Anorak's Corner - the 2011-12 Season

from Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

So here is a brief review, based on a few key statistics that I am sad enough to keep, of Ashford United’s 2011-12 season – which has been the inaugural season for both Ashford’s born-again footy club, and the Kent Invicta League. The first, and most important, statistic concerns the number of teams we’ve had to support – and the figure of 1 compares very favourably with last season’s figure of zero, for which we are grateful to Tony Betteridge and Ernie Warren, and all the other people who helped to make it happen. Die hard Ashford fans – of whom there are several – will point out that that number of teams should be at least 2, because Ashford United has a Youth team to be proud of, which once again performed with a great deal of credit in an international Youth Tournament in France. With negotiations at an advanced stage for a merger between the respective youth set-ups of Ashford United and Ashford Borough, it is hoped, and expected, that the number of teams run by the Club will increase further in seasons to come.

One of the great unknowns, at the start of the season, was how well the Ashford public would support the new entity, in a (Step 6) league that is two levels below where the former Club, Ashford Town, eventually withered and died. In that final, 2009-10, season in the Ryman League, which featured yet another escape from relegation to the Kent League, the average gate had slumped to 162, which was viewed as a miserable, all-time low, after this average had built steadily from 208, to 243, to 251, and then to 317, in previous seasons. It’s probably quite pleasing, therefore, that the average home gate for the season just ended was 202 – and crowds at Homelands were fairly consistent throughout the season, with 194 turning out for the final game of the season, on a cold, wet and windy day, with nothing riding on the outcome. A statistic I don’t have is the number of supporters that followed Ashford away, this season, but I reckon that other clubs’ home attendances will have been swelled by 30-40, in a league where the second-best supported team had an average attendance of 65.

As is traditional for Ashford teams, it seems, a half-decent cup run proved elusive. The 2011-12 cups campaign consisted of seven games, (five of which were at home), in three competitions – the league cup, the county cup and the FA Vase. The “county cup” was, not the Kent Senior Cup, which we all know and love, but the Kent Intermediate Challenge Shield. United’s lack of substantial progress in this competition was particularly disappointing, given the opportunity provided by home draws against lower-league opposition all the way to the final. After scraping past Staplehurst Monarchs, our boys faltered at the second hurdle, at the hands of Eltham Palace, who may well find themselves promoted to the Kent Invicta League for next season. It was good to see the Club in the FA Vase, however, for the first ever time – although our involvement ended at the first fence, albeit after a replay, against Shoreham, of the Sussex League. The attendance for the home Vase tie was a very disappointing 124, and the aggregate attendance for the five home cup games was 815. Not a huge total, but considerably better than the 2009-10 aggregate of 208 (from just two home ties), and the 392 during the 2008-9 season. Next season, Ashford United will be entered in the FA Cup – THE cup – and I’m already looking forward to the draw for the opening rounds, which comes out in the second or third week in July.

Another little ruse of mine, at this time of year, is to work out Ashford’s Team of the Year, which is based purely on the number of minutes that players spent on the pitch, in each position, during the season. Here is the 2011-12 team, in the 3-5-2 formation that Manager Paul Chambers seemed to favour for much of the season, with the wing-backs listed as midfielders: -

Billy Rice

Ben Jordan

Roy Guiver

Lee Coburn

Sam Conlon

Ollie Finch

Matt Bower

Liam Whiting

Richard Quigley

Tom Scorer

Gary Lockyer

Subs: Tony Allen, Liam Walsh, Dan Scorer, Kieran Byrne, Peter Williams.

So a blend of experience and youth there, with the emphasis very much on the latter – and let’s hope that the majority of those youngsters will be wearing the holy green & white of Ashford again next season.

Of course, there were many others among the 42 players who turned out for Ashford during the season who made a significant contribution. An individual who made a major impact was the experienced Mo Takaloo, who scored ten goals in 730 minutes on the pitch, (which is equivalent to just over eight games). Regular sufferers of my drivel will know that I have kept a record of Ashford players’ goal scoring rate, (expressed as minutes per goal), since the 2005-6 season – and it’s interesting to compare Takaloo’s scoring rate with those of other stellar strikers that we’ve had at Homelands, (acknowledging, of course, that all comparisons are very tentative, given the differences there have been in the level of football played, the strength of successive Ashford teams, etc.).

Quite simply, Mo Tak is out on his own, in terms of scoring rate. Here are the figures for the top four, during the past six seasons: -

Mo Takaloo               73 minutes per goal

Claude Seanla          106 mpg

George Fenwick        177 mpg

Shawn Beveney        182 mpg

These figures are put into perspective if we look at the mpg numbers of other proven, top-quality strikers, such as Walid Matata (220), Paul Jones (240) and Mark Lovell (286). I’m particularly pleased to see George Fenwick among this select group of four. I’ve always considered George to be one of our most under-rated strikers – and, whilst Takaloo, Seanla and Beveney are clearly high-quality strikers proven at a higher level, who scored goals during a relatively short stay at Ashford, George scored his 18 goals in the equivalent of more than 35 matches, and in a struggling team, so there’s no question of any fluke there. It will be interesting to see whether Mo Tak can maintain this excellent strike rate, if, as we all hope, he is an Ashford player again next season.

One other top quality striker to wear the green & white last season was Jimmy Dryden, who scored four goals in 450 minutes, (mpg = 113), whilst on loan from Hythe Town. It was a pleasure to see such a class act leading the line for Ashford, but Jimmy does not figure in the following list of goal scoring rates for the season, as I have set the qualification cut-off at 500 minutes of football.

Mo Takaloo                73 minutes per goal

Gary Lockyer             196 mpg

Kieran Byrne              204 mpg

Peter Williams            209 mpg

Aaron Firth                 229 mpg

Sam Conlon               277 mpg

Tom Scorer                321 mpg

Roy Guiver                 383 mpg

Another goal scorer, not on this list, worthy of a mention is Mitchell Mannell, a striker from the Youth ranks who scored for the First Team in spite of only playing for a total of 38 minutes. Let’s hope that Mitch gets further opportunities next season. I also cannot resist giving a mention to Jeff Ross, a demigod who yet walks among mortal men. It has been wonderful to see him make occasional appearances, this season, (totalling 109 minutes), and it was absolutely fantastic to see him get on the scoresheet, his only goal meaning that he has now scored for Ashford in each of four decades ! 

