Haywards Heath Town 1
Ashford United 1
from Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
My first game of the
2018-19 season, and my first trip to Hanbury Stadium, the home of Haywards
Heath Town – which is not surprising, given that this was the first time that
the clubs had met. The Blues have not previously played as high as this level
before, having been in the Sussex League since 1927-8, the club’s inaugural
year, with the exception of being in the Metropolitan League for nine seasons
from 1952-3. In fact, since the name change from Haywards Heath to Haywards
Heath Town, the club has most often been in Division 3 of the Sussex League,
until as recently as 2012-13. It has been a fairly sharp rise through the
levels, then, which sees Haywards Heath Town in the Isthmian League. They have
achieved this status after being promoted, last season, as champions of what is
now known as the ‘Southern Combination’. That promotion really came a year
late, as the club had been denied that privilege at the end of the previous
season because of playing an ineligible player – the nine points taken away
cost them the title, leaving Shoreham to endure just the one painful season.
That meant that I was
to look upon two ‘new’ teams, this afternoon, as this season’s Ashford United
side is totally unrecognisable from the one that wore the yellow in the
previous game I saw, which was away at Whyteleafe, back in April. In fact, the
only players on show at Church Road on that day who are still with the club (I
think) are Siao Blackwood and the ‘squad players’ Clark Woodcock and Brandon
Williams.
So in spite of all the
talk about last season being about building a squad for the current campaign,
Manager Gary Alexander has decided to start with a virtually new set of
players. That is not meant to be a criticism, mind. The squad that Gary has put
together is clearly full of ‘ballers of pedigree, who have performed at a level
that suggests that Ashford United might be challenging for a play-off spot this
time – for the first time in our history. And I am also really quite chuffed
that Gary has decided to retain three good youngsters from last year, in
Woodcock, Williams and Matt Day. (Of course, the fact that I currently don’t
know the vast majority of our players from a bar of soap is entirely my fault).
The lads’ form had been
a bit patchy, leading up to today’s game. A victory in the opening game against
a very good Hythe Town side confirmed the expected promise of this squad of
players, but five defeats in the next seven games has been a slight worry. We’d
been given the runaround in the previous two games, albeit against two very
good sides – in a league game against Cray Wanderers, who are probably
favourites for the title this season, and then at the hands of Folkestone
Invicta, in the League Cup, who have developed into a border-line ‘Conference
South’ outfit. Anyway, in spite of going into today’s match in seventh place,
(our hosts were 15th, this morning), Ashford could really have done
with a victory this afternoon.
The weather had been a
bastard to me all week – the wind blew one of our fence panels out on Thursday
afternoon, and in the evening it caused the cancellation of my train out of
Chester, due to some local rail lines being submerged in flood water – and it
wasn’t particularly pleasant today. The wind had dropped, but there was
persistent light rain and drizzle from the moment I walked out of Haywards
Heath Station to the time that I returned there. However, any issues caused by
a little bit of weather were put firmly in perspective when there was a minute’s
applause before the game, as a tribute to Chaz Donohue, Haywards Heath Town’s
U-18 captain last year, who sadly passed away on Monday.
Having missed my intended
train from Luton, (a school-boy error), I arrived at the ground with just five minutes
to spare before kick-off. It’s situated on the edge of a residential area
largely populated with 1950s semis, and I somehow managed to navigate my way
through the maze of little streets and footpaths. Considering our hosts’ predominantly
Sussex League history, I was a bit surprised at how big the main stand was. It
had a very large, and very high roof,
which provided good shelter on this wet afternoon in mid-Sussex.
The Ashford team news revealed
that the three United players that I had seen before, Blackwood, Day and
Williams, were all named on the subs bench. The only other sub was Fidan Fejzi,
(and only having four on the bench is a little concerning at this level). Sam
Mott was back in goal, having missed the cup defeat in midweek, apparently due
to illness, behind full-backs Ollie Rowe and Tom Carlse, and the central
defensive pairing of Josh Wisson and Antonio Simeone.
Now, Antonio Simeone is
a proper defender’s name. If the man can’t defend with a name like that, then
there’s something wrong. He appeared to be pretty small up against Haywards
Heath’s giant centre-forward, Melford Simpson, but looked classy and composed
throughout, which was, for me, one of the positives to come out of the game.
