Burgess Hill Town 2 Ashford Town 3
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The 1-3 defeat at home to Walton & Hersham on Tuesday night was a bit of a set-back for the lads. After coming away from Corinthian-Casuals, in their previous game, with three points, the gap between Ashford Town and the team in the final play-off position was twelve points, which was very bridgeable, given that we had three games in hand. Two postponed games and Tuesday’s defeat later, that gap was 15 points this morning, and looked more like a chasm, with Ashford having just the two games in hand. After enjoying an unbeaten run of five games since Boxing Day, largely on the back of some solid defensive performances, the boys, reportedly, looked decidedly shaky at the back in the absence of both Sean Ray and Jamie Riley.
This seems to emphasise the important contribution that both have made in the short time that they have been at the Club. The presence of Jamie in goal has, in the words of one or two of those who play in front of him, made all the difference to the confidence of the back four. This certainly seems to be reflected in his goals conceded per game record, as he is, statistically, head & shoulders above any other goalie we’ve had in recent times. Speaking of statistics, here’s an Anorak’s Corner, as there have been some significant changes in the short time since the last one. (All figures are as at the start of today’s game).
** Anorak’s Corner **
Goalkeepers: Jamie Riley has an incredible record of having only been beaten once every 103 minutes – which equates to less than a goal a game. This is in a different league to the next-best ‘keeper (statistically) in the past three seasons, who was Jake Whincup, who let in a goal every 61 minutes. It’s a different story for young Sam Moore, however. The three goals he let in on Tuesday mean that he is – how shall I put this ? – the seventh-best of the seven ‘keepers we’ve had during this period, having now conceded a goal every 40 minutes. (Sam now slips below Dave Wietecha, who left us with a record of letting one in every 41 minutes).
Strikers: One thing I have done with the list of strikers is to remove Adrianho from this list – this is because he didn’t actually achieve the cut-off of 500 minutes on the field during the past three seasons. This leaves George Fenwick as the front-runner, with a goal every 177 minutes. Next come two current strikers, but they have changed places after recent matches – Walid Matata is in second place overall, with a goal every 191 minutes, with Mark Lovell next (with one every 198 minutes). Using Shaun Bradshaw’s scoring rate as a yard-stick of what defines a striker – and I’ve already admitted elsewhere that this isn’t necessarily the best benchmark – there are no fewer than seven “strikers” at the Club at the moment. These are (in order of strike-rate) Walid, Mark, Paul Jones, Jimmy Bottle, Rob Denness, Sean Ray and Mitchell Sherwood, whose two penalties in the last two games give him a rate of a goal every 476 minutes, so that Mitch just sneaks onto the list.
Attendances: The only way for the average attendance to go, after Boxing Day’s home game against Dover, was down, as we have no more teams to play at The Homelands who are likely to bring a decent-sized travelling support. Sure enough, the season’s average home gate is steadily declining, and is currently struggling to stay above the 300 mark, at 307, after Tuesday night’s 180, the lowest attendance of the season so far. We can expect a few more low crowds to come, with several of our remaining home games due to be played on a Tuesday night, and with that Champions’ League nonsense starting up again on the telly. We need to average a crowd of 167 for the ten remaining home matches this season, to be able to beat last season’s average of 243; (trust me on that one). The median figure currently stands at 241, which compares with last season’s 198.
* * *
The good news today was that the two notable midweek absentees, Sean Ray and Jamie Riley, were back in the saddle, meaning that Tony Browne and Sam Moore returned to the bench. There was also a slight surprise in that Steve Lovell made a straightforward change to what we’ve come to recognise as his first choice eleven, with Nick Barnes making way for Danny Lye. Danny was to put in his first 90-minute stint in the league since the game away at Molesey, last October – in which he scored ! The team, then, was Jamie in goal, with a back-four of Nicky Humphrey (back at right-back), Sean Ray, Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite, a midfield of Danny Lye, Ryan Briggs, Anthony Hogg and Mitchell Sherwood (who swapped sides, out wide, several times with Danny Lye), and Paul Jones and Mark Lovell up front. Accompanying Barnes, Moore and Browne Dog on the bench were Walid Matata and Rob Denness; Jimmy Bottle, who was still sidelined with a calf strain this afternoon, was changed into his kit and appeared to be very much part of the squad in the pre-match warm-up, but was unable to be named as one of the substitutes.
The corresponding game at Leylands Park last season was played in mid-April. It was memorable for the fact that there was a goal for both Steve Sodje and Kenny Three Names, (we won 0-2), but I also remember it being a bright, cloudless afternoon, with the lowering sun causing problems for players and spectators alike. Today conditions were very similar – except that the temperature was probably about 20ºC lower on this occasion.
Leylands Park is situated on the outskirts of a housing estate - which is very similar in nature to the one on which I grew up in South Ashford – on the Northern edge of Burgess Hill, in Sussex. Spectator accommodation consists of a long, but narrow, stand, on one side of the ground, containing black and yellow seats, four deep. The turnstiles, the burger stall and the bar – a dark brown wooden structure – are all located behind one of the goals, with the other two sides of the ground remaining undeveloped. There is a bit of a slope to the pitch, and Ashford, playing in their home kit of green shirts, white shorts and green sockies, played up the hill in the first half.
From the outset, Burgess Hill – yellow & black quartered shirts, with one black sleeve and one yellow sleeve, black shorts and yellow sockies – started at a high tempo, with plenty of attacking intent, but neither side managed to create a clear-cut chance during the first quarter of the game. Ashford looked solid and organised, but the best they could offer during this period was a long-range shot from Ryan Briggs, in the 13th minute, which he pulled tamely wide. At the other end, Jamie Riley was kept fairly busy with back-passes from his defenders, which he did well to deal with, on this bumpy pitch – until the 18th minute, when he inevitably eventually fluffed a clearance. The ball went straight to Burgess Hill’s Scott Marshall, but The Hillians’ No.4 rushed his first-time effort, and the ball curved away, high and wide, from the Ashford goal.
It was good to see our most recent signing, Anthony Hogg, start the game, but he did look a little rusty and slightly off the pace. He had two opportunities to put a left-foot cross in from free-kicks, in the 21st minute, but these both came to nothing – although the second of these crosses resulted in Lee Hockey getting a bang in the face, which required a few minutes of treatment from Mo Alvi. It turned out that Lee had had his nose broken – but this didn’t stop him from saying that he’d be OK, and he rejoined the fray in the 25th minute. That’s the spirit !
In the 23rd minute, a good cross from Burgess Hill’s Matt Piper bounced around in the penalty area, before Daniel Brathwaite hoisted the ball behind to safety. The resulting corner was fizzed in, low, from the left, and appeared to be dummied at the near post. This caused some panic, momentarily, in the Ashford defence, before being cleared.
The first half hour passed, with Burgess Hill Town having slightly the better of things, but with neither goalkeeper having to make a save. In fact, the two teams were restricted to one real scoring chance each, in a fairly entertaining first half, and these came in quick succession. First, in the 30th minute, Lee Hockey found himself under an awkward, high, spinning ball, and being harried by Nick Fogden and Kenny Hewitt. The ball broke kindly for the strikers, and Hewitt managed to put Fogden through on goal. Jamie Riley did well to save Fogden’s initial shot from an acute angle, before saving the follow-up shot from the rebound, at the expense of a corner. The resulting cross, from the left, went all the way through to Scott Marshall, on the far edge of the penalty area, whose low shot was comfortably gathered by Riley at the near post.
Ashford’s chance came just two minutes later, and they made it count, to take a 0-1 lead. It began with Jamie Riley hitting a free-kick, from well inside his own half, diagonally, finding Daniel Brathwaite to the left of the Burgess Hill penalty area. Daniel did well to retain possession, cutting inside before laying the ball off to Danny Lye, who was on his outside, on the left. Lye marked his return to the starting eleven with a well-taken goal, side-footing the ball low, past goalkeeper Chris May.
The home side did try to respond before half time, with a Kenny Hewitt cross, in the 42nd minute, which really should have picked out a Burgess Hill head, and a shot, which went over the bar from outside the penalty area, again from Hewitt, in the 44th minute, but to no avail. For Ashford, Anthony Hogg got hold of a long-range shot, right at the end of the half, but this effort went just wide, so the visitors took a 0-1 lead into the break.
I’m sure that Lee Hockey would have been willing to play on with his facial injury, but the half-time diagnosis of a broken nose meant that it was the Browne Dog who emerged as a substitute for the second half, taking up his familiar position of right-back, with Nicky Humphrey moving across to centre-half.
It must be said that, for the early part of the second half, Ashford had a spell of dominance that they never achieved in the first, and very nearly went 0-2 up within a few seconds of the restart. Paul Jones, running on into the penalty area, latched onto a nodded lay-off from Mitch Sherwood, and hit a spectacular shot which would almost have burst the net – except that it went just over the bar. In the 51st minute, Jonah got away with a little shove in David Piper’s back, and attempted to take full advantage, moving into the Burgess Hill penalty area and rounding gigantic centre-half Danny Gainsford. Jones went down, appearing to be bundled over by his towering marker, but Mr Austin, the Referee, was not convinced. Two minutes later, Danny Lye fed a ball down the right touchline for Jones to chase, and this drew another foul from Gainsford, as Jonah was in the process of going around him.
All this was fairly typical of Jones’s performance this afternoon. He was a constant handful for the Burgess Hill defence, never stopped running and battling, and showed the pace and confidence to be able to go past opponents, almost at will. Given the form that he’s in at the moment, it’s surprising that he’s so far only scored the one goal in 2008. It was also surprising that his good work failed to create another goal for the team during this period of ascendancy, but the green & whites did increase their lead in the 54th minute. Ryan Briggs did well, near the left corner flag, to fiddle a corner, and took the kick himself. Now I’m not qualified to comment on Burgess Hill’s marking regime at this corner, and I’m not particularly bothered about it, but I can tell you that Nicky Humphrey came flying in, met Briggo’s cross with a powerful header, and the ball flew into the net, as clean as a whistle. Nicky was excellent today, both at right-back and in the centre of defence, and has, in my opinion, been one of the players of the season. He has comfortably clocked up more minutes on the pitch than anyone else so far – 2,638, at the time of writing – and it was great to see him open his account for the Club, becoming our 13th different goal-scorer this season.
[ Here’s an interesting little trivia question for you: apart from Nicky Humphrey, which two players have spent the most time on the pitch ? Answer at the end of the report. ]
In the 56th minute, Paul Jones again looked like he was going to score, when, in the inside-left position, he ran onto a lob, over the top of the Burgess Hill defence, from Sean Ray. Jonah was well clear, and Chris May hesitated as he came out of his goal. If he had trusted his left foot, then Jones could have quite easily lobbed the ‘keeper, but instead he checked, and waited for a chance to use his right foot, eventually hitting the ball wide of the near post.
The home side equalised in the 61st minute, and I’m afraid I’ll have to cite the Wenger Amendment here, as I saw very little of the goal – my view was obscured by a combination of the figure of Steve Lovell, on the edge of his Technical Area, and the setting sun. What I did see was the ball crossed, from right to left, through the Ashford Town penalty area; it was then fed back into the centre, where Hillians captain Steve Harper tucked the ball into the net. This made the score 1-2, with still almost half an hour remaining.
In the 65th minute, Burgess Hill Manager Jamie Howell made his first substitution, replacing Matt Piper with Stuart Tuck. A little later, the first cries for Walid Matata’s introduction could be heard from the Ashford travelling support – timed, on this occasion, at 67 minutes.
The play was certainly more evenly balanced after Steve Harper’s goal, but Paul Jones remained a threat. In the 69th minute, he latched onto a clearance from the Ashford defence, and went for goal. Jones beat Tom Edmonds, and then David Piper, as he entered the home side’s 18-yard box, but the ball then ran away from him, and the chance was gone.
Burgess Hill made it 2-2 in the 72nd minute. A long shot, from a free-kick, was saved by Jamie Riley, but he failed to hold onto the ball. Danny Gainsford was there to hit the loose ball past Riley, but Daniel Brathwaite, heroically, blocked the ball on the line. Nevertheless, Gainsford lashed the ball home with his second attempt, and Ashford’s two-goal lead had lasted for only 18 minutes.
Just a minute later, the green shirts were pouring forward, in search of a third goal, with Anthony Hogg spreading the ball wide to Paul Jones; Jonesy again rounded Danny Gainsford, but the ball was forced out for a corner, on the left. Ryan Briggs’s resulting cross went over a crowd of players in the centre of the penalty area, falling to Mark Lovell, beyond the far post, but Lovell Jnr’s side-footed effort at goal went over the bar. This was to be Mark’s final contribution, since, in the 76th minute, after a fairly anonymous performance, he was replaced by Walid Matata – who is still the Club’s top goal scorer this season, with seven goals.
In the 77th minute, it was Paul Jones who was again leading the attack. He had a one-against-one situation with Tom Edmonds, as another long clearance was launched from the Ashford defence – although Jones had his back to goal, he managed to turn his man, and draw a foul which led to Edmonds being shown a yellow card by Mr Austin. Although the free-kick came to nothing, Jonah had another attempt, in the 81st minute, turning and shooting from well outside the penalty area, but he sliced his effort wide.
Ashford’s winner came just a minute later. A cross, from the right, from Mitch Sherwood found Walid Matata, in the centre. Walid helped the ball on to Danny Lye, on the left, and just inside the penalty area. Danny had the time and space to take a touch, before crashing the ball into the net. This is what a winning goal is supposed to be like, in all the best scripts – smashed joyfully and decisively into a bulging net ! This was a triumphant finish to Danny’s return to the team – his second goal of the game, and his fourth of the season – and it capped a good all-round performance from him. It was a close-run thing between him and Nicky Humphrey for today’s Man of the Match award – and Paul Jones’s sterling contribution has already been well documented in this report – but Danny’s two goals just shaded it for him.
Of course, we couldn’t take the three points for granted – not against a team that had drawn 4-4 at home last Tuesday – but The Hillians never seriously threatened to equalise. Romain Le Roux was sent on by Jamie Howell, in place of Scott Marshall, as late as the 86th minute, and they had a handful of corners, but Jamie Riley was not called upon to make a save.
This win, in front of a crowd of 162, moves Ashford back up to 13th in the league table, just one place, and two points, behind today’s hosts. If anybody is still counting, we now trail the team in the fourth and final play-off position by 13 points, with two games in hand – but it was just good to see the lads come back from Tuesday night’s set-back with a solid performance, and yet another away win.
[ Answer to the trivia question: Rob Denness, with 1,858 minutes, then Rob Gilman, with 1,800; Jimmy Bottle is next, with 1,786 minutes. ]
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Danny Lye
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Corinthian-Casuals v Ashford Town. Ryman League Division One South. 2nd of February 2008.
Corinthian-Casuals 0 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford went into this match with plenty of confidence. Steve Lovell is gradually building the squad that he wants, and there are definite signs that things are at last coming together. Bottom-of-the-table Molesey won’t have provided the sternest test of the team’s progress last Saturday, but the comfortable manner of the 3-0 victory must have instilled some belief, among players and fans alike. We’ve all been waiting patiently in Don & Tony’s space rocket, with seat belts securely fastened, for some time now. It seems like someone’s finally found some matches, so that we can prepare for launch.
The first stop on the rocket ride will, at some point, be promotion to the Ryman Premier. Is that still a realistic prospect for this season ? Well, it’s not out of the question. The team currently in the final play-off position is Dulwich Hamlet, 14 points ahead of us, but we have THREE games in hand. Manager Steve Lovell has certainly been quoted as saying that he’s focusing his players’ attention on a play-off position as a target for the remaining 18 games of the season.
If Ashford are going to succeed with a late run for a top-five position – we were 13th this morning – then the current little sequence of four games, all of which are against teams in the bottom six, is crucial. The games have a reassuring orderliness about them, beginning with Molesey (bottom) last week, Corinthian-Casuals (third-bottom) today, Eastbourne Town (fifth-bottom) on Tuesday and Walton Casuals (sixth-bottom) next Saturday. With only today’s game, of the four, away from home, and with three points already in the bag, Steve Lovell would surely be looking for at least ten points from this lot. But, to use a quaint Irish expression, there’s many a slip between cup and lip – or, as I once heard snooker commentator John Pullman say, “there’s many a slip between lup and kip” !
We’ve been getting used to seeing this afternoon’s opponents, Corinthian-Casuals, at this end of the table. They’ve finished in the bottom two for the past two seasons, but, due to clubs stepping down from the league, and the restructuring of the non-league pyramid, have escaped relegation on both occasions. It’s actually a standing joke, among the clubs newly-promoted to the league, that they just need to finish above Corinthians to survive, as the club never gets relegated ! It did, however, seem like Corinthians were making a far better fist of it this season, but a recent run of poor results has seen them plummet to a position just one place above the drop-zone. The Casuals are currently plumb-bottom of the six-game current form table, with just two points from those games, and with their previous game being a 0-5 home defeat to third-placed Cray Wanderers.
[ I’d like to make a brief disclaimer here. For the benefit of any pedantic Corinthian-Casuals supporters, I’ll point out that I’m aware of the correct name of your club, with its all-important hyphen, and that I understand that the club known as Corinthians plays, not in the Ryman League, but in Brazil – it’s just that I’m not going to use the full and correct term at every mention ! ]
I remember being quite disappointed when I first visited the King George Arena, in the 2005-6 season. I wasn’t expecting a big ground, but I did imagine that this world-famous old amateur club would have a ground with some character and a bit of grandeur, with maybe a quaint old wooden stand and a certain amount of Victoriana about it. Instead, I found a venue that was very low-rise and low-key – in fact, it’s all very 1970s, with the main feature being a long, corrugated stand, containing red plastic seats, just three deep. This gives a worm’s eye view of the pitch and the dug-outs on the far side. At each end, the narrow terracing is sheltered by a short stand.
King George’s is always a bugger to get to, being situated just off the A3, about ten minutes’ walk from Tolworth Station, and accessed via a pokey little road that runs parallel to the main A-road. What little parking there is at the ground is also a bit iffy. For anyone arriving in time, there might be a space on the compacted mud on the drive up to the single turnstile – otherwise, it’s the small, grassy field adjacent to the ground, (weather permitting). I sometimes wonder what they’ll do when they play Arsenal here in the Cup !
Although this description might seem like a bit of a moan, I’d still like to see Corinthian-Casuals on the roster for next season. We always get a friendly welcome here, and anyone with any feeling for non-league football cannot fail to admire this club for keeping the flag flying for genuine amateurism, since their players receive neither payment nor expenses for their services. Besides, it remains a club with a long and proud history, and this season Corinthian-Casuals FC celebrates its 125th anniversary. One of the events to mark this anniversary will be a friendly match against AFC Wimbledon at Wembley Stadium. Shouldn’t be any problems with the car parking there !
One thing that was immediately noticeable about the Corinthians side today was that they all looked very young. In fact, the only person on the pitch who looked younger than any of the home side’s starting eleven was the Referee. (This didn’t stop young Master Atkin from having an excellent game - he reffed the match with a calm authority, and it’s to his credit that he never had to resort to waving his yellow card about). I can’t tell you much else about The Casuals’ team today, except to say that they included some colourful names, to match their colourful strip – they started with a Daniel Green, a Byron Brown and a Luke Gay ! (I sometimes think that these things are sent to me as a gift !). In the fashion stakes, the famous pink & chocolate colour scheme is slightly different this season – the shirt is halved, with sleeves reversed – and the rose pink blended prettily with our lads’ daffodil yellow.
