Greenwich Borough v Ashford United. Isthmian League Division 1 South. 4th of November 2017.

Greenwich Borough  5                

Ashford United  0

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

A fortnight ago, my 2017-18 Isthmian League adventure began with a visit to Carshalton Athletic, a team and a ground that I had not seen before. Today’s trip to Eltham, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, was for a different type of fixture – a return to a familiar, Southern Counties East stamping ground, namely Badgers Sports Club, in Middle Park Avenue.

Ashford United both enjoyed wide-margin victories, and endured the odd heavy defeat, when the ground ‘belonged’ to Cray Valley Paper Mills FC, with Erith Town being their ground sharers. But things have changed, and the green & black livery of Cray Valley has now been replaced with the rossoneri of Greenwich Borough FC.

As a club, The Boro’ is unrecognisable from the one that finished last of 16 in 2011-12, and 15^th of 17 in 2012-13, in what was then still known as the Kent League, in front of crowds that quite frequently dipped below 30 (thirty). For the past few seasons, the club has been (apparently) extremely well bankrolled, and promotion from the SCEFL as champions, in 2015-16, was followed by a very impressive third-place finish in the (then) Ryman League Division 1 South, the highest level at which the club has ever competed. Occupying third place in the league this morning, it seems certain that Boro’ will be among the front-runners for the title this year.

The two clubs first competed in the same league during the 2013-14 season, when Ashford United were definitely in the ascendancy, winning 1-0 at home and 0-2 away in the league, and 4-1 at home in a cup game. The following season, Ashford again maintained their unbeaten record against today’s hosts, with a 1-1 draw at Homelands and a quite remarkable 1-4 victory away, when Boro’ ground shared at Dartford’s Prince’s Park ground. The reason this was such an amazing game is that, in spite of the scoreline, I can promise you that our boys were under the cosh for at least the final 80 minutes of the match. On that occasion, Ashford were grateful for a ‘worldie’ from Liam Whiting, two well-taken goals from Stuart Zanone and another from Gary Clarke. They were also happy to have Pat Kingwell in central defence, leading the resistance to the onslaught from a very good Greenwich Borough attack.

Maybe Greenwich’s quality going forward was a sign of things to come, because, in the following season, their championship-winning season, they beat us 4-2 at Prince’s Park, and then 0-2 at Homelands in the final game of that season. This year, they have already registered a victory against us – a 0-2 win at Homelands, in the cup – further emphasising the transfer of the balance of power between the two clubs.

[ A strange quirk about Greenwich’s last three games against Ashford United is that Big George Kamurasi, who recently left us for The Boro’, didn’t play in any of them. In goal for Ashford on those occasions were, (in the order in which the games are mentioned): Dan Eason (replaced by Nick Luen after 57 minutes, due to injury), Dan Cook and Aaron Lee-Wharton. ]

Well, if the difference between the two clubs needed re-emphasising, then today’s game certainly did that. This was an embarrassingly one-sided game, which never looked like being more than a formality for the home team. Even if we choose to write off the game on the grounds that this developing Ashford side couldn’t be expected to seriously compete with a side pushing for promotion to the Isthmian Premier Division, and concentrate on signs of the green shoots of improvement that can be taken from the match – then very few emerged this afternoon.

Ashford Manager Jason Whitmore certainly appeared to be expecting a tough afternoon ahead, as he set the team up with Stuart Zanone on his own up front, with a clear strategy of trying to stay as compact and solid as possible. I cannot fault the logic of that strategy – with the Greenwich back four watching Stuart, then surely Ashford’s remaining ten players could take care of Greenwich’s other six ? – but the outcome was merely that Ashford looked as unlikely to score as they had done at Carshalton, two weeks ago. Stuart cut a lone figure up front, and it was hard not to rue the fact that, at a time when we are desperate for someone who can put the ball in the net, we have a 47 goals a season striker who is hardly getting a kick !

If it was a long afternoon for Stuart, then it was also a busy day for his brother, Sam, who was making his debut for the Nuts & Bolts. Sam was in the centre of defence, alongside John Difford – with Pat Kingwell named as one of the five substitutes. Sam is of a similar build to his brother, suggesting that Mrs Zanone hasn’t made many puny boys, and certainly looked the part. There was also the reassuring sight of Frazer Walker at right-back, with Tommy Cooney at left-back.

