Cray Valley PM 0
Ashford United 5
From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
After
the victory over Sevenoaks, in the Kent Senior Trophy, last Saturday, Ashford
United resumed their league campaign, at the now-familiar Badgers Sports &
Social Club ground, in Eltham. With twelve of our games, in a 38-game Southern
Counties East season, having been completed, at the start of this game, the
league is still wide open. Focusing on the number of points that teams have
dropped, which is the most appropriate way to weigh things up, at this stage, Hollands
& Blair were in the best position, having dropped ten points – Ashford were
on -16 points, but there were no fewer than eight teams whose record showed them
on between -10 and -16, which emphasised the open nature of the contest.
With
four of those eight teams due to play one another, this afternoon, so
guaranteeing that more points would be dropped within that group, it was vital
for Ashford to come away from Badgers with all three points. The reservation in
my mind, as I watched the steady rain falling on Platform 4 of Milton Keynes
Central Railway Station, was that today’s opponents, Cray Valley Paper Mills, had
always been something of a bogey team for Ashford. They always seem to have a
decent side, and our record against them, from five games, stood at one win,
one draw and three defeats, including the 5-1 thrashing in the FA Cup, earlier
in the season, which turned out to be Manager Paul Chambers’ Waterloo, and led
to the rebuilding process that still continues under Danny Lye.
As
shown by the score line at the top of the page, however, Ashford United put the
bogeyman to bed, this afternoon, and emphatically avenged that defeat in The
Cup. More than that, there was a fair consensus among the travelling supporters
that the performance, particularly in the first half, was quite possibly the
best that any of us had seen by an Ashford team. The lads played nice,
controlled football, were secure at the back and always looked likely to score.
The eventual total of five goals was not exceptional, given some of the rugby
scores that the likes of Blair, Greenwich Borough and Beckenham have been
running up this season, but the manner of the win sent out a message that Lye’s
squad is finally starting to gel, and the machine was certainly ticking today.
It
was one of those games where it was very difficult to single out a Man of the
Match. Usually, that is because the team plays as a unit and no individual
stands out – but, this afternoon, it’s no exaggeration to say that EVERYONE was
outstanding, with every outfield player putting in a performance that, on
another occasion, would have been worthy of Man of the Match. That includes
both Ellis Green and Sebastian Schoburgh, who played half a game each, on the
right wing. The context for such a good, all-round team performance is that the
home side contributed plenty to the match. The Millers never stopped trying and
had some bright players in attack, but all of Ashford’s back four, even with
the absence of Tower of Strength Pat Kingwell, had an outstanding game: Jack
Healy and Luke Cuthbert in central defence, and Adam Cuthbert and Chris Elliott
as the full-backs. However, there were still moments when this defensive line
was breached, and goalkeeper George Kamurasi had an excellent game, making some
good saves, to be able to keep his second clean sheet in as many games –
although he was indebted to Adam Cuthbert’s heroic, not to say miraculous,
goal-line clearance, in the 90th minute !
If
one other player deserves a special mention in dispatches, it’s Mickey
Phillips, the captain. He was clearly the orchestrator of most of what Ashford
did, pulling the strings from centre field, whether he was carrying the ball
forward, or changing the direction of play with long passes or maintaining the
pace and momentum of a move with deft, one-touch lay-offs. He looked every inch
the midfield maestro, and ran the show, this afternoon. Young Mickey Dalton
also looked impressive, alongside him. After witnessing his crucifixion at
Greenwich Borough, when he was forced to fill in at right-back for 85 minutes,
and to suffer at the hands of the mercurial Mohammed Eisa, it was good to see
the lad take the opportunity to show what a talent he is in the centre of the
midfield.