The same “minutes per goal” criterion can be applied to the goalies – and the No.1 position has been largely shared between young Tony Allen (1,320 minutes) and old Billy Rice (1,350 minutes). Their respective mpg figures were 69 and 56 – and here is how their records compare with the best of previous Ashford ‘keepers: -

Josh Willis                 123 mpg

Jamie Riley                71 mpg

TONY ALLEN            69 mpg

Jake Whincup            61 mpg

Simon Overland         60 mpg

BILLY RICE               56 mpg

So Tony Allen jumps in at No.3. (The complete list goes down as far as Darren Ibrahim, who let one in every 40 minutes). Continuing the theme of legends, it was also good to see Mo Munden between the sticks again. He kept goal for us in six games, (i.e. 540 minutes), conceding ten goals, so had an identical record to one Jani Seitsonen.

So that’s the fine detail – what of the bottom line, which is our final league position ?  Well, we finished fifth of 16 teams, thanks to a late rally which saw the team unbeaten in its final ten league games. Whilst fifth was not as good as some people had hoped, it was quite respectable in the context of a very disappointing first half of the season, which actually saw us slip to as low as 13^th place. It should also be pointed out that this is the best finishing position to be achieved by an Ashford side since 1995-6, when Ashford Town finished second in the Southern League Division One South, and were promoted to the Premier Division. We then achieved 19^th and 21^st in our two seasons in The Big Time, and subsequent finishing positions have been: 7^th, 6^th, 12^th, 14^th, 11^th, 12^th, 20^th, 21^st, 18^th, 8^th, 7^th, 20^th and 5^th (this year).

Generally, this season has set firm foundations for the new Club, in a League where it has been generally accepted that playing standards have been higher than expected. Now that The Management knows what to expect, and what is required, I think that we can be hopeful of an improvement on this league position next season – and let’s hope that the average league attendance and the aggregate cup attendance can also be improved upon.

Erith & Dartford Town v Ashford United. Kent Invicta League. 9th of April 2012.

Erith & Dartford Town     2       Ashford United      2

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

This was part of an Easter week-end double-header, which began at Cheriton Road on the Saturday, with Folkestone Invicta’s 4-1 Ryman Division One South victory over Crawley Down. It was good to see Roy Guiver taking full advantage of the dual registration system, to be on bench duty for Folkestone. Ashford United’s centre-half actually got to make an appearance, being thrown on as a striker by Neil Cugley in the 83^rd minute, once the three points had already been secured. Roy very nearly made it 5-1, with his first touch, but was just unable to turn the ball in, converging on a cross, from three yards out.

So Folkestone’s season is very much alive, with a place all but guaranteed for the hope and the glory of the promotion play-offs. That’s more than can be said for the two teams that shared the points at a cold, wet and thoroughly miserable Oakwood today. It’s true that Ashford have two fixtures remaining after today’s match, but the campaign for promotion has long been over, with no mathematical possibility remaining for overtaking leaders Bly Spartans, (which has been the only gateway to promotion in this inaugural Kent Invicta League season). The home side, ground sharing at the home of VCD Athletic in its very first season, lost all pretentions to promotion a long time ago, and began today’s Easter Monday fixture in 11^th place in this 16-team league.

This was an interesting match-up, in as much as both teams started the season as championship “possibles”, if only because they were completely unknown quantities, being new-born clubs. Interestingly, their experience has been starkly contrasting. Whilst The Management at Ashford United will ultimately be disappointed at failing to achieve the stated objective of promotion at the first time of asking, this season has been a success at so many different levels. I would guess that virtually all of the healthy number of loyal supporters that braved the conditions, this afternoon in Crayford, would say that they have enjoyed the Kent Invicta league experience, with the general standard of football having been (for most) surprisingly high. In that context, the top-five finish which is very much within United’s grasp will be seen as a very good launching pad for next season. Furthermore, whilst the strength of Ashford’s away support has been a feature of the entire season, an average home gate of around 200 has provided those who have invested in the new football club with plenty of encouragement that there is a sound foundation of support for the future.

The same cannot be said for Erith & Dartford Town. The club started the season with plenty of fanfare, and pulled off a considerable marketing coup when staging the very first Kent Invicta League match, on the Friday evening before the inaugural set of Saturday fixtures. This enabled them, no doubt, to attract a number of ground hoppers, programme collectors and other just plain curious non-league football aficionados, in an opening night audience of 300, which remains the biggest gate of the KIL to date. Ominously, perhaps, things didn’t go as much to plan on the pitch, with the visitors on that occasion, Phoenix Sports, running out 0-4 winners !  Since then, no fewer than three management teams have come and gone – with squads of players coming and going as a result – accompanied by some quite public accusations of broken promises, unpaid debts and unpaid wages. The impact of all this turmoil has, unsurprisingly, been a distinct deterioration in the team’s on-field results – with the most eye-catching debacle being a 1-8 home defeat at the hands of bottom club Orpington - and the club has begun to resemble an outfit just going through the motions of fulfilling the season’s fixtures, with the possibility of the Club not fielding a team at all in 2012-13 being the latest subject of rumour and speculation. The club is currently managed by 20 year-old Sam MacNeil, son of the thoroughly maligned Chairman, Roy, with the word on the street being that their line-up regularly includes players that are considerably younger than the manager. Every reason, therefore, for Ashford United’s players and supporters, making their way up the M2, to expect little resistance lying in wait at The Oakwood.