This was my first look at Jason Hollick. My understanding is that Jason is a centre-back, but he seemed to be playing in a central midfield role today, just in front of the back four. Ben Davisson provided energy in the middle of the park, alongside Joe Bingham, and also wore the captain’s arm band, in the absence of Pat Kingwell. Max Watters and Luke Eldridge provided the width to the midfield – in theory.

Ashford certainly had a strong-looking bench, which included Matt Day, (who scored four goals, on Thursday night, in our very successful youth team’s 5-0 victory), Jack Healey, Clark Woodcock and Tom Draper.

The Greenwich Borough line-up, as expected, was full of quality, with the first two on the teamsheet – George Kamurasi and Nathan Paul – being ex-Ashford players. But the name that jumped out at me was that of Jack Barham. Not only does he bear my father’s name, but he is certainly making a name for himself, reportedly attracting the interest of some football league clubs.

Unusually, Jason Hollick started the game wearing the No.12 shirt – but all of the Greenwich team and substitutes wore squad numbers. It’s probably a good thing that Ashford haven’t opted for the squad number approach, since, at the current rate of player registrations, we’d be into three digits before the end of the season. Sam Zanone was the 50^th player to be used this season, and Tom Draper became the 51^st when he came on as a second-half substitute.

Kicking up The Badgers’ slope in the first half, Ashford were soon under pressure. As early as the second minute, a foul by Sam Zanone on Charlie Macdonald presented the home wide with a free-kick in a dangerous, central position. This was taken by Ali Fuseini, with No.17 on his back, but his curling shot over the defensive wall was comfortably caught by Aaron Lee-Wharton, in the Ashford goal. In the fifth minute, Danny Fitzsimmons went close with a glancing header from a corner, which flashed across the face of goal.

Two minutes later, Aaron got himself into a bit of trouble when trying to play football with his back four. An awkward pass forced him into a tussle with a Greenwich forward, which took him all the way to the touchline. Aaron had no choice but to put the ball out, but his goal was now unguarded. An attempted chip into the empty net, following a quickly-taken throw-in, went just over the bar.

In spite of the traffic being generally one-way – down the hill, towards the Ashford goal – the visitors had competed and defended pretty well in the early stages of the game. But a theme emerging for Ashford’s season appears to be the propensity to concede a penalty just at the wrong time, either early on or just before half time, and this happened today, in the 13^th minute. As a Greenwich player darted into the penalty area, he went down under a challenge from Sam Zanone – and the speed with which Referee Michael Marsh made the decision, and the lack of protest from the Ashford players, did nothing to suggest that this wasn’t the correct decision.

After Aaron’s heroic penalty save in the opening minutes of the Carshalton Athletic game, there was every hope that he might repeat the act, as Charlie Macdonald stepped up to take the kick. But Aaron was given no chance, as Macdonald smashed the ball into the roof of the net. The Greenwich No.8 really should have added a second goal, just three minutes later, after some excellent work by Jack Barham, who twisted and turned inside the Ashford area, before finding Macdonald with a low cross. Just six yards out, with just Lee-Wharton to beat, Macdonald rather rushed his shot, pulling it wide.

To cut a 90-minute story short, the home side was in control of this game virtually throughout. What didn’t help Ashford’s cause was that we gave the ball away almost as soon as we had it, players all over the field hurriedly misplacing a pass, or aiming an aimless long ball up-field, which was invariably easily absorbed by the Greenwich defence. Although I haven’t had the privilege of watching any of Jason Whitmore’s youth teams play, I cannot believe that he coaches them to just punt the ball up-field, so I was surprised to find the senior team apparently adopting this tactic this afternoon.

Charlie Macdonald scored his, and Greenwich’s, second goal in the 27^th minute. Francis Babalola and Tom Carlse combined nicely with an exchange of passes in the left half of the Ashford penalty area, which resulted in a low cross along the Ashford six-yard line. Macdonald was free at the far post, and had no trouble in thumping the ball into the roof of the net, once again. His muted, understated celebrations appeared to betray a sense of embarrassment at how easy it had been to score…..