What
has given Ashford such potency as an attacking force, however, has been the
arrival of three pacey and skillful ball players, in Ryan Palmer, Ellis Green
and Seb Schoburgh. All three were brilliant, today, and, with the latter two
obviously still going through the gears of achieving peak match fitness, it has
been Palmer who has been the brightest of the three stars. With the ball at his
feet, it appears that he is capable of doing precisely what he likes, at this
level, and, allied to what seems to be a boundless supply of energy, he was
more than a handful for Cray Valley.
Added
to all that, the experienced and accomplished strike partnership of Shaun
Welford and Paul Booth, reunited after the experiment of playing Schoburgh up
front on his own, against Sevenoaks, was in top form. Hunting as a pair, they
always looked too good for The Millers’ defence, and they got the job done,
with three goals between them, and could have scored more, particularly in the
first half. It would be a stretch to say that Tom Fagg was a Man of the Match
candidate, as he didn’t appear until the 72nd minute, but he
nevertheless managed to score the goal of the game, in the 85th
minute, to really put a cherry on top of an excellent team performance.
The
only dampener on the day, for many of us, was the sight of a forlorn Jamie
Bosio in the stands, since, for the second Saturday running, he had turned out
for a game only to fail to even find a place on the bench; (Josh Woolley and
goalkeeper Nick Luen were Ashford’s two unused substitutes, today). I
understand that the rationale for this omission was that Danny Lye felt that he
needed to name himself as a substitute, in the absence of Pat Kingwell – but
Jamie is in a unique position as an Ashford player, in as much as he needs to be
playing first team football in order to sustain an international career, and so
I hope that The Management can find a way to prolong his involvement. Jamie
looked all class to me, on the one occasion that I have seen him play, and he
has experience in a number of positions – it is still October, so he can be a
valuable part of Ashford’s season. It is also rare for our club to be
associated with such a “good news” story, so it is hoped that Danny Lye might
find some man management skills from somewhere, to assist him in his fledgling
career as a manager.
Back
to the detail of what happened on the pitch, and the first seven minutes of the
game were completely dominated by the visitors, who played down the pronounced
slope in the first half. In the opening seconds of the game, Ellis Green made a
burst down the right wing and sent in a cross that was glanced on by the head
of Paul Booth. The ball found its way to Shaun Welford, who was in the centre
of the penalty area, about ten yards from goal, but the Player Assistant
Manager side-footed his effort just wide of the far post.
Millers’
goalkeeper Brad Morgan had a slightly hairy moment in the eleventh minute, when
he miss-timed his leap when attempting to routinely catch a long, hanging cross
from Ellis Green, but he managed to palm the ball onto the roof of the net. The
home side’s reprieve was brief, however, as Ashford opened the scoring from the
resulting corner, on the right – and, after scoring a goal and setting up two
others in the 0-3 victory at Sevenoaks, Ryan Palmer recorded what the Americans
would call “an assist”. The ball was swung into the goalmouth by Chris Elliott,
and Palms was there with the flicked header at the near post, which found Paul
Booth at the far post. Booth made no mistake in volleying the ball home, from
point blank range, to score his seventh goal in Ashford colours.
It
has to be said that the game was fairly even for about 15 minutes after Booth’s
goal, with Cray Valley having their moments. In the 14th minute, a
long ball forward fell at the feet of The Millers’ Player Manager and
centre-forward Paul Gross, on the right side of the penalty area. Although some
of his team’s shooting towards the end of the game suggested that they couldn’t
hit a barn door, Gross Paul was faced with getting the ball past an obstacle
that must have appeared to be almost the size of a barn door. (For those who
have yet to see Big George Kamurasi, let me tell you that Shaun Welford, who is
the archetypal big, burly, intimidating centre-forward, looks like a 14
year-old when he stands next to George, who is a neck and a head taller than
Shaun, and considerably wider !). Gross hammered the ball, but Kamurasi stood
firm, and blocked the shot at the near post.
A
minute later, Cray Valley’s Greg Benbow sent in a high cross to the far post.