Early impressions did nothing to refute these pre-match expectations. Thankfully, VCD’s home is a decent ground, with the stand on one side, with its four rows of green & white seats, providing cosy shelter from the cold breeze and light rain – but the lack of a match-day programme of any kind, and the PA announcer’s failure to give any information on the team line-ups, came as no surprise. As the teams lined up before the match, it was noticeable that a very youthful Erith & Dartford team was clad in blue shirts which lacked both sponsor’s logo and club badge, and one of the boys started the game with a “16” on his back. In fact, it felt very much like Ashford had wandered into a schools’ football tournament – and this impression was reinforced by the addition of a referee who appeared himself to be considerably younger than many of the shirts in my wardrobe.

It’s slightly ironic that a heavy reliance on youth, albeit interwoven with some much more experienced legends, has been a feature of Ashford United’s inaugural Kent Invicta League season – but in most areas of the pitch, this afternoon, it was literally a case of men against boys. That’s all the more reason, then, for disappointment at the visitors’ failure to make their obvious physical advantages count – and, it must be said, for credit to be given to the Erith & Dartford lads for emerging with a well-deserved point.

I make no apologies for stating that the home side looked to be there for the taking, throughout the match, particularly during the opening quarter of an hour, when Ashford appeared to be destined for a comfortable, wide-margined victory. The first opportunity came in the opening minute, when left wing-back Richard Quigley latched onto a lobbed through-ball. Running into the Erith penalty area, he headed the ball over diminutive 16 year-old goalkeeper Louis Gardiner, and provided himself with the chance to slide the ball into an empty net, albeit from an acute angle – but thumped his shot against the near post. Nevertheless, it was no surprise when Ashford took the lead, in the fifth minute, and it was not entirely unexpected that this opening goal came as a result of a fairly comical cock-up in the Erith defence. The home number 3, (whose name was illegible on the hand-written team sheet that I later managed to get a squint at), made an unconvincing attempt at a clearance, which hit Tom Scorer in the midriff, from close range. Tom, the younger of the Scorer brothers – and comfortably Ashford’s best player, on the evidence of the first half – was able to easily pass the ball into the net.

In the eighth minute, Aaron Firth, another Ashford player to emerge from today’s game with some credit, turned left, and then right, on the corner of the six-yard box, and manufactured enough space for himself to get in a shot on goal, which was saved by Gardiner at the near post. The ball bounced around the penalty area from the resulting corner, before Firthy attempted an ambitious bicycle kick, which went well wide.

So no worries, so far, for the visiting Ashford fans who had swelled today’s gate to an official figure of 70, (at least half of whom must have been hiding from the wind and the rain). In fact, the most taxing moments had been early on in the game, when, between us, we set about the task of deducing the Ashford line-up. Everyone recognised the unmistakable figure of Mo Munden, in goal, and we soon managed to figure out the now-familiar 3-5-2 formation ahead of him. In the centre of the back three was skipper Ben Jordan, flanked by Folkestone’s finest, Roy Guiver, and Lee Coburn. The midfield unit was made up of the experienced Matt Bower, with the more youthful Liam Whiting and Sam O’Keefe – and these were flanked by the wing-backs Richard Quigley and Peter Williams, on the left and right, respectively. Tom Scorer was joined in attack by Aaron Firth. I cannot name the full complement of substitutes, but Danny Morrison came on for Sam O’Keefe, early in the second half, and both Dan Scorer and Sam Conlon were physically on the bench, but with neither expected to play, being on the long-term injury list.

Generally, quite a nice blend of youth and experience, then – and there was one player in the Erith & Dartford line-up who was conspicuously a man amongst boys. No.9 Raffa Akala, reportedly on loan from Dartford (!), had thighs that were approximately the same size as the torso of many of his team-mates, and generally stood out like Peter Crouch at a children’s party. He also had obvious ability, and his two goals, in the 14^th and 16^th minutes, turned the game on its head.

The first of these resulted from a defensive error from an Ashford defender, (which I think was Ben Jordan). He badly misjudged a long ball forward, which bounced over his head, and fell at the feet of Erith’s No.10 – and the nearest I can get to deciphering the hand-written team sheet is to guess that his name was Steve Filmer. Anyway, he fed the ball to his strike partner, Akala, whose low, diagonal, right-footed shot eluded the right hand of the diving Mo Munden. The Ashford defence appeared to still be half asleep when, just two minutes later, a simple throw-in found Akala clean through on goal. He rounded Mo Munden, and it then seemed that the unthinkable had been averted, with the ball close to the by-line, giving Akala the narrowest of angles for a shot on goal – but, with a margin for error that must have been no more than inches, he made no fuss at all about sliding the ball into the net, for a 2-1 score-line.

I don’t think that anyone present saw this coming – but it’s not unusual for goals to change games, and Ashford’s bright start soon turned into an absolutely dreadful first half performance. Of course, the knee-jerk panic response appeared to be the long, hopeful ball forward – which almost invariably gave the ball back to opponents that were now increasing in confidence – but the malaise ran deeper than that. The defence looked vulnerable, and the midfield, collectively, had a ‘mare. Passes went astray, through balls were hit to nobody, and there was a whole succession of the kind of fluffs, shanks and miss-cues that give footballers nightmares. Probably the saddest moment came in the 35^th minute, when Matt Bower, deep inside his own half, aimed to play a straightforward return pass to Roy Guiver, only to see the ball deviate from his foot at a crazy angle, and go out for a corner. Unsurprisingly, Matt is only a shadow of the player he once was, and today he seemed to be struggling to regain his touch, after having been on the side-lines with injury for much of the season.

There were, however, chances for Ashford to equalise, and so redeem this first half display to some extent, late on in the half. In the 43^rd minute, a Richard Quigley free-kick, from about the half-way line, skidded off the head of an Erith defender – the one with the illegible name – for a corner, on the right. The ever-industrious Quigley went over to take the dead-ball kick, and curled in a cross with his left foot – and a touch by Tom Scorer, at the near post, saw the ball hit the angle of bar and post. Just as a member of the Erith & Dartford backroom staff was holding up the number “1”, to indicate that there would be a minimum of one minute of added time at the end of the first half, Aaron Firth was put through on goal, in the inside-right channel, but an excellent tackle by a home defender put the ball out for another corner – just to remind ourselves that there were two teams out there, and that the 2-1 half-time score was partly due to the defensive efforts of Sam MacNeil’s young side, which was giving its all, and not just to Ashford’s incompetence.