The Ashford Town team news was, as usual, that it was the usual line-up, both on the pitch and on the bench. The starting eleven, then, was Riley, Humphrey, Hockey, Ray (capt.), Brathwaite, Sherwood, Barnes, Briggs, Bottle, Jones and Lovell. Although there was no substitute goalie on the bench, there were the usual suspects: Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata, plus Anthony Hogg. Interesting that Steve Lovell is still starting with new signing Anthony Hogg on the bench – but, with the current team playing well and getting some good results, maybe it isn’t so surprising.
Today was the day when the thermal underwear made its seasonal debut, as it was forecast today to be decidedly parky; Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent donned her snowboarding trousers – we have a ski slope in MK, you know ! [ “Skiing” is actually one of our favourite pastimes – it stands for “Spending Kids’ Inheritence” ! ] As it turned out, it wasn’t as cold as expected, and, with the game being played in bright sunshine, beneath almost cloudless skies and with not enough of a breeze to make a significant difference to the play, conditions were set fair for a good game of football.
That wasn’t what was delivered, though, as this was by no means a classic. This was probably mostly due to the fact that the two teams were anything but evenly matched. The youthful appearance of The Casuals’ players was confirmed very early on, as it seemed to be men against boys all over the pitch. This was most obvious when Ashford pressed forward, with Paul Jones’s superior strength and pace enabling him to just about do as he pleased in terms of grabbing possession, holding the ball up and linking up with other players – although his shooting is still not quite A1 ! Our defence was also in full control for most of the game, and Sean Ray and Lee Hockey might have played in their slippers. Having said all that, Ashford took quite a long time to fully impose themselves on the opposition, with things not quite clicking for them in the first 20 minutes or so. Our boys looked marginally the more likely side to score, but the quality of delivery was poor in the final third of the pitch.
Although our hosts were limited to the one shot on target during this opening period – Lee Matthews’s long-range shot, in the third minute, was straight at Jamie Riley – Jamie was still the busier of the two ‘keepers, with a number of back-passes to deal with, and through-balls to intercept. The game was always fairly free-flowing, with few stoppages – well done, Mr Atkin, once again. The first set-piece situation of note came in the 24th minute, when Corinthian-Casuals had a free-kick near to the left corner of the penalty area. As with all Casuals’ free-kicks and corners on the left, full-back Matt Smith and Brown Byron stood over the ball, but this time it was Brown who took the kick, but he rather wasted it by curling his cross beyond the far post.
Two minutes later, Ashford showed their first sign of breaking through, when a long throw, on the left, from Lee Hockey was flicked on by the head of Paul Jones, finding Mark Lovell in the six-yard box – but Lovell was flagged off-side. Seconds later, a cross-field ball found Brown Byron, free on the left, just inside the Ashford penalty area – and this time there was no flag. Brown attempted a cross, but this was smothered by Nicky Humphrey, who came sliding in, putting the ball behind for a corner. There were appeals for hand-ball, but this would have been a very harsh penalty. Brown and Smith again worked the dead-ball situation between them, and funneled the ball back to Tyrone Myton, who arced over a deep cross, from a wider angle. Centre-half Richard Price got on the end of this, but the ball slid off his shaven head, and behind for a goal-kick.
Highlight of the half came in the 27th minute, with an injury to Casuals’ Dale Hennessey – but only because it was an excuse for Corinthains’ gorgeous blonde Physio, Loreen Woodward to come onto the pitch. (Woodward ? So would I !). She glided across the Tolworth turf, long, flaxen hair trailing in her wake. What a vision of beauty ! And we’ve got Mo Alvi !
One way in which we bettered our opponents today was in the number of fans behind the respective goals. Early on, with the official attendance being 104, the score was 0-11 to the visitors, and this progressed to 3-13 as the first half wore on, with the added bonus of a green & white “ATFC” flag draped over the perimeter fence.
Back to the footy, then, and Ashford had their first real sight of goal in the 34th minute. A Daniel Brathwaite throw-in, from the left, found Paul Jones, in the penalty area. Jonah took one touch, on his chest, and then turned, to create a clear shooting chance – but he blasted this well over. Two minutes later, Corinthians had an opportunity, at the other end, with a free-kick just outside the area, awarded for a foul on Tyrone Myton. Matt Smith was faced with a four-man wall, and hit his effort straight into this wall; his second attempt, from the rebound, was charged down.
There were often cries of “not good enough” and “let’s raise it” to be heard from both sets of players during the first half, and it appeared that a fairly flat opening 45 minutes would end all square at 0-0 – but Ashford effectively won the match with two goals before the interval. The first of these came in the 39th minute. Nicky Humphrey, who has done a tremendous job at right-back this season, had possession of the ball on the right. He chipped the ball into the centre, where Paul Jones flicked the ball on, finding Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy quickly transferred the ball onto his favoured left foot, and was upended by Matt Smith, who had come lungeing in, only to find that the ball wasn’t there when he arrived. The ref had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. It’s true that this was a rash challenge by the defender, but Jimmy deserves a lot of credit as well, as it was his quick feet that drew the foul. I was a little surprised that it was Mitchell Sherwood who stepped up to take the penalty, but presumably this was because Steve Lovell knows that he is good at taking them ! Mitch calmly slotted the ball, low, into the corner of the net, with goalkeeper Colin Harris diving in the other direction, to open his account for Ashford Town.
Our second goal came in the 45th minute, but not before Corinthians actually had a great chance to equalise, with what was to be by far their best opportunity of the match. For once, Sean Ray failed to deal with a long ball from the home defence, in the 43rd minute – he seemed to misjudge this one, letting it go across his body, and this error resulted in Hinga Amara being put clean through on goal. This was a classic one-on-one situation, in the finest OK Corale tradition, with Amara having eons of space and acres of time. Jamie Riley came out of his goal, positioned himself and waited, fingers twitching, for Amara to advance. Jamie hasn’t been over-worked during his time at Ashford, but, when he has been called upon to make important saves, he hasn’t let us down. On this occasion, he showed great reflexes to save, low, with his right hand. This was a great stop, and it effectively sealed his second consecutive clean sheet.
Corinthians had half a shout for a penalty, in the 44th minute, for a little push in the area, but this was not very convincing, and Ashford went 0-2 up, just a minute later. This was again a result of an error from this young defence, and this time the blame can be laid at the feet, or rather the hand, of the goalkeeper. A free-kick from near the right touchline resulted in a steepling cross, which Harris really should have dealt with without too much trouble. Instead, he just palmed the ball out to Jimmy Bottle, who put the ball into a half-empty net, from a distance of about 15 yards. Jimmy showed good technique here, as he had plenty to do with this – he waited for the ball to settle, and then lashed it in with his RIGHT foot.
The second half was very comfortable for Ashford. The home side did very little in the way of closing down, or pressurising the man in possession, and the boys were able to put their little passing movements together. Ryan Briggs, in particular, was quietly impressive in central midfield.
One slight surprise was that Paul Jones didn’t get onto the score-sheet this afternoon, given his obvious physical advantage over his marker, Richard Price – but he had a clear chance in the 49th minute. He showed great strength to shrug off Price, to latch onto a through-ball from Nick Barnes. This time it was Colin Harris’s turn to have the better of a one-on-one situation, doing well to come out and block Jonah’s effort.
In the 53rd minute, there was again chaos in the Corinthians’ defence, when Scott Hassell rather skied an attempted back-pass to his ‘keeper. This resulted in a 50-50 between Harris and Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy was the stronger, and the ball broke kindly for him, to give him what seemed to be an open goal, but Richard Price did well to intercept the ball on the line. The ensuing recriminations in the home defence betrayed a lack of confidence in one another, and a growing frustration.
In the 56th minute, Price did well again, robbing Paul Jones of the ball and advancing into the Ashford half; he then let fly with an audacious long-range shot, which wasn’t all that far off target, but it went high and wide. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson made a double-substitution, replacing Dale Hennessey and Hinga Amara with Sam-Yorke Delano (Slightly Silly Party) and Ayokunle Olusesi (ditto).
There were a few chances for Ashford to add to their two goals, but final passes and finishing remained pretty poor – so we didn’t really deserve to win by a wider margin, in spite of our dominance. In the 58th minute, Paul Jones again showed great physical strength to get to a long clearance from Nicky Humphrey ahead of the Corinthians’ defence. He advanced into the penalty area, but his attempted cross, looking for Jimmy Bottle, was blocked; the ball broke to Ryan Briggs, who hit his long-range shot wastefully high and wide. A long ball down the left touchline from Jimmy Bottle, in the 67th minute, found Paul Jones, who was duly fouled – but Ryan Briggs unerringly managed to find the head of a defender, with the free-kick. Daniel Brathwaite, who ventured forward on a number of occasions in the second half, found Mark Lovell, on the edge of the penalty area, in the 70th minute; Mark did well to touch the ball over the head of a defender, but then volleyed the ball high and wide. Then, in the 73rd minute, shortly after the first of the usual calls for “Wally” rang out from behind The Casuals’ goal, Paul Jones laid the ball off to Nick Barnes, whose shot, from outside the penalty area, went across the face of goal.
Well, Steve Lovell resisted the pleas to throw on Walid Matata, but, as early as the 74th minute, he felt secure enough with the two-goal lead to be able to make some substitutions, purely in the interests of giving the bench-warmers a run out. Initially, he sent on Anthony Hogg in place of Ryan Briggs, who had put in a good shift. Then, in the 77th minute, Tony Browne and Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes and Lee Hockey – Nicky Humphrey moved across to a central defensive position, with The Browne Dog filling in at right-back. In normal circumstances, such a set of substitutions, on the back of a two-goal lead and with almost a quarter of an hour remaining, would have been something of a gamble - but not on this occasion, such was Ashford’s level of comfort.
In the 81st minute, Brian Adamson made the sixth, and final, substitution of the game, putting on Carlton Murray-Price in place of Matt Smith.
This was my first sight of Anthony Hogg on the pitch. He’s tall for a midfield player, and strongly built, and it probably says something about his stature that he was entrusted with taking the free-kicks and corners as soon as he came on. In the 85th minute, however, it was Hoggy who was left in a heap on the ground after a late tackle, so Jimmy Bottle took the resulting free-kick, from near the left touchline. Jimmy’s long cross went beyond the far post, and, after a brief session of head tennis in the Corinthians’ penalty area, Colin Harris was able to gather the ball, one-handed. Hogg did supply the cross, from a corner in the 88th minute, which provided Ashford with a final chance to increase their lead, but Sean Ray, rising high above the Corinthians’ defence, headed wide.
So, for the second successive Saturday, Ashford collected the three points without having to come out of second gear. I’d like to think that, if Tooting & Mitcham, or Cray Wanderers, had turned up in a coach to play us in the second half, then the boys would have been able to raise their game, as required – but three points is three points, and I’m one veteran of recent relegation scraps who still doesn’t look three points in the mouth. With Dulwich Hamlet playing out a 1-1 draw at home to Dover Athletic this afternoon, our heroes are now twelve points shy of a play-off position, and still with the three games in hand. Is it just me, or does this indicate that promotion at the end of the season is by no means a forlorn hope ?
It is at least refreshing that we are looking ahead of us, instead of over our shoulder at the relegation situation. Our hosts, on the other hand, need to worry a bit. It was certainly a bad day for them in terms of results elsewhere, with Whitstable and Eastbourne Town both winning, and Walton Casuals and (even) Molesey getting a point; only Horsham YMCA, of their rivals at the bottom, suffered a defeat today. Worse than this, Corinthians looked a poor side – a team of boys, lacking a leader or a talisman on the pitch. I was certainly considerably more impressed with what I saw from the YMCA a few weeks ago – so Corinthian-Casuals might need to rely upon their traditional immunity from relegation once again this year.
A couple of other points. Firstly, it was good to see the Ashford players acknowledge the travelling supporters at the final whistle – this hasn’t always happened. Secondly, we were pleased to present Jimmy Bottle with his Man of the Match medal today – he won the penalty, scored himself and worked tremendously hard, and effectively, up and down the left flank this afternoon. Jimmy’s goal makes him our second-top scorer this season, with six goals, just one behind Walid Matata.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Bottle
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
Ashford went into this match with plenty of confidence. Steve Lovell is gradually building the squad that he wants, and there are definite signs that things are at last coming together. Bottom-of-the-table Molesey won’t have provided the sternest test of the team’s progress last Saturday, but the comfortable manner of the 3-0 victory must have instilled some belief, among players and fans alike. We’ve all been waiting patiently in Don & Tony’s space rocket, with seat belts securely fastened, for some time now. It seems like someone’s finally found some matches, so that we can prepare for launch.
The first stop on the rocket ride will, at some point, be promotion to the Ryman Premier. Is that still a realistic prospect for this season ? Well, it’s not out of the question. The team currently in the final play-off position is Dulwich Hamlet, 14 points ahead of us, but we have THREE games in hand. Manager Steve Lovell has certainly been quoted as saying that he’s focusing his players’ attention on a play-off position as a target for the remaining 18 games of the season.
If Ashford are going to succeed with a late run for a top-five position – we were 13th this morning – then the current little sequence of four games, all of which are against teams in the bottom six, is crucial. The games have a reassuring orderliness about them, beginning with Molesey (bottom) last week, Corinthian-Casuals (third-bottom) today, Eastbourne Town (fifth-bottom) on Tuesday and Walton Casuals (sixth-bottom) next Saturday. With only today’s game, of the four, away from home, and with three points already in the bag, Steve Lovell would surely be looking for at least ten points from this lot. But, to use a quaint Irish expression, there’s many a slip between cup and lip – or, as I once heard snooker commentator John Pullman say, “there’s many a slip between lup and kip” !
We’ve been getting used to seeing this afternoon’s opponents, Corinthian-Casuals, at this end of the table. They’ve finished in the bottom two for the past two seasons, but, due to clubs stepping down from the league, and the restructuring of the non-league pyramid, have escaped relegation on both occasions. It’s actually a standing joke, among the clubs newly-promoted to the league, that they just need to finish above Corinthians to survive, as the club never gets relegated ! It did, however, seem like Corinthians were making a far better fist of it this season, but a recent run of poor results has seen them plummet to a position just one place above the drop-zone. The Casuals are currently plumb-bottom of the six-game current form table, with just two points from those games, and with their previous game being a 0-5 home defeat to third-placed Cray Wanderers.
[ I’d like to make a brief disclaimer here. For the benefit of any pedantic Corinthian-Casuals supporters, I’ll point out that I’m aware of the correct name of your club, with its all-important hyphen, and that I understand that the club known as Corinthians plays, not in the Ryman League, but in Brazil – it’s just that I’m not going to use the full and correct term at every mention ! ]
I remember being quite disappointed when I first visited the King George Arena, in the 2005-6 season. I wasn’t expecting a big ground, but I did imagine that this world-famous old amateur club would have a ground with some character and a bit of grandeur, with maybe a quaint old wooden stand and a certain amount of Victoriana about it. Instead, I found a venue that was very low-rise and low-key – in fact, it’s all very 1970s, with the main feature being a long, corrugated stand, containing red plastic seats, just three deep. This gives a worm’s eye view of the pitch and the dug-outs on the far side. At each end, the narrow terracing is sheltered by a short stand.
King George’s is always a bugger to get to, being situated just off the A3, about ten minutes’ walk from Tolworth Station, and accessed via a pokey little road that runs parallel to the main A-road. What little parking there is at the ground is also a bit iffy. For anyone arriving in time, there might be a space on the compacted mud on the drive up to the single turnstile – otherwise, it’s the small, grassy field adjacent to the ground, (weather permitting). I sometimes wonder what they’ll do when they play Arsenal here in the Cup !
Although this description might seem like a bit of a moan, I’d still like to see Corinthian-Casuals on the roster for next season. We always get a friendly welcome here, and anyone with any feeling for non-league football cannot fail to admire this club for keeping the flag flying for genuine amateurism, since their players receive neither payment nor expenses for their services. Besides, it remains a club with a long and proud history, and this season Corinthian-Casuals FC celebrates its 125th anniversary. One of the events to mark this anniversary will be a friendly match against AFC Wimbledon at Wembley Stadium. Shouldn’t be any problems with the car parking there !
One thing that was immediately noticeable about the Corinthians side today was that they all looked very young. In fact, the only person on the pitch who looked younger than any of the home side’s starting eleven was the Referee. (This didn’t stop young Master Atkin from having an excellent game - he reffed the match with a calm authority, and it’s to his credit that he never had to resort to waving his yellow card about). I can’t tell you much else about The Casuals’ team today, except to say that they included some colourful names, to match their colourful strip – they started with a Daniel Green, a Byron Brown and a Luke Gay ! (I sometimes think that these things are sent to me as a gift !). In the fashion stakes, the famous pink & chocolate colour scheme is slightly different this season – the shirt is halved, with sleeves reversed – and the rose pink blended prettily with our lads’ daffodil yellow.
The Ashford Town team news was, as usual, that it was the usual line-up, both on the pitch and on the bench. The starting eleven, then, was Riley, Humphrey, Hockey, Ray (capt.), Brathwaite, Sherwood, Barnes, Briggs, Bottle, Jones and Lovell. Although there was no substitute goalie on the bench, there were the usual suspects: Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata, plus Anthony Hogg. Interesting that Steve Lovell is still starting with new signing Anthony Hogg on the bench – but, with the current team playing well and getting some good results, maybe it isn’t so surprising.
Today was the day when the thermal underwear made its seasonal debut, as it was forecast today to be decidedly parky; Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent donned her snowboarding trousers – we have a ski slope in MK, you know ! [ “Skiing” is actually one of our favourite pastimes – it stands for “Spending Kids’ Inheritence” ! ] As it turned out, it wasn’t as cold as expected, and, with the game being played in bright sunshine, beneath almost cloudless skies and with not enough of a breeze to make a significant difference to the play, conditions were set fair for a good game of football.
That wasn’t what was delivered, though, as this was by no means a classic. This was probably mostly due to the fact that the two teams were anything but evenly matched. The youthful appearance of The Casuals’ players was confirmed very early on, as it seemed to be men against boys all over the pitch. This was most obvious when Ashford pressed forward, with Paul Jones’s superior strength and pace enabling him to just about do as he pleased in terms of grabbing possession, holding the ball up and linking up with other players – although his shooting is still not quite A1 ! Our defence was also in full control for most of the game, and Sean Ray and Lee Hockey might have played in their slippers. Having said all that, Ashford took quite a long time to fully impose themselves on the opposition, with things not quite clicking for them in the first 20 minutes or so. Our boys looked marginally the more likely side to score, but the quality of delivery was poor in the final third of the pitch.
Although our hosts were limited to the one shot on target during this opening period – Lee Matthews’s long-range shot, in the third minute, was straight at Jamie Riley – Jamie was still the busier of the two ‘keepers, with a number of back-passes to deal with, and through-balls to intercept. The game was always fairly free-flowing, with few stoppages – well done, Mr Atkin, once again. The first set-piece situation of note came in the 24th minute, when Corinthian-Casuals had a free-kick near to the left corner of the penalty area. As with all Casuals’ free-kicks and corners on the left, full-back Matt Smith and Brown Byron stood over the ball, but this time it was Brown who took the kick, but he rather wasted it by curling his cross beyond the far post.
