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.