Corinthian 2
Ashford United 3
From Ashford United’s Milton Keynes Correspondent
With
the cricket season finally over, I made my customary late entry to the fray,
with Ashford United already eight games into the 2016-17 season. As usual,
we’re already out of the FA Cup, but, this year, not without piecing together a
useful little run of three games, ending with an heroic, narrow defeat at the
hands of Ryman Premier League outfit, and former league rivals, Burgess Hill
Town. That 2-1 reverse meant that Manager Danny Lye suffered the first back to
back defeats of his short managerial career – but even the slightest hint of a
wobble was eradicated the following Tuesday, when Ashford went to (then)
third-placed Lordswood and thrashed them 0-7.
Tuesday’s
win merely reinforced the belief that surely – surely ! – this season must be
the season that Ashford United finally gain promotion back to the Ryman League.
(Didn’t it ?). Having effectively been runners-up five times in the past three
seasons, (with last year’s third in the Southern Counties East League being due
to the ten-point deduction for off-field issues), this season we don’t have a
rival bank-rolled to the extent that Greenwich Borough were. Also, I have the
distinct impression that Hollands & Blair will not be able to repeat the wonderful
season they had last year, (on virtually a zero budget), now that Rob Denness
has signed for Greenwich and we have stolen two of Blair’s best players, in
Stuart West and Tom Michelson.
In
theory, Whitstable Town should now be one of Ashford’s main rivals, having been
relegated from the Ryman League last year – (and they’ve got Darren Marsden !)
– but Whitstable have already dropped nine points. I also wouldn’t rule out
newly-promoted Sheppey United, who have already picked up six points at
Homelands, this season – but they have also dropped eight points elsewhere.
Are
we really worried about the long-term challenge of the teams currently around
us, at the top of the league ? (Croydon
Athletic, Croydon, Cray Valley PM). Only time will tell.
I
always have a healthy respect for Corinthian, today’s opponents. By
coincidence, the corresponding fixture last year, back in March, was the last
time that I saw my boys in a league game. At the time, Corinthian were lying fourth
in the SCEFL. Ashford won the game 1-2, thanks to a spectacular winner from
Ryan Palmer, but our goose had already been cooked, in terms of promotion, as a
result of a 3-4 defeat at the hands of Croydon Athletic, the previous Tuesday.
This morning, The Hoops were mid-table, level on points with Whitstable.
One
thing that has struck me, from afar, is that Danny Lye now appears to have
established his “own team”. Having taken over from Paul Chambers after two
games of last season, the sole survivors of the team that Lyesie inherited are
Pat Kingwell, Mickey Phillips, Paul Booth, Luke