Sevenoaks Town 1
Ashford United 0
From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
Thirteen games into the
2018-19 season, and with Ashford United not having had a game for a fortnight,
there had been time to reflect on how things had gone so far for Gary Alexander
and his squad. Things might best be summed up as ‘mixed’.
There is certainly
currently no cause for alarm in terms of the team’s league position. This
morning, we were in a solid, mid-table position – in tenth place, with three
wins and three defeats from eight league games. If the main performance measure
for success is to be whether Gary can at least steer Ashford to the play-offs
at the end of the season, then there is currently no need to panic. That fifth-place
spot is just four points away, so that’s well within reach, if we’re good
enough.
I don’t think that any
Ashford fan will have had any complaints with the quality of the players that
Gary Alexander brought in over the Summer, or with the style of play – during
the 1-1 draw away at Haywards Heath Town, a strategy for playing constructive,
on-the-ground football was clear. The two main issues that appear to be holding
up the team’s progress to date have been a centre-forward who seems unable to
score, having a return of just one goal in just over 17 hours of effort, and a
first-choice goalkeeper who is yet to keep a clean sheet in 11 appearances.
The main
disappointment, so far, has been Ashford’s abject performance in the cup
competitions, which mean so much to us fans. In spite of the God of Football
giving us a home draw in every draw made to date – even in the rounds that we
failed to get to – we fell at the first hurdle of every competition. It was no
surprise to lose to our friends at Folkestone Invicta in the Kent Senior Cup, but
falling to Horsham YMCA, Haywards Heath Town and Thamesmead Town in the other
cups has been a bitter let-down.
Of more concern to The
Management, no doubt, has been the lads’ current poor run of results in
general. It was a sequence of eight games without a win coming into today’s
match, with five of those being defeats, including losing at home to the team
that was bottom of the table (Three Bridges) in our most recent game. It
appears that Gary Alexander’s main challenge has been the number of injuries that
he has had to deal with, particularly to central defenders – a situation not
helped by Antonio Simeone leaving the club during the week. It also appears
that the squad is fairly thin in terms of numbers this season, certainly in
comparison to last year’s epic cast of 79. Up to this morning, Gary had only
used 21 players (including himself) – by the same stage last year, we had
already used 42, (and, by coincidence, had won three games, the same as this
season). No doubt the two-week break has been welcome in terms of getting some
of the injured players nearer to full fitness.
Onto today’s game, and
this was a reunion with our old friends from the Kent League, Sevenoaks Town.
The last time the two teams met was in the spring of 2017, (when we actually met
in consecutive games). First, as leaders of the Southern Counties East Football
League, Ashford United were thrashed 4-0 by The Oaks, here at Greatness Park.
Then, in the following game, Mickey Collins’s team beat us 0-3 at Homelands, in
one of the cups. Could’ve been the start of an expensive end-of-season slump
for Ashford – but the lads got their shit together and won the next seven
league games, to complete the league & cup double and gain promotion to the
Isthmian League.
There should, of
course, have been one other match between the teams – the SCEFL’s equivalent of
the ‘Charity/Community Shield’, with Champions Ashford taking on SCEFL Cup
winners Sevenoaks at Homelands, just a few months later. That would have been a
wonderful way to round off the pre-season programme for both clubs.
Unfortunately, Mickey Collins was apparently unhappy with one part of the
Homelands surface, in spite of the referee being satisfied that the match
should go ahead, and so he and his players walked out of the fixture.
Much has happened since
then, but it is something that many of the United fans have not forgotten. In
fact, today’s game was notable for a large proportion – probaby the majority - of
Ashford United’s travelling support staging an organised protest against Collins.
Instead of passing through the Greatness Park turnstiles, a number of fans
watched the game from the high bank that overlooks the ground, a sloping area
of common ground that is usually the domain of dog walkers. And this was not a
spur-of-the-moment reaction, as the protesters arrived armed with a large
banner and a complete song book, both of which featured Mickey Collins’s name
very prominently.
There was a possibility
that the Mickey Collins ‘reverse love-in’ might hijack Sittingbourne Town FC’s fundraising
day in aid of the charity Breast Cancer Care, but, in the event, the Ashford
protest group also made its own collection – so the bottom line (quite
literally) was that the charity benefitted from two collections.
Team news for Ashford
was that Harry Ottaway, our hard-working but unproductive Number 9, was not
part of United’s 14-man squad today. That gave Matt Day the opportunity to make
just his second start of the season, and his first in the league. Matt led the
attack, and although I’m a big fan of this very talented lad, this position did
not seem to suit him particularly well. (I don’t think he’s a target man). The other
surprise was a new addition to the squad – Jerald Aboagye (the Football Web
Pages have his name spelt wrong), a defender who comes to us from Folkestone
Invicta, having previously been Hythe Town’s Supporters’ Player of the Year. Jerald
played at right-back, and his performance was one of the very few bright spots
from a disappointing afternoon. Sam Corne was the only player who might have
rivalled him as Ashford’s Man of the Match today.