Two minutes later, Ashford showed their first sign of breaking through, when a long throw, on the left, from Lee Hockey was flicked on by the head of Paul Jones, finding Mark Lovell in the six-yard box – but Lovell was flagged off-side. Seconds later, a cross-field ball found Brown Byron, free on the left, just inside the Ashford penalty area – and this time there was no flag. Brown attempted a cross, but this was smothered by Nicky Humphrey, who came sliding in, putting the ball behind for a corner. There were appeals for hand-ball, but this would have been a very harsh penalty. Brown and Smith again worked the dead-ball situation between them, and funneled the ball back to Tyrone Myton, who arced over a deep cross, from a wider angle. Centre-half Richard Price got on the end of this, but the ball slid off his shaven head, and behind for a goal-kick.
Highlight of the half came in the 27th minute, with an injury to Casuals’ Dale Hennessey – but only because it was an excuse for Corinthains’ gorgeous blonde Physio, Loreen Woodward to come onto the pitch. (Woodward ? So would I !). She glided across the Tolworth turf, long, flaxen hair trailing in her wake. What a vision of beauty ! And we’ve got Mo Alvi !
One way in which we bettered our opponents today was in the number of fans behind the respective goals. Early on, with the official attendance being 104, the score was 0-11 to the visitors, and this progressed to 3-13 as the first half wore on, with the added bonus of a green & white “ATFC” flag draped over the perimeter fence.
Back to the footy, then, and Ashford had their first real sight of goal in the 34th minute. A Daniel Brathwaite throw-in, from the left, found Paul Jones, in the penalty area. Jonah took one touch, on his chest, and then turned, to create a clear shooting chance – but he blasted this well over. Two minutes later, Corinthians had an opportunity, at the other end, with a free-kick just outside the area, awarded for a foul on Tyrone Myton. Matt Smith was faced with a four-man wall, and hit his effort straight into this wall; his second attempt, from the rebound, was charged down.
There were often cries of “not good enough” and “let’s raise it” to be heard from both sets of players during the first half, and it appeared that a fairly flat opening 45 minutes would end all square at 0-0 – but Ashford effectively won the match with two goals before the interval. The first of these came in the 39th minute. Nicky Humphrey, who has done a tremendous job at right-back this season, had possession of the ball on the right. He chipped the ball into the centre, where Paul Jones flicked the ball on, finding Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy quickly transferred the ball onto his favoured left foot, and was upended by Matt Smith, who had come lungeing in, only to find that the ball wasn’t there when he arrived. The ref had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. It’s true that this was a rash challenge by the defender, but Jimmy deserves a lot of credit as well, as it was his quick feet that drew the foul. I was a little surprised that it was Mitchell Sherwood who stepped up to take the penalty, but presumably this was because Steve Lovell knows that he is good at taking them ! Mitch calmly slotted the ball, low, into the corner of the net, with goalkeeper Colin Harris diving in the other direction, to open his account for Ashford Town.
Our second goal came in the 45th minute, but not before Corinthians actually had a great chance to equalise, with what was to be by far their best opportunity of the match. For once, Sean Ray failed to deal with a long ball from the home defence, in the 43rd minute – he seemed to misjudge this one, letting it go across his body, and this error resulted in Hinga Amara being put clean through on goal. This was a classic one-on-one situation, in the finest OK Corale tradition, with Amara having eons of space and acres of time. Jamie Riley came out of his goal, positioned himself and waited, fingers twitching, for Amara to advance. Jamie hasn’t been over-worked during his time at Ashford, but, when he has been called upon to make important saves, he hasn’t let us down. On this occasion, he showed great reflexes to save, low, with his right hand. This was a great stop, and it effectively sealed his second consecutive clean sheet.
Corinthians had half a shout for a penalty, in the 44th minute, for a little push in the area, but this was not very convincing, and Ashford went 0-2 up, just a minute later. This was again a result of an error from this young defence, and this time the blame can be laid at the feet, or rather the hand, of the goalkeeper. A free-kick from near the right touchline resulted in a steepling cross, which Harris really should have dealt with without too much trouble. Instead, he just palmed the ball out to Jimmy Bottle, who put the ball into a half-empty net, from a distance of about 15 yards. Jimmy showed good technique here, as he had plenty to do with this – he waited for the ball to settle, and then lashed it in with his RIGHT foot.
The second half was very comfortable for Ashford. The home side did very little in the way of closing down, or pressurising the man in possession, and the boys were able to put their little passing movements together. Ryan Briggs, in particular, was quietly impressive in central midfield.
One slight surprise was that Paul Jones didn’t get onto the score-sheet this afternoon, given his obvious physical advantage over his marker, Richard Price – but he had a clear chance in the 49th minute. He showed great strength to shrug off Price, to latch onto a through-ball from Nick Barnes. This time it was Colin Harris’s turn to have the better of a one-on-one situation, doing well to come out and block Jonah’s effort.
In the 53rd minute, there was again chaos in the Corinthians’ defence, when Scott Hassell rather skied an attempted back-pass to his ‘keeper. This resulted in a 50-50 between Harris and Jimmy Bottle. Jimmy was the stronger, and the ball broke kindly for him, to give him what seemed to be an open goal, but Richard Price did well to intercept the ball on the line. The ensuing recriminations in the home defence betrayed a lack of confidence in one another, and a growing frustration.
In the 56th minute, Price did well again, robbing Paul Jones of the ball and advancing into the Ashford half; he then let fly with an audacious long-range shot, which wasn’t all that far off target, but it went high and wide. A minute later, Casuals’ Manager Brian Adamson made a double-substitution, replacing Dale Hennessey and Hinga Amara with Sam-Yorke Delano (Slightly Silly Party) and Ayokunle Olusesi (ditto).
There were a few chances for Ashford to add to their two goals, but final passes and finishing remained pretty poor – so we didn’t really deserve to win by a wider margin, in spite of our dominance. In the 58th minute, Paul Jones again showed great physical strength to get to a long clearance from Nicky Humphrey ahead of the Corinthians’ defence. He advanced into the penalty area, but his attempted cross, looking for Jimmy Bottle, was blocked; the ball broke to Ryan Briggs, who hit his long-range shot wastefully high and wide. A long ball down the left touchline from Jimmy Bottle, in the 67th minute, found Paul Jones, who was duly fouled – but Ryan Briggs unerringly managed to find the head of a defender, with the free-kick. Daniel Brathwaite, who ventured forward on a number of occasions in the second half, found Mark Lovell, on the edge of the penalty area, in the 70th minute; Mark did well to touch the ball over the head of a defender, but then volleyed the ball high and wide. Then, in the 73rd minute, shortly after the first of the usual calls for “Wally” rang out from behind The Casuals’ goal, Paul Jones laid the ball off to Nick Barnes, whose shot, from outside the penalty area, went across the face of goal.
Well, Steve Lovell resisted the pleas to throw on Walid Matata, but, as early as the 74th minute, he felt secure enough with the two-goal lead to be able to make some substitutions, purely in the interests of giving the bench-warmers a run out. Initially, he sent on Anthony Hogg in place of Ryan Briggs, who had put in a good shift. Then, in the 77th minute, Tony Browne and Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes and Lee Hockey – Nicky Humphrey moved across to a central defensive position, with The Browne Dog filling in at right-back. In normal circumstances, such a set of substitutions, on the back of a two-goal lead and with almost a quarter of an hour remaining, would have been something of a gamble - but not on this occasion, such was Ashford’s level of comfort.
In the 81st minute, Brian Adamson made the sixth, and final, substitution of the game, putting on Carlton Murray-Price in place of Matt Smith.
This was my first sight of Anthony Hogg on the pitch. He’s tall for a midfield player, and strongly built, and it probably says something about his stature that he was entrusted with taking the free-kicks and corners as soon as he came on. In the 85th minute, however, it was Hoggy who was left in a heap on the ground after a late tackle, so Jimmy Bottle took the resulting free-kick, from near the left touchline. Jimmy’s long cross went beyond the far post, and, after a brief session of head tennis in the Corinthians’ penalty area, Colin Harris was able to gather the ball, one-handed. Hogg did supply the cross, from a corner in the 88th minute, which provided Ashford with a final chance to increase their lead, but Sean Ray, rising high above the Corinthians’ defence, headed wide.
So, for the second successive Saturday, Ashford collected the three points without having to come out of second gear. I’d like to think that, if Tooting & Mitcham, or Cray Wanderers, had turned up in a coach to play us in the second half, then the boys would have been able to raise their game, as required – but three points is three points, and I’m one veteran of recent relegation scraps who still doesn’t look three points in the mouth. With Dulwich Hamlet playing out a 1-1 draw at home to Dover Athletic this afternoon, our heroes are now twelve points shy of a play-off position, and still with the three games in hand. Is it just me, or does this indicate that promotion at the end of the season is by no means a forlorn hope ?
It is at least refreshing that we are looking ahead of us, instead of over our shoulder at the relegation situation. Our hosts, on the other hand, need to worry a bit. It was certainly a bad day for them in terms of results elsewhere, with Whitstable and Eastbourne Town both winning, and Walton Casuals and (even) Molesey getting a point; only Horsham YMCA, of their rivals at the bottom, suffered a defeat today. Worse than this, Corinthians looked a poor side – a team of boys, lacking a leader or a talisman on the pitch. I was certainly considerably more impressed with what I saw from the YMCA a few weeks ago – so Corinthian-Casuals might need to rely upon their traditional immunity from relegation once again this year.
A couple of other points. Firstly, it was good to see the Ashford players acknowledge the travelling supporters at the final whistle – this hasn’t always happened. Secondly, we were pleased to present Jimmy Bottle with his Man of the Match medal today – he won the penalty, scored himself and worked tremendously hard, and effectively, up and down the left flank this afternoon. Jimmy’s goal makes him our second-top scorer this season, with six goals, just one behind Walid Matata.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Jimmy Bottle
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Tooting & Mitcham United v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 19th of January 2008.
Tooting & Mitcham United 1 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This was almost a bit of a bonus, this game, as I had all but written off the prospects of this match being on – what with the weather forecast and the amount of rain that we have already had – but the 10 am inspection, which I had assumed was to be merely a formality, passed the pitch at Imperial Fields fit, so we had to scramble pretty quickly. In spite of passing through plenty of rain on the way down, conditions were fairly dry in the London Borough of Morden, and the playing surface appeared to be in pretty reasonable shape. It was a little bumpy, with a few sanded patches here and there, but otherwise looked pretty good. The weather was actually dry throughout the match – although the skies were overcast – with a moderate cross-breeze. (In fact, a full programme of Ryman Division One South fixtures was completed today, so the weather forecasters were a little wide of the mark on this occasion).
It’s always a pleasure to go to Imperial Fields – Tooting & Mitcham United probably have the best facility in our division. Today it was certainly a pleasant change from our previous two away trips – to the scrap-yard landscape of Sittingbourne, and to Horsham YMCA’s fairly minimalist set-up. As soon as you come off the Bishopsford Road and drive through the gates, you are greeted with the sight of the impressive main stand, which comprises the main spectator stand itself and “The Hub” (a fitness and leisure centre, which also includes a bar and eating area). The stand, with its black & white seats, is one of the larger ones at this level, and there is high, banked, concrete terracing behind each goal - so there is everything in place here for a considerably higher level of football.
It’s a fairly three-sided set-up, with the far side of the pitch undeveloped, providing a clear view of the open fields of Poulter Park, in which the whole complex is set, from the stand. Everything appears to be efficient and well-maintained, and there are good toilet and snack bar facilities at the entrance to the ground, at the top of the main stand and within “The Hub”. I was glad that both Tony Betteridge and Don Crosbie were here this afternoon, as this really is the level of facility that Ashford Town FC should aspire to – and least in “Phase One” !.
In terms of the football itself, this was ……… no, let’s have an Anorak’s Corner first – and one which could only have been compiled by a man with too much time on his hands !
** Anorak’s Corner **
I thought it might be interesting to compare strikers and goalies from different seasons – a sort of all-time appraisal of how they measure up in terms of goals scored, and conceded, per minute. Of course, “all-time” in this case really just covers the past two and a half seasons, as that is the time during which I’ve had this affliction of keeping such records; (assuming that I’m not just making them up). This means that the statistics don’t include goals scored by the likes of Paul Jones and Adrian Stone during spells at the Club prior to the 2005-6 season. I’ve also imposed a minimum playing time of 500 minutes for the purposes of the following lists – with the exception of Jamie Riley (450 minutes) and Paul Jones (427 minutes), who have been included because they are current players. Here, then, are the statistics, the whole statistics and nothing but the statistics, (as they were at the start of today’s match) – expressed in “minutes per goal”: -
Goalkeepers
Jamie Riley 75
Jake Whincup 61
Simon Overland 60
Jani Seitsonen 54
Sean Glover 50
Sam Moore 42
Dave Wietecha 41
Strikers
Adri - a – nhoooo 155
Mark Lovell 162
George Fenwick 177
Walid Matata 189
Paul Jones 214
Nick Wright 221
Luke Coleman 228
Richard Sinden 276
Adam O’Neill 289
Rob Denness 364
Steve Sodje 369
Joby Thorogood 369
Jimmy Bottle 381
Shaun Bradshaw 487
I acknowledge the fact that Jimmy isn’t purely a striker, but I’ll keep him in the list for as long as his strike-rate is better than Shaun Bradshaw’s. (I know that this is not a very reliable yard-stick for what constitutes a striker, but let’s leave Bradders alone). I should also point out that Joby played one whole season in which he was largely deployed as a midfield player.
I know that all statistics can be questioned, but I think there’s a general tendency shown here for the cream to rise – (and we know what stuff rarely floats on the surface !). Obviously, these numbers will become more meaningful as players get more minutes under their belt, so it will be interesting to see how the lists develop throughout the season.
Attendances
The raw stats say that the average home league attendance currently stands at 328, which will be comfortably the best we’ve had since the 1999-2000 season, when we were in the Doc Martens Eastern Division. Unfortunately, one thing that can be guaranteed is that this average figure is the highest that it will be this season, and that it will gradually decrease from here. This is because, not only is it considerably boosted by the 855 we had on Boxing Day for the Dover game, but it’s also the case that all the other teams that might conceivably take some supporters to The Homelands – i.e. Kingstonian, Tooting, Worthing, Whitstable, Sittingbourne – have already been. Chatham might bring one or two, on a freezing Tuesday in February, but otherwise it looks like being largely home fans only for the rest of the season. Still, there is every chance that the eventual average might be an improvement on the past few seasons; the mean figure for the past seven seasons (starting with the 2000-1 season) has been: 253, 256, 271, 284, 243, 208 and 243.
Of course, the statistic that never lies is the median, or “middle” figure, in as much as it is immune from the influence of both the bumper Bank Holiday crowds and the really really low turn-outs. I’m pleased to report that the median currently stands at 261, which is a whole lot better than the figure of 198 last season, and 174 the season before that !
The aggregate attendance for cup games has been a pathetic 518 – which is indicative of yet another wash-out for Ashford Town in the cups. This figure is the total for three home games – all defeats – and is worse than in the 2005-6 season, when three home cup games yielded an aggregate of just 583. (The real horror story was the season before that, when the cup season at The Homelands consisted of just the one match, which had an attendance of 139).
* * *
One feature of Steve Lovell’s management is that he appears to know what his best side is. With only Lee Spiller and Aron Freeman on the injury list, and young Joe Hitchings currently out on loan, Steve had virtually his whole squad to choose from, but he selected the now very familiar line-up of Jamie Riley, Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray (Capt.), Lee Hockey, Daniel Brathwaite, Mitchell Sherwood, Nick Barnes, Ryan Briggs, Jimmy Bottle, Mark Lovell and Paul Jones. Even the substitutes’ bench has been fairly constant in recent games, and today was comprised, again, of Sam Moore, Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Walid Matata and Rob Denness.
There was actually one other player who was not available to Steve today – Anthony Hogg, the new signing from Sittingbourne during the week. Anthony was serving a one-match ban for totting up five yellow cards for The Brickies. (For five yellow cards you are banned for one game, for ten yellows you are banned for two games, and then for 15 yellows you get an ASBO). By all accounts, Hogg is a quality central midfield player, so it seems almost certain that he will go straight into the first team line-up next Saturday – but it’s difficult to predict who will be forced to make way for him. Aron Freeman (who has been running again, after his groin operation, and is expected to be at least two weeks away from full fitness) and Lee Spiller (who had a run-out for the Reserves last Saturday) were part of the crowd of 259 today.
And so, finally, to the match (!). Well actually I’d like to make one final digression, and have a moan about the Tooting & Mitcham shirts. This famous old football club is one of those that has always played in classical striped shirts – black & white, in Tooting’s case, à la Kevin Keegan. However, for the past two seasons, they’ve had a poncy design which is tantamount to white with black piping. There are basically just three stripes. One comes up from about the naval and ends at the “V” of the neck, whilst two more (one on each side) rise from the groin area and sweep up to the shoulder, before continuing their trajectory to the wrist. I know it’s none of my business – and some people might like it – but I just think it’s a travesty to not respect the timeless footy tradition of proper, parallel stripes. (And it gets on my nerves to see these silly variations).
So, finally, to the match. This was never going to be an easy game for Ashford, to say the least, with Tooting & Mitcham sitting on top of the division this morning; nor was it expected, on recent form, that Ashford would be outclassed. In fact, I’m pleased to report that this always looked like a close contest between two good sides – how many times have I reported on a close contest between two obviously poor sides ?! The fact that Ashford emerged with a point here was neither a fluke nor a surprise.
It was also no surprise, given Steve Lovell’s suggestion in mid-week that we’d be looking to “have a go” at our opponents, that Ashford started very much on the front foot. There was early notice given that we now have in our armoury a potent attacking weapon in long-throw specialist Lee Hockey. A couple of times in the opening five minutes, Lee launched a long throw into the box. Although these early mortars failed to produce the desired result, an Ashford goal from a set-piece always looked on the cards, throughout the 90 minutes, with Sean Ray and Nicky Humphrey looking dominant in the air in the opponents’ area.
We didn’t have to wait long before this dominance paid dividends, as the Skipper opened the scoring, from a free-kick, as early as the sixth minute. Ryan Briggs took the kick long, from a position just to the left of goal. As he struck the ball, Sean Ray spun off his marker, to create the required space for himself, and then met the ball with a clean header. He placed his effort just inside the far post, giving goalkeeper Dave King no chance, for his second goal for the Club. (Referring back to the Anorak’s Corner figures, at the time of writing, Razor has now scored one goal every 360 minutes, which puts him in tenth position in the table, ahead of Rob Denness, Joby Thorogood, Steve Sodje, Jimmy Bottle and Shaun Bradshaw – but don’t tell him, as they’ll never hear the last of it in the dressing-room).
The opening goal was not an isolated incident in the opening 15 minutes, as it was Ashford who had all the opportunities during this time. In the eighth minute, Paul Jones picked the ball up in the Tooting area; with his back to goal, he showed great body strength to turn his marker, Remuald Bouadji, but his shot at goal was wild and wide.
A minute later, we had a corner, on the left, after Nick Barnes’s cross had been headed behind. Barnesy took this himself, hitting it long, beyond the far post, and Bouadji was there again to head behind for another corner. This one was on the right, so Jimmy Bottle went across from the left to take it. His cross was cleared, but only as far as Ryan Briggs, who was waiting outside the 18-yard box, but Ryan could do no more than smash the ball into the knot of players in the area. In the 13th minute, Lee Hockey launched another of his long throws into the area, and found Paul Jones, about eight yards from goal. Jonah always looks dangerous in these situations, even though he had his back to goal, and he managed to turn and shoot, but on this occasion his shot was blocked. The ball broke to Nicky Humphrey, who had gone up for the set-piece, but the defender’s shot went across the face of goal.
