Cray Valley Paper Mills v Ashford United. Southern Counties East Football League. 24th of October 2015.

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 90^th 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 72^nd minute, but he nevertheless managed to score the goal of the game, in the 85^th 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 14^th 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 20^th 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 28^th 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 37^th 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 40^th 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 43^rd 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 47^th 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 51^st 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 65^th 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 72^nd 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 78^th 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 85^th 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 !