Three Bridges 0
Ashford United 1
from Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
This season will
definitely be my most shameful in terms of the number of Ashford United games
seen. Today’s trip to Three Bridges, in West Sussex, was just my fourth game of
the season. With Whyteleafe away looking like being the only other feasible fixture
for me, due to a number of factors (mostly work-related), this is looking like
being a five-match season. The previous game I saw was back in November, when
the lads ended a run of eleven games without a win with a 1-2 win at East
Grinstead Town, in what was a dreadful game quality-wise. So, what have I
missed?
Well, I’ve missed a
change of manager, as Gary Alexander has been replaced by Tommy Warrilow, in
what I feel is going to prove to be a hugely important change. For the first
time in Ashford United’s history, we have recruited a manager with a proven
track record. More importantly, Tommy is already an Ashford legend, having been
a member of the great Ashford Town side that Neil Cugley put together. I am
sure that Tommy is a manager that the fans can really identify with, and get
right behind.
The club has also been
on a great run of form since that scrappy win at East Grinstead. A return of
eight wins and a draw from ten games had lifted Ashford to third in the league
table, at the start of today’s game, and The Warrior’s lads are now looking
like genuine play-off contenders – which would be the first time that any
Ashford team has ever taken part in play-offs. Added to that, everyone I spoke
to at the game today was eager to emphasise what good football the boys are
playing right now, so it is a very exciting time to be an Ashford United
supporter. (When isn’t it?)
Inevitably, there were
many new faces for me to get used to, with only five survivors from the East
Grinstead match being in Ashford’s starting line-up today. One of the new faces
was actually quite an old face, (no offence, pal), as the vastly experienced
Lee Hook, who recently joined as a player-coach, was in goal, in place of Sam
Mott. I understand that Sam was on ‘church business’, related to his
forthcoming wedding. (Actually, I thought that vicars only worked on a Sunday).
Our regular ‘keeper has been in excellent form recently, and it is to Hooky’s
credit that he kept the run of clean sheets going, today extending the run to four in a row. In fact, the boys have managed to not concede a goal in five of the
last six games.
Tommy set the side up
in an interesting shape today, with central defenders Afolabi Coker and
Mohammed Kamara holding the fort at the back whilst full-backs Jerald Aboagye
and Tom Carlse pushed up on the flanks for most of the game. There was a slight
change of role for Josh Wisson, who was in a deep midfield position, just in
front of the centre-backs, from where he was pretty impressive in running
things for the visitors. Ashford’s formation was pretty much 4-1-3-2, with Sam
Corne playing well forward, in support of forwards Danny Parish and Trey
Williams, with Toby Ajala and Bode Anidugbe on either side.
There were just the
three substitutes on the bench for Ashford – Clark Woodcock, Usman Adeniji and
Stefan Cox, who was returning after a seven-game suspension – indicating that
Warrilow is having to cope with a continuing player shortage.
The match kicked off at
3.01pm precisely – roughly three hours before Steve Sodje’s bed-time – and it
was soon evident why Ashford fans are currently purring about the way the team
is going about its business. In spite of playing into the breeze, which drove intermittent
drizzle into their face, Ashford dominated the opening 15 minutes with quick
and accurate passing, with all of the players looking comfortable on the ball.
This wasn’t very different to the style of play that Gary Alexander was encouraging,
but I had the impression that Tommy Warrilow is doing so with better players.
In spite of this early
domination of possession, there were few clear-cut chances in this period. Toby
Ajala went slaloming through the Three Bridges defence, in the fifth minute,
only to be upended – but the free-kick routine of initially playing the ball short
simply didn’t work. In fact, Ashford’s regular use of playing the ball short at
free-kicks and corners, rather than just slinging the ball into the area,
generally failed to create chances today. One exception, however, was when a
corner was played short, in the ninth minute. After Danny Parish had cut in
from the left and had a right-footed shot blocked, the corner, on the left, was
laid short to Tom Carlse, whose cross found Trey Williams’s head in the centre,
but his glancing header nestled on the roof of the net. But Williams
immediately had the unexpected opportunity of a follow-up attempt, when Bridges’
goalkeeper James Shaw looked distinctly unsure, making a complete mess of
playing the ball short from the goal-kick. The ball fell at Trey’s feet, but
his first-time shot was well saved by Shaw.