We had gone into this game knowing that our opponents are armed with a potent attacking partnership, in Jon Henry-Hayden and Paul Vines. In fact, Henry-Hayden started the game as joint-top scorer (with Croydon Ath’s Reggie Savage) in our division, with 14 goals, with Paul Vines not far behind, with eleven. Well, the threat was effectively halved today, with Vines being sidelined through injury and Ronnie Green playing up front as a makeshift striker. Nevertheless, there was still Henry-Hayden to contend with, and he equalised for the home side in the 15th minute. I thought there might have been a hint of hand-ball, as he controlled the ball in the penalty area, to the left of the goal, but there was no doubt about his confident finish, as he smashed the ball past Jamie Riley, with his left foot.
The goal came as a bit of a shock, as it came from Tooting’s first real threat on the Ashford goal, but, from here, the home side gradually came more and more into the game, and were very much the dominant force by the end of the half. First, though, Ashford had an opportunity from a free-kick, in the 17th minute. This was right on the edge of the area, to the right of centre, and was awarded after Paul Jones, again with his back to goal, had received a shove in the back of the head. The two left-footers, Daniel Brathwaite and Jimmy Bottle, stood over the ball, and it was Jimmy who attempted to bend it like Beckham – he managed to get the ball to curve over the defensive wall, and then to dip, but it went about a foot over the bar.
Another major threat carried by Tooting & Mitcham was left-winger Jamie Byatt – and Nicky Humphrey had the unenviable task of trying to contain him. Although Nicky was never the total master in this particular contest, he did a reasonable job, but Byatt rather robbed him of the ball, in a dangerous position (i.e. the Ashford penalty area), in the 22nd minute. Given a clear sight of goal, Byatt hit a firm shot straight at Jamie Riley, but Jamie did well to hold onto the ball. In the 26th minute, our fairly solid-looking defence put themselves under pressure when Lee Hockey sliced an attempted pass and presented possession to the opposition. Tooting immediately worked the ball from right to left, eventually finding Guilherme Lopez Dacruz – which is a very exotic, Portuguese name, which translates into English as “William Cross” – out wide. Dacruz’s good, measured cross found Henry-Hayden, in the centre, but his header, from close range, was also straight at Jamie Riley.
In the 28th minute, a foul by Ryan Gray on Mitchell Sherwood, near the right corner flag, gave Daniel Brathwaite the chance to curl in a dangerous free-kick, with the big boys from the back going up for the set-piece. Both Sean Ray and Lee Hockey challenged for the cross, in the six-yard box, and it was Razor who won the contest, but his header went just over the bar.
Tooting - cheered on by an enthusiastic home crowd, which loudly applauded every throw-in won and every refereeing decision that went their way – increasingly dominated possession as the half wore on, but the Ashford defence successfully held them at bay. Before they had a late spell of pressure leading up to the half-time whistle, the home side’s best chance was a long-range effort from Ronnie Green, in the 37th minute, which went just over.
So Jamie Riley was largely untroubled in the first half, but he had a wobbly moment in the 41st minute. A corner, on the right, was swung in, left-footed, with pace, right under the Ashford crossbar. Jamie looked to have done well to catch a very awkward cross, but then he dropped it – and was relieved to see that it had dropped at the feet of a yellow-shirted defender, who booted it away. Then, in the 45th minute, a deep cross from the Tooting right found Jamie Byatt, but his looping header was comfortably caught by Riley.
The Tooting & Mitcham players trooped off at half time to a standing ovation from the home supporters in the stand. It’s true that they had played some good, passing football, and had obviously inspired the fans in the way that they had asserted themselves – but hang on, boys. It’s 1-1, and we’re only half-way, and, although we didn’t finish the half as well as we had started it, Ashford fully deserved to be on level terms at the break.
The second half was a little quieter, with less pace, than the first, but was once again keenly contested and fairly evenly balanced. After Nick Barnes had got himself yellow-carded in the 47th minute, there was a half-chance for the visitors just two minutes later. A long kick-out from Jamie Riley was well flicked on by Mark Lovell, finding Paul Jones, ahead of him. Jonah then set the ball up for Lovell, but his sliced shot from a long way out went very wide, and looked a little half-hearted. I’m yet to be convinced by Lovell Junior. He has a good strike-rate in terms of goals scored, and we saw the occasional deft flick today, but he generally looks slow, and could give Paul Jones a lot more support than he does. Of course, part of Mark’s problem is that he will always be compared with Jonesy, who was superb again this afternoon. Still, I expect young mark will do what Martin Chivers used to do, and point to the “goals scored” column at the end of the season. After all, it’s not “How” – it’s “How many”.
In the 51st minute, Ashford had a corner, on the left, after a Jimmy Bottle cross had been blocked. Nick Barnes curled this straight into the hands of ‘keeper Dave King, who immediately launched a counter-attack. He sent Jamie Byatt down the left wing, at pace, and the pursuing Mitchell Sherwood’s blatant push was enough to make the winger lose his balance. Yellow card for Mitchell !
As the game wore on, Paul Jones, who had certainly impressed some of the home supporters, increasingly took it upon himself to try to score on his own. An example of this came in the 59th minute. He picked the ball up just inside the Tooting half, and set off down the left flank. He cut inside, onto his right foot, and a burst of pace gave him the space to unleash a low shot, which needed a diving save from the goalkeeper.
In the 64th minute, Jimmy Bottle won a corner, on the left, which was taken by Ryan Briggs. This was punched clear by Dave King, at the expense of a throw-in, which Lee Hockey went up to take. Ashford’s large units moved up, into the Tooting penalty area, and Sean Ray won with his header yet again, but was unable to find a man in a yellow shirt.
Nicky Humphrey got himself booked for a late tackle, in the 68th minute, but Ashford then enjoyed several minutes of pressure on the home goal – there was a corner on the right, and Lee Hockey twice launched a long throw into the Terrors’ penalty box, from the left, but all these attempts came to nothing.
With about a quarter of an hour left, the match appeared to be settling down as a 1-1 stalemate, with two good teams cancelling each other out – but there were enough chances and half-chances at both ends to suggest that either side might nick the three points. In the 76th minute, Sean Ray did some great defending, winning the ball in his own area, and then finding Paul Jones with a long clearance. Not for the first time, Jonah found himself isolated up front, and was faced by two Tooting defenders. After looking around for support, he turned and shot himself, (in the sense that he, himself, had a shot – I’m not saying that he committed suicide). His long-range effort was on target, but was saved by King. A minute later, Sean Ray blotted his copybook by rather needlessly getting himself cautioned. He might have been booked for the foul, but after he had picked the ball up, run back into defence with it and then tossed it away, it was an easy decision for the referee to make Razor the fourth Ashford player to be yellow-carded.
I think that, generally, Tooting would have been a little fortunate, on the overall balance of play, to have stolen all three points, but, if Ronnie Green’s effort in the 78th minute had gone in, then I would’ve said that it was a worthy “winner”. Jamie Byatt had the ball near the left corner flag, and was faced by the imposing figure of Nicky Humphrey - but he managed to wriggle past him, and made progress into the Ashford penalty area. Byatt’s low cross found Green, in the centre, whose first-time shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar, and rebounded away to safety. Jamie Riley didn’t have time to move.
As darkness descended on Imperial Fields, under slate grey skies, Steve Lovell made his first substitution – Walid Matata replacing Jimmy Bottle, in the 82nd minute. Jimmy had again looked lively, on the left, but there was again a shortage of end-product; I don’t think that we can expect Jimmy to just waltz through defences at this level, and it’s probably fair to say that full-back Dean Hamlin had his measure this afternoon. Whilst this substitution was being made, Lee Hockey was waiting to lob a long throw into the penalty area, from near the right corner flag. Sean Ray, who’s better in the air than Douglas Bader, again beat the Tooting defence, at the near post, but headed wide.
Although Walid Matata pushed well forward, as is his wont, on the left, to virtually give us a three-man attack, the general demeanour of the Ashford side suggested that Steve Lovell was, at this stage, satisfied with a point. We seemed to be taking plenty of time with goal-kicks and free-kicks, and the introduction of Rob Denness, in place of Mark Lovell (pronounced “La Velle” by the PA announcer), in the 84th minute, was quite possibly in the interests of running down the clock.
Ashford’s final chance, in the 86th minute, was carved out by Paul Jones; fed the ball by Ryan Briggs, Jonah turned and released a low shot, from well outside the area, and this effort would have crept just inside the far post if Dave King hadn’t made a diving, finger-tip save. Just prior to this, Walid Matata had what some spectators saw as a good shout for a penalty, but this appeared to be a case of him receiving a little shove and then flopping to the ground. He might have bought a free-kick anywhere else on the pitch, but, in the area, the ref will have been alert to the fact that he was looking for the penalty.
The home side pressed on until the end of the three minutes of injury time, but were unable to trouble Jamie Riley further. So just the one point for the league leaders, but the Tooting fans who had witnessed the game appeared to be well satisfied with a draw today. Both sets of supporters were united in a common joy, in the bar a little later, when news came through of Dover’s 3-1 capitulation against a young and weakened Chatham side, (during which Chatham’s ‘keeper, and our old friend, John Whitehouse was reportedly carried off). Tooting & Mitcham remain top, whilst Ashford move up a place, to 13th – although a gap of eight points between 12th and 13th place has suddenly opened up ! Ashford are now 14 points adrift of the fourth play-off place, with a game in hand, so, even with a storming finish to the season, it’s getting very late for promotion now.
The choice of MK Man of the Match was not entirely straightforward. The trouble is, Sean Ray and Paul Jones always catch the eye – Sean as the most dominant defender on the pitch, and Jonah as the best striker on the pitch, (which is actually quite a compliment on this occasion !). Although Razor scored the goal, it was difficult to see beyond Jonah, after an excellent effort again over the 90 minutes. Paul is now level with Nick Barnes – with two away game MoMs – in the race for The Milton Keynes Bowl.
It’s probably quite significant that Tooting & Mitcham’s Man of the Match was goalkeeper Dave King ! Steve Lovell also reported, when taking the trouble to thank the away fans for their support, that the lads were very quiet in the dressing-room afterwards, indicating that they were actually a little disappointed to only have drawn this afternoon. Disappointed with a point, away to the league leaders ?! I think that’s also quite significant !
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
This was almost a bit of a bonus, this game, as I had all but written off the prospects of this match being on – what with the weather forecast and the amount of rain that we have already had – but the 10 am inspection, which I had assumed was to be merely a formality, passed the pitch at Imperial Fields fit, so we had to scramble pretty quickly. In spite of passing through plenty of rain on the way down, conditions were fairly dry in the London Borough of Morden, and the playing surface appeared to be in pretty reasonable shape. It was a little bumpy, with a few sanded patches here and there, but otherwise looked pretty good. The weather was actually dry throughout the match – although the skies were overcast – with a moderate cross-breeze. (In fact, a full programme of Ryman Division One South fixtures was completed today, so the weather forecasters were a little wide of the mark on this occasion).
It’s always a pleasure to go to Imperial Fields – Tooting & Mitcham United probably have the best facility in our division. Today it was certainly a pleasant change from our previous two away trips – to the scrap-yard landscape of Sittingbourne, and to Horsham YMCA’s fairly minimalist set-up. As soon as you come off the Bishopsford Road and drive through the gates, you are greeted with the sight of the impressive main stand, which comprises the main spectator stand itself and “The Hub” (a fitness and leisure centre, which also includes a bar and eating area). The stand, with its black & white seats, is one of the larger ones at this level, and there is high, banked, concrete terracing behind each goal - so there is everything in place here for a considerably higher level of football.
It’s a fairly three-sided set-up, with the far side of the pitch undeveloped, providing a clear view of the open fields of Poulter Park, in which the whole complex is set, from the stand. Everything appears to be efficient and well-maintained, and there are good toilet and snack bar facilities at the entrance to the ground, at the top of the main stand and within “The Hub”. I was glad that both Tony Betteridge and Don Crosbie were here this afternoon, as this really is the level of facility that Ashford Town FC should aspire to – and least in “Phase One” !.
In terms of the football itself, this was ……… no, let’s have an Anorak’s Corner first – and one which could only have been compiled by a man with too much time on his hands !
** Anorak’s Corner **
I thought it might be interesting to compare strikers and goalies from different seasons – a sort of all-time appraisal of how they measure up in terms of goals scored, and conceded, per minute. Of course, “all-time” in this case really just covers the past two and a half seasons, as that is the time during which I’ve had this affliction of keeping such records; (assuming that I’m not just making them up). This means that the statistics don’t include goals scored by the likes of Paul Jones and Adrian Stone during spells at the Club prior to the 2005-6 season. I’ve also imposed a minimum playing time of 500 minutes for the purposes of the following lists – with the exception of Jamie Riley (450 minutes) and Paul Jones (427 minutes), who have been included because they are current players. Here, then, are the statistics, the whole statistics and nothing but the statistics, (as they were at the start of today’s match) – expressed in “minutes per goal”: -
Goalkeepers
Jamie Riley 75
Jake Whincup 61
Simon Overland 60
Jani Seitsonen 54
Sean Glover 50
Sam Moore 42
Dave Wietecha 41
Strikers
Adri - a – nhoooo 155
Mark Lovell 162
George Fenwick 177
Walid Matata 189
Paul Jones 214
Nick Wright 221
Luke Coleman 228
Richard Sinden 276
Adam O’Neill 289
Rob Denness 364
Steve Sodje 369
Joby Thorogood 369
Jimmy Bottle 381
Shaun Bradshaw 487
I acknowledge the fact that Jimmy isn’t purely a striker, but I’ll keep him in the list for as long as his strike-rate is better than Shaun Bradshaw’s. (I know that this is not a very reliable yard-stick for what constitutes a striker, but let’s leave Bradders alone). I should also point out that Joby played one whole season in which he was largely deployed as a midfield player.
I know that all statistics can be questioned, but I think there’s a general tendency shown here for the cream to rise – (and we know what stuff rarely floats on the surface !). Obviously, these numbers will become more meaningful as players get more minutes under their belt, so it will be interesting to see how the lists develop throughout the season.
Attendances
The raw stats say that the average home league attendance currently stands at 328, which will be comfortably the best we’ve had since the 1999-2000 season, when we were in the Doc Martens Eastern Division. Unfortunately, one thing that can be guaranteed is that this average figure is the highest that it will be this season, and that it will gradually decrease from here. This is because, not only is it considerably boosted by the 855 we had on Boxing Day for the Dover game, but it’s also the case that all the other teams that might conceivably take some supporters to The Homelands – i.e. Kingstonian, Tooting, Worthing, Whitstable, Sittingbourne – have already been. Chatham might bring one or two, on a freezing Tuesday in February, but otherwise it looks like being largely home fans only for the rest of the season. Still, there is every chance that the eventual average might be an improvement on the past few seasons; the mean figure for the past seven seasons (starting with the 2000-1 season) has been: 253, 256, 271, 284, 243, 208 and 243.
Of course, the statistic that never lies is the median, or “middle” figure, in as much as it is immune from the influence of both the bumper Bank Holiday crowds and the really really low turn-outs. I’m pleased to report that the median currently stands at 261, which is a whole lot better than the figure of 198 last season, and 174 the season before that !
The aggregate attendance for cup games has been a pathetic 518 – which is indicative of yet another wash-out for Ashford Town in the cups. This figure is the total for three home games – all defeats – and is worse than in the 2005-6 season, when three home cup games yielded an aggregate of just 583. (The real horror story was the season before that, when the cup season at The Homelands consisted of just the one match, which had an attendance of 139).
* * *
One feature of Steve Lovell’s management is that he appears to know what his best side is. With only Lee Spiller and Aron Freeman on the injury list, and young Joe Hitchings currently out on loan, Steve had virtually his whole squad to choose from, but he selected the now very familiar line-up of Jamie Riley, Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray (Capt.), Lee Hockey, Daniel Brathwaite, Mitchell Sherwood, Nick Barnes, Ryan Briggs, Jimmy Bottle, Mark Lovell and Paul Jones. Even the substitutes’ bench has been fairly constant in recent games, and today was comprised, again, of Sam Moore, Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Walid Matata and Rob Denness.
There was actually one other player who was not available to Steve today – Anthony Hogg, the new signing from Sittingbourne during the week. Anthony was serving a one-match ban for totting up five yellow cards for The Brickies. (For five yellow cards you are banned for one game, for ten yellows you are banned for two games, and then for 15 yellows you get an ASBO). By all accounts, Hogg is a quality central midfield player, so it seems almost certain that he will go straight into the first team line-up next Saturday – but it’s difficult to predict who will be forced to make way for him. Aron Freeman (who has been running again, after his groin operation, and is expected to be at least two weeks away from full fitness) and Lee Spiller (who had a run-out for the Reserves last Saturday) were part of the crowd of 259 today.
And so, finally, to the match (!). Well actually I’d like to make one final digression, and have a moan about the Tooting & Mitcham shirts. This famous old football club is one of those that has always played in classical striped shirts – black & white, in Tooting’s case, à la Kevin Keegan. However, for the past two seasons, they’ve had a poncy design which is tantamount to white with black piping. There are basically just three stripes. One comes up from about the naval and ends at the “V” of the neck, whilst two more (one on each side) rise from the groin area and sweep up to the shoulder, before continuing their trajectory to the wrist. I know it’s none of my business – and some people might like it – but I just think it’s a travesty to not respect the timeless footy tradition of proper, parallel stripes. (And it gets on my nerves to see these silly variations).
So, finally, to the match. This was never going to be an easy game for Ashford, to say the least, with Tooting & Mitcham sitting on top of the division this morning; nor was it expected, on recent form, that Ashford would be outclassed. In fact, I’m pleased to report that this always looked like a close contest between two good sides – how many times have I reported on a close contest between two obviously poor sides ?! The fact that Ashford emerged with a point here was neither a fluke nor a surprise.
It was also no surprise, given Steve Lovell’s suggestion in mid-week that we’d be looking to “have a go” at our opponents, that Ashford started very much on the front foot. There was early notice given that we now have in our armoury a potent attacking weapon in long-throw specialist Lee Hockey. A couple of times in the opening five minutes, Lee launched a long throw into the box. Although these early mortars failed to produce the desired result, an Ashford goal from a set-piece always looked on the cards, throughout the 90 minutes, with Sean Ray and Nicky Humphrey looking dominant in the air in the opponents’ area.
We didn’t have to wait long before this dominance paid dividends, as the Skipper opened the scoring, from a free-kick, as early as the sixth minute. Ryan Briggs took the kick long, from a position just to the left of goal. As he struck the ball, Sean Ray spun off his marker, to create the required space for himself, and then met the ball with a clean header. He placed his effort just inside the far post, giving goalkeeper Dave King no chance, for his second goal for the Club. (Referring back to the Anorak’s Corner figures, at the time of writing, Razor has now scored one goal every 360 minutes, which puts him in tenth position in the table, ahead of Rob Denness, Joby Thorogood, Steve Sodje, Jimmy Bottle and Shaun Bradshaw – but don’t tell him, as they’ll never hear the last of it in the dressing-room).
The opening goal was not an isolated incident in the opening 15 minutes, as it was Ashford who had all the opportunities during this time. In the eighth minute, Paul Jones picked the ball up in the Tooting area; with his back to goal, he showed great body strength to turn his marker, Remuald Bouadji, but his shot at goal was wild and wide.
