conversation, however, was that the most predictable substitution of the season was about to be made, at the start of the second half.

It was a big surprise, therefore, that Whiting came out, after the break – especially with Kieran Byrne being available as an obvious like-for-like replacement. In fact, it was Greenwich who made a half time substitution, with Jamie Wood replacing Chris Saunders.

I am sure that Paul Chambers must have seriously considered replacing Liam – but he made the decision to “stick”, rather than “twist”, and this decision soon led to the visitors being reduced to ten men. As early as the second minute after the break, Liam went into a tackle in typically whole-hearted fashion, was slightly late, made contact with a Greenwich player……….and the second yellow card was inevitable. I don’t think the referee had any option, having clearly put Liam on last-chance notice – and the yellow shirts were a man down at The Alamo.

What helped Ashford’s cause, however, was that Stuart Zanone made it 0-4, almost immediately – in the 49^th minute, in fact. A break from defence saw Darren Marsden and Zanone in a two-against-two situation with back-peddling Greenwich Borough defenders. Darren pushed the ball into Stuart’s path, and, despite beginning his run from the halfway line, such is the striker’s strength and pace that there was never any doubt that he would make it into the Borough penalty area. With just Holloway to beat, Stuart went to the right, to make himself an angle, and then calmly slotted the ball into the net, eluding the ‘keeper’s outstretched arm. So that is now 21 goals in eleven matches for Stuart Zanone, extending a goal scoring sequence that has no precedent in the history of Ashford football.

So there then followed a bizarre 40 minutes, during which the ten men in yellow & green defended valiantly to hold off the Greenwich onslaught. This is a scene that has been acted out on many a field of battle, at home and abroad, and in the league and in the cups – but surely such a desperate rearguard has never been enacted to preserve a FOUR goal lead?!

But defend they did, and, with Pat Kingwell being the rock against which most of the red wave broke, the three points were made safe, with Joe Mant being beaten just the once – by Danny Phillips, in the 67^th minute.

Of course, Greenwich should be given credit for never giving up, and for applying the pressure right to the very end – but a combination of wayward shooting, good saves by Joe Mant or a defender getting a foot or a head in the way of the ball at the vital moment, gave Ashford United a well-deserved three points.

In the 60^th minute, Borough Manager Ian Jenkins replaced the ineffective Scott Kinch with Danny Phillips, and, a minute later, Paul Chambers made his first substitution, sending on Ollie Finch, in place of Tom Scorer. This gave us the chance to play “Ollie Finch Bingo” – which consists of having a sweepstake on how long it will take Ollie, who is a walking yellow card, to get himself booked. On this occasion, folks, today’s lucky number was 24. That’s two-and-four, twenty-four, as Ollie got shown the yellow after a late tackle on Jake Britnall, on the edge of the “D”, in the 85^th minute.

The goal that Greenwich did score, in the 67^th minute, was a good one. The ball was threaded through to Danny Phillips, who took a touch and then calmly placed the ball past Joe Mant’s left hand. This came just a minute after the home side had come close through Gary Alexander. Receiving the ball, on the left, from Mohammed Eisa, the man who had once cost Swindon Town £300,000 attempted to curl the ball inside the far post, with Joe Mant merely watching, but this effort went just wide. In the 70^th minute, No.9 Billy Bennett thumped a cracking shot against Mant’s right-hand upright, but Joe made a good save as Eisa attempted a curling shot from the rebound.

A minute later, Paul Chambers relieved a tiring Darren Marsden of his duties, the No.10 having run his socks off for the cause. Up to this point, Chambers had maintained a two-pronged attack, in spite of being down to ten men, against a Greenwich back three. Now, however, Marsden’s replacement, Gary Mickelborough, very much tucked into the midfield, in what was now a 4-4-1 formation. Later, in the 83^rd minute, the hard-working Stuart Zanone was also given a well-earned rest, when he was replaced by defender Liam Walsh. This provided the Ashford back line with much-needed reinforcement, with Gary Mickelborough taking over as the lone striker.

The nearest Greenwich Borough came to scoring, late on, was in the 89^th minute, when a left-footed shot from substitute Danny Phillips, from 18 yards out, crashed against Joe Mant’s upright once again – only to fall comfortably into Joe’s arms, after bouncing once. Almost immediately, the red shirts surged forward again, to the edge of the Ashford penalty area. Some typically neat passing provided Billy Bennett with a good shooting chance, but he blasted the ball over the bar. In the final minute of normal time, (before five minutes of added time), the home side had a free-kick, about 25 yards from goal. This was squared to Jake Britnall, who curled a shot that was destined for the far, top corner of the net, only for Joe Mant to tip the ball away for a corner – at which point Britnall must have known that it wasn’t going to be his day.

Mr Nketiah did wave a yellow card at someone in the 92^nd minute, after Greenwich had been awarded a corner. I am guessing that this could only have been for an Ashford player knocking the ball away in an attempt to waste time – but it was not obvious who was the recipient of the card.

So quite a match, with Ashford scoring four goals for the third consecutive game – and with Stuart Zanone being responsible for half of those goals.

The three points gained today lifted Ashford to fourth place, in the table, above Tunbridge Wells, who were playing in the SCEFL Challenge Cup. Another tough game awaits Ashford in just three days’ time, with third-placed Corinthian coming to Homelands on Tuesday night.