Cray Valley PM v Ashford United. Southern Counties East Football League. 26th of February 2017.

Cray Valley PM  2                

Ashford United 5

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

On the final Sunday of February, I finally made it to a game - so Happy New Year, everyone ! - and this was our second game at Badgers Sports Ground, in Eltham, against Cray Valley Paper Mills in five days.  The first of these matches had been in the Quarter Finals of the Southern Counties East League Cup, on Wednesday night, when a below strength Ashford United side easily won the contest 0-2. Today, with Crowborough Athletic going back to the top of the SCEFL table with a 2-1 victory over Erith Town, the previous day, there were league points at stake, and so Danny Lye put out his strongest team, which meant four changes from the mid-week side.

In team-sheet order, the starting XI was: Big George, Ryan James, Frazer Walker, Dave Botterill, Stuart West, Pat Kingwell, Ryan Palmer, Ben Davisson, Shaun Welford, Adrian Stone, Rory Hill. On the bench were strikers Brett Ince, Jason Goodchild and Luke Eldridge, along with Dan Stubbs and Harry Lavender, who made his debut, here, last Wednesday.

Cray Valley have, in the past, been a bit of a bogey side for Ashford United. In our first season in the SCEFL (2013-14), The Millers held us to a 1-1 draw at Homelands, then beat us home and away the following season (0-1 and 3-2); then, in the second game of the 2015-16 season, they thrashed us 5-1, at Badgers, in the FA Cup, which was a defeat that cost Paul Chambers his job as Manager. Since then, however, under Danny Lye, things had been different, with Ashford winning all four encounters, with the scores being 0-5, 1-0, 2-0 and 0-2. Furthermore, Cray Valley today met an Ashford side in a rich vein of form. Since losing 1-0 to Sheppey United on Boxing Day, Lye’s side had had a 100% record in the nine games played in 2017, scoring 30 goals and conceding just six. Everyone at Ashford United had also, very recently, been buoyed by a successful appeal to the FA to have its application for promotion to the Ryman League accepted.

The most important job for the visitors to do, this afternoon, was to persuade The Millers, early on, that there was going to be no prospect of any outcome other than a repeat of Wednesday night’s easy win. However, the opposite happened. Not only was the home team given the considerable encouragement of an early goal, but an incident on the stroke of half time meant that Cray Valley actually went in at the break with a one goal lead and with Ashford United reduced to ten men.

Although Ryan James wore the No.2 shirt, he actually seemed to have been given a fairly free role in midfield – and it was Rory Hill who, not for the first time this season, was most often seen in the right-back position, so he had clearly been given the job of wing-back. It was when dropping back into this area, to collect the ball from George Kamurasi, as early as the sixth minute, that Rory made a considerable rick, which led to Cray’s first goal. Taking far too long on the ball, Hill’s attempt at a long ball up-field was easily charged down by Aaron Rhule. Catching up with the ball near the by-line, Rhule’s cross into the centre came off Stuart West’s right foot and up onto his arm, and Referee Chris Myatt had no hesitation in pointing to the spot from which three penalties were to be taken, this afternoon. Up stepped Millers’ captain Jason Thompson, who hit a well-struck shot low, into the corner of the net, in spite of Big George diving the right way and almost getting a hand to the ball.

Throughout the first half, both before and after the opening goal, Ashford, kicking up the slope, but with a strong breeze behind them, were well on top, both in terms of possession and territorial advantage, and it was not long before the visitors were level. In the tenth minute, after a good, flowing move – and shortly after Ryan Palmer had seen a long-range shot saved by Jordan Carey, at his near post – Rory Hill sent in a deep cross which just eluded the head of Ryan James. Evidently, the ball had taken a deflection from a Cray Valley player, as a corner was awarded, on the left. Ben Davisson’s first cross was cleared, but the ball was soon returned into the home side’s penalty area, travelling all the way through to the far corner of the six-yard box, where Stuart West stuck the ball firmly into the net, with his right foot. Although the Ashford captain hasn’t been anything like as prolific for us as he was for Hollands & Blair, his previous club, this was his fourth goal of the season.