And so the pressure on the Ashford goal continued, and I lost count of the number of Greenwich corners. In the 29^th minute, one was conceded after Tom Cooney did well in coming across with a covering tackle. The resulting cross found Danny Fitzsimmons beyond the far post, and his powerful header appeared to be goal-bound, but Sam Zanone headed the ball to safety, albeit only just wide of the angle of post and bar.

Sam’s brother, Stuart, actually had a sight of goal in the 35^th minute, and, typically of the way in which he has had to live off scraps in his current spell with the club, this chance emerged out of nothing. Max Watters did well to charge down a clearance from the Greenwich back line, and the ball broke to Stuart’s feet. With time to measure his shot, he struck the ball well, forcing Big George Kamurasi to make a good save, falling to his left. Stuart latched onto the rebound, but his second shot went straight at the ‘keeper, and George was able to make a more comfortable save.

Just three minutes later, Joe Bingham had possession of the ball deep inside the Greenwich half, but he sliced his shot horribly. In the 42^nd minute, Jason Hollick made even more of a Horlicks of a shot at goal, with his attempt actually going out for a throw-in – but at least the lads had started to play some football, as half time approached. The last act of the first half, however, saw Jack Barham sprawling in the penalty area, looking to the referee for a penalty – but Mr Marsh did no more than give the home side yet another corner.

It was actually quite surprising that the Boro’s lead was only 2-0 at the break, but the writing was definitely on the wall, with it being hard to envisage Ashford getting into the game, even at this early stage. Worse was to follow, during the interval, with the news that bottom club Shoreham were leading Hastings United 1-0. If the scores stayed the same, then it would be Ashford at the bottom this evening.

The second half began with the Badgers Sports Ground floodlights illuminating, and with Jack Barham replacing the fluorescent lime green boots he wore in the first half, with an equally gaudy pair of pink ones. (I don’t know what my old Dad would have said about pink boots !).

There were also reports of some harsh words being exchanged among the players in the Ashford dressing room – but, whatever had been said, there appeared to be no improvement in performance on the pitch, as, in the opening minutes of the half, the dangerous Francis Babalola was allowed to bear down on the Ashford penalty area, unchallenged. Babalola was probably the home side’s best player this afternoon, and is not a player to be granted such freedom. Under no pressure, and with a clear sight of goal, he let fly with a low shot which eluded a full-stretch Aaron Lee-Wharton, and came off the inside of the foot of the post.

It took Greenwich just six minutes of the second half to extend the lead to 3-0, and effectively secure the three points that took them up into second place in the league table. Although Jack Barham didn’t get onto the scoresheet this afternoon, he can certainly claim what the Americans would call ‘an assist’ for this goal. Running onto a through ball, with good pace, down the left channel, he fizzed a low cross into the Ashford six-yard box. Arriving at the far post, unmarked, Francis Babalola had the simple task of scoring from close range.

Immediately, Boro’ Manager Gary Alexander – the Bostik South Manager of the Month for October - felt relaxed enough to make his first substitution, replacing Charlie Macdonald with Travis Gregory. Three minutes later, Jason Whitmore made his first change, with Tom Draper making his Ashford debut, replacing Jason Hollick.

On about the hour mark, Ashford had two good attempts at goal, with the first of these being foiled by what I reckon was the save of the day. A foul on Stuart Zanone resulted in a free-kick, in a very central position, and about 25 yards out. Ben Davisson had given the ball away as often as any Ashford player, this afternoon, but one thing he can do is hit a dead ball like a rocket. Two weeks ago, at Carshalton, his Exocet, from a free-kick, led to Matt Day’s late consolation goal, in the 4-2 defeat. This time, his uncomplicated strike would have beaten most goalkeepers at this level, but Big George made a great diving save, hurling himself to his left. Moments later, he was forced to make another good stop, after substitute Tom Draper shot from long range. However, the ball broke to Max Watters, who whacked a terrific shot against the post, with George beaten.

Soon after, it was Aaron Lee-Wharton’s turn to make a good save. The chance for the home side was created by Francis Babalola, who was continuing to give Ashford left-back Tom Cooney a torrid time. In spite of Cooney’s efforts, Babalola’s low cross found Ali Fuseini, in the centre, whose shot was turned onto the post by the diving Lee-Wharton.