Eventually, the home
side, currently in a solid, mid-table position, having been promoted from the
Southern Combination League as runners-up last year, began to get into the
match, and although Ashford generally looked the better side, there appeared to
be two ways in which we might concede a goal. One might have been as a result
of a Three Bridges break, with our full-backs upfield, and the other from a set
piece, with Lee Hook looking a little vulnerable under the high ball early on.
One of these occasions was in the 13th minute, when Brannon O’Neill
took a corner on the right, left-footed, curling the ball in under the Ashford
cross-bar. One of a melée of players near the goal-line headed the ball onto
the bar, before it was then nodded behind for another corner. Two minutes
later, the Ashford goal was threatened by another cross that came in from the
right, but this was headed just over by No.15 Alex Clark. (For some reason, the
Three Bridges players wore squad numbers).
Lee Hook had to make
his first real save in the 19th minute. George Gaskin (No.16) tried a
long-range shot that appeared to be far too ambitious, especially once he had made
his intentions obvious, but his effort would have gone into the roof of the
net, and Hook did well to tip the ball over the bar. In the 23rd
minute, Ashford’s vulnerability to the break was seen, when they gave the ball
away carelessly in midfield. This gave the home side a two v two situation.
Gaskin laid the ball to the left, to Clark, who wasted the opportunity by
firing wide.
Ashford’s next chance
did not materialise until the 25th minute, and this came about as a
result of Joe Tennent clumsily losing control (of the ball, that is) in his own
penalty area, allowing Sam Corne to nip in. This was a promising position for
the visitors, with Corne having the ball at his feet, on the by-line, but his cross
was forced behind for a corner. In fact, Ashford now had two corners in quick
succession, but both of these were subjected to the play-it-short routine, and came
to nothing.
The in-form Danny
Parish, with 13 goals in his twelve games for Ashford, had a couple of chances
in the 29th minute. First, he turned and sent in a low shot that
went wide of goal. Then, seconds later, Ashford again were presented with the ball
straight from a Shaw goal-kick. Sam Corne put Parish through on goal, and the
Ashford No.9, from a difficult angle, elected to try to chip the goalkeeper,
but the attempt went wide of the far post.
There were big appeals
for an Ashford penalty, in the 34th minute, when Tom Carlse was flattened
in the penalty area, but the referee was satisfied that the ball had been won in
the tackle, and indicated as such.
In spite of
occasionally looking a little vulnerable at the back, Ashford continued to look
fairly comfortable and in control for the remainder of the first 45 minutes,
and ended the half with a spell of pressure, a corner from the right resulting
in Afolabi Coker hitting an typical defender’s shot high over the bar. Three
Bridges did, however, have a chance, on the break, in injury time, but Alex
Clark pulled his shot wide of goal.
The second half was
rather more one-sided, and there seemed to be an increasing sense that both
teams knew that Ashford were the better side, and that one goal would seal the
three points for them. This goal duly came in the 58th minute, and
it was the excellent Sam Corne who delivered it, scoring his 14th
goal of the season. Trey Williams ran onto a through-ball from the half-way
line, and, in all honesty, he really shouldn’t have gained possession – but he
got to the ball due to a combination of weak defending and his own strength and
determination. Williams then laid the ball into the path of Corne, making a run
from midfield, who swept the ball into the corner of the net. This telling contribution
was to be Trey’s last, as he was replaced by Usman Adeniji, four minutes later.
Three Bridges’
frustration at going a goal down showed, in the 61st minute, when
Jensen Grant earned a yellow card for a late tackle on Bode Anidugbe, but the
home side had an excellent chance to equalise, in the 65th minute.