There weren’t many people in the ground who could not guess what was awaiting the Ashford team, from Manager Paul Chambers, during the interval. Another constant theme that has run through the season has been reports of Chambo’s very vocal and uncompromising management style – and I’m searching for euphemisms, here. Anyway, given that the contingent of Ashford fans had a very healthy mix of women and children, I think it was probably a good thing that the changing rooms at VCD are located some 50 yards from the playing area, in what looks like a former cricket pavilion, at the opposite corner of the ground to the bar and snack bar area.

In fairness to the Ashford team, it must be said that the second half was a very one-sided affair, in which the determined effort to salvage the three points – which still looked there for the taking – never flagged. Goalkeeper Mo Munden was a virtual spectator for the remainder of the game, which was largely an exercise of attack versus defence, with Erith & Dartford no longer threatening to increase their lead. In this context, then, the disappointing thing has to be that Ashford were unable to muster the quality to turn their territiorial and physical dominance into goals, but there cannot be any question marks raised as to the lads’ efforts, on an afternoon which continued to be cold, wet and breezy.

The player who looked most likely to breach the home defences was Aaron Firth, who looked strong, direct and full of heart. Richard Quigley also seemed to have the tools for the job, and was involved in much of the good attacking play down the left flank.

Firthy did, however, blot his copybook in the 57^th minute, when he received a yellow card. He was put through on goal by Tom Scorer, and knocked the ball wide of the advancing goalkeeper. As the two players converged, Aaron went sprawling, with all fours wide apart. The referee, who, in spite of his youthful appearance, seemed to be well capable of doing the job, was in an excellent position, no more than 15 yards away, and directly behind the incident. Immediately, he waved his hands to signal “no penalty”, and, once that decision had been made, did absolutely the right thing in showing Firth the yellow card. (From the half-way line, side-on to the incident, my opinion is worth very little, but I’m pretty sure that the ref got this one right).

A minute earlier, we had beheld the sight of Manager Paul Chambers getting changed into his yellow and green kit. Now I’m sure that Chambers has no illusions as to his remaining prowess as a player, so the fact that he was preparing to enter the fray was probably more a sign that he felt that the lads needed closer supervision (!) – or maybe it was because he had simply run out of fit men to throw on. He had already replaced Sam O’Keefe with Danny Morrison, as early as the 48^th minute, and, when he eventually entered the fray, in the 67^th minute, it was to replace a visibly sore Matt Bower.

Prior to the manager’s self-introduction, Ashford’s efforts had failed to really trouble Louis Gardiner, in the Erith goal. A succession of corners had been dealt with, including when Gardiner took the ball off the head of Roy Guiver, in the 64^th minute, after Aaron Firth and Peter Williams had worked a short corner routine between them – but, generally, it was the defence in front of the young ‘keeper that was able to deal with every threat that Ashford provided.

Erith & Dartford’s second-half resistance finally appeared to be broken in the 70^th minute, within three minutes of Paul Chambers coming on. Tom Scorer put Aaron Firth through, again in the inside-right channel. Firth put in a good cross, and there were cheers from the Ashford bench, and from the knot of Ashford supporters huddled in Oakwood’s only stand, as Chambers himself seemed to sweep the ball into the net, from close range. Unfortunately, it soon became clear, as Chambo slumped onto the low railings behind the goal, with his head resting on his forearm, that his shot had gone the wrong side of the post, and that the ball was resting ON the back of the net, rather than in it.

Nevertheless, the manager did have an impact on the game, winning balls in the air and showing enough ball control to remind everyone that he could play a bit, in his pomp. In the 75^th minute, he came close to scoring, when he appeared to be getting on the end of a long cross, from the right. Unfortunately, for the Ashford cause, Roy Guiver, who was later booked for dissent, was also very close to getting to the cross, at the far post. Chambers did make a call, but Roy was already committed to his effort, and put the ball behind for a goal-kick, effectively taking the ball off Chambo’s head. In the context of the match, it was just one of many Ashford attacks that failed to deliver the killer blow – but I get the impression that the incident might not do a great deal to improve harmony in the dressing-room. (On the subject of peace and harmony, the largely unemployed Mo Munden was shown a yellow card by the ref, before play restarted – and I can only imagine that this must have been for his commentary on the incident).

On a happier note, Chambers did play a part in the Ashford equaliser, in the 78^th minute. He was ambling back from what was clearly an off-side position, after a previous attack had broken down, when a ball was played over an Erith defensive line that appeared to be waiting for an off-side whistle. Aaron Firth ran onto the ball, from a position that was just as clearly on-side, rounded the goalkeeper and calmly rolled the ball into an empty net. Strangely, in a way that mirrored Paul Chambers’ near-miss, some eight minutes earlier, the ball actually sneaked through a hole in the back of the net, so there was a horrible moment when it appeared that Firthy had missed an open goal – but he was to be seen celebrating with the Ashford fans behind the goal, and it was 2-2.

There was no let-up in Ashford’s pursuit of a winning goal – but it did not materialise. It was not a great surprise that Aaron Firth came closest, in the time that remained. With just two minutes remaining of normal time, he ran onto a through-ball from defence, down the right flank, cut in, and saw a good effort foiled by an even better diving save by goalkeeper Louis Gardiner. In the dying moments of the game, Danny Morrison saw his shot from long range deflected behind for a corner, and Liam Whiting headed just over the bar, from a corner, but the match ended all square.

I think that Manager Paul Chambers will have felt that this was very much a case of two points dropped – although the addition of just one point to the season’s total is not likely to make a great deal of difference, in the final analysis, with Ashford United seemingly heading for fourth or fifth spot in the league in the season of the Club’s rebirth. On the other side of things, I think that the young Erith & Dartford players are entitled to feel very proud of the point they gained, this afternoon, having looked over-faced by a physically stronger, and more experienced, Ashford side.