The 65^th minute saw a substitution made by both managers – Gary Alexander replacing Sam Corne with Liam Hickey, and Jason Whitmore introducing Matt Day in place of Luke Eldridge – and the 71^st minute saw Greenwich Borough make the score 4-0. The home side was barely tested this afternoon, but Gary Alexander’s men nevertheless showed real quality with this goal, largely in the speed of its execution. After a pacy charge down the left flank, Travis Gregory pulled the ball back from the by-line, before it was swept into the net by Tom Carlse, arriving at speed.

The final substitutions made were Jack Healey on for Joe Bingham, in the 74^th minute, and then Kaka Dembele replacing Jack Barham, in the 77^th – and then The Boro’ completed the rather routine rout in the 81^st minute. This was a variation on the general theme of on-the-ground football that the home side had played to date, the fifth goal coming from a deep cross from the right. This was met perfectly by Ali Fuseini, at the far post, who directed a bullet header onto the far bottom corner of the net.

An anxious search of the inter-web for the latest score at Shoreham revealed that The Musselmen still led Hastings 1-0………..

Tom Draper, who had been the first of Ashford’s substitutes, had looked to be a useful addition to the side, but then had a horrible moment, in the 83^rd minute. Carrying the ball towards his own goal, under pressure from two Greenwich players, he was rather worried out of possession, in a way that appears to be fairly symptomatic of the team’s problems at this level. With the Ashford defence fully exposed, the ball was fed through to Travis Gregory, whose shot came back off the post.

As the game went into injury time, Frazer Walker, who I didn’t see put a foot wrong this afternoon, intercepted a square ball, inside the Ashford half. Steaming forward on a run of some 50 yards, with the home defence back-peddling, Frazer eventually laid the ball off to Matt Day, on his right. Matt demonstrated his undoubted talent by striking his shot sweetly, beating Big George’s dive, but the ball thudded against the near post. So George was able to claim another precious clean sheet, to add to the 31 that he kept for Ashford United.

The only consolation, at the end of a thoroughly miserable afternoon, for the travelling Ashford fans, who now seem to be dwindling in number, was that Hastings managed to grab a 90^th-minute equaliser at Shoreham, to keep our heroes off the bottom of the table.

To paraphrase John Lennon: “Above us only sky – below us only Shoreham”.

Carshalton Athletic v Ashford United. Isthmian League Division 1 South. 21st of October 2017.

Carshalton Athletic   4                

Ashford United 2

 

From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent

Late is the hour in which Your Milton Keynes Correspondent makes his seasonal reappearance. My otherwise unconditional support for my football team is traditionally delayed by commitments in the cricket season, and one day short of six months, and 18 competitive matches, have passed since I last saw my boys play.

My last game was the penultimate match in Ashford’s glorious, double-winning season. That was the facile 0-4 victory away to a particularly poor, and apparently disinterested, Croydon. That turned out to be, effectively, the win that secured promotion to the Isthmian League, (as we were never going to slip up at home to Rochester United, in our final game).

Six months on, with victorious manager Danny Lye leaving the club after just two games of the new season, I look upon a very different football landscape. The all-conquering heroes of the past – Lyzee himself, Welfs (with his 85 goals in two seasons), Palms, Rory Hill, Adrianho, Jason Goodchild – have passed into legend. Children are no longer raising their voices with the ‘O Ryan Palmer’ song - and getting into trouble for it at school. More recently, supporters’ favourites Dave Botterill and the irreplaceable Big George Kamurasi have also joined the exodus.

The upshot has been that new Manager Jason Whitmore has taken on what was already a difficult job with the products of Ashford United’s very promising youth system – bolstered by as many old and experienced heads as injuries, holidays and suspensions have allowed. From the accounts that I have read, there is a great deal of young talent coming through Jason’s system – but these heroes of tomorrow are, nonetheless, boys, and Ashford’s season has, alas, often been essentially a case of boys against men. (And my past recollections of the Isthmian League are that it has always been characterised by a fairly physical brand of football).

On the stark evidence of the results of Ashford’s first 15 games, this season, Jason’s squad has been well short of the standard required for this level of football. In spite of being competitive against a handful of teams at the bottom of Division One South of what is now called the Bostik League, those first 15 games included eleven defeats, and, in no fewer than TEN of them, Ashford failed to score. The total number of goals conceded in those eleven reverses was 33, with Ashford’s only two goals coming in a 2-5 defeat at home to VCD Athletic.