In midfield, we had Sam
Corne, Lea Dawson and Jordan Johnson, (who I presume is the footballer formerly
known as Jordan Johnson-Palmer, who was with us last season, but didn’t play in
that game at Whyteleafe). Ambrose Gnahore and Lanre Azeez appeared to be part
of a front three, playing behind target man Harry Ottaway.
I was a little concerned
about Mr Ottaway, coming into this game, given his record, at the start of
play, of having scored just the one goal in 584 minutes on the pitch. That is
because the absolute minimum benchmark that I use for strikers is what I call
the ‘Bradshaw Standard’. Shaun Bradshaw played as a striker for Ashford Town for
most of the 2005-6 season, and remains (so far) the worst Ashford forward that
I have ever seen. Bradders was a nice bloke, but pretty hopeless, and managed
five goals at a rate of a goal every 487 minutes. It would be unfair to compare
our current No.9 with recent wearers of that shirt – titans who have banged in
seven goals in one game and/or piled up 47 or 48 goals in a season – but Harry
needs to do better than Bradders.
Moving away from bald
statistics, though, I was actually impressed with Harry Ottaway today. He put
in a good shift, managing plenty of headed flick-ons, in the style of a good front
man, and moved around the park with good pace. He looked the part today.
The other name that
leapt out at me from the team sheet was the home side’s No.11, Max Miller – and
it was appropriate that he should be playing for The Blues. (His namesake, for
the benefit of younger readers, was a very famous old music hall comedian, who
was famous for his ‘blue’ humour). I was brought up on stories of Max Miller,
told to me by a friend of our family who used to know him. One of those stories
was about the joke that, allegedly, got Miller banned from the BBC. Max used to
tell a story of when he found himself edging along a narrow ledge on the side
of a cliff, when he suddenly saw a gorgeous girl edging along the ledge in the
opposite direction, coming towards him. “Well, I didn’t know whether to block
her passage or toss myself off”, he is supposed to have said.
Anyway, back to the
match.
It was pretty much
end-to-end during the first ten minutes, although this was mainly due to both
sides giving the ball away at almost every opportunity. (It’s not like you see
on the telly, when giving the ball away is a heresy). The home side probably just
shaded this early period in terms of possession, but Ashford United soon settled
into their game, and created a number of good chances leading up to the
30-minute mark. About the best of these came in the 11th minute,
when Sam Corne led a break from defence. He spread the ball wide to Lanre Azeez,
whose cross along the six-yard line was met by an ‘air shot’ by Harry Ottaway –
but Jordan Johnson had been making a run from deep inside his own half, and got
to the ball before two defenders, only to hit his shot straight at goalkeeper Josh
Heyburn. The resulting corner was taken short, to Simeone, who tried a sneaky, first-time
chip to the near post, which Heyburn also managed to save.
There was a scare for the
visiting supporters among the crowd of 146 when Callum Saunders went down when
just inside the Ashford penalty area, in the 16th minute, but the
referee, who had an excellent game, immediately booked him for taking a dive.
(If only more refs would take a zero-tolerance attitude to that sort of behaviour).
The next proper chance
of the game came at the other end, in the 23rd minute, and was
created as a result of Jordan Johnson robbing Saunders, deep in the Haywards
Heath half of the field. The Ashford No.4 sent in a good cross from the left,
which Harry Ottaway met well with his head, but the effort was again straight
at the ‘keeper. Two minutes later, a good passing movement from the men in yellow
& green, involving Harry Ottaway, Jordan Johnson and Lanre Azeez, resulted
in Sam Corne being put through on goal, but Sam was unable to convert the
one-on-one situation, with Josh Heyburn saving well, diving to his right. Josh
Wisson also had a good chance, in the 30th minute, when he latched
onto a high, looping cross from Jordan Johnson, but this was another header
that went straight at the goalie.
There was no mistaking
Ashford’s ambition to play constructive, on-the-ground football – the home side
had more of a liking for the long ball, but that was hardly surprising, given
the presence of the ginormous Melford Simpson – and the visitors were certainly
creating the better chances. With the defence appearing to have the pace to
cope with any offensive moves from Haywards Heath, and the two central
defenders managing to cope somehow with Simpson, it felt like it was going to
be just a matter of time before Ashford opened the scoring.