Phoenix Sports v Ashford United. Kent Invicta League. 4th of February 2012.

Phoenix Sports    3             Ashford United     0

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

It was a real surprise that this game was on, today. With night temperatures 3 or 4 degrees below freezing all week, and with the entire Kent League Premier Division fixtures wiped out, this afternoon, it seemed that Saturday morning’s 10am inspection at Mayplace Road East, in Bexleyheath, would be a mere formality. It was a shock to the system, therefore, when it was announced on the AUFC Forum that the match was ON. So I had to (for once) abandon breakfast, and think fast in terms of what I could, and should, grab, prior to rushing off to catch the 11.05am train out of Milton Keynes Central, to London Euston.

In those “Golden Five Minutes”, what are a man’s priorities ?  I soon decided that the thermal underwear and woolly hat were top of the list, followed by Your Correspondent’s notebook and pencil – and then it was time to fly out the door.

I was horrified to find that the railway station was absolutely heaving with people, with queues for the bank of ticket machines – but I managed to get to the train with seconds to spare, and so embarked on the journey of just over two hours to Barnehurst, via London Bridge. There were quite a few Arsenal fans accompanying me on my trip to The Smoke – which suggested that there were still some who have not given up on Arsѐne Wenger’s tippy-tappy warriors – but my thoughts were focused on the Kent Invicta League, and Ashford United’s meeting with Phoenix Sports, who began the day in 4^th place, still with a realistic chance of catching Bly Spartans and Bridon Ropes at the top of the league. Ashford had been playing well, leading up to this game, thanks mainly to a mid-season influx of experience and quality, in the form of the likes of Mo Takaloo, Roy Guiver and Jimmy Dryden – but a poor start to the season has meant that there was no margin for error left now, with the team lying 13 points behind leaders Bly, at the start of play, with just the two games in hand.

Mo Takaloo was actually missing today. Along with Club Captain Ollie Finch, he was continuing to serve a suspension. This provided the opportunity for Ben Jordan to skipper the side this afternoon. The best news, however, was that, due to the postponement of Hythe Town’s game at Walton & Hersham, Jimmy Dryden was able to make one more appearance for Ashford, having been called back to his parent club earlier in the week.

The other significant piece of team news was that former Ashford Town captain Matt Bower was back, after a long absence with injury. He took his place in a back three of himself, Jordan and Lee Coburn, in front of ‘keeper Billy Rice, with Sam Conlon on the right and Richard Quigley on the left acting as wing-backs. Roy Guiver started the game in central midfield, alongside Liam Whiting. Dan Scorer was on the left wing – or wherever he was required to take a dead-ball kick – and Jimmy Dryden was up front with Peter Williams.

Completing the roll-call, Stephen McKentishfootball was present with his reporter’s hat on, with both Tony Betteridge and Ernie Warren braving the bitter cold alongside the other Ashford United supporters.

Denise Richmond was also in attendance. Denise is Chairperson of the Kent League, and one of the architects of the new Kent Invicta League. I am not a mind reader, but I imagine that she would have seen this fixture as being just about the best advert for Step 6 football in Kent that she could have. This was an event that was well attended – with the crowd of 141 owing much to the usual good attendance from Ashford – and which was staged in a nice facility. Set in the heart of suburban, semi-detached Sarf London, the Phoenix Sports Ground has a decent bar and a snack bar situated at one end of a post & railed pitch which is level, if slightly sloping. Whilst there is no stand or terracing for spectators, a good view on the half-way line was available from the slightly raised bank behind the dug-outs. The pitch itself looked to be in remarkably good shape, and played very firm and bouncy.

In spite of the very cold temperature, the day was at least sunny and bright, certainly in the first half, and the ground had a nice openness about it. The afternoon began to be spoilt for us, however, at precisely 2.10pm, when the home side took the lead. Centre-forward Alfie Harris – who, ironically, is the image of Gary Lockyer in stature and style – sent in a low, diagonal shot, from about 20 yards out, which found the corner of the Ashford net, past a diving Billy Rice. It was a well-struck shot, but I am forming the impression that Billy Rice doesn’t save a great deal, and that anything heading for the corner of his net is likely to beat him.

Just two minutes later, Alfie Harris again found the ball at his feet, this time inside the Ashford area, but he was only able to hit the ball straight at Rice.

Ashford, playing in their Norwich City-style away strip, given Phoenix’s colours of green shirts, black shorts and black sockies, took a while to get into the game, and the first sign of any quality came in the 18^th minute, when Sam Conlon did some good work on the left, forcing the first of a whole succession of Ashford corners in the match – but Dan Scorer’s cross came to nothing. A minute later, a good, diagonal ball from Dan Scorer found Sam Conlon on the right, but the Phoenix defence managed to block the ball behind, for a corner. This time, Scorer pulled something out of the bag that had obviously been devised on the training ground. He drove the ball low, to Richard Quigley, who was stationed well outside the penalty area – with two Ashford players letting the ball go by.  Quigley struck the ball well, and his low, left-footed drive seemed to be heading for the corner of the net, before the home side’s impressive goalie, Stuart Harvey, made a good diving save.

The visitors had several corners in a brief period of dominance, having finally hit their stride – but it was Phoenix Sports who came close to scoring in the 24^th minute. A throw-in, from the right, skidded off the top of an Ashford head, and found Sam Prett unmarked in the area – but he was unable to keep his hooked shot down, and his effort went over the bar.

Ashford’s attempts on goal in the first half were restricted to shots from long range. Lee Coburn let fly with a shot from some 30 yards, in the 31^st minute. Whilst this effort was always going wide, Peter Williams very nearly diverted the ball goalwards with an instinctive header. In the 34^th minute, shortly after Matt Bower had deflected an Alfie Harris shot, from close range, behind for a corner, Lee Coburn again hit a well-struck shot, from a similar distance to his previous effort, and this time it required another good save from Harvey.