Last week, the lads had the opportunity to move away from the bottom of the league table, with games against fellow strugglers Shoreham and East Grinstead Town – who, at the time of each game, were at the bottom of the league. Ashford avoided the ignominy of losing to the bottom club twice in five days, but the return of one point from those two games surely represents a missed opportunity.

So we went into today’s game, away to Carshalton Athletic, just one place off the bottom of the table – a point ahead of Shoreham, with a game in hand.

But we are not down-hearted. The Management continues to make signings, in an on-going effort to strengthen the squad. Given the facts and figures of the season, quoted above, what the team has desperately needed is a goal scorer – and now we have one, in the shape of Stuart Zanone. Having scored 47 goals for us in the 2014-5 season – then, an all-time record for Ashford – Stuart may well be the key to turning our season around. My personal hope is that he will be able to bring the best out of young Matt Day.

And the other Reason to be Cheerful is that, due to the FA’s latest tinkering with the non-league pyramid, there will only be one team relegated from ‘Bostik League South’ at the end of this season. So what can go wrong ?!

After last week’s ‘opportunities’, the next few games should present a series of stern tests for Jason and the boys – starting with today’s game at Carshalton’s War Memorial Sports Ground. The Robins were in 9^th place in the table this morning, and they finished 6^th last season – but their last two games have seen them defeated by teams at or near the bottom of the table, (namely East Grinstead Town and Guernsey), so Ashford did not approach this game without hope.

This was the first time that I had been to Carshalton’s ground – which is not surprising, given that the two teams have never been in the same division before. Carshalton’s natural environment has generally been the Isthmian Premier Division, with an occasional dip into Step 4, (where both teams are, at the moment), and a couple of seasons in what was then called the ‘Conference South’. In fact, the only previous meeting between Carshalton Athletic and Ashford was when the Robins defeated Ashford Town 1-3 in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup in the 2002-3 season.

I was expecting this to be an enjoyable trip – a visit to a proper football ground, home to a proper football club – and I wasn’t disappointed. The War Memorial Sports Ground is situated in the heart of residential Carshalton. On one side of the ground, there are several steps of terracing that extend for the full length of the 3-G pitch, with a decent sized, 240-seat stand along one half of the pitch on the other side. The ground is also equipped with a very good PA system, and a helpful announcer, which all helps to make the match experience a cut above what we used to experience at most grounds in the Southern Counties East League.

The most significant name on the Ashford United team sheet, (that a Carshalton official very kindly gave me), was that of Pat Kingwell, who was, today, making his 163^rd appearance for Ashford United, so setting a new club record. The previous holder of that record was Luke Cuthbert, (with 162 - obviously). At a time when much is being talked about in terms of players leaving the Club, it’s good to be able to acknowledge a player’s loyalty. Pat has been an absolute rock for Ashford United – and he also played quite a few games for Ashford Town, as a teenager. I remember being particularly disappointed when we lost him, because he went off to college, so I would guess that he must have been about 18 at the time.

The remainder of the team featured a new strike pairing – Stuart Zanone and George Humber – which I would imagine will be Jason Whitmore’s first-choice partnership up front. If they were carriage horses, they would certainly look the part – as a matching pair of vivid blonds – but it’s difficult to tell, from this afternoon’s evidence, how well they might work as a pairing. Both were having to live off scraps, with negligible service from the sides or from behind.

Ben Davisson and Joe Bingham were in the engine room, in central midfield, with Tyrell Richardson-Brown and Tom Cooney on the right- and left-side of midfield, respectively. The returning, and very versatile, Jack Healey, who I have previously seen in central defence and defensive midfield roles, filled in at right-back, in the absence of a specialist, with Charles Dickens on the left. John Difford completed the back four, alongside skipper Pat Kingwell. I am very pleased to report that young Aaron Lee-Wharton was in goal today, and I hope that he is being given the job on a permanent basis. He looked a good ‘keeper, this afternoon. He has a physical presence that belies his age, and he was easily the Man of the Match for Ashford.