It was Grant who ran onto a through-ball, into the Ashford penalty area, and
through a combination of Lee Hook coming out to intercept and an Ashford
defender coming across with a saving tackle, was left in a heap on the turf. The
referee waved away the penalty appeals, and, although I could not see clearly
what happened, I was left with the impression that we’d had a let-off there.
As the half wore on,
the home side had no periods of possession of note, and began to commit more
fouls as frustration grew. In the 70th minute, the ref made a point
of giving Joe Tennent a stiff, finger-pointing lecture, presumably for
something that the No.20 had said, but Brannon O’Neill received a deserved
yellow card in the 75th minute. Bode Anidugbe was skating through
the centre circle, with three Three Bridges players trailing in his wake, and
it was a fairly dispirited trip by O’Neill that earned him the booking.
The Ashford players
were actually quite impressive with what is now called ‘game management’, being
very adept at drawing fouls from the tiring and discouraged opposition. Tommy
Warrilow also played a part, with substitutions calculated to protect the
one-goal lead. But first there was a chance for Ashford to go further ahead, in
the 78th minute, when Tom Carlse sent a long, breeze-assisted
free-kick into the home penalty area. Centre-half Afolabi Coker appeared to be
unchallenged as he got his head to the ball, but James Shaw made a good, diving
save.
Three Bridges Manager
Martin Dynan made a double-substitution in the 80th minute, while
Brannon O’Neill was preparing to take a free-kick, replacing Alex Clark and
Jensen Grant with Connor French and Darryl Siaw. O’Neill, clearly the Bridges’
orchestrator, being responsible for all dead-ball kicks, curled a dangerous
cross into the Ashford area, but French headed wide.
Warrilow’s second substitution
was made in the 86th minute, when Stefan Cox, with orders to put in
a brief defensive shift, replaced Toby Ajala. Then, just a minute later, the
visitors had an opportunity to put the result beyond doubt, after Danny Parish
had done well to charge down a clearance, deep inside the Three Bridges penalty
area. Sam Corne ran onto Parish’s short pass, and tried to mimic what he had
done earlier, with the goal, but on this occasion his shot was blocked. I must
say that the referee was quite impressive today, and I felt he had a good game,
but he did make the strangest decision that I have seen for a long time at the
resulting corner. The ball was swung in from the left, and Shaw took the ball
and then dropped it as he collided with one of his own defenders. With no green
shirts anywhere near, the ref made the astonishing decision to blow up for a
free-kick. It is often the case that goalkeepers are over-protected – but that
was ridiculous.
Ashford did have to
withstand some late pressure, particularly in the 89th minute, starting
with a rather panicky tackle by Mohammed Kamara, which resulted in Ashford’s
only yellow card in the game. Brannon O’Neill inevitably took the free-kick,
but the three-man defensive wall did the job, deflecting O’Neill’s shot at goal
behind for a corner. The same man trotted across to swing the ball in with his
left foot, but failed to beat the first man in the crowded area – this was
Stefan Cox, who headed behind. O’Neill’s second attempt was a better one,
locating a Three Bridges head from within a ruck of players on and around the six-yard
line, but the ball went just wide of the far post.
Ashford’s final
substitution – Clark Woodcock on for Danny Parish, on the 90-minute mark - was
purely for the purpose of running down the clock, and there were the
now-familiar shenanigans with keep-ball by the corner flag as the visitors held
on comfortably enough for a deserved win.
The news, in Three
Bridges FC’s very nice, and very spacious, bar was that Hastings United had
somehow contrived to lose 4-1 away at Herne Bay, meaning that the second-placed
team now leads Ashford United by only two points. Ashford’s momentum towards a
place in the play-offs is now very strong. The ‘cushion’, between ourselves and
sixth-placed Haywards Heath Town, is now one of six points. It might also be
expected that Tommy Warrilow’s side will only improve further, as players
return from injury and suspension, so anything is possible from here onwards. I
picked one hell of a season to miss so many games.