A minute later, we had a corner, on the left, after Nick Barnes’s cross had been headed behind. Barnesy took this himself, hitting it long, beyond the far post, and Bouadji was there again to head behind for another corner. This one was on the right, so Jimmy Bottle went across from the left to take it. His cross was cleared, but only as far as Ryan Briggs, who was waiting outside the 18-yard box, but Ryan could do no more than smash the ball into the knot of players in the area. In the 13th minute, Lee Hockey launched another of his long throws into the area, and found Paul Jones, about eight yards from goal. Jonah always looks dangerous in these situations, even though he had his back to goal, and he managed to turn and shoot, but on this occasion his shot was blocked. The ball broke to Nicky Humphrey, who had gone up for the set-piece, but the defender’s shot went across the face of goal.
We had gone into this game knowing that our opponents are armed with a potent attacking partnership, in Jon Henry-Hayden and Paul Vines. In fact, Henry-Hayden started the game as joint-top scorer (with Croydon Ath’s Reggie Savage) in our division, with 14 goals, with Paul Vines not far behind, with eleven. Well, the threat was effectively halved today, with Vines being sidelined through injury and Ronnie Green playing up front as a makeshift striker. Nevertheless, there was still Henry-Hayden to contend with, and he equalised for the home side in the 15th minute. I thought there might have been a hint of hand-ball, as he controlled the ball in the penalty area, to the left of the goal, but there was no doubt about his confident finish, as he smashed the ball past Jamie Riley, with his left foot.
The goal came as a bit of a shock, as it came from Tooting’s first real threat on the Ashford goal, but, from here, the home side gradually came more and more into the game, and were very much the dominant force by the end of the half. First, though, Ashford had an opportunity from a free-kick, in the 17th minute. This was right on the edge of the area, to the right of centre, and was awarded after Paul Jones, again with his back to goal, had received a shove in the back of the head. The two left-footers, Daniel Brathwaite and Jimmy Bottle, stood over the ball, and it was Jimmy who attempted to bend it like Beckham – he managed to get the ball to curve over the defensive wall, and then to dip, but it went about a foot over the bar.
Another major threat carried by Tooting & Mitcham was left-winger Jamie Byatt – and Nicky Humphrey had the unenviable task of trying to contain him. Although Nicky was never the total master in this particular contest, he did a reasonable job, but Byatt rather robbed him of the ball, in a dangerous position (i.e. the Ashford penalty area), in the 22nd minute. Given a clear sight of goal, Byatt hit a firm shot straight at Jamie Riley, but Jamie did well to hold onto the ball. In the 26th minute, our fairly solid-looking defence put themselves under pressure when Lee Hockey sliced an attempted pass and presented possession to the opposition. Tooting immediately worked the ball from right to left, eventually finding Guilherme Lopez Dacruz – which is a very exotic, Portuguese name, which translates into English as “William Cross” – out wide. Dacruz’s good, measured cross found Henry-Hayden, in the centre, but his header, from close range, was also straight at Jamie Riley.
In the 28th minute, a foul by Ryan Gray on Mitchell Sherwood, near the right corner flag, gave Daniel Brathwaite the chance to curl in a dangerous free-kick, with the big boys from the back going up for the set-piece. Both Sean Ray and Lee Hockey challenged for the cross, in the six-yard box, and it was Razor who won the contest, but his header went just over the bar.
Tooting - cheered on by an enthusiastic home crowd, which loudly applauded every throw-in won and every refereeing decision that went their way – increasingly dominated possession as the half wore on, but the Ashford defence successfully held them at bay. Before they had a late spell of pressure leading up to the half-time whistle, the home side’s best chance was a long-range effort from Ronnie Green, in the 37th minute, which went just over.
So Jamie Riley was largely untroubled in the first half, but he had a wobbly moment in the 41st minute. A corner, on the right, was swung in, left-footed, with pace, right under the Ashford crossbar. Jamie looked to have done well to catch a very awkward cross, but then he dropped it – and was relieved to see that it had dropped at the feet of a yellow-shirted defender, who booted it away. Then, in the 45th minute, a deep cross from the Tooting right found Jamie Byatt, but his looping header was comfortably caught by Riley.
The Tooting & Mitcham players trooped off at half time to a standing ovation from the home supporters in the stand. It’s true that they had played some good, passing football, and had obviously inspired the fans in the way that they had asserted themselves – but hang on, boys. It’s 1-1, and we’re only half-way, and, although we didn’t finish the half as well as we had started it, Ashford fully deserved to be on level terms at the break.
The second half was a little quieter, with less pace, than the first, but was once again keenly contested and fairly evenly balanced. After Nick Barnes had got himself yellow-carded in the 47th minute, there was a half-chance for the visitors just two minutes later. A long kick-out from Jamie Riley was well flicked on by Mark Lovell, finding Paul Jones, ahead of him. Jonah then set the ball up for Lovell, but his sliced shot from a long way out went very wide, and looked a little half-hearted. I’m yet to be convinced by Lovell Junior. He has a good strike-rate in terms of goals scored, and we saw the occasional deft flick today, but he generally looks slow, and could give Paul Jones a lot more support than he does. Of course, part of Mark’s problem is that he will always be compared with Jonesy, who was superb again this afternoon. Still, I expect young mark will do what Martin Chivers used to do, and point to the “goals scored” column at the end of the season. After all, it’s not “How” – it’s “How many”.
In the 51st minute, Ashford had a corner, on the left, after a Jimmy Bottle cross had been blocked. Nick Barnes curled this straight into the hands of ‘keeper Dave King, who immediately launched a counter-attack. He sent Jamie Byatt down the left wing, at pace, and the pursuing Mitchell Sherwood’s blatant push was enough to make the winger lose his balance. Yellow card for Mitchell !
As the game wore on, Paul Jones, who had certainly impressed some of the home supporters, increasingly took it upon himself to try to score on his own. An example of this came in the 59th minute. He picked the ball up just inside the Tooting half, and set off down the left flank. He cut inside, onto his right foot, and a burst of pace gave him the space to unleash a low shot, which needed a diving save from the goalkeeper.
In the 64th minute, Jimmy Bottle won a corner, on the left, which was taken by Ryan Briggs. This was punched clear by Dave King, at the expense of a throw-in, which Lee Hockey went up to take. Ashford’s large units moved up, into the Tooting penalty area, and Sean Ray won with his header yet again, but was unable to find a man in a yellow shirt.
Nicky Humphrey got himself booked for a late tackle, in the 68th minute, but Ashford then enjoyed several minutes of pressure on the home goal – there was a corner on the right, and Lee Hockey twice launched a long throw into the Terrors’ penalty box, from the left, but all these attempts came to nothing.
With about a quarter of an hour left, the match appeared to be settling down as a 1-1 stalemate, with two good teams cancelling each other out – but there were enough chances and half-chances at both ends to suggest that either side might nick the three points. In the 76th minute, Sean Ray did some great defending, winning the ball in his own area, and then finding Paul Jones with a long clearance. Not for the first time, Jonah found himself isolated up front, and was faced by two Tooting defenders. After looking around for support, he turned and shot himself, (in the sense that he, himself, had a shot – I’m not saying that he committed suicide). His long-range effort was on target, but was saved by King. A minute later, Sean Ray blotted his copybook by rather needlessly getting himself cautioned. He might have been booked for the foul, but after he had picked the ball up, run back into defence with it and then tossed it away, it was an easy decision for the referee to make Razor the fourth Ashford player to be yellow-carded.
I think that, generally, Tooting would have been a little fortunate, on the overall balance of play, to have stolen all three points, but, if Ronnie Green’s effort in the 78th minute had gone in, then I would’ve said that it was a worthy “winner”. Jamie Byatt had the ball near the left corner flag, and was faced by the imposing figure of Nicky Humphrey - but he managed to wriggle past him, and made progress into the Ashford penalty area. Byatt’s low cross found Green, in the centre, whose first-time shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar, and rebounded away to safety. Jamie Riley didn’t have time to move.
As darkness descended on Imperial Fields, under slate grey skies, Steve Lovell made his first substitution – Walid Matata replacing Jimmy Bottle, in the 82nd minute. Jimmy had again looked lively, on the left, but there was again a shortage of end-product; I don’t think that we can expect Jimmy to just waltz through defences at this level, and it’s probably fair to say that full-back Dean Hamlin had his measure this afternoon. Whilst this substitution was being made, Lee Hockey was waiting to lob a long throw into the penalty area, from near the right corner flag. Sean Ray, who’s better in the air than Douglas Bader, again beat the Tooting defence, at the near post, but headed wide.
Although Walid Matata pushed well forward, as is his wont, on the left, to virtually give us a three-man attack, the general demeanour of the Ashford side suggested that Steve Lovell was, at this stage, satisfied with a point. We seemed to be taking plenty of time with goal-kicks and free-kicks, and the introduction of Rob Denness, in place of Mark Lovell (pronounced “La Velle” by the PA announcer), in the 84th minute, was quite possibly in the interests of running down the clock.
Ashford’s final chance, in the 86th minute, was carved out by Paul Jones; fed the ball by Ryan Briggs, Jonah turned and released a low shot, from well outside the area, and this effort would have crept just inside the far post if Dave King hadn’t made a diving, finger-tip save. Just prior to this, Walid Matata had what some spectators saw as a good shout for a penalty, but this appeared to be a case of him receiving a little shove and then flopping to the ground. He might have bought a free-kick anywhere else on the pitch, but, in the area, the ref will have been alert to the fact that he was looking for the penalty.
The home side pressed on until the end of the three minutes of injury time, but were unable to trouble Jamie Riley further. So just the one point for the league leaders, but the Tooting fans who had witnessed the game appeared to be well satisfied with a draw today. Both sets of supporters were united in a common joy, in the bar a little later, when news came through of Dover’s 3-1 capitulation against a young and weakened Chatham side, (during which Chatham’s ‘keeper, and our old friend, John Whitehouse was reportedly carried off). Tooting & Mitcham remain top, whilst Ashford move up a place, to 13th – although a gap of eight points between 12th and 13th place has suddenly opened up ! Ashford are now 14 points adrift of the fourth play-off place, with a game in hand, so, even with a storming finish to the season, it’s getting very late for promotion now.
The choice of MK Man of the Match was not entirely straightforward. The trouble is, Sean Ray and Paul Jones always catch the eye – Sean as the most dominant defender on the pitch, and Jonah as the best striker on the pitch, (which is actually quite a compliment on this occasion !). Although Razor scored the goal, it was difficult to see beyond Jonah, after an excellent effort again over the 90 minutes. Paul is now level with Nick Barnes – with two away game MoMs – in the race for The Milton Keynes Bowl.
It’s probably quite significant that Tooting & Mitcham’s Man of the Match was goalkeeper Dave King ! Steve Lovell also reported, when taking the trouble to thank the away fans for their support, that the lads were very quiet in the dressing-room afterwards, indicating that they were actually a little disappointed to only have drawn this afternoon. Disappointed with a point, away to the league leaders ?! I think that’s also quite significant !
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Horsham YMCA v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 5th of January 2008.
Horsham YMCA 1 Ashford Town 2
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
After strangely contrasting performances in their previous two games – an excellent display against a very strong Dover side on Boxing Day, and then a rather tepid performance in a poor game at Sittingbourne – Ashford travelled to Horsham YMCA for their first game of 2008. Maybe the contrast between the Dover and Sittingbourne performance wasn’t so odd – with Dover also following up their Boxing Day victory with a very under-par showing at home, three days later, to Whitstable, after which they were a little fortunate to emerge with a draw, I’m inclined to think that the mental and physical effort expended in a local derby, on what is becoming a notoriously energy-sapping Homelands pitch, left both sets of players drained for the next game.
Still, there would be no excuses this afternoon, against second-bottom Horsham YMCA, after a full week’s break. This might, however, have been a potentially trappy fixture, since, in spite of finding themselves in the relegation zone this morning, our hosts had been collecting points fairly regularly – eleven from their previous eight games, including a crucial 2-1 victory at home to Eastbourne Town in a relegation six-pointer last Saturday.
Horsham YMCA should not be confused with Horsham FC – the Ryman Premier Division outfit that has recently achieved TV fame during an FA Cup run that saw them progress as far as a Second Round Replay away at Third Division Swansea City. Coincidentally, today was FA Cup Third Round day, and Horsham would have been at home to Havant & Waterlooville if they’d managed to squeeze past Swansea – instead, they had a league game, away from home, this afternoon.
The two Horsham grounds are actually adjacent to each other, with the yellow & green main stand of Horsham FC clearly visible through the trees from Goring’s Mead, the scene of today’s entertainment. The ground takes its name from the small residential cul-de-sac at the end of which it is located. Although Horsham YMCA is the older of the two clubs, (it was founded in 1898, and made Goring’s Mead its home in 1929), it is definitely the more limited in scope. Everything is tightly hemmed in within a perimeter fence consisting of green wire mesh affixed to two steel rails. Space is particularly tight behind each goal, with special narrow goals allowing just about enough room for spectators to stand two-deep. (Ashford had a “Kop” of eight people behind the Ashford goal this afternoon). As with most other grounds of the newly-promoted clubs in Ryman Division One South – Chipstead and Walton Casuals spring to mind – Gorings Mead has not much more than the minimum requirements for achieving Ryman League status, with the smallish Victor Gladwish Stand providing the only formal accommodation for spectators. (It’s the stand which is smallish, not Victor Gladwish – he’s quite a tall bloke).
[ As always, I describe the ground in these terms purely in the interests of setting the scene for today’s game, and the remarks are not intended to be disparaging to a Club which has obviously put a lot of resources and effort into bringing its facilities up to Ryman League standards. This is the second season at this level for this very friendly club, and I’d like to think that it will avoid a relegation, at the end of the season, which would see these efforts largely go to waste. ]
The team news today confirmed that, in a world of foreign coaches rotating and tinkering with their squad, Steve Lovell, the Welsh Wizard, values the commodity of continuity, and he announced an unchanged side for the third consecutive game. Unfortunately, these best-laid plans were thwarted when goalkeeper Jamie Riley injured his knee during the warm-up, meaning that Sam Moore stepped in to keep goal in front of an increasingly familiar line-up: Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray (Skipper), Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite at the back; Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Nick Barnes and Jimmy Bottle in midfield; Paul Jones and Mark Lovell up front. This was nominally a 4-4-2 set-up, but the shape was decidedly 4-2-4 when we had the ball. Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Walid Matata, Rob Denness and Jamie Riley made up a very talented bench, whilst Lee Spiller joined them in the kick-about before the match and at half time; (but it’s hard to see where Spills will fit in when he gets fit, with Barnes and Briggs once again looking to be a strong partnership in central midfield today).
Of those who play for the other side, it was noticeable that YMCA only named three substitutes; the fact that there were just the three bums on the seats suggested that they might be a bit short of men today.
Before the game kicked off, on a mercifully relatively mild afternoon (but try telling that to a “freezing” Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent), there was a brief ceremony, as YM’s Manager John Suter was presented with the November Team Performance Award for Division One South – this was for his team’s 4-3 victory over Folkestone Invicta in the Isthmian League Cup.
In spite of our yellow-clad heroes indulging in a fashionable “huddle” before kick-off, Ashford failed to create anything of note in the first ten minutes of play. There were a few attempted through-balls and final-third passes from our boys during this time, but all were woefully inaccurate, and merely resulted in a loss of possession. Our hosts, on the other hand, who played in a new strip for this season, of white shirts, black shorts and red sockies – and not pink and brown, as one wag would have it – started at a decent tempo, and fashioned a half-chance as early as the third minute. Right-back Dean Carden’s cross from the right was headed clear, but the ball fell to James Grant, whose weak volley from outside the area went well wide of goal.
Ashford’s first sight of goal didn’t come until the 13th minute, when a deep cross from the right by Mitch Sherwood looked to be floating out of play for a goal-kick, but Jimmy Bottle managed to keep the ball in, from beyond the far post; he headed it back for Nick Barnes, in the centre, but Nick’s weak header went tamely to Chris Winterton, in the Horsham YMCA goal.
YM took the lead in the 18th minute, and there was a hint of controversy about the goal. As the ball was crossed from the right wing, there was (at the very least) a collision between Nicky Humphrey and a YMCA forward, which allowed the ball to continue all the way to left-winger James Grant. Most people at the ground, (and certainly those wearing green & white colours), interpreted this as a shoulder charge off the ball, and awaited the referee’s whistle, but young Danny Austin, the Man in Black, waved play on, and the impressive Grant duly drilled a low shot into the far corner of the net. This wasn’t a great start for Sam Moore, in the Ashford goal, who had received an unexpected call-up to the first team. The goal apart, however, Sam’s handling and general performance this afternoon was pretty good, but his kicking was often dodgy – and, as stated in past match reports, he’s yet to convince me that he has as much ability as a shot-stopper as, say, Jake Whincup, (as a random example).
The set-back of conceding an early goal had the effect of raising Ashford’s game, after a fairly sloppy start. In the 21st minute, Paul Jones won a corner, near the corner flag, on the right – which was greeted with ironic cheers (you know the sort I mean) from the Ashford contingent behind the goal, who clearly thought that the home side had been getting the rub of Mr Austin’s decisions. The kick was taken, left-footed and in-swinging, by Daniel Brathwaite, but goalkeeper Winterton got up well to finger-tip the ball behind for another corner, this time on the other side. With Brathwaite taking Ashford’s corners on the right, Nick Barnes was entrusted with corners on the left, swinging the ball in from this side with his right foot. On this occasion, Lee Hockey got up well with a header, but his effort went wide, taking a deflection off another Ashford player on its way through. By the 24th minute, Ashford were beginning to get into their stride, and a good move ended with the ball being put out for a corner, on the left. Again Nick Barnes swung the ball in, and Lee Hockey rose to meet the ball, but it just would not “sit” for an Ashford player, and was cleared. [ Was it just a coincidence that, when we drafted two players in from Sittingbourne, one should look like Robin Hood, and the other should be called Sherwood ? ]
In the 26th minute, YMCA’s best player, James Grant, got to the by-line, with the aid of a good one-two, and managed to pull a dangerous ball back, but Daniel Brathwaite was there to clear his lines, from inside his own six-yard box. At the other end, two minutes later, Jimmy Bottle was adjudged to have been fouled by Richard Greenfield, but Nick Barnes’s curling free-kick went beyond the far post, and out for a goal-kick.
In the 29th minute, the home side very nearly went 2-0 in front. Greenfield had the ball on the right wing, and, in spite of being faced by Daniel Brathwaite, put in a good cross; giant centre-forward Ali Russell came charging in, and put a bullet-like header just wide of goal. Sam Moore wouldn’t have seen it if it had been on target, let alone stop it ! Soon after, the end-to-end nature of the game continued, with Jimmy Bottle winning another corner, on the left. All the big boys went up for this, but Nick Barnes’s cross failed to find a man in a yellow shirt, and the ball was cleared.
It was at about the half-hour mark that Mitch Sherwood and Jimmy Bottle swapped sides, and they stayed on the left and right, respectively, until both were substituted, separately, in the second half. Jimmy actually had a great chance to score, in the 40th minute, and the opportunity was set up by the hard-working Paul Jones. Jonah showed tremendous quality in whatever he did today – holding the ball up, bringing others into the game, turning and beating his marker, with only his finishing having room for improvement – and on this occasion his measured through-ball gave Jimmy, coming in from the right, a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Jimmy was close to the by-line, so the angle was a tight one, but Chris Winterton in any case came out to save well with his feet. Seconds later, Jones put a similar ball through for Mark Lovell to run on to, but this time there was a little too much pace on the ball, and it went through to the ‘keeper.
Ashford’s final chance of the half came with 45 minutes up, on my watch. This was a Ryan Briggs shot from outside the penalty area, but this was always going over the bar. So the boys went in for tea and fairy cakes at half time with the score at 1-0 to our hosts, with some improvement required.