So, slowly but surely, Jason Whitmore is replacing the bunch of youngsters that he started the job with, with more experienced hands – and it’s good that several of these have been former Ashford United players returning to the Club. The bench, however, had a more youthful look about it, with Matt Day, Clark Woodcock, Conner Westney and Max Watters, plus Tom Draper, (which is a new name to me).

What was important for Ashford in this match was to avoid conceding an early goal – the longer they could achieve that, the longer this new combination of players could find their feet and gel together. At the same time, the longer the game remained goalless, the more chance there might be that the home side might start to fret and become frustrated, having lost three of their four previous games. Ashford actually achieved this – somehow – not going behind until the final minute of the half, but this was in spite of the defensive unit enduring a torrid time, particularly in the first 15 minutes.

In fact, the boys in yellow – against the all-red of Carshalton – all but made the worst possible start. In the opening minutes, a long free-kick, from inside the Carshalton half, found Tommy Bradford, on the right. He fed the ball to Raheem Sterling-Parker – who is much taller than his two-thirds namesake. RS-P, one of four players with a double-barrelled name taking part today, jinked to his right, inside the penalty area, under pressure from Jon Difford. The big No.9 was clearly tripped by the Ashford defender, and Referee Shaun Farrer had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Jordan Cheadle stepped up to take the kick, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Aaron Lee-Wharton, diving to his right.

But there was plenty more pressure to come on the Ashford defence – and the situation wasn’t helped by the fact that the lads took time to settle. (Actually, that’s a euphemism for the fact that they failed to put together any recognisable passing movements during this phase of the game).

In the sixth minute, the Ashford back four remained motionless as Mickel Miller ran onto a through ball – but there was no offside flag. The left-winger just had Aaron to beat, but the young ‘keeper once again came to his side’s rescue, with a good save. In the tenth minute, he made another save, getting behind a long-range shot, but was unable to hold onto the ball. That might have been costly, as the ball broke to Miller, but Aaron redeemed himself with another save.

Ashford actually had a half-chance, at the other end, in the 12^th minute, when Stuart Zanone latched onto a long, high ball from Jack Healey. Our hero managed to get to the ball, and poke it past the goalkeeper, but it trickled just wide of the goal. But Carshalton were soon back on the attack, with Mickel Miller charging down the left touchline. Healey was convinced that the ball had gone out for a throw-in, and so stopped playing, leaving Miller in the clear. His cross found Raheem Sterling-Parker, in the centre, but he should have done better than side-foot the ball wide.

Having survived this opening onslaught, I noted that Ashford United’s first attempt at getting the ball down and passing it among themselves occurred in the 18^th minute. Generally, though, such attempts at ‘playing football’ were rare, with the chief tactic being the long, ‘Hail Mary’ ball high into the teeth of a strong breeze, (which was actually Storm Brian, which affected much of the British Isles today). I was surprised at this approach, given that Jason Whitmore has a reputation for bringing the Club’s youth along on the principle of playing the game ‘the right way’. Our players will also need to learn that Stuart Zanone needs the ball to his feet or to his chest. He isn’t a Shaun Welford-type target man who wins everything in the air. Maybe these issues will be resolved as the lads grow in confidence and get used to playing together.

By far the best player in a red shirt, today, was No.10, Tommy Bradford, who gave the Ashford defence problems throughout the game. In the 19^th minute, having plenty of time in midfield, he was able to measure a precise through ball to Sterling-Parker, into the inside-right channel, but RS-P could only hit the side-netting. A minute later, there was a sign that the Ashford boys could also knock the ball around nicely, when given the chance. A Carshalton defender carelessly delivered the ball straight to Richardson-Brown, who played a slick one-two with George Humber, only to drag his shot across the face of goal.

Humber was actually quite fortunate to stay on the field, in the 32^nd minute. He clearly took exception to what he indicated was a sly kick by Tommy Bradford, and reacted by squaring up to his fellow No.10, placing his forehead on the bridge of Bradford’s nose. (You see it all the time in football matches – it’s not quite a ‘Stanhope kiss’, but the intent is there). Referee Farrer took his time in making his decision, and consulted his Lino, and eventually yellow-carded both players.