Constructive passing movements from Ashford United were very rare, this afternoon, but, in the 37^th minute, Jimmy Dryden spread the ball wide to Sam Conlon, on the right, in a move that culminated in Dan Scorer hitting a left-footed shot wide of the far post. Still Ashford pressed forward, and the corners kept on coming – but the home defence stood firm, with the tall Stuart Harvey catching whatever crosses his defenders could not clear.

The sun disappeared at the start of the second half – which did nothing to ease the biting cold.

In the 48^th minute, a shot by Dan Scorer was well caught by Harvey, and Liam Whiting hit a shot over the bar in the 51^st minute – upon which Ashford Manager Paul Chambers immediately made a substitution, replacing Richard Quigley with Aaron Firth.

In the 55^th minute, there was the rare sight of Roy Guiver bursting into the opposition’s penalty area. Guiver tried to touch the ball over the tall ‘keeper, who palmed the ball out to Jimmy Dryden, who was in a central position, just inside the penalty area. This was Ashford’s best chance of the match to date, and there was no other man that the visiting fans would rather have seen the ball fall to than Jimmy – but he was unable to get over the ball, and sliced his shot high, and over the bar. Two minutes later, the visitors had an even better chance to equalise. Sam Conlon did some good work, moving through the Phoenix half, and found Roy Guiver in the penalty area, with a clear sight of goal. Roy virtually had a one-on-one with the ‘keeper, here, but he shot the ball straight at Stuart Harvey, who saved with his knee.

And that was the closest that Ashford came to scoring.

In the 66^th minute, Tom Scorer was sent on in place of Peter Williams – but it was a minute later that there was a potentially pivotal incident in the game, and one which completely went against Ashford. Liam Whiting made a superb tackle on Phoenix’s Danny Frost. It was hard, but fair, and he won the ball cleanly – but his momentum caused him to upend Frost, and that now appears, according to a ludicrous modern fad in football, to be a free-kick offence. Worse was to follow. Frost obviously took exception to being tackled, so retaliated with a right cross to Liam’s jaw. I actually thought that the Ashford No.7 did well to ride the punch – but the key point was that a punch was thrown, and everybody in the ground saw it, except, apparently, for the referee and his linesman on the far side. After discussing the issue between them, the result was that the ref booked Liam Whiting for his excellent tackle – and no action at all was taken against Frost. To say that the Ashford bench was incensed would be an understatement – and their mood wasn’t improved when the lino in front of them admitted that he had seen Frost throw the punch, but thought that he’d let his two colleagues sort out the incident themselves.

This is the sort of injustice that football fans dwell upon, especially when they’re desperate for a break to go their way – and those on the Ashford bench were certainly never able to let it drop – but the truth is that United were never able to get behind, or around or through the Phoenix defence. I didn’t think that Phoenix looked anything out of the ordinary, to be honest, but they did the simple things well, and Ashford never really bothered Harvey in their goal. That is in spite of the fact that Ashford actually had the better of the second half, and looked impressive when either of the Scorer brothers was on the ball. In the 73^rd minute, for example, young Tom showed great skill and footwork on the left flank – but his efforts resulted in nothing better than yet another corner.

Whilst Phoenix looked fairly workmanlike for most of the game, it was a moment of great individual skill that led to the home side’s second goal, in the 80^th minute. Adam Cuthbert picked the ball up on the left side of the field, and took it infield, before drilling the ball into the bottom corner of the net. The fact that Ashford United is the team that every other team in the Kent Invicta League most wants to beat was reflected in the celebrations of the Phoenix Sports bench, which spilt out onto the playing area.

Three minutes later, Phoenix completed Ashford’s humiliation when Alfie Harris scored the home side’s third goal, and his second. The strong No.9 collected a through-ball, well inside the Ashford box, and with his back to goal. He looked every inch the accomplished centre-forward when he turned and hammered the ball past Billy Rice – but there was just a suspicion that the Ashford bench thought that his task had been made too easy, by some slack Ashford defending.

By this time, Roy Guiver had been operating in the front line, with Jimmy Dryden either playing in the hole behind the two front men, or trying to create something from midfield – but the game was all over, bar the shouting. Aaron Firth had a chipped attempt that went over the bar, from just outside the area, and Lee Coburn attempted yet another long-range shot – but the visitors never found the net, and the game finished 3-0.

There was much swearing and muttering from the Ashford bench at the final whistle – mostly aimed at the performance of the three officials – but I am sure that they must have been disappointed that the team had failed to really bother the Phoenix defence. Having said that, Ashford’s performance was nowhere near as bad as the 3-0 score-line seems to suggest – but this defeat must surely have finally put paid to any chance that they had of gaining promotion from the Kent Invicta League this season.

ARCHIVE: Witney Town v Ashford Town. Doc Martens League Division 1 East. 2000-1 season.

Witney Town     1       Ashford Town         3

from your Milton Keynes correspondent

I hate to bore you all with this again, but that statistic is building up - 32 games without a draw this season at the start of this match, which is quite an exceptional stat. And so’s this one : only one clean sheet in 32 games; although I should add that the lads have only failed to score in seven of them. And whilst I have the attention of all you anoraks, here’s a question,

Q. : What does Witney Town FC have in common with Real Madrid, Manchester United and Doncaster Belles ?

A. : They’ve NEVER beaten Ashford Town at home. (Mind you, the other three probably would if we ever played them !).

So what could we expect from the trip to Witney ?  Not a bad side, Witney - 11th in the table (two places above us), but, curiously, the worst-supported side in the division, with an average home crowd of just over a hundred (which is basically just Mums and Dads ! ). Thanks go to Tonbridge Angels’ excellent web-site for that gem of information, by the way.