That all changed,
however, in the 31st minute, when The Blues opened the scoring,
against the run of play. A long throw came in from the left, and, after a
flick-on with a head, the ball landed conveniently at the feet of Callum
Saunders, who reacted quickly, stabbing it into the corner of the net. That
must have left Ashford regretting the chances that had not been taken, as opportunities
were rarer during the remainder of the game.
Up until that point,
Ashford ‘keeper Sam Mott had not actually made a save, but he was called into
action in the 40th minute, to prevent Haywards Heath from doubling
their lead. As the ball was played forward into the Ashford half, the home side
suddenly found themselves with a three-against-three
situation, and, for once, the Ashford defence looked vulnerable. Melford
Simpson pulled away to the left, to make space for himself, and a chipped pass
presented him with a one-on-one with Mott, who came flying out of his goal to
make a good save. Three minutes later, Sam made another good save, from a
Callum Saunders shot, after Simpson had laid the ball off to him on the edge of
the area.
Ashford continued to
press forward in the later stages of the first half, but their passing game was
not quite coming off, and Haywards Heath went into the break 1-0 up.
The visitors dominated
the first ten minutes, or so, of the second half, but had little to show for
this dominance, other than a weak shot at goal by Sam Corne, early on. In the
57th minute, Gary Alexander’s patience ran out, and he replaced
Ambrose Gnahore with Fidan Fejzi. The No.17 actually made an immediate impact,
injecting extra life and spark into the Ashford performance. He managed to see
plenty of the ball, but his curling attempt in the 61st minute went
well wide of goal.
The boys did, however,
finally equalise, a minute later. Lanre Azeez chased a ball into the right
channel, and showed good strength to hold off left-back George Brown and keep
possession. His cross, pulled back from the by-line, found Jordan Johnson on
the edge of the 18-yard box. Jordan took a touch, before aiming a low shot just
inside the far post. That was his first goal of the season, to put alongside
the one he scored at Molesey last season. It also made him the tenth different Ashford
player to get onto the scoresheet, in just the ninth match of the campaign.
Ashford continued to
look good, with their quick and constructive build-up play, but had little or
no end-product to show for their efforts. In fact, Haywards Heath came the
closer to scoring the next goal, with two dangerous free-kick situations. The
first of these came in the 68th minute, when Josh Wisson was penalised
for what looked like a fairly innocuous push in the back against Melford
Simpson – but today’s ref wasn’t missing a thing. No.15 Sean Roddy, (who had
actually started the game, in spite of the number on his back), and Karl
Akehurst stood over the ball, but it was Akehurst who went for goal, and his
shot would have gone in if it had not been for Sam Mott tipping the ball over
the bar. In the 72nd minute, the free-kick was only about a foot
outside the Ashford penalty area, but this time Sam Mott wasn’t troubled, as
Roddy hit his shot straight into the Ashford wall. (“Roddy, you plonker !”).
Matt Day replacing
Lanre Azeez, in the 80th minute, was the other substitution made by
Gary Alexander this afternoon, and this resulted in Day having the one sight of
goal – in the 87th minute. Like several of Ashford’s attacks, this
began with Antonio Simeone, from a deep position. I am pleased to report that Simeone
is not the type of player to pump the ball aimlessly upfield, and he managed to
find Fidan Fejzi with a forward chip. The two substitutes combined well, with Fejzi
slipping the ball through to Day, who could manage no more than a fairly weak
shot at the ‘keeper.
As the match drew to a
close, Haywards Heath appeared to hang on for the draw fairly comfortably, and
for that reason I’d say that they thoroughly deserved the point, and I’d
imagine they were pretty pleased to get something from the game, against one of
the more fancied teams in the division. In fact, there had been a late chance
for Melford Simpson to snatch victory, just prior to Matt Day’s opportunity. It
looked like the big man was going to get on the end of a long cross, just a few
yards out from goal, but he was foiled by Josh Wisson, who just got to the ball
ahead of him, heading behind for a corner.
My first impression of
the current Ashford squad is that there is an acute need for a goal scorer. At
the time of writing (Saturday night), the front three who played today have
scored four goals between them, with a combined strike-rate of a goal every 420
minutes, and that simply has to improve. Well, there will be an opportunity for
them to do just that next Saturday, since, after playing Sittingbourne at home
on Tuesday, we are at home to Haywards Heath Town in the FA Trophy.