It was a foregone conclusion that this was going to be Kamurasi’s ball, and he
would have collected the cross comfortably if Gross had not fouled him – but
the Millers’ Manager probably deserved one of the prizes contributed for the
Big Pink Beat Cancer Day raffle, for actually managing to knock George over. In
the 20th minute, Benbow again looked a threat on the left, when he
collected a long, diagonal ball floated over the Ashford defence – but his shot
flashed across the face of the Ashford goal.
The
visitors’ second goal came in the 28th minute. In spite of the
amount of good quality football that Ashford were playing, there was an element
of good fortune about this one. Mickey Phillips, the ring master, attempted to
spread a ball wide to Ellis Green, but this was a pass that really should have
been intercepted by a certain member of the Cray Valley playing staff. The
Caucasian male in his twenties, (and it’s probably just as well, for him, that
I can’t identify him), allowed the ball to slide under his foot, and it fell
nicely into Green’s path. The Ashford wide man made a simple bee-line for
Morgan’s goal, and, once inside the penalty area, drilled a low shot into the
far corner of the net, for his first Ashford goal.
A
good move in the 37th minute looked to have extended the visitors’
lead, and it would have been a well-deserved first goal for Mickey Dalton. Paul
Booth spread the ball wide to the impressive Adam Cuthbert, overlapping on the
right, whose low cross found Dalton in the centre of The Millers’ penalty area;
the No.4 steered the ball into the corner of the net, but the lino on the far
side was fagging for offside – much to the genuine disbelief of the Ashford
players.
A
minute later, and The Millers were on the attack, but Ryan Palmer did well to
win the ball back, near to the highest of the four corner flags. He carried the
ball from the left-back position to deep inside the Cray Valley half, before
laying it off to Ellis Green. By the time that Palms collected the return pass,
he had almost run the diagonal length of the field, but still had the energy to
send in a firm shot, which was blocked.
Ellis
Green created another opportunity, in the 40th minute. His party
piece is to pose motionless, with the ball at his feet, waiting for the
defender to make a move – then, with the speed of a martial arts expert, his next
movement enables him to go past his man and make room for a cross. On this
occasion, his cross found the head of Shaun Welford, at the far post, but the
big No.9’s downward header, from about six yards out, went just wide of the
goal. A minute later, Welford had an even better chance to get off the mark for
the day, and it was, once again, a long cross from the right wing that provided
the opportunity. Paul Booth met the ball with his head, from beyond the far
post, and nodded the ball down to his strike partner, in the centre of the home
side’s penalty area. Shaun had plenty of time to steady himself for a shot at
goal, and was visibly disappointed to slice his shot wide.
Chances
were now being created by Ashford in quick succession, and Welford was the man
at the end of them. In the 43rd minute, a good move through central
midfield culminated with Mickey Phillips sliding a through ball into Shaun’s
path, with only the ‘keeper to beat, but Brad Morgan did well to make the save.
Two minutes later, however, with half time approaching, the dam broke, and
Welford’s frustration was ended. Paul Booth and Mickey Phillips exchanged
passes, inside The Milers’ area. When the ball broke to Ashford’s No.9, about
ten yards out, he made no mistake in belting the ball into the net.
That
gave Ashford a 0-3 lead at the interval, which was far from flattering.
Such
was Ashford’s rhythm and measure of control, that (for once) it never looked
likely that they would relinquish this lead in the second half – and a fourth
goal, coming in the 47th minute, effectively closed the deal for the
visitors. A long ball was lobbed forward, and there was a struggle between Shaun
Welford and a Cray Valley defender to get to the ball; it was a contest that
Welford was always likely to have the strength to win, and, as soon as he had
possession, he made no mistake in tucking the ball into the net.
Cray
Valley still refused to lie down, and, two minutes later, Warren Whitley beat
an Ashford defender, to bear down on Ashford’s goal – but Big George was there
to make a good save.