Ashford appeared to be
set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. In front of goalkeeper Sam Mott was a back four
of Aboagye, Josh Wisson, Ollie Rowe and Tom Carlse. In the centre of midfield were
Lea Dawson and Sam Corne (who generally ran the show for the visitors, and appears
to be rapidly emerging as Ashford’s best player). Matt Day was supported by a
three-some of Ambrose Gnahore, Stefan Cox and Clark Woodcock.
It was good to see
young Clark make a start, although this privilege might have had something to
do with the player availability problems that Gary Alexander is experiencing at
the moment – and this situation was betrayed by the paucity of options
available to him on the bench this afternoon. Apart from Fidan Fejzi, the other
two named substitutes were “John Maglie” and Charlie Wealands. My understanding
is that Charlie is our U-18 goalkeeper, but I am uncertain as to whether Maglie
is actually a player. The suspicion that Fidan Fejzi was Gary Alexander’s only
credible option on the bench was strengthened by the fact that he was the only
substitute who was used.
On a sunny, cloudless
afternoon, that was freakishly warm for late October(!), and with the Greatness
Park 3-G pitch looking a picture, all appeared, at first, to be going to plan.
For the first 20 minutes or so, it was all Ashford – and the Ashford United
Protest Band was getting its messages across, from its high vantage point on
the bank. The visitors were dominating possession, with the patient passing
game that we have come to expect this season. In fact, given Ashford’s
methodical dominance and polished approach play in the early part of this game,
it was difficult to understand how this team had failed to win any of its
previous eight matches.
The reasons soon became
clear, however, as the tally of errors in the all-important ‘final third’ began
to add up. A poor touch here – and then a loss of control there. A misplaced
pass to where a teammate had been a second earlier – another poor touch – and any
number of disappointing crosses. On today’s evidence, the front four lack
quality and cohesion. Time after time, good work at the back and through the
midfield was either not converted to a chance, or was capped by a weak finish –
or a poor cross. Generally, Ben Bridle-Card had a comfortable afternoon in the
Sevenoaks goal.
I was told by several
people today that Ashford have signed Danny Parish, a striker from Thamesmead Town,
in the midst of that club’s sad winding up – although Parish’s signature was
not secured in time for him to be available for this afternoon’s game. Having played
for Concord Rangers, and having been on Brentford’s books before that, Danny
could be an important addition.
United’s best
opportunities came during the first half of that dominant 20-minute period. In
the sixth minute, Lea Dawson attempted a volley from about 20 yards out, which
was too high. Then, a minute later, a good, flowing move started by Sam Corne
found Ambrose Gnahore wide on the left. Ambrose beat one defender and then sent
in a good cross, which was met by a Matt Day glancing header that flashed
across the face of the goal. This was probably the closest that Ashford came to
scoring, and was the one occasion when a move was finished with a final ball
that was properly delivered, and which found a yellow-shirted player. Tom Carlse
shot wide of goal in the 14th minute, but there were no clear
chances created, and the balance of the game began to even out as the half
progressed.
Ashford continued to
look very comfortable, however, and goalkeeper Sam Mott might as well have been
up on the hill with the bulk of Ashford’s travelling support for the first quarter
of the match. In the 26th minute, however, he was called to action. New
boy Jerald Aboagye gave away a fairly soft free-kick, close to the left
touchline, which resulted in Alec Fiddes curling a cross under the Ashford
crossbar. Sam was alert enough to be able to punch the ball away.
Ashford’s inability to
convert possession into chances was put into perspective when a goal resulted
from Sevenoaks’s first recognisable attack, in the 26th minute. A
great deal of credit must go to Alec Fiddes, who brought the ball under control
with a great touch, after it was chipped forward into the Ashford area. Fiddes
laid the ball back to Frankie Sawyer, whose precise, side-footed effort went in
off Mott’s body. That was Sawyer’s fifth league goal of the season.
Ashford tried to hit
back just two minutes later, when a swift attack down the left wing saw Ambrose
Gnahore with a chance to cross the ball from the by-line, but his effort lacked
accuracy, flashing across the face of goal. Stefan Cox made a good turn, in the
31st minute, but his shot from outside the area was a weak one,
meaning that Bridle-Card’s first save of the match was a fairly unchallenging
one. Cox was again involved in some good approach play in the 37th
minute, pulling off a neat ‘one-two’ with Ambrose Gnahore. It may be evidence
of the general lack of confidence in the team that he failed to attempt a shot after
the manoeuvre had presented him with a clear sight of goal. Instead, he laid
the ball into the path of Clark Woodcock, whose shot was weak and straight at
the ‘keeper.