It’s fair to say that this improvement was duly delivered in the second half, and a much better performance from Ashford after the interval gave them what was probably a deserved victory, but the match really could have swung either way, and The Yellows were very nearly punished for a dozy start to the half. Within seconds of the restart, Ali Russell found himself with the ball at his feet, just outside the Ashford penalty area, and given plenty of time in which to decide what to do with it. Russell played an excellent diagonal ball inside the right-back, for James Grant, but Grant stabbed the ball just wide of the post.
Having survived this scare, Ashford started to assert themselves as an attacking force. In the 47th minute, Mark Lovell ran onto a ball over the top of the Horsham YMCA defence – there was no flag. Mark had time to consider his options, and cut the ball back to Paul Jones, whose shot was deflected over the bar by the leg of a defender. From the resulting in-swinging corner, from the right, Sean Ray got up well to meet the ball with his head, almost under the YMCA cross-bar, but could do no more than head the ball over. Two minutes later, another ball over the home defence was latched onto by Paul Jones, who showed great strength and skill to then turn inside his man (Martyn Flack), but his firm, right-footed shot was well saved by Winterton. Shortly after, Winterton, playing in his eighth game for YM, was in action again, as he saved a Sean Ray header at his near post, after a cross had come in from the left.
Ashford’s persistence paid off, after just seven second-half minutes. Jimmy Bottle did some good work on the right, cutting inside and into the YMCA area, before pulling the ball back to Ryan Briggs. Ryan transferred the ball onto his left foot, and then saw his shot deflected behind, for a corner, on the right. Skipper Sean Ray again got up well, to meet Daniel Brathwaite’s cross, and this time he found the back of the net, to score his first goal in Ashford colours.
From here on, both sides pressed forward in search of the three points, and, as previously noted, the match could have gone either way. There was certainly not as much between the sides as the respective wage-bills might suggest, and, on this showing, YMCA looked nothing like relegation candidates. In fact, they were considerably more impressive than some other sides I’ve seen this season from higher up in the league table – the likes of Leatherhead, Chatham and Sittingbourne immediately spring to mind. YM actually went close to regaining the lead almost immediately, in the 54th minute, and would have done, but for a good save by Sam Moore. A cross from the Horsham right found Ali Russell, in the centre, and he showed great strength to receive the ball, control it and hit it towards goal, from six yards out, but his effort was blocked by Sam Moore’s feet.
In the 56th minute, a Horsham corner on the right broke to James Grant, whose ambitious low shot from outside the area went wide. The left winger continued to be at the centre of the home side’s best work, and his cross, on the hour mark, led to an equally ambitious long-range volley from Andy Ottley, which also went wide. In between these two chances, Tom White had replaced Seb Kazemi, in the first substitution of the game, in the 58th minute.
The action continued at both ends of the pitch, and, in the 61st minute, Ryan Briggs, in the centre circle, sent Paul Jones off in pursuit of a through-ball in the inside-right channel. Jonah’s pace and strength got him to the ball first, but his attempted cross from the by-line was blocked. The resulting corner came to nowt. In the 65th minute, after another YMCA attack had broken down, Ashford had a chance to spring out of defence, and Nick Barnes released Jimmy Bottle down the right wing. Attacking at pace, Jimmy cut inside, to provide himself with a shooting chance, but he sliced his left-foot shot high and wide. Two minutes later, Paul Jones showed good control, and a good turn, when sending Jimmy off down the right again. Jimmy again cut inside, as is natural for a left-footer, and this time pulled the ball back to Jones, who steadied himself for a shot at goal from just outside the area – but there was to be no repeat of Boxing Day, as his firmly-hit strike went over the bar.
There was no time for Ashford to dwell on the missed opportunity, as, almost immediately, the YMCA was on the attack. A long ball found big Ali Russell – (it was quite an interesting physical contest between him and Sean Ray, I can tell you) – near the left corner of the Ashford penalty area. Russell’s knock-back found James Grant, who hit a great shot only just high and wide of the angle of the goal.
In the 69th minute, Steve Lovell made the first of three substitutions, putting Danny Lye on in place of Nick Barnes. I was actually quite surprised that Nick had started today, as he looked to have a very sore calf last Saturday, but he again looked good in central midfield – the strong man alongside play-maker Ryan Briggs. The Village People’s response was to replace Richard Greenfield with Tom Lyons, two minutes later. Then, in the 72nd minute, Walid Matata was sent on in place of Mitchell Sherwood, for Ashford, taking up a position wide on the left, with Jimmy Bottle remaining on the right.
The next Ashford chance came in the 73rd minute. A Nicky Humphrey throw-in found Mark Lovell, and the ex-Dover man played a one-two with Paul Jones, to give himself a shooting chance from an acute angle – but he completely miss-hit his shot, and the ball actually went out for a throw-in on the far side. Two minutes later, the YMCA defence, which was possibly tiring, gave the ball away to Walid Matata, presenting Ashford with a great opportunity. With plenty of options, and time in which to consider them all, Walid laid the ball off to Paul Jones, who in turn laid it off to Danny Lye, who was arriving fast, in the centre, but Danny could only sky the ball over the bar.
In the 76th minute, a long kick-out from Sam Moore made it all the way to the edge of the Horsham area, where it was picked up by Paul Jones. Jonah squared the ball to Walid Matata, whose quick feet nicked the ball inside a defender, and he was duly fouled, right on the line. This caused Mr Austin to produce the first yellow card of the afternoon. Ryan Briggs took responsibility for the free-kick, and went for power, hitting the ball hard, to the right of the wall, but also to the right of the post.
The visitors were gradually getting on top of YM, and, in the 79th minute, a good ball down the left flank from Daniel Brathwaite sent Paul Jones off on a run. Jonah was again very impressive with his pace, and got to the ball ahead of the Horsham defence. He then turned his man, getting the ball onto his favoured right foot, but he sliced his shot well wide. In the 83rd minute, the home side again gave the ball away in a dangerous position, and this time they were punished for it. The ball was immediately fed forward to Paul Jones, who beat one player, inside the penalty area, so giving himself just the goalkeeper to beat. Jonah elected to play a short, square pass to Mark Lovell, who knocked the ball in from about three yards. This was Mark’s fourth goal for Ashford – with two of them being late winners, away from home – and he could claim to be the Club’s top scorer this season, having already scored five for Dover.
The goal appeared to save Lovell from being substituted, as the Ashford bench had been poised with the No.10 card – but it was Jimmy Bottle who was the player to go off, with Rob Denness his replacement. Jimmy again looked dangerous with his pace in wide positions, but there wasn’t a great deal, in terms of crosses and chances created, in the “end product” column. Nevertheless, he rarely gave the ball away, and looks very much at home at this level, and can only improve from the extended run that he is having in the first team.
From this point, a third Ashford goal seemed more likely than a Horsham equaliser, and the home side were pinned back in their own half by three successive corners, each taken by Daniel Brathwaite, on the right. The first of these was won by Rob Denness, near the by-line, in the 85th minute – Sean Ray got up with the header, but it was deflected behind. The second was hit deep by Brathers, and went all the way through to Mark Lovell, whose shot flashed across the face of goal and beyond the far post. The third went straight to the feet of a defender, and was cleared – but valuable seconds had been used up.
In spite of Ashford’s eventual ascendancy, the result remained in the balance until the end, and YMCA created an excellent opportunity for themselves with just two minutes left of normal time. Shortly after Greg Palmer had replaced Alex Keaney, in YM’s final substitution, a ball over the top of the Ashford defence put James Grant through on goal. He squared the ball to Ali Russell, just inside the six-yard box, and we were grateful for a desperate saving tackle from Nicky Humphrey. There was barely time to breathe a sigh of relief, though, as Ashford soon broke out of defence – but the counter-attack was ended when Walid was tripped by Dean Carden, which earnt the YMCA right-back a yellow card. Daniel Brathwaite curled in the resulting free-kick, but this was punched clear by Chris Winterton.
The seconds ticked by, but, after losing out to a Sittingbourne equaliser in the 94th minute last Saturday – and there are many other recent examples of late equalisers that I could mention – nobody with a green & white heart was taking anything for granted. Horsham pressed forward in the 91st minute, and Sam Moore had to be alert to come off his line to intercept a through-ball – and received a kick on the thigh from a frustrated Ali Russell, for his trouble. This was a little bit naughty of the big striker, but he got away with a few stern words from the referee – as did Nicky Humphrey, for his protests.
As the game entered the 92nd minute, it was Ashford who were on the attack, with Rob Denness slipping the ball down the right touchline, for Paul Jones. Jonah’s run took him into the penalty-area, and a goal would have capped an excellent display from him this afternoon – but he opted for a square ball, which was cut out by YM skipper Glen Woodburn.
When Danny Austin finally blew the whistle to end the game there were one or two arms raised aloft by the Ashford players – on the face of it, a 1-2 victory against Horsham YMCA didn’t justify such a reaction, but it was good to see that this squad of players had enjoyed pulling together and coming from behind this afternoon, and I can see them doing nothing but improve as a unit during the second half of this season.
Paul Jones deservedly won the Man of the Match award this afternoon – but the decision wasn’t as much a shoo-in as some fellow observers had thought. Sean Ray was, as ever, a flawless rock in the centre of the defence, and the other lads in the back four all played well, (with Nicky Humphrey deserving to be mentioned in dispatches). It’s very pleasing to see the level of commitment from our ex-Dover players, in the wake of Clive Walker’s departure.
Our hosts will have been relieved to learn that Molesey also lost at home this afternoon, which keeps YM two points off the bottom. Unfortunately, the YMCA camp (no puns intended) will have been less pleased at the news that Walton Casuals won and Eastbourne Town got a point – so it’s likely to be uphill for our friends in Sussex from now on.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
After strangely contrasting performances in their previous two games – an excellent display against a very strong Dover side on Boxing Day, and then a rather tepid performance in a poor game at Sittingbourne – Ashford travelled to Horsham YMCA for their first game of 2008. Maybe the contrast between the Dover and Sittingbourne performance wasn’t so odd – with Dover also following up their Boxing Day victory with a very under-par showing at home, three days later, to Whitstable, after which they were a little fortunate to emerge with a draw, I’m inclined to think that the mental and physical effort expended in a local derby, on what is becoming a notoriously energy-sapping Homelands pitch, left both sets of players drained for the next game.
Still, there would be no excuses this afternoon, against second-bottom Horsham YMCA, after a full week’s break. This might, however, have been a potentially trappy fixture, since, in spite of finding themselves in the relegation zone this morning, our hosts had been collecting points fairly regularly – eleven from their previous eight games, including a crucial 2-1 victory at home to Eastbourne Town in a relegation six-pointer last Saturday.
Horsham YMCA should not be confused with Horsham FC – the Ryman Premier Division outfit that has recently achieved TV fame during an FA Cup run that saw them progress as far as a Second Round Replay away at Third Division Swansea City. Coincidentally, today was FA Cup Third Round day, and Horsham would have been at home to Havant & Waterlooville if they’d managed to squeeze past Swansea – instead, they had a league game, away from home, this afternoon.
The two Horsham grounds are actually adjacent to each other, with the yellow & green main stand of Horsham FC clearly visible through the trees from Goring’s Mead, the scene of today’s entertainment. The ground takes its name from the small residential cul-de-sac at the end of which it is located. Although Horsham YMCA is the older of the two clubs, (it was founded in 1898, and made Goring’s Mead its home in 1929), it is definitely the more limited in scope. Everything is tightly hemmed in within a perimeter fence consisting of green wire mesh affixed to two steel rails. Space is particularly tight behind each goal, with special narrow goals allowing just about enough room for spectators to stand two-deep. (Ashford had a “Kop” of eight people behind the Ashford goal this afternoon). As with most other grounds of the newly-promoted clubs in Ryman Division One South – Chipstead and Walton Casuals spring to mind – Gorings Mead has not much more than the minimum requirements for achieving Ryman League status, with the smallish Victor Gladwish Stand providing the only formal accommodation for spectators. (It’s the stand which is smallish, not Victor Gladwish – he’s quite a tall bloke).
[ As always, I describe the ground in these terms purely in the interests of setting the scene for today’s game, and the remarks are not intended to be disparaging to a Club which has obviously put a lot of resources and effort into bringing its facilities up to Ryman League standards. This is the second season at this level for this very friendly club, and I’d like to think that it will avoid a relegation, at the end of the season, which would see these efforts largely go to waste. ]
The team news today confirmed that, in a world of foreign coaches rotating and tinkering with their squad, Steve Lovell, the Welsh Wizard, values the commodity of continuity, and he announced an unchanged side for the third consecutive game. Unfortunately, these best-laid plans were thwarted when goalkeeper Jamie Riley injured his knee during the warm-up, meaning that Sam Moore stepped in to keep goal in front of an increasingly familiar line-up: Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray (Skipper), Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite at the back; Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Nick Barnes and Jimmy Bottle in midfield; Paul Jones and Mark Lovell up front. This was nominally a 4-4-2 set-up, but the shape was decidedly 4-2-4 when we had the ball. Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Walid Matata, Rob Denness and Jamie Riley made up a very talented bench, whilst Lee Spiller joined them in the kick-about before the match and at half time; (but it’s hard to see where Spills will fit in when he gets fit, with Barnes and Briggs once again looking to be a strong partnership in central midfield today).
Of those who play for the other side, it was noticeable that YMCA only named three substitutes; the fact that there were just the three bums on the seats suggested that they might be a bit short of men today.
Before the game kicked off, on a mercifully relatively mild afternoon (but try telling that to a “freezing” Mrs Milton Keynes Correspondent), there was a brief ceremony, as YM’s Manager John Suter was presented with the November Team Performance Award for Division One South – this was for his team’s 4-3 victory over Folkestone Invicta in the Isthmian League Cup.
In spite of our yellow-clad heroes indulging in a fashionable “huddle” before kick-off, Ashford failed to create anything of note in the first ten minutes of play. There were a few attempted through-balls and final-third passes from our boys during this time, but all were woefully inaccurate, and merely resulted in a loss of possession. Our hosts, on the other hand, who played in a new strip for this season, of white shirts, black shorts and red sockies – and not pink and brown, as one wag would have it – started at a decent tempo, and fashioned a half-chance as early as the third minute. Right-back Dean Carden’s cross from the right was headed clear, but the ball fell to James Grant, whose weak volley from outside the area went well wide of goal.
Ashford’s first sight of goal didn’t come until the 13th minute, when a deep cross from the right by Mitch Sherwood looked to be floating out of play for a goal-kick, but Jimmy Bottle managed to keep the ball in, from beyond the far post; he headed it back for Nick Barnes, in the centre, but Nick’s weak header went tamely to Chris Winterton, in the Horsham YMCA goal.
YM took the lead in the 18th minute, and there was a hint of controversy about the goal. As the ball was crossed from the right wing, there was (at the very least) a collision between Nicky Humphrey and a YMCA forward, which allowed the ball to continue all the way to left-winger James Grant. Most people at the ground, (and certainly those wearing green & white colours), interpreted this as a shoulder charge off the ball, and awaited the referee’s whistle, but young Danny Austin, the Man in Black, waved play on, and the impressive Grant duly drilled a low shot into the far corner of the net. This wasn’t a great start for Sam Moore, in the Ashford goal, who had received an unexpected call-up to the first team. The goal apart, however, Sam’s handling and general performance this afternoon was pretty good, but his kicking was often dodgy – and, as stated in past match reports, he’s yet to convince me that he has as much ability as a shot-stopper as, say, Jake Whincup, (as a random example).
The set-back of conceding an early goal had the effect of raising Ashford’s game, after a fairly sloppy start. In the 21st minute, Paul Jones won a corner, near the corner flag, on the right – which was greeted with ironic cheers (you know the sort I mean) from the Ashford contingent behind the goal, who clearly thought that the home side had been getting the rub of Mr Austin’s decisions. The kick was taken, left-footed and in-swinging, by Daniel Brathwaite, but goalkeeper Winterton got up well to finger-tip the ball behind for another corner, this time on the other side. With Brathwaite taking Ashford’s corners on the right, Nick Barnes was entrusted with corners on the left, swinging the ball in from this side with his right foot. On this occasion, Lee Hockey got up well with a header, but his effort went wide, taking a deflection off another Ashford player on its way through. By the 24th minute, Ashford were beginning to get into their stride, and a good move ended with the ball being put out for a corner, on the left. Again Nick Barnes swung the ball in, and Lee Hockey rose to meet the ball, but it just would not “sit” for an Ashford player, and was cleared. [ Was it just a coincidence that, when we drafted two players in from Sittingbourne, one should look like Robin Hood, and the other should be called Sherwood ? ]
In the 26th minute, YMCA’s best player, James Grant, got to the by-line, with the aid of a good one-two, and managed to pull a dangerous ball back, but Daniel Brathwaite was there to clear his lines, from inside his own six-yard box. At the other end, two minutes later, Jimmy Bottle was adjudged to have been fouled by Richard Greenfield, but Nick Barnes’s curling free-kick went beyond the far post, and out for a goal-kick.
In the 29th minute, the home side very nearly went 2-0 in front. Greenfield had the ball on the right wing, and, in spite of being faced by Daniel Brathwaite, put in a good cross; giant centre-forward Ali Russell came charging in, and put a bullet-like header just wide of goal. Sam Moore wouldn’t have seen it if it had been on target, let alone stop it ! Soon after, the end-to-end nature of the game continued, with Jimmy Bottle winning another corner, on the left. All the big boys went up for this, but Nick Barnes’s cross failed to find a man in a yellow shirt, and the ball was cleared.
It was at about the half-hour mark that Mitch Sherwood and Jimmy Bottle swapped sides, and they stayed on the left and right, respectively, until both were substituted, separately, in the second half. Jimmy actually had a great chance to score, in the 40th minute, and the opportunity was set up by the hard-working Paul Jones. Jonah showed tremendous quality in whatever he did today – holding the ball up, bringing others into the game, turning and beating his marker, with only his finishing having room for improvement – and on this occasion his measured through-ball gave Jimmy, coming in from the right, a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Jimmy was close to the by-line, so the angle was a tight one, but Chris Winterton in any case came out to save well with his feet. Seconds later, Jones put a similar ball through for Mark Lovell to run on to, but this time there was a little too much pace on the ball, and it went through to the ‘keeper.
Ashford’s final chance of the half came with 45 minutes up, on my watch. This was a Ryan Briggs shot from outside the penalty area, but this was always going over the bar. So the boys went in for tea and fairy cakes at half time with the score at 1-0 to our hosts, with some improvement required.
It’s fair to say that this improvement was duly delivered in the second half, and a much better performance from Ashford after the interval gave them what was probably a deserved victory, but the match really could have swung either way, and The Yellows were very nearly punished for a dozy start to the half. Within seconds of the restart, Ali Russell found himself with the ball at his feet, just outside the Ashford penalty area, and given plenty of time in which to decide what to do with it. Russell played an excellent diagonal ball inside the right-back, for James Grant, but Grant stabbed the ball just wide of the post.
Having survived this scare, Ashford started to assert themselves as an attacking force. In the 47th minute, Mark Lovell ran onto a ball over the top of the Horsham YMCA defence – there was no flag. Mark had time to consider his options, and cut the ball back to Paul Jones, whose shot was deflected over the bar by the leg of a defender. From the resulting in-swinging corner, from the right, Sean Ray got up well to meet the ball with his head, almost under the YMCA cross-bar, but could do no more than head the ball over. Two minutes later, another ball over the home defence was latched onto by Paul Jones, who showed great strength and skill to then turn inside his man (Martyn Flack), but his firm, right-footed shot was well saved by Winterton. Shortly after, Winterton, playing in his eighth game for YM, was in action again, as he saved a Sean Ray header at his near post, after a cross had come in from the left.