It was pretty much all Ashford for the remainder of the half, particularly for the next five minutes, with the visitors bombarding The Millers’ penalty area with a succession of corners and Shaun Welford long throws – but there was a shortage of clear-cut chances, and any shots on goal were weak. In fact, Jordan Carey, in the Cray goal, had little to do, up to half time, except make some regulation stops which amounted to little more than back-passes.

In spite of the distinct lack of “end-product”, there was little to bother Ashford, as it seemed to be just a matter of time before they would take a decisive lead, until Stuart West received a yellow card in the 38^th minute. This was for a late tackle, near the left touchline. This seemed a little harsh, given that it was West’s first foul in the game – but the presence of a man with a clip board, wearing an FA-branded coat, in the stand, might have influenced Mr Myatt’s decision. But the real cost of the incident was felt, by Ashford, some eight minutes later. With just over 45 minutes played, according to my watch, the usually flawless Pat Kingwell was, for once, caught in possession, deep inside his own half. With Enoch Adjei now clean through on goal, West came across and brought him down, right on the edge of the penalty area. There was a strong case for the Ashford skipper receiving a straight red card, but Myatt instead showed Stuart a yellow one, followed by a red.

Worse was to follow for Ashford, as Jason Thompson scored the best goal of the game, from the resulting free-kick. Because the kick was so close to the goal, in a fairly central position, it was not easy for the home captain to get the ball over the defensive wall and then under the bar, but he did so superbly, curling the ball into the top, far corner, giving George Kamurasi no chance.

So the visitors somehow managed to find themselves trailing at the break, after a half that they had completely dominated – and there was the real prospect that the race for the SCEFL title, and that one, precious promotion place, might take a decisive turn.

The fact that Ashford were able to turn the game around fairly readily, with four second half goals, and with just ten men, against the eighth-placed club in the division, speaks loudly about the gulf in standard that appears to exist between the top three or four SCEFL teams and the remainder. In fact, without the errors of judgement at the beginning and the end of the first half, a 0-6 score-line would have been a distinct possibility, and would not have flattered the visitors. However, the turnaround did not happen immediately, with the home side starting the second half on the front foot, and winning a couple of corners and a free kick – all of which were taken by their skipper, Jason Thompson. It was from the second of these corners that The Millers had a decent chance to extend their lead, with centre-forward Scott Riley getting to the ball ahead of George Kamurasi, but heading just over the bar.

Ashford’s enforced reorganisation had seen Ryan James dropping back into a back three that also included Pat Kingwell, (who had been passed the captain’s arm band), and Frazer Walker. That gave Rory Hill more freedom to go forward, and his run into the Cray Valley penalty box set up a half-chance for Adrianho, who rather scuffed his shot wide, in the 54^th minute, albeit with the consolation of winning a corner. It took a couple of minutes for the corner, on the left, to be taken, as Cray’s Ryan Fowler was down in the area, receiving treatment - Fowler was obviously quite seriously hurt, as he had to limp off immediately, to be replaced by Chandler Kasai. The game had entered the 56^th minute when Ben Davisson eventually swung the ball into the Cray Valley goalmouth, where Shaun Welford came charging in, barely inconvenienced by any marking, to head the ball into the corner of the net.

Having equalised, a few misplaced passes, a few off-sides and a scrappy period of play caused Ashford’s charge to stall a little, and it was the home side that had the next clear chance to score. In the 62^nd minute, an unnecessary foul by Frazer Walker on Adjei gave Jason Thompson the opportunity to show his dead-ball skills again. With the free-kick near the corner of the penalty area, Thompson had the choice of going for goal or curling in a cross. In the event, he whipped in a fast, curling ball into the Ashford goalmouth, which might have been awkward for George Kamurasi if David Botterill had not bravely got his head to the ball, putting it behind, for a corner. The always excellent Botts was also there to head the resulting corner clear – but not before Thompson had walked across to take the kick with the measured pace of a pall bearer. In fact, throughout the second half, the home side very clearly appeared to take as much time out of the game as possible at every dead-ball situation, and every time that goalkeeper Carey had possession of the ball – which was probably a reflection of how they had rated their own chances of hanging on to their first-half lead.