Cracking performances away to Premier Division sides Grays, Crawley and Weymouth this season had shown that Ashford were perfectly capable of getting a result here, but it had all started to get a bit sloppy of late - a run of four consecutive defeats, including three against teams in the bottom five of our division !  If it were merely a question of motivation, then today’s match was going to be a test - out of all cup competitions, and just the 21 league matches to complete, with a final position somewhere in mid-table virtually guaranteed. Would the boys realise that next year’s push for promotion - and surely that can’t be too outrageous to hope for - starts NOW ?!

I went to the corresponding fixture a couple of years ago - the first time I’d seen the team play for some time. When we were 0-2 up with 20 minutes to play, I tried to cast my mind back to the last time that I had actually seen Ashford win (must’ve been some time before Walsall beat us 1-3 in the FA Cup at Essella Park in the seventies !).  I went up to three old boys in green & white scarves, who were obviously regulars, and said : “Do you realise that, if we hang on here, it’ll be the first time I’ve seen Ashford win for 25 years ?!”. The little one in the middle (who turned out to be Pat Earl !) said : “Well, it takes us a long time sometimes !!”. We held on to win 0-2 ! 

Witney’s new ground, Marriotts Stadium, is situated in an industrial estate just beyond the western outskirts of the town. It’s handy to drive to - just off the A40, and with plenty of car parking space. It took us just 1¼ hours to drive from Milton Keynes. It’s a strange sort of a ground, dominated by a huge, almost square, stand, which is almost as deep as it is long. It’s an impressive building, though, and, with only about 250 seats stuck on the front of it, (and most of those never have a bum near them), it’s obviously intended to be a multi-function facility. As for the rest of the ground, there is a covered standing area on the other side of the pitch, and a stand at one end - unfortunately, the end from which the wind whistles in is open. This is the wind that was cooling the back of Craig Tucker’s neck in the first half. Apart from the wind, it was a fine, sunny day in Oxfordshire, (although my wife, of course, was freezing – sometimes, it’s like being married to Alan Green !), but the pitch looked a bit patchy even before the kick-off.

The team news was interesting - no Steve Marshall up front, and no Steve Robinson, so Tony Eeles captained the side in his absence. There was also a new name for me - Joe Cornwall in defence (sorry, Joe, if I’ve got your name wrong !). With both Jon Warden and Nicky Arundel leaving the Club in mid-week, to return to Kent League football, there was a starting place for the promising Dave Peachey, alongside Player-Coach Steve Lovell. The fact that Assistant Manager Peter “Ashford ‘til I die” McRobert was also named among the three substitutes probably betrayed the fact that Tommy Sampson was a bit light on personnel for this game - I’m sure that the inside story will be revealed in Tommy’s column on this web-site before long ! 

So it was a 4-4-2 formation for Ashford, with Paul Ribbens wide on the right and Kirk Watts wide on the left in midfield, playing in white shirts, green shorts and white socks. (I actually have a soft spot for this strip - it’s the combination that we invariably wore in the early seventies, when we had what was arguably our best ever side; the days when Peter Sillett was in charge and Alan Morton was banging in all those goals; when Scarborough robbed us 1-0 in the semi-final of the FA Trophy, with a very dodgy penalty !).

There was certainly plenty of time to reminisce in the first quarter of an hour of the match, as nothing of any note happened in this time - as the match reporters on the radio say : “I’ve written nothing in my note book !”  This was not due to any shortage of endeavour from the players - it’s just that everything was compressed into the middle third of the pitch. There was a strange, Sunday afternoon atmosphere about the game - blue skies, and with both benches making marginally more noise than the very sparse crowd.

Then, after 16 minutes, Jason Ash put the ball out for a corner to Witney. As the ball was swung across, the referee blew up for a free-kick - it was not immediately clear which team had been penalised. There was no reaction from the crowd - mainly because there was no crowd - and both sets of players seemed to be querying the decision. Dave Peachey was in the area, looking both bewildered and disappointed, and the referee seemed to be making his way towards the penalty spot - a penalty, maybe ?  I heard someone in the home crowd say “Oh, good”, so that confirmed it. The word filtering back to the touchline from the players was that the penalty was for pushing, against Dave Peachey.

There was no doubt about the spot-kick, though - Witney’s Keith Knight planted the ball firmly to Craig Tucker’s left, to become the home side’s top scorer this season, with nine goals. So 1-0 to the Blanketmen. (If you know your industrial history, you won’t need any explanation for this nickname !).

Ashford reacted to going behind by picking up the pace, and looked slightly the better side for most of the rest of the half, but still made little headway in terms of an equaliser. Steve Lovell looked strong, and won plenty of balls in the air, but seemed to miss his regular striking partner. A nod-down by Lovell, after 21 minutes, did, however, lead to Ashford’s only recognisable chance in the first period, with midfielder Adrian Webster picking the ball up and running at the Witney defence. The Australian transferred the ball onto his right foot, and shot low, but just wide.

The only other glimmer of hope for the visitors before half-time came after 43 minutes when Lovell controlled the ball on his chest, swivelled and shot, but the effort was a weak one, and, as the old-timers say, the goalie could have “thrown his cap on it”. Incidentally, although it’s old news now, I feel I should say something about Steve’s decision to stick with the job at Ashford, instead of taking the offer of the Manager’s post at Sittingbourne. This is an important “barometer reading”. Obviously, a bloke like him will have some long-term ambitions to go into management, so the fact that he (and also Tommy) have pledged their immediate future to The Homelands sends a message to players, supporters and officials alike that there might be something worth persevering with at the Club !  Well, Tommy, for one, is certainly not doing it for the money !  Let’s hope that their loyalty is repaid some day.

A quiet half ended with a scare for Ashford. A cross from the Witney right was headed goalwards, and, with Tucker beaten, was cleared off the line by the newcomer Cornwall. So very little to report in the “incidents” column - Webster’s shot for Ashford, a soft penalty for Witney, and neither goalie actually making a save.

And so to half-time, and a pleasant surprise in the music department - rather than the usual seventies rubbish belting out on the tanoy (the curse of the smaller football ground), there was a first chance to hear a new release. Bruce Grobelaar’s debut single. A catchy cover version of Bob the Builder’s Christmas hit. Just love that chorus : -

            “           Grob the Builder,

                        Can he fix it ?