Ashford’s persistence paid off, after just seven second-half minutes. Jimmy Bottle did some good work on the right, cutting inside and into the YMCA area, before pulling the ball back to Ryan Briggs. Ryan transferred the ball onto his left foot, and then saw his shot deflected behind, for a corner, on the right. Skipper Sean Ray again got up well, to meet Daniel Brathwaite’s cross, and this time he found the back of the net, to score his first goal in Ashford colours.
From here on, both sides pressed forward in search of the three points, and, as previously noted, the match could have gone either way. There was certainly not as much between the sides as the respective wage-bills might suggest, and, on this showing, YMCA looked nothing like relegation candidates. In fact, they were considerably more impressive than some other sides I’ve seen this season from higher up in the league table – the likes of Leatherhead, Chatham and Sittingbourne immediately spring to mind. YM actually went close to regaining the lead almost immediately, in the 54th minute, and would have done, but for a good save by Sam Moore. A cross from the Horsham right found Ali Russell, in the centre, and he showed great strength to receive the ball, control it and hit it towards goal, from six yards out, but his effort was blocked by Sam Moore’s feet.
In the 56th minute, a Horsham corner on the right broke to James Grant, whose ambitious low shot from outside the area went wide. The left winger continued to be at the centre of the home side’s best work, and his cross, on the hour mark, led to an equally ambitious long-range volley from Andy Ottley, which also went wide. In between these two chances, Tom White had replaced Seb Kazemi, in the first substitution of the game, in the 58th minute.
The action continued at both ends of the pitch, and, in the 61st minute, Ryan Briggs, in the centre circle, sent Paul Jones off in pursuit of a through-ball in the inside-right channel. Jonah’s pace and strength got him to the ball first, but his attempted cross from the by-line was blocked. The resulting corner came to nowt. In the 65th minute, after another YMCA attack had broken down, Ashford had a chance to spring out of defence, and Nick Barnes released Jimmy Bottle down the right wing. Attacking at pace, Jimmy cut inside, to provide himself with a shooting chance, but he sliced his left-foot shot high and wide. Two minutes later, Paul Jones showed good control, and a good turn, when sending Jimmy off down the right again. Jimmy again cut inside, as is natural for a left-footer, and this time pulled the ball back to Jones, who steadied himself for a shot at goal from just outside the area – but there was to be no repeat of Boxing Day, as his firmly-hit strike went over the bar.
There was no time for Ashford to dwell on the missed opportunity, as, almost immediately, the YMCA was on the attack. A long ball found big Ali Russell – (it was quite an interesting physical contest between him and Sean Ray, I can tell you) – near the left corner of the Ashford penalty area. Russell’s knock-back found James Grant, who hit a great shot only just high and wide of the angle of the goal.
In the 69th minute, Steve Lovell made the first of three substitutions, putting Danny Lye on in place of Nick Barnes. I was actually quite surprised that Nick had started today, as he looked to have a very sore calf last Saturday, but he again looked good in central midfield – the strong man alongside play-maker Ryan Briggs. The Village People’s response was to replace Richard Greenfield with Tom Lyons, two minutes later. Then, in the 72nd minute, Walid Matata was sent on in place of Mitchell Sherwood, for Ashford, taking up a position wide on the left, with Jimmy Bottle remaining on the right.
The next Ashford chance came in the 73rd minute. A Nicky Humphrey throw-in found Mark Lovell, and the ex-Dover man played a one-two with Paul Jones, to give himself a shooting chance from an acute angle – but he completely miss-hit his shot, and the ball actually went out for a throw-in on the far side. Two minutes later, the YMCA defence, which was possibly tiring, gave the ball away to Walid Matata, presenting Ashford with a great opportunity. With plenty of options, and time in which to consider them all, Walid laid the ball off to Paul Jones, who in turn laid it off to Danny Lye, who was arriving fast, in the centre, but Danny could only sky the ball over the bar.
In the 76th minute, a long kick-out from Sam Moore made it all the way to the edge of the Horsham area, where it was picked up by Paul Jones. Jonah squared the ball to Walid Matata, whose quick feet nicked the ball inside a defender, and he was duly fouled, right on the line. This caused Mr Austin to produce the first yellow card of the afternoon. Ryan Briggs took responsibility for the free-kick, and went for power, hitting the ball hard, to the right of the wall, but also to the right of the post.
The visitors were gradually getting on top of YM, and, in the 79th minute, a good ball down the left flank from Daniel Brathwaite sent Paul Jones off on a run. Jonah was again very impressive with his pace, and got to the ball ahead of the Horsham defence. He then turned his man, getting the ball onto his favoured right foot, but he sliced his shot well wide. In the 83rd minute, the home side again gave the ball away in a dangerous position, and this time they were punished for it. The ball was immediately fed forward to Paul Jones, who beat one player, inside the penalty area, so giving himself just the goalkeeper to beat. Jonah elected to play a short, square pass to Mark Lovell, who knocked the ball in from about three yards. This was Mark’s fourth goal for Ashford – with two of them being late winners, away from home – and he could claim to be the Club’s top scorer this season, having already scored five for Dover.
The goal appeared to save Lovell from being substituted, as the Ashford bench had been poised with the No.10 card – but it was Jimmy Bottle who was the player to go off, with Rob Denness his replacement. Jimmy again looked dangerous with his pace in wide positions, but there wasn’t a great deal, in terms of crosses and chances created, in the “end product” column. Nevertheless, he rarely gave the ball away, and looks very much at home at this level, and can only improve from the extended run that he is having in the first team.
From this point, a third Ashford goal seemed more likely than a Horsham equaliser, and the home side were pinned back in their own half by three successive corners, each taken by Daniel Brathwaite, on the right. The first of these was won by Rob Denness, near the by-line, in the 85th minute – Sean Ray got up with the header, but it was deflected behind. The second was hit deep by Brathers, and went all the way through to Mark Lovell, whose shot flashed across the face of goal and beyond the far post. The third went straight to the feet of a defender, and was cleared – but valuable seconds had been used up.
In spite of Ashford’s eventual ascendancy, the result remained in the balance until the end, and YMCA created an excellent opportunity for themselves with just two minutes left of normal time. Shortly after Greg Palmer had replaced Alex Keaney, in YM’s final substitution, a ball over the top of the Ashford defence put James Grant through on goal. He squared the ball to Ali Russell, just inside the six-yard box, and we were grateful for a desperate saving tackle from Nicky Humphrey. There was barely time to breathe a sigh of relief, though, as Ashford soon broke out of defence – but the counter-attack was ended when Walid was tripped by Dean Carden, which earnt the YMCA right-back a yellow card. Daniel Brathwaite curled in the resulting free-kick, but this was punched clear by Chris Winterton.
The seconds ticked by, but, after losing out to a Sittingbourne equaliser in the 94th minute last Saturday – and there are many other recent examples of late equalisers that I could mention – nobody with a green & white heart was taking anything for granted. Horsham pressed forward in the 91st minute, and Sam Moore had to be alert to come off his line to intercept a through-ball – and received a kick on the thigh from a frustrated Ali Russell, for his trouble. This was a little bit naughty of the big striker, but he got away with a few stern words from the referee – as did Nicky Humphrey, for his protests.
As the game entered the 92nd minute, it was Ashford who were on the attack, with Rob Denness slipping the ball down the right touchline, for Paul Jones. Jonah’s run took him into the penalty-area, and a goal would have capped an excellent display from him this afternoon – but he opted for a square ball, which was cut out by YM skipper Glen Woodburn.
When Danny Austin finally blew the whistle to end the game there were one or two arms raised aloft by the Ashford players – on the face of it, a 1-2 victory against Horsham YMCA didn’t justify such a reaction, but it was good to see that this squad of players had enjoyed pulling together and coming from behind this afternoon, and I can see them doing nothing but improve as a unit during the second half of this season.
Paul Jones deservedly won the Man of the Match award this afternoon – but the decision wasn’t as much a shoo-in as some fellow observers had thought. Sean Ray was, as ever, a flawless rock in the centre of the defence, and the other lads in the back four all played well, (with Nicky Humphrey deserving to be mentioned in dispatches). It’s very pleasing to see the level of commitment from our ex-Dover players, in the wake of Clive Walker’s departure.
Our hosts will have been relieved to learn that Molesey also lost at home this afternoon, which keeps YM two points off the bottom. Unfortunately, the YMCA camp (no puns intended) will have been less pleased at the news that Walton Casuals won and Eastbourne Town got a point – so it’s likely to be uphill for our friends in Sussex from now on.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Paul Jones
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Sittingbourne v Ashford Town. Ryman Division One South. 29th of December 2007.
Sittingbourne 1 Ashford Town 1
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The final away game of 2007 took us to the fairly familiar surroundings of Bourne Park. Last season’s fixtures dictated that we should come here on three occasions – once for the league match against champions-to-be Maidstone United, and twice for the corresponding league game against Sittingbourne, due to the first attempt being abandoned at half-time due to floodlight failure. A little ironically, it was Steve Lovell, Ashford Town’s current Manager, who was in charge, at the time, of an impressive Sittingbourne side that led 2-0 when the lights went out, (and when Jake Whincup, in the Ashford goal, ably negotiated a stay of execution for his team).
It is a fact that neither Sittingbourne nor Ashford have so far flourished, on the field of play, since Lovell’s switch to The Homelands. He guided The Brickies to a haul of 22 points from 13 league games, and they have managed just twelve points from nine games since his departure; since taking over from Clive Walker at Ashford, Steve has managed just five points from eight league games, which compares with Clive’s record of 18 from twelve.
Nevertheless, both performances and results have steadily improved under Steve Lovell, with the two most recent displays – the 1-2 victory at Kingstonian and the excellent showing, albeit in the context of a 1-2 defeat, at home to Dover on Boxing Day – providing particular grounds for optimism. The broad consensus from the latter match appears to have been that we deserved at least a point against what appears to be far and away the best side in the division this year. (The more obnoxious of Dover’s fans have been belly-aching for more than two years about their team being too good for Ryman Division One South – now, at last, it seems that they’re right !). I can also tell you that we won’t meet many better sides than Kingstonian, who were fourth in the table this morning, for the remainder of the season, so we approached today’s fixture in a positive frame of mind.
Sittingbourne, however, having experienced a brief slump after (fairly amicably) parting company with Steve Lovell, have recently been showing signs of regaining their momentum under new manager, and non-league goal-scoring legend, Gary Abbott, and were ninth this morning, having gained a 0-2 victory at Whitstable on Boxing Day. There was therefore every expectation that this was going to be a close game.
One of the charms of watching non-league football lies in the variety of back-drops that different grounds have. Molesey, Burnham and Burgess Hill Town, for example, have a ground that nestles within a residential area, and so their football is played against a background of local houses – a bit like Essella Park used to be. Whyteleafe’s ground, in leafy Surrey, is surrounded by trees. Ashford Town (Middlesex), located on the Southern edge of Heathrow Airport, play in the shadow of a row of enormous fuel tanks, whilst there is a good view of the crematorium from the main stand at Croydon Athletic. Bourne Park, home of Sittingbourne FC, is situated at the end of an industrial estate, and football here is played to a backdrop of warehousing and light industrial units. On the opposite side to the main stand, there was the usual array of stored materials in the yards – green, blue and yellow plastic pipes and sheets, stacked on pallets – as well as the shell of an enormous new warehouse under construction. (This could be a cue for the joke about the dyslexic pimp who bought a warehouse, but I’ll leave that for another day). The footy ground very much blends into this scenery, being delineated on all four sides by a corrugated steel fence, with portakabins used to house the turnstiles and bar areas. All in all, more “gritty” than picturesque.
The single stand at Bourne Park, which gives a good, elevated view of proceedings, provided welcome shelter from the chilly breeze that was blowing this afternoon, but the best news of the day was that the weather forecast of “sunshine and showers” was only half correct – we barely saw a cloud all day, and it was appropriate that we entered the ground to the strains of ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky”. The pitch today looked a little bumpy, and there were a few sanded patches on one side, but I’m reliably informed that the surface was nowhere near as difficult to play on as our own pitch, at The Homelands. With the breeze not materially affecting the way the game was played, it’s actually pretty difficult to work out why this was such a terrible game ! Maybe Ashford were experiencing the hang-over from the excellent effort they put in against Dover on Boxing Day, but both sides looked very flat this afternoon.
The story of the game, in a nut-shell, was that Ashford took the lead in the seventh minute, with Mark Lovell scoring, on his return to Bourne Park, with a well-taken goal from open play. Neither side really looked like scoring again – certainly not for the next 87 minutes - with Ashford dominating for the most part. When Sittingbourne had a player sent off, with about an hour gone, it appeared that a dire match was finally over, as a contest. Then, after three minutes of injury time had been played, Walid Matata missed a simple chance to slot the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 0-2, and The Brickies duly went up the other end and equalised. The visitors might have felt aggrieved to have missed out on victory today – and it’s true to say that, if Jamie Riley had saved Hicham Akhazzan’s shot, then it would have been Jamie’s first save of the match – but Ashford’s overall performance didn’t really merit all three points.
The lack-lustre performance certainly cannot be blamed on Steve Lovell tinkering around with the line-up, as we started with the same eleven that took the field against Dover: Jamie Riley in goal; a back four of Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray, Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite; a midfield quartet of Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Nick Barnes and Jimmy Bottle; and Mark Lovell and Paul Jones up front. The substitutes today were Sam Moore (the ‘keeper), Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata – Lee Spiller and Aron Freeman were also in attendance, in their civvies.
With Mitchell Sherwood and Lee Hockey having been regulars for Sittingbourne earlier in the season, and Jamie Riley having played here on loan, there was one ex-Ashford player in The Brickies’ line-up – Danny Eason, who impressed for our Reserves earlier in the season, started in goal for Sittingbourne for the second time since joining them a few weeks ago. The other familiar face was that of Steve Nolan, formerly Assistant Manager to Clive Walker at The Homelands, who was doing his “Andy Gray” bit in the Press Box, working as expert summariser for BBC Radio Kent.
One thing that can be said of Ashford Town is that they at least tried to get the ball on the ground and pass it around, but, whilst this enabled them to keep possession for short periods, it was never slick or incisive – with the exception of the build-up which led to our goal, in the seventh minute. This first action of any note since the kick-off saw Mitchell Sherwood on a run down the right wing. He broke through Sittingbourne skipper Joe Dowley’s tackle, and squared the ball to Paul Jones. Jonah pushed a measured pass behind The Brickies’ defence, for Mark Lovell to run on to, and the former Sittingbourne and Dover striker got to the ball just before Danny Eason, stabbing it into the corner of the net.
Ashford then enjoyed a spell of ascendancy, on the back of this goal, with Paul Jones looking the livelier of our attacking options. In the tenth minute, Jonah was fouled by Dowley, near the right corner flag, but Jimmy Bottle hit the resulting free-kick too long. Then, in the 13th minute, Nick Barnes hit a long ball into the same corner, for Jones to chase, but the Sittingbourne defence cleared the ball for a throw-in. Nicky Humphrey’s long throw, into the penalty area, was forced behind for a corner, on the right, and skipper Sean Ray got up well to meet the resulting left-footed cross from Jimmy Bottle, but Razor could do no more than head the ball high over the bar. (You know that we had very few real chances, when Your Correspondent makes a point of describing the throw-ins !). In the 25th minute, a long ball from the back four from Lee Hockey was allowed, by the home defence, to travel all the way to Paul Jones, who picked the ball up near the by-line, but a good tackle put the ball behind for a corner, on the right. Again it was Jimmy Bottle who came across to swing the ball in, left-footed, and this time it was Nicky Humphrey who could only head the ball up into the air.
The only real threat to the Ashford goal in the first half-hour came in the 18th minute, when Jamie Riley caught a long, hanging cross on his goal-line, only to drop the ball over the line as he was being challenged by a Sittingbourne forward – whether or not a foul had been committed, there was always going to be a 100% probability that Mr Smith, the Referee, would blow up for a foul.
In the 30th minute, Sean Ray bundled over Tunisian striker Sabeur Trabelsi, in the centre circle. The resulting free-kick was chipped into the Ashford area, and headed away by Nicky Humphrey. The ball fell to full-back Toby Ashmore, just outside the penalty area, but his low shot was always going well wide. A minute later, Sean Ray rather body-checked Trabelsi on the right-hand touchline, whilst attempting to shield the ball out for an Ashford throw – and was shown a yellow card, presumably for an accumulation of offences. Anthony Hogg took the free-kick, aiming for Trabelsi, in the Ashford area, but Ray managed to get his body in the way, at the expense of a corner. This time, a left-footed cross was swung in from the right, and was homing in on the near post - Jamie Riley kept the ball out, but there was a bit of “bat & pad” with the upright.
With little creative football being produced by either side, it appeared that the best chance of another goal would come from a set-piece, but Jack Baines and Anthony Hogg did manage to combine with a sweet one-two, deep in the Ashford half, and were rewarded with a corner, on the left. This resulted in a deep cross, which travelled all the way through to Joe Dowley, on the far edge of the area – but he crossed the ball straight into the hands of Jamie Riley.
Ashford’s best chance of extending their lead in the first half came in the 39th minute. Again, it was Paul Jones who was the instigator, picking the ball up just inside the Sittingbourne half, and going on a run down the left channel. As always, Jonah looked strong in possession, and, after one challenge had bounced off him, he pulled the ball back from the by-line. Mark Lovell let the ball run to Ryan Briggs, who skied his left-footed shot, from about 20 yards out, high over the bar.
Steve Lovell made one enforced change at half time – Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes, who had picked up a calf injury which looked pretty sore as he hobbled off into the car park at the end of the game.
This substitution preceded a second half that was probably even more scrappy than the first, with most of the few noteworthy incidents during the next 45 minutes being cards of various colours being waved at players by the referee. Both teams did, however, have a squeak of a chance shortly after the restart. In the 48th minute, a ball forward found Hicham Akhazzan, half-way inside the Ashford half – he slipped a through-ball to his strike-partner Sabeur Trabelsi, whose first touch had all the finesse of a fork-lift truck, so that Jamie Riley was able to usher the ball behind for a goal-kick. At the other end, a minute later, Lee Hockey, who is the image of the current Robin Hood, took a long throw, from near the right corner flag – but, though Danny Lye got his head to the ball, on the front edge of the six-yard box, he could do no more than pop the ball over the bar.
The first of a rash of yellow cards was shown to Sabeur Trabelsi, in the 55th minute, after he had left his foot in on Daniel Brathwaite, after Daniel had affected a clearance. Four minutes later, Joe Dowley was booked for a foul on Mitchell Sherwood, and then Referee Smith reached for his pocket again, in the 61st minute, after a coming-together between Trabelsi and Sean Ray. It seemed a fairly innocuous incident, and it wasn’t clear which way the free-kick would be awarded, but Trabelsi it was who was shown his second yellow card, which was quickly followed by a red one. (It was actually a fairly rich shade of pink – fuchsia maybe – but the Tunisian got the message, and trooped off to the dressing-room). Amid the uproar from the home supporters in the main stand, Sean turned and indicated that an elbow had been used.