All in all, it was a
pretty poor first half, with both sides making their fair share of errors, but Sevenoaks
marched into the portacabins with a 1-0 lead, secured as a result of converting
the only chance they created during the first 45 minutes.
The second half began in
a similar manner to the first, with the visitors making a bright start – albeit
with the same poor quality of execution in the important third of the pitch. In
the 48th minute, Stefan Cox attempted a low shot from outside the
area, which Bridle-Card just got a finger to – but the cross from the corner
was planted straight into his hands. Shortly after that, Ambrose Gnahore showed
good skill to beat full-back, and former Ashford United favourite, Fraser
Walker, but his attempted shot, straight at the ‘keeper, was little more than a
backpass. Gnahore again placed the ball into the ‘keeper’s arms in the 54th
minute, when in a good position to send in a cross from the by-line.
Another former Ashford
favourite in the Sevenoaks line-up, from the glory days of the SCEFL, was Mikey
Dalton, who had a solid enough game – although his attempted shot in the 55th
minute was well wide.
A minute later, Clark
Woodcock, who we all hope will be an Ashford star of the future, had his best
moment of the afternoon. Clark always looks at his best when he is carrying the
ball through the middle of the park, and on this occasion he ended a good,
diagonal run with an excellent ball ‘inside’ the right-back. This gave Ambrose
Gnahore another great chance to create something – but he hit the ball straight
at the goalkeeper, yet again.
With the lack of
quality up front, it appeared that Ashford’s best chance of scoring might be as
a result of a forward run from a midfield player – and this nearly happened in
the 57th minute, when top scorer Sam Corne made a run into the
Sevenoaks penalty area. He managed to get to a cross from the right flank, but
rather got underneath the ball and was unable to direct his header downwards, from
about eight yards out.
In the 58th
minute, Ollie Rowe was lucky not to be booked, by a very young referee who
seemed to make as many errors as the players this afternoon, after he was late
with a tackle on Kenny Pogue. But the ref did wave his yellow card for the
first time in the match in the 61st minute, when Thomas Ripley ended
a promising-looking run from Clark Woodcock with a trip.
By the time the game had
entered its final quarter, it appeared likely that the home side was going to
hang onto the three points comfortably enough – and the experienced Mickey
Collins began the process of ‘game management’ by spacing his three substitutions
over a five-minute period from the 67th to the 71st
minute. During this time, Gary Alexander made his one change, replacing Clark
Woodcock with Fidan Fejzi, in the 69th minute.
There was a scare for
the Ashford defence shortly after the last of the substitutions was made, as a
result of a cross that came in from the right. Sam Mott started to come for the
cross, and then stopped, and somehow made a save from very close range – but the
lino was, in any case, flagging for offside.
Ashford’s urgency
levels increased as full-time approached, and there was certainly no let-up in
their efforts to finally grab an equaliser. The late pressure from the visitors
enabled them to force a number of late corners, but without troubling Bridle-Card
in the home goal. In fact, as gaps were left in the Ashford defence, it
appeared increasingly likely that Sevenoaks would double the lead, (which would
have given them a fairly flattering margin of victory). In the 85th
minute, Oaks were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of the ‘D’, which resulted
in Fidan Fejzi receiving a yellow card – presumably for dissent, as he was not the
one who had committed the foul – but Alec Fiddes curled his shot too high. In
the 86th minute, Frankie Sawyer blasted a shot well over the bar,
from outside the penalty area, and, seconds later, the visitors found
themselves desperately short at the back after an attack had broken down. This
resulted in substitute Ainsley Everitt being put through on goal, but Sam Mott rushed
out to make a good save. The ball ricocheted into the path of another Sevenoaks
player, but Jerald Aboagye showed his quality by coming quickly across to make
a saving tackle.
As five minutes of
added time were played out, the pattern of fruitless Ashford corners, combined with
chances for the home side to add a second goal, continued. Oaks’s best chance came
with 94 minutes on the clock, when one Ashford defender had been left to deal
with Alec Fiddes and William Johnson-Cole. Again, Sam Mott made a good save, to
keep the final score down to 1-0.
In spite of the
confrontational atmosphere off the pitch - outside the ground, in fact – that had
been constantly maintained throughout, there had been no hint of animosity
between the players, and there had not been a single word exchanged between the
two benches. It was therefore a surprise when there was a sudden and violent
flare-up between the two managers after the final whistle. I didn’t see what
sparked the incident, but I gather that Gary Alexander took great exception to
the manner of Mickey Collins’s ‘handshake’. Whatever the cause, the Ashford
United Manager had to be physically restrained by other members of the Ashford
bench.