In terms of the momentum of the game, and the chances created, it continued to be all Carshalton. In the 25^th minute, a through ball once again easily put Sterling-Parker in behind the Ashford defence, but, with only Lee-Wharton to beat, he curled his shot wide of the post. In the 29^th minute, Mickel Miller blasted a shot over the bar, from the edge of the area. In the 34^th minute, a low shot from Tom Bradford was easily saved by Aaron, but, two minutes later, the young ‘keeper was happy to watch the ball roll just wide of the post - Sterling-Parker had done well to twist & turn and keep the ball, inside the Ashford area, and his low, left-foot shot was only just off target. The Robins’ centre-forward was through on goal yet again, in the 38^th minute, but Lee-Wharton did well to come out and smother the ball. The home side had a further good chance to take the lead, in the 40^th minute, and this was as a result of Joe Bingham and Pat Kingwell making a right Horlicks of an exchange of passes. This gave Tommy Bradford a clear sight of goal, but, in attempting to chip the ball over Aaron’s head, he also cleared the crossbar.

Soon after, Carshalton were almost made to regret all the missed opportunities, when Ashford had three corners in quick succession, which was the only time that the visitors actually exerted sustained pressure, this afternoon. I think it was Tyrell Richardson-Brown who won the original corner, which Ben Davisson curled into the goalmouth, with his left foot. This was cleared, for another corner, on the same side. The cross from the second corner was not cleared, and Stuart Zanone attempted a spectacular bicycle kick, as the ball bounced chest-high – but his shot went straight at Robins’ ‘keeper Billy Bishop, who blocked the attempt with both hands just in front of his face. All this led to a corner on the left-hand side, and Jack Healey came steaming in, at the far post, to meet the resulting cross, and, by his reaction, he was extremely disappointed not to score, his powerful header going over the bar.

This brief passage of play showed that Ashford had the tools to trouble the defence of one of the better sides in the division – if only they could work out how to get the ball to that end of the pitch !

It would certainly have been massively against the run of play if Ashford had scored at that point, but I felt the lads at least deserved to go in at half time all square, if only for the performance of Aaron Lee-Wharton. Unfortunately, that crumb of comfort was denied them, as Carshalton took the lead with just seconds of the half remaining.

Raheem Sterling-Parker charged through, into the Ashford area, in the inside-left position, shadowed by Pat Kingwell. RS-P went down as the Ashford skipper made his challenge, and, for the second time, the referee appeared to make the correct decision, awarding the home side a penalty. Sterling-Parker took the spot-kick himself, and, although Aaron dived the right way, the ball went past him, and into the net.

The second half began with both Charlie Dickens and Ben Davisson testing the ref’s patience by committing silly, obvious fouls, (and this was a particularly dangerous hobby, given that Carshalton captain, Paris Hamilton-Downes, spent much of the match trying to persuade Mr Farrer to caution Ashford’s players !). When the referee finally decided that he had to make an example of someone, (in the 58^th minute), it was Joe Bingham who was the unlucky player, for pulling an opponent back after being robbed of the ball. A general issue for the visitors was that many of the lads were losing the physical battles on the pitch, and this led to free-kicks being conceded. Again, it should be emphasised that a certain amount of brawn is required in this league !

The first major incident in the second period came in the 51^st minute, when the excellent Tommy Bradford received the ball on the left, transferred the ball onto his right foot, and then let fly a shot that was destined for the roof of the net – but Aaron made a great, one-handed save.

The Robins made it 2-0 in the 61^st minute. Problems started for Ashford when Ola Sogbanmu, who matched Pat Kingwell in terms of height and build, beat the skipper to the ball in an aerial tussle. The ball was worked wide to the left, to Sterling-Parker, who fed the ball inside, to Mickel Miller. With the Ashford defence scrambling across to cover, Miller curled his shot around Lee-Wharton, and the ball went in off the far post.

With just under half an hour remaining, and judging by the nature of Ashford’s previous defeats this season, it did appear likely that Carshalton would now steadily increase their lead. And they had plenty of chances to do so. In the 64^th minute, a brilliant spin & turn by Sogbanmu, which was so unexpected for such a big man, took out three Ashford defenders, about 20 yards from goal, with two of them having to pay the £10 admission to get themselves back into the ground !  Sogbanmu then pushed the ball into the path of Sterling-Parker, but it ran through to the Ashford ‘keeper. A minute later, Jon Difford was found guilty of pushing over Tommy Bradford, and it was Bradford himself who was put through on goal with a quickly-taken free-kick. The No.10 looked like he was going to cap a Master Class of a performance with the goal that it deserved, but his shot, from an acute angle, went across the face of goal. In the 69^th minute, Bradford tried again. He beat Jack Healey with a great piece of skill, cutting inside the right-back, but his curling shot went wide.