As previously noted, the general feeling was that this incident effectively ended the game as a contest – on the grounds that Sittingbourne had looked poor, and had made little impact on the Ashford defence with all eleven men on the pitch. (Your Correspondent made a note to himself, at the time, to the effect that this would now be a REALLY EMBARRASSING game not to win !). It was certainly a shame for Trabelsi, who had been involved in a promising move for Sittingbourne, in the 57th minute, just prior to his dismissal. He had spread the ball wide to Jack Baines, on the left, who had found Hicham Akhazzan, in the centre, with a good cross, but Akhazzan’s flicked header was comfortably caught by Jamie Riley.
In the 75th minute, with little or nothing happening for Ashford, Steve Lovell made a double-substitution, replacing Paul Jones and Mark Lovell with Rob Denness and top-scorer Walid Matata – (which he probably would have done even if the good-sized group of Ashford supporters behind the goal had not been singing Walid’s name !). This is actually the first time that Lovell Jnr has been substituted during his Ashford career to date – and may or may not have had something to do with the fact that he had picked up a yellow card for leaving a foot in on Billy Manners, in the 66th minute.
Gary Abbott soon responded with some substitutions of his own, replacing Jack Baines with Steve Hafner, in the 77th minute, and Dave Milton with James Campbell, in the 79th minute.
Campbell was soon involved in what passed for “the action” in this match, when, in the 81st minute, he spread the ball wide to Akhazzan, on the left – but, faced by Nicky Humphrey, the ex-Chatham forward tried a speculative shot from outside the area, which went well wide. As the home side increasingly committed themselves forward, in search of an equaliser, Mitchell Sherwood broke from a deep position, in the 86th minute, carrying the ball through the centre circle and finding Jimmy Bottle in space, on the left. Jimmy certainly caught the eye with his pace this afternoon, but, in all honesty, he produced very little end-product; (and it might be significant that Toby Ashmore, who had the job of marking him, was named as Sittingbourne’s Man of the Match). On this occasion, however, Jimmy did manage to get around his man and put in a dangerous cross, aiming for Walid at the far post, but the home defence managed to head the ball behind, for a corner, on the right. Jimmy went across to take the kick, but Paul Ainsworth was there to head his cross clear.
As full-time approached, it appeared that Ashford were in the process of winding up what is referred to in modern parlance as an “ugly victory”, playing possession football, with one eye on the (imaginary) clock. With 90 minutes up on my watch, a patient build-up concluded with Ryan Briggs threading a diagonal ball through for Rob Denness to run on to, but the Lino had his flag up before The Menace slid the ball into the net.
Then came the cruel twist to the tale, deep into injury time. In the 93rd minute, Danny Eason miss-hit a clearance, straight to Mitchell Sherwood, who immediately put Walid Matata through on goal, with a diagonal pass. Walid opened up his body, to sweep the ball over young Danny, and into the net, but his attempt went wide. A 0-2 scoreline would have flattered Ashford this afternoon, but a clinching goal from their hero would have delighted the Ashford contingent behind the goal. So we would have to settle for a hard-fought, if uninspiring, 0-1 victory – except that the story didn’t end there. As the game entered the 94th minute, Sittingbourne were awarded a free-kick, mid-way into the Ashford half. There was a shot at goal, and the ball seemed to stick under the foot of Hicham Akhazzan, who then turned and fired it past Jamie Riley.
It’s difficult to gauge the precise reaction of the Ashford fans to this late equaliser, as it appeared that, unusually, none of them went for a drink in the bar afterwards – which might, in itself, be a clue to the level of disappointment with the team’s performance this afternoon. It’s certainly a shame that the fair number of fans who had travelled from Ashford this afternoon had to witness a surprisingly low-key performance from the lads, especially after the good showing on Boxing Day. The only way that I can reconcile the two performances is to suggest that the Dover game took plenty out of the players, both mentally and physically – we’ll certainly be looking for a marked improvement against second-bottom Horsham YMCA (no puns intended) in a week’s time.
In the interests of balance, I should also point out that Sittingbourne looked a poor outfit today, and didn’t, in my opinion, deserve a point from this game – but I’m absolutely certain that this was not a typical performance from our hosts, as they wouldn’t be in the top half of the table if they couldn’t do better than this.
One other snippet of information, which caught my eye recently: did you know that Ashford are yet to be defeated by more than one goal away from home in the league this season ? The only away defeat by more than one goal to date has come in the FA Cup, when we went down 2-0 to Erith & Belvedere – the only two survivors from that game in the starting line-up this afternoon were Nicky Humphrey and Nick Barnes. Hope that keeps the anoraks happy.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Ryan Briggs
from Your Milton Keynes Correspondent
The final away game of 2007 took us to the fairly familiar surroundings of Bourne Park. Last season’s fixtures dictated that we should come here on three occasions – once for the league match against champions-to-be Maidstone United, and twice for the corresponding league game against Sittingbourne, due to the first attempt being abandoned at half-time due to floodlight failure. A little ironically, it was Steve Lovell, Ashford Town’s current Manager, who was in charge, at the time, of an impressive Sittingbourne side that led 2-0 when the lights went out, (and when Jake Whincup, in the Ashford goal, ably negotiated a stay of execution for his team).
It is a fact that neither Sittingbourne nor Ashford have so far flourished, on the field of play, since Lovell’s switch to The Homelands. He guided The Brickies to a haul of 22 points from 13 league games, and they have managed just twelve points from nine games since his departure; since taking over from Clive Walker at Ashford, Steve has managed just five points from eight league games, which compares with Clive’s record of 18 from twelve.
Nevertheless, both performances and results have steadily improved under Steve Lovell, with the two most recent displays – the 1-2 victory at Kingstonian and the excellent showing, albeit in the context of a 1-2 defeat, at home to Dover on Boxing Day – providing particular grounds for optimism. The broad consensus from the latter match appears to have been that we deserved at least a point against what appears to be far and away the best side in the division this year. (The more obnoxious of Dover’s fans have been belly-aching for more than two years about their team being too good for Ryman Division One South – now, at last, it seems that they’re right !). I can also tell you that we won’t meet many better sides than Kingstonian, who were fourth in the table this morning, for the remainder of the season, so we approached today’s fixture in a positive frame of mind.
Sittingbourne, however, having experienced a brief slump after (fairly amicably) parting company with Steve Lovell, have recently been showing signs of regaining their momentum under new manager, and non-league goal-scoring legend, Gary Abbott, and were ninth this morning, having gained a 0-2 victory at Whitstable on Boxing Day. There was therefore every expectation that this was going to be a close game.
One of the charms of watching non-league football lies in the variety of back-drops that different grounds have. Molesey, Burnham and Burgess Hill Town, for example, have a ground that nestles within a residential area, and so their football is played against a background of local houses – a bit like Essella Park used to be. Whyteleafe’s ground, in leafy Surrey, is surrounded by trees. Ashford Town (Middlesex), located on the Southern edge of Heathrow Airport, play in the shadow of a row of enormous fuel tanks, whilst there is a good view of the crematorium from the main stand at Croydon Athletic. Bourne Park, home of Sittingbourne FC, is situated at the end of an industrial estate, and football here is played to a backdrop of warehousing and light industrial units. On the opposite side to the main stand, there was the usual array of stored materials in the yards – green, blue and yellow plastic pipes and sheets, stacked on pallets – as well as the shell of an enormous new warehouse under construction. (This could be a cue for the joke about the dyslexic pimp who bought a warehouse, but I’ll leave that for another day). The footy ground very much blends into this scenery, being delineated on all four sides by a corrugated steel fence, with portakabins used to house the turnstiles and bar areas. All in all, more “gritty” than picturesque.
The single stand at Bourne Park, which gives a good, elevated view of proceedings, provided welcome shelter from the chilly breeze that was blowing this afternoon, but the best news of the day was that the weather forecast of “sunshine and showers” was only half correct – we barely saw a cloud all day, and it was appropriate that we entered the ground to the strains of ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky”. The pitch today looked a little bumpy, and there were a few sanded patches on one side, but I’m reliably informed that the surface was nowhere near as difficult to play on as our own pitch, at The Homelands. With the breeze not materially affecting the way the game was played, it’s actually pretty difficult to work out why this was such a terrible game ! Maybe Ashford were experiencing the hang-over from the excellent effort they put in against Dover on Boxing Day, but both sides looked very flat this afternoon.
The story of the game, in a nut-shell, was that Ashford took the lead in the seventh minute, with Mark Lovell scoring, on his return to Bourne Park, with a well-taken goal from open play. Neither side really looked like scoring again – certainly not for the next 87 minutes - with Ashford dominating for the most part. When Sittingbourne had a player sent off, with about an hour gone, it appeared that a dire match was finally over, as a contest. Then, after three minutes of injury time had been played, Walid Matata missed a simple chance to slot the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 0-2, and The Brickies duly went up the other end and equalised. The visitors might have felt aggrieved to have missed out on victory today – and it’s true to say that, if Jamie Riley had saved Hicham Akhazzan’s shot, then it would have been Jamie’s first save of the match – but Ashford’s overall performance didn’t really merit all three points.
The lack-lustre performance certainly cannot be blamed on Steve Lovell tinkering around with the line-up, as we started with the same eleven that took the field against Dover: Jamie Riley in goal; a back four of Nicky Humphrey, Sean Ray, Lee Hockey and Daniel Brathwaite; a midfield quartet of Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Briggs, Nick Barnes and Jimmy Bottle; and Mark Lovell and Paul Jones up front. The substitutes today were Sam Moore (the ‘keeper), Tony Browne, Danny Lye, Rob Denness and Walid Matata – Lee Spiller and Aron Freeman were also in attendance, in their civvies.
With Mitchell Sherwood and Lee Hockey having been regulars for Sittingbourne earlier in the season, and Jamie Riley having played here on loan, there was one ex-Ashford player in The Brickies’ line-up – Danny Eason, who impressed for our Reserves earlier in the season, started in goal for Sittingbourne for the second time since joining them a few weeks ago. The other familiar face was that of Steve Nolan, formerly Assistant Manager to Clive Walker at The Homelands, who was doing his “Andy Gray” bit in the Press Box, working as expert summariser for BBC Radio Kent.
One thing that can be said of Ashford Town is that they at least tried to get the ball on the ground and pass it around, but, whilst this enabled them to keep possession for short periods, it was never slick or incisive – with the exception of the build-up which led to our goal, in the seventh minute. This first action of any note since the kick-off saw Mitchell Sherwood on a run down the right wing. He broke through Sittingbourne skipper Joe Dowley’s tackle, and squared the ball to Paul Jones. Jonah pushed a measured pass behind The Brickies’ defence, for Mark Lovell to run on to, and the former Sittingbourne and Dover striker got to the ball just before Danny Eason, stabbing it into the corner of the net.
Ashford then enjoyed a spell of ascendancy, on the back of this goal, with Paul Jones looking the livelier of our attacking options. In the tenth minute, Jonah was fouled by Dowley, near the right corner flag, but Jimmy Bottle hit the resulting free-kick too long. Then, in the 13th minute, Nick Barnes hit a long ball into the same corner, for Jones to chase, but the Sittingbourne defence cleared the ball for a throw-in. Nicky Humphrey’s long throw, into the penalty area, was forced behind for a corner, on the right, and skipper Sean Ray got up well to meet the resulting left-footed cross from Jimmy Bottle, but Razor could do no more than head the ball high over the bar. (You know that we had very few real chances, when Your Correspondent makes a point of describing the throw-ins !). In the 25th minute, a long ball from the back four from Lee Hockey was allowed, by the home defence, to travel all the way to Paul Jones, who picked the ball up near the by-line, but a good tackle put the ball behind for a corner, on the right. Again it was Jimmy Bottle who came across to swing the ball in, left-footed, and this time it was Nicky Humphrey who could only head the ball up into the air.
The only real threat to the Ashford goal in the first half-hour came in the 18th minute, when Jamie Riley caught a long, hanging cross on his goal-line, only to drop the ball over the line as he was being challenged by a Sittingbourne forward – whether or not a foul had been committed, there was always going to be a 100% probability that Mr Smith, the Referee, would blow up for a foul.
In the 30th minute, Sean Ray bundled over Tunisian striker Sabeur Trabelsi, in the centre circle. The resulting free-kick was chipped into the Ashford area, and headed away by Nicky Humphrey. The ball fell to full-back Toby Ashmore, just outside the penalty area, but his low shot was always going well wide. A minute later, Sean Ray rather body-checked Trabelsi on the right-hand touchline, whilst attempting to shield the ball out for an Ashford throw – and was shown a yellow card, presumably for an accumulation of offences. Anthony Hogg took the free-kick, aiming for Trabelsi, in the Ashford area, but Ray managed to get his body in the way, at the expense of a corner. This time, a left-footed cross was swung in from the right, and was homing in on the near post - Jamie Riley kept the ball out, but there was a bit of “bat & pad” with the upright.
With little creative football being produced by either side, it appeared that the best chance of another goal would come from a set-piece, but Jack Baines and Anthony Hogg did manage to combine with a sweet one-two, deep in the Ashford half, and were rewarded with a corner, on the left. This resulted in a deep cross, which travelled all the way through to Joe Dowley, on the far edge of the area – but he crossed the ball straight into the hands of Jamie Riley.
Ashford’s best chance of extending their lead in the first half came in the 39th minute. Again, it was Paul Jones who was the instigator, picking the ball up just inside the Sittingbourne half, and going on a run down the left channel. As always, Jonah looked strong in possession, and, after one challenge had bounced off him, he pulled the ball back from the by-line. Mark Lovell let the ball run to Ryan Briggs, who skied his left-footed shot, from about 20 yards out, high over the bar.
Steve Lovell made one enforced change at half time – Danny Lye replaced Nick Barnes, who had picked up a calf injury which looked pretty sore as he hobbled off into the car park at the end of the game.
This substitution preceded a second half that was probably even more scrappy than the first, with most of the few noteworthy incidents during the next 45 minutes being cards of various colours being waved at players by the referee. Both teams did, however, have a squeak of a chance shortly after the restart. In the 48th minute, a ball forward found Hicham Akhazzan, half-way inside the Ashford half – he slipped a through-ball to his strike-partner Sabeur Trabelsi, whose first touch had all the finesse of a fork-lift truck, so that Jamie Riley was able to usher the ball behind for a goal-kick. At the other end, a minute later, Lee Hockey, who is the image of the current Robin Hood, took a long throw, from near the right corner flag – but, though Danny Lye got his head to the ball, on the front edge of the six-yard box, he could do no more than pop the ball over the bar.
The first of a rash of yellow cards was shown to Sabeur Trabelsi, in the 55th minute, after he had left his foot in on Daniel Brathwaite, after Daniel had affected a clearance. Four minutes later, Joe Dowley was booked for a foul on Mitchell Sherwood, and then Referee Smith reached for his pocket again, in the 61st minute, after a coming-together between Trabelsi and Sean Ray. It seemed a fairly innocuous incident, and it wasn’t clear which way the free-kick would be awarded, but Trabelsi it was who was shown his second yellow card, which was quickly followed by a red one. (It was actually a fairly rich shade of pink – fuchsia maybe – but the Tunisian got the message, and trooped off to the dressing-room). Amid the uproar from the home supporters in the main stand, Sean turned and indicated that an elbow had been used.
As previously noted, the general feeling was that this incident effectively ended the game as a contest – on the grounds that Sittingbourne had looked poor, and had made little impact on the Ashford defence with all eleven men on the pitch. (Your Correspondent made a note to himself, at the time, to the effect that this would now be a REALLY EMBARRASSING game not to win !). It was certainly a shame for Trabelsi, who had been involved in a promising move for Sittingbourne, in the 57th minute, just prior to his dismissal. He had spread the ball wide to Jack Baines, on the left, who had found Hicham Akhazzan, in the centre, with a good cross, but Akhazzan’s flicked header was comfortably caught by Jamie Riley.
In the 75th minute, with little or nothing happening for Ashford, Steve Lovell made a double-substitution, replacing Paul Jones and Mark Lovell with Rob Denness and top-scorer Walid Matata – (which he probably would have done even if the good-sized group of Ashford supporters behind the goal had not been singing Walid’s name !). This is actually the first time that Lovell Jnr has been substituted during his Ashford career to date – and may or may not have had something to do with the fact that he had picked up a yellow card for leaving a foot in on Billy Manners, in the 66th minute.
Gary Abbott soon responded with some substitutions of his own, replacing Jack Baines with Steve Hafner, in the 77th minute, and Dave Milton with James Campbell, in the 79th minute.
Campbell was soon involved in what passed for “the action” in this match, when, in the 81st minute, he spread the ball wide to Akhazzan, on the left – but, faced by Nicky Humphrey, the ex-Chatham forward tried a speculative shot from outside the area, which went well wide. As the home side increasingly committed themselves forward, in search of an equaliser, Mitchell Sherwood broke from a deep position, in the 86th minute, carrying the ball through the centre circle and finding Jimmy Bottle in space, on the left. Jimmy certainly caught the eye with his pace this afternoon, but, in all honesty, he produced very little end-product; (and it might be significant that Toby Ashmore, who had the job of marking him, was named as Sittingbourne’s Man of the Match). On this occasion, however, Jimmy did manage to get around his man and put in a dangerous cross, aiming for Walid at the far post, but the home defence managed to head the ball behind, for a corner, on the right. Jimmy went across to take the kick, but Paul Ainsworth was there to head his cross clear.
As full-time approached, it appeared that Ashford were in the process of winding up what is referred to in modern parlance as an “ugly victory”, playing possession football, with one eye on the (imaginary) clock. With 90 minutes up on my watch, a patient build-up concluded with Ryan Briggs threading a diagonal ball through for Rob Denness to run on to, but the Lino had his flag up before The Menace slid the ball into the net.
Then came the cruel twist to the tale, deep into injury time. In the 93rd minute, Danny Eason miss-hit a clearance, straight to Mitchell Sherwood, who immediately put Walid Matata through on goal, with a diagonal pass. Walid opened up his body, to sweep the ball over young Danny, and into the net, but his attempt went wide. A 0-2 scoreline would have flattered Ashford this afternoon, but a clinching goal from their hero would have delighted the Ashford contingent behind the goal. So we would have to settle for a hard-fought, if uninspiring, 0-1 victory – except that the story didn’t end there. As the game entered the 94th minute, Sittingbourne were awarded a free-kick, mid-way into the Ashford half. There was a shot at goal, and the ball seemed to stick under the foot of Hicham Akhazzan, who then turned and fired it past Jamie Riley.
It’s difficult to gauge the precise reaction of the Ashford fans to this late equaliser, as it appeared that, unusually, none of them went for a drink in the bar afterwards – which might, in itself, be a clue to the level of disappointment with the team’s performance this afternoon. It’s certainly a shame that the fair number of fans who had travelled from Ashford this afternoon had to witness a surprisingly low-key performance from the lads, especially after the good showing on Boxing Day. The only way that I can reconcile the two performances is to suggest that the Dover game took plenty out of the players, both mentally and physically – we’ll certainly be looking for a marked improvement against second-bottom Horsham YMCA (no puns intended) in a week’s time.
In the interests of balance, I should also point out that Sittingbourne looked a poor outfit today, and didn’t, in my opinion, deserve a point from this game – but I’m absolutely certain that this was not a typical performance from our hosts, as they wouldn’t be in the top half of the table if they couldn’t do better than this.
One other snippet of information, which caught my eye recently: did you know that Ashford are yet to be defeated by more than one goal away from home in the league this season ? The only away defeat by more than one goal to date has come in the FA Cup, when we went down 2-0 to Erith & Belvedere – the only two survivors from that game in the starting line-up this afternoon were Nicky Humphrey and Nick Barnes. Hope that keeps the anoraks happy.
Man of the Match
(to go towards the Milton Keynes Bowl)
Ryan Briggs
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