Jack
Healy was superb in central defence, but he completely failed to fulfil his
main task for the afternoon, which was to avoid getting a blow on the nose that
he broke in the Sevenoaks game, last Saturday. After the ball hit him square in
the face, in the 51st minute, it made my eyes water, from the back
of the stand – but, more importantly, Jack required some attention from the
physio, presumably to stop the bleeding. Whilst he was off the field, Paul
Booth filled in at centre-half, but this reshuffle did not alter the balance of
the game – nor did the replacement of Ellis Green with Seb Schoburg, during the
interval, with Seb taking over from where Ellis had left off, on Ashford’s
right flank.
With
Ashford 0-4 up, the visitors’ second-half performance became more low-key, with
more attention being paid to bickering with the referee over fairly trivial
matters. In spite of the dreaded presence of the referees’ assessor in the
stands, Referee Albert never fell into the trap of being over-officious – but
it was noticeable that he was missing a number of fouls, mostly at the expense
of the home side, and Gross Paul’s frustration finally boiled over in the 65th
minute, which earned him a yellow card for dissent. Two minutes later, Shaun
Welford was shown the same card, for arguing over Albert’s decision to award a
free-kick to Cray Valley, in a non-dangerous position. (Footballers, at all
levels, go to great lengths to gain little advantages for their side, by
pulling an opponent’s shirt or throwing themselves to the ground to get a
free-kick or sneaking an extra ten yards at a throw-in - so I was amazed to see
an experienced player like Welford talk the ref into booking him, with the team
four goals up).
Whilst
one player-manager was being cautioned by the referee, the other one, Danny
Lye, put himself on in place of Paul Booth. With Jack Healy now back in central
defence, Lye played in central midfield, with Dalton moving to the right of
midfield and Schoburgh moving up front. Ashford’s final substitution was made
in the 72nd minute, with Shaun Welford being replaced by Tom Fagg,
(who, with a name like that, is bound to be the butt of many jokes – but it
appears that his nickname is “Ciggy”).
After
a fairly scrappy period of play, Ashford began to rediscover their football,
and reassert themselves on the opposition. In the 78th minute,
shortly after Mickey Dalton’s shot had curled high and wide of the angle of
post and bar, Seb Schoburgh went through in the inside-left position. Entering
The Millers’ penalty area, he appeared to have a great chance to score what
would have been a deserved goal, based on his second-half performance – but Brad
Morgan made a good save, with the ball going out for a corner via his near post.
Schoburgh
was, however, the provider for Ashford’s fifth goal, and it was a lovely moment
to see young Tom Fagg get off the mark, in his second appearance as a
substitute for Ashford. At Sevenoaks, he did little more than have a run around
for 15 minutes, but he showed real quality in the way in which he took his
goal. The chance, in the 85th minute, was made possible by a burst
down the left flank by Chris Elliott. The left-back found Seb, in a central
position, who laid the ball nicely into Tom Fagg’s path. Elsewhere, I have
described Tom as having a certain likeness to Peter Crouch, but he certainly
conjured up some power from somewhere, as his shot flew into the net, from some
20 yards out. “Maybe the first of many ?”, suggested an Ashford fan who has
seen far more Ashford winters than I have.
Tom’s
goal would have been a great way to cap a really good day all round – but there
are more heroics to report, from a game that never stopped giving. It was on 90
minutes that Brad Potter finally beat George Kamurasi, with a shot from the
right side of the penalty area, but Adam Cuthbert, running towards his own
goal, somehow contrived to head the ball off the line and away for a corner.
Then, with 93 minutes on the clock, Cray Valley substitute Alex Chambers
appeared to have earnt his team a consolation goal, with a firm header from a
cross from the left, only to see Big George come flying across his goal to beat
the ball away.
Results
elsewhere confirmed that there is everything to play for in this league, with
Greenwich Borough having another wobble, losing 1-3 at home to Lordswood; (although
Blair won yet again, to go eight points clear at the top). With our team also
being a leading contender in three cup competitions, it’s a good time to be an
Ashford United supporter.
Rejoice
!