Ashford took the lead, for the first time in the game, about mid-way through the second period. In the 66^th minute, a long throw from Shaun Welford wasn’t cleared by The Millers’ defence, and Adrianho’s shot from close range was blocked on the line, clearly by a hand, given that a penalty was awarded immediately. There was then a very lengthy and confusing period of play (or lack of it) as Referee Myatt called both left-back Danny Smith and Jason Thompson over to him. First, the Ref booked Smith, and then he showed Thompson a red card. From that, I would guess that Smith was booked for dissent, whilst Thompson was sent off for handling the ball on the line – but it might have been the other way around !  Anyway, the result was that the home skipper was sent trudging back to the dressing room, giving the unusual statistic of both captains in the match scoring a goal and then getting sent off.

Play was then held up for a lengthy debate, led by Jordan Carey, about where the penalty spot actually was. Then the lino on the far side called the Ref over to tell him of something that someone on the Cray Valley bench had said – and so Mr Myatt went off to the touchline to have a word, pointing a threatening finger in the direction of the changing rooms, but otherwise taking no action. After further discussions about the location of the penalty spot, it was fully five minutes before Shaun Welford was able to take the spot kick, and he thumped the ball home with his usual unstoppable power and accuracy. Carey, like Kamurasi earlier, dived the right way, but had no chance of keeping the ball out.

Just three minutes later, Shaun Welford latched onto a through-ball and it looked odds-on that he was going to complete his hat-trick, with only the goalkeeper to beat. He pushed the ball past the on-rushing Carey, who sent him crashing to the turf. It was a stone cold penalty, and it seemed likely that the ‘keeper would become the third player to be shown a red card, (in what was never a dirty or ill-tempered game), but the Ref decided that a yellow card was appropriate. Up stepped Welford to take the penalty. Surely, this would be his hat-trick, now ?!  No !  Amazingly, Shaun thumped his penalty attempt against the crossbar – but Adrian Stone was first to react, and got to the rebound before the Cray Valley defenders, took one touch and then tucked the ball into the net, off the post.

G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-L !!  A-d-r-i-a-a-a-a-a-n-h-o-o-o-o-o-o-o !!

So that made the score 2-4, and there was just one more goal to come, in an incident-packed match – but the best piece of football in the entire afternoon came in the 77^th minute. Pat Kingwell played a long ball forward to Adrianho, who expertly cushioned a header into the path of Ben Davisson. Ben hit an absolute screamer, and it would have ended up in the roof of the net, but for a brilliant save by Carey, who tipped the ball over the bar.

But Shaun Welford was not to be denied his third hat-trick of the season – and probably the umpteenth of his career – and it came in trademark Welford fashion, in the 79^th minute. Dave Botterill, who, like Pat Kingwell, has a demeanour on the field that confirms that he has played at a higher level, whipped in a left-footed cross, from a corner on the right, which actually went straight into the net – although the Ref had already stopped play to have a word with a Cray Valley defender. So Botterill repeated the cross, and, this time, Welford charged in and headed home, from about three yards out, with the ‘keeper nowhere.

That was Shaun Welford’s 72^nd goal for Ashford, and his 35^th of the current season. That means that Welfs needs just 13 more goals, in a minimum of 14 matches, to break Stuart Zanone’s iconic all-time Ashford record of 47 in a season.

Once a three-goal cushion had been established, Danny Lye took the opportunity to make some substitutions, with Dan Stubbs replacing Rory Hill in the 80^th minute and Luke Eldridge being sent on in place of Adrianho in the 83^rd minute. Shaun Welford was eventually substituted with 90 minutes of normal time completed – shortly after he had come close to scoring his fourth goal, and Ashford’s sixth, with a great header from a Ben Davisson corner, only to see his effort, from 15 yards out, saved by Carey. Welford’s substitution gave Brett Ince the opportunity to play out the six minutes that the Referee added on at the end.

So The Nuts & Bolts went back to the top of the SCEFL, although, in spite of having won 21 of their 26 league games so far, they still have plenty of work to do to finish ahead of Crowborough Athletic, who are just a point behind, with a game in hand.

One other point about Ashford’s two matches against Cray Valley PM this week is that the two sides are due to meet in the Final of the Kent Senior Trophy, on the 9^th of April – and, on the evidence of this week’s matches, it is difficult to imagine The Millers preventing Ashford United from winning their first silverware.