                        Grob the Builder,

                        YES HE CAN !!        ”

(What was the number of that solicitor’s again, Steve ?!)

The second half began much more brightly, with Ashford out of the traps pretty quickly. Our first attack, in the first minute, ended with a foul on Dave Peachey. Tony Eeles found Peachey’s head from the resulting free-kick, but the ball was put behind for a corner.

Moments later, it was the home side - playing in all-yellow, as usual - who came forward. Joe Cornwall committed the cardinal sin for a defender - he was caught in possession as the last man !  The Witney player who robbed him, first half substitute Richard Bourne, bore down on the Ashford goal, but shot straight into Craig Tucker’s arms.

Two minutes into the second half, Ashford won a throw-in, deep in the Witney half, on the right. Paul Ribbens threw the ball long, into the penalty area, where it fell at the feet of Tony Eeles. The stand-in skipper seemed to have all the time in the world, and was able to pass the ball into the far corner of the net. Yet another goal in a prolific season for the midfield general, and “i verdibianchi” were all square.

(Okay, so I’m being flash coming out with the italian - but you have to admit that it adds a touch of class to the web-site).

Tommy Sampson’s boys then largely took control of the game, having the lion’s share of possession and doing all the pressing. After 54 minutes, Tom Binks came on as sub for Joe Cornwall, after which Steve Taylor pushed further forward down the right, linking up well with Paul Ribbens. In this half - whether or not it was by chance or by design - it was young Dave Peachey who was the target of most long balls forward, and, in spite of his slight frame (he’s built rather like Rodney Trotter !), he was strong and competitive. But still the flick-ons and lay-offs didn’t quite come off.

To be honest, Ashford’s dominance was helped by Witney Town being fairly poor during this period - the best that they could offer in response to the equaliser was a speculative, long-range shot from Mike Cook, which was again straight into Tucker’s arms.

The next clear-cut chance fell to the visitors, after 55 minutes. Steve Lovell was fouled, deep in the Witney half. Tony Eeles’s free-kick was only half cleared, and Paul Ribbens’ header back into the danger zone found Dave Peachey on the edge of the six-yard box. As a natural goal-scorer, he looked odds-on to put the lads in the lead, but he pulled his shot across the face of the goal. (“Rodders, you plonker !”).

After 63 minutes, young David won yet another ball in the air, which Steve Lovell ran onto - unfortunately, he got the shot completely wrong, and sliced it well wide. Well, as Coach, you sometimes have to show the youngsters how NOT to do it !

By the time the home side made their second substitution - Geoff Neville, in the 64th minute - the pitch was beginning to cut up very badly, but Ashford were still in control, with most of our best work continuing to come down the right , through Steve Taylor and the excellent Paul Ribbens. The fact that the right wing area began to resemble a ploughed field told us something about the way the match was going !

After 67 minutes, it was Taylor who made in-roads into the Blanketmen’s penalty area, getting to the by-line before being brought down. Gentle appeals for the penalty were turned down, and the Nuts & Bolts had to settle for a corner on the right. This was taken by Kirk Watts, who had been having a quiet second half, after looking quite lively in the first period, but his cross was headed wide.

Just after the hour mark, the home side did come back into the game a little more, but could manage only a corner, after 69 minutes, which resulted in an Ashford free-kick for a foul on goalkeeper Tucker, and another optimistic long-range effort, that went well over the bar, on 70 minutes.

It was at about this time that there was the most amusing incident of the game. One of the Witney players responded to some on-going stick from an Ashford fan behind the goal by shouting : “Shut up, Noddy Holder !”. (A reference to his Barnet !). That was really refreshing. A fan being barracked by a player. It could only happen in non-league footy ! 

Witney had a rather better chance after 76 minutes, when goal scorer Keith Knight was put clean through on goal. Craig Tucker came out to meet him, and Knight pulled his shot wide - he should have done better.

After 82 minutes, Ashford won a throw-in on the left, level with the penalty area. Again, they tried the long-throw routine - the throw was flicked on at the near post, and Tony Eeles was waiting at the far side of the box, as the last man, and drilled the ball into the corner of the net, hitting roughly the same spot that he had for the equaliser. Inevitably, there was the chant of : “Eelesy, Eelesy, Goal Machine” from the Ashford faithful behind the goal. The nickname “Goal Machine” has always meant to be ironic, as Tony has, traditionally, not scored the number of goals that you might expect from a player with his talent, but he’s certainly been banging the goals in this season !  1-2 to the Greens !

Witney never threatened to come back after this - their only remaining goal attempt came with a free-kick outside the penalty area, with two minutes to go, which was hit straight at Craig Tucker.

Then with 90 minutes on the watch - Scott McRobert having replaced Kirk Watts five minutes earlier - Dave Peachey burst onto a lobbed through-ball from midfield, leaving the home defence for dead. In a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Tom King, Peachey shaped to curl the shot into the net with his in-step - King got a hand to the ball, but could not prevent it from ending up in the top corner of the net. A good striker’s goal for David, and one which was just reward for his good battling performance in the second half.

The 1-3 scoreline was also just reward for the team, for bossing the last 45 minutes, having been a goal down to a soft penalty at half-time. The victory was just what Tommy needed, after four consecutive defeats - let’s hope that the boys can now go on to finish the season strongly, to set us up for a promotion campaign next season. There are plenty of stern tests to come this term, though - we still have the Isle of Wight to play twice, Hastings to play twice, and have to go to the likes of Grantham and Rothwell. Also, Histon will be no push-overs.

Which brings us back to those amazing statistics. The magic number is now 33 : 16 wins, 17 defeats ...... and no draws. Also, Witney still haven’t beaten us on their home ground - either in this new stadium, or at their old place. Spare a thought for Craig Tucker and the defence, though - they were really unlucky not to have doubled their tally of clean sheets for the season !