(Later, it was announced that Carshalton centre-half Michael Aziaya was the Man of the Match – which surprised me, given that I didn’t know that he was playing !).

What was equally unexpected was that Ashford would score the next goal, but they duly made it 2-1, in the 74^th minute. And it must be said that this was a well-constructed and neatly taken goal. Jason Whitmore had reacted to the second Carshalton goal by immediately replacing George Humber with Max Watters, and it was Watters who got on the scoresheet. Jack Healey fed the ball forward, from the back four, to the feet (!!) of Stuart Zanone, who effected a beautiful lay-off, which put Max through on goal. There was still plenty more that Max had to do, but he made no mistake with his ‘one on one’ with Billy Bishop, calmly slotting the ball into the net, for his second goal for the Club.

The optimists wearing green & white, in the crowd of 316, might have hoped that the home side might be fazed by suddenly and unexpectedly being pulled back to 2-1 – but, alas, it always looked more likely that Carshalton would extend their lead. In the 80^th minute, Charlie Dickens lost a barging match, on his own by-line, with Ricky Korboa, (who had replaced Raheem Sterling-Parker, just a minute earlier). Korboa pulled the ball back to Ola Sogbanmu, who blazed his shot over the bar. Then, in the 83^rd minute, Tommy Bradford had a clear run at goal, from the left flank, but again put his shot wide.

The Robins then scored two goals in quick succession. The first of these came in the 86^th minute, with Bradford finally sticking the ball in the net. A long clearance from Billy Bishop rather bounced off Pat Kingwell and Ola Sogbanmu as they challenged for the ball, and broke nicely for Bradford. This time, he made no mistake, side-footing the ball wide of AL-W’s outstretched hand. Three minutes later, with the visitors rather belatedly switching to three-at-the-back, with Pat Kingwell adopting the role of additional centre-forward, Ricky Korboa made it 4-1. This goal came about as a result of a pleasant-looking move, the home side easily manoeuvring the ball around the remaining Ashford defenders, with three diagonal passes, before Korboa side-footed home.

So Ashford United continued the trend of slumping to a larger defeat than looked likely, by conceding late goals – although it must be said that four goals did not flatter Carshalton, this afternoon, given the number of chances they created.

There was, however, to be a consolation goal for Ashford, and this was scored by Matt Day, who had replaced Tyrell Richardson-Brown in the 82^nd minute. The goal stemmed from a free-kick awarded to Ashford in the 90^th minute. This was certainly more than 30 yards from goal, and close to the left touchline, and Ben Davisson unleashed a fierce shot at goal, which he appeared to do out of sheer frustration – but the ball was destined for the roof of the net. Billy Bishop pulled off a tremendous save, diving to his left, and getting a strong right hand to the ball. Unfortunately for him, the ball went vertically into the air – and Matt Day was in the right place at the right time, giving him a simple header, into the empty net, from about two feet.

That’s five goals for the season, for Matt, at a rate that is not too far short of a goal every other game. In contrast, Tyrell has scored only two, at a rate of a goal every 666 minutes. I don’t believe in the occult, so I won’t make a thing about the ‘number of the beast’, but to put Tyrell’s scoring record into perspective, Shaun Bradshaw (2005-6), who many of us with grey hair would probably name as the worst forward player we have had at Ashford in recent years, (in a very poor side), had a strike rate of a goal every 487 minutes. Although I’ve only seen Tyrell play the once, I have to say that he seemed to me to be very lightweight, and I’d be worried if he were preferred to Matt Day on a regular basis.

So plenty of work still to be done with Jason Whitmore’s work-in-progress. On today’s showing, we have some way to go before we are truly competitive against the better teams in the division, but it’s still early days with this developing group of players. There were also some rays of hope. For a start, it’s a step forward that we were able to score twice - and two good goals, at that – against a team in the top half of the table. It also looks like we’ve found a goalkeeper !