Corinthian 1
Ashford United 2
From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
A
week on, after the 1-4 victory over Fisher, Ashford travelled to 4th-placed
Corinthian, for a match that was expected to be a much sterner test for the
lads. As Ashford returned from that win, they had every chance of winning the
Southern Counties East League, but those hopes were dealt a withering blow on
Tuesday night, with a shock 3-4 defeat at the hands of AFC Croydon Athletic, at
Homelands. Those three points dropped, which ended a 100% run in the league
that began before Christmas, was largely thanks to a mad six minutes during
which the lads conceded three goals. It was therefore much to Ashford’s credit
that they managed to bounce back with a win against a very good side, today.
This
was actually my first visit to Gay Dawn Farm – and the first time that I had
actually seen Corinthian play, strangely enough. Today was certainly very
different to last Saturday’s trip to Dulwich, in deepest London. Corinthian
play at a venue that has quite literally been built on a farm, just outside the
village of Hartley, which is some seven miles to the south-east of Dartford. It’s
a very pleasant setting, and, with the weather fairly mild and the match entertaining,
this was a very enjoyable afternoon.
The
pitch itself is excellent, and appears to sit in a shallow, green saucer, with
a bank on one side that leads up to a very grand-looking manor house. Behind
one goal is a row of fir trees, with a number of large, creosoted barns behind
the other. The changing rooms are located in what looks like a converted house,
with a first floor balcony and a number of seats arranged in front. There are
also a couple of rows of seats under cover behind one goal. An unusual feature
of a fairly quirky ground is the four shelters – which I swear are actually bus
shelters - positioned at regular intervals along one side. I don’t know who Gay
Dawn was, but Ron Billings, grandfather of cricketer Sam, has built a lovely
facility on her farm.
The
only complaint I have about our hosts’ facility is that there were no PA
announcements, and no team sheet put up, that I could see – and the club’s
Twitter account appears to have not been active since the 2nd of
March – so I have no idea, and no way of knowing, about who was playing for the
home side, this afternoon. That means that this report will have a slightly lop-sided
look about it, so I apologise for that.
Although
I can identify few individuals, I can confirm that Corinthian were as they are
reputed to be – a young and talented side that tries to play good football.
Ashford also made their contribution to an entertaining match, which was open
and fairly end-to-end for about three-quarters of its duration, before Ashford
successfully closed things down for the final 20 minutes or so. All things
considered, this was a much better performance by Ashford than the 1-4 victory
over Fisher.
One
person missing from the Ashford line-up today was regular captain Mickey
Phillips, who has a knee injury – although he was part of a travelling support
that appeared to be even more numerous and more vocal than usual. Mickey hopes
that he will be fit to play next Saturday.
Pat
Kingwell wore the captain’s armband this afternoon, with Manager Danny Lye
alongside him in the centre of the defence, with Adam Cuthbert at right-back
and Charles Dickens at left-back. Big George Kamurasi was in goal. In central
midfield was the new pairing of Mikey Dalton and Ben Davisson, with Ryan Palmer
on the left wing and Taser Hassan on the right. Ashford went for experience up
front, with Shaun Welford and Paul Booth. Luke Cuthbert had a rare afternoon on
the bench, alongside Chris Saunders, Josh Woolley, Savage George and Tom Fagg.
Honours
were fairly even for the opening ten minutes, and it was on the ten-minute mark
that the first clear chance arrived. This came about as a result of Mikey
Dalton losing the ball in the middle of his own half, which enabled Corinthian’s
No.11 Michael Hagan to be put through on goal, but George Kamurasi did well to
save his low shot.
Ashford
were playing their fair share of good football, but things weren’t quite
linking up in the final third of the pitch, and they had to wait until the 18th
minute for their first real chance. This came as a result of a free-kick being
given, just outside the Corinthian penalty area, for a player’s foot being more
than two feet off the ground. (The ref clearly thought that he officiating in a
You Wafer Champions League match). With the kick being indirect, Ryan Palmer
tapped the ball to Ben Davisson, who hit a low, hard shot just wide of the
post. Three minutes later, Davisson hit a high cross into the penalty area,
which Shaun Welford headed across the face of goal. An initial shot was blocked,
and then Ryan Palmer picked up the rebound and hit a diagonal shot just wide.
The
most prolific person on the pitch, today, was Referee Jair Guzman, who booked
eight players in what was never a dirty or tetchy match. He also received
complaints from players on both sides for taking so long over his lectures and
his cautions, and appeared to be rather over-officious. However, what guaranteed
that he would get particular stick from the Ashford faithful was that fact that
seven of the eight yellow cards were shown to visiting players. Pat Kingwell
had been the first of our boys to pick up a booking, in the 14th
minute, when he rather jumped into his opponent when challenging for a bouncing
ball - with Mr Guzman missing the Corinthian player’s little kick-out in
retaliation. Now, the ref yellow-carded Danny Lye, for what must have been an
off-the-ball incident, (which I didn’t see).
The
home side, playing in green & white hoops à la Celtic, took the lead in the
26th minute, and the goal came about as a result of a flowing break
from defence. This ended with Michael Hagan once again being put through on
goal. George Kamurasi rushed out of his goal, and got plenty on the ball, but Hagan’s
shot retained enough momentum to enable it to roll into the Ashford net. This
means that Big George, as excellent as he has been, his season, has, so far,
kept only three clean sheets, in 24 games.
The
Hoops’ lead lasted for just four minutes. Shaun Welford attempted one of his
Rory Delap-style throw-ins, from near the left corner flag, launching the ball
into a crowd of players on the edge of the six yard box. A Corinthian player
must have put the ball behind, because a corner was given. The resulting cross
was floated towards the far post. The home goalie, being challenged in the air
by Shaun Welford, got both palms to the ball, but was never in control of it,
and merely helped it onto Welford’s head. The big No.9, who has scored a large
percentage of his goals this season from headers, had no problem with helping
the ball on its short journey to the corner of the net. Given how
over-protective referees tend to be towards goalkeepers, there was a high
probability that Guzman would disallow the goal – but he deserves credit for
letting the goal stand.
In
the 32nd minute, one of the Corinthian centre-backs headed a corner
comfortably over George Kamurasi’s bar, and there was a similar incident at the
other end, in the 38th minute, when Sean Welford, on the run, powerfully
headed a Paul Booth corner just over.
As
both teams continued to play decent football, at a good tempo, Adam Cuthbert
led a break, in the 41st minute. Picking the ball up in his own
penalty area, after an opposition player seemed to stand on the ball, Adam
carried the ball deep inside enemy territory. He laid it off to Ryan Palmer, on
the left, who cut inside before getting in a good, right-footed shot – which the
‘keeper did well to gather, diving low.
But
Palmer didn’t have long to wait to improve on that. In fact, he had the ball in
the back of the net just four minutes later, with what has to be a candidate
for Goal of the Season. Corinthian’s No.5, retreating towards his own goal, attempted
to deal with a through ball that had been lobbed in from about the half way
line. He merely managed to help the ball into the path of Palmer, who, before
the ball touched the ground, leapt in the air and side-footed a volley over the
goalie and into the corner of the net. It was a stunning goal, and one that had
the Ashford fans beaming during the half time interval.
There
were further problems for the home side during the course of the next few
minutes, with their centre-forward and captain being yellow-carded on the
stroke of half time, and their goalkeeper having to be replaced during the
interval. They might also have gone further behind, in the 47th
minute, when Ben Davisson, (who was far more impressive today than he was
against Fisher), put Paul Booth through with a good pass, but Boothy’s cross
from the by-line was cut out by the newly-arrived goalkeeper.
In
the 56th minute, Shaun Welford thought he had a good case for a
penalty. After a brief spell of Corinthian pressure, Taser Hassan won a corner,
on the right, which he took himself. Welford just about managed to get his head
to the resulting cross, with the ball falling at his feet. With his back to
goal, he definitely received a little push in the back, which was enough to
unbalance him, but never enough to persuade a referee to award a pen. Shaun was
probably lucky to get away with not being booked for vehemently arguing the
point with Mr Guzman – who had shown a yellow card to Mikey Dalton, for a
fairly innocuous foul, just four minutes earlier.
Two
minutes later, at the other end, it was Ryan Palmer’s turn to defend, and he
did so at the expense of a corner. Apologising, once again, for the numbers
game, the home side’s No.8 sent a low cross into the heart of the Ashford
penalty area, that was neatly turned goalwards by The Hoops’ No.5, but Ashford’s
No.1 made a good, low save.
In
the 63rd minute, a spell of Ashford pressure was relieved when
Corinthian broke out of defence. With the four-man, yellow-shirted defence
back-peddling and looking vulnerable, Charlie Dickens made sure that the danger
was snuffed out, by body-checking the man in possession. He might have been
merely doing what he has been coached to do, and he will have been applauded by
the Ashford management and his team mates – but it was a cynical act, and the
yellow card was as deserved as it was expected.
Ashford’s
first substitution was made in the 64th minute, with young Tom Fagg
replacing a man who is approximately twice his age – Paul Booth. Five minutes
later, there was then the very rare sight of Ryan Palmer being substituted, and
this seems to have been a tactical move, with his replacement being Josh
Woolley. It was nice to see Josh employed in a left-sided midfielder role, as it
appears that this is a more natural position for him than left-back, where he
has been deployed for most of the season. If the theory was that Josh would be
better at tucking in and defending than Palms, then it’s probably fair to say
that this ploy worked, as Ashford subsequently saw out the remainder of the
game fairly comfortably. We do not have a side that naturally keeps possession
for long periods of time, but the three points were secured by pinning The
Hoops back inside their own half for the final quarter of the match.
So
it just remains for me to complete the litany of yellow cards, which continued
with Taser Hassan being booked, for a reason unknown to me, in the 71st
minute. That might have spoilt any joy that Taser might have felt for
completing 90 minutes for Ashford for the first time since his début. Shaun
Welford was booked for a foul, in the 87th minute, when there was
doubt about precisely how much contact he made with the player who hit the
turf. Tom Fagg became the seventh man to see yellow, in the second minute of
injury time, when he went in late on the Corinthian right-back, who had just cleared
the ball upfield.
I
cannot confirm whether a Referee’s Assessor was present today – but I know
where my money would be, if anyone cares to give me odds……
Elsewhere,
Greenwich Borough put Ashford’s mid-week defeat into context by beating our
conquerors 0-6, in Croydon, and Hollands & Blair took three points from Homelands,
with a 2-3 win over Canterbury City. So no change at the top in terms of points
dropped, but I’d say that Ashford had the more difficult task of the three
title contenders, this afternoon.
To
give a brief mention of the elephant at the ground, namely the threat of a
ten-point deduction for the Club as a result of going into receivership, I have
to say that it has been quite remarkable how Ashford’s form on the pitch has
not been affected by off-the-pitch goings-on. After Tuesday’s defeat, it would
not have been a huge surprise if a few cracks in morale had begun to show this
afternoon, and Corinthian are a good enough side to have exploited any
weaknesses – but no sign of any crumbling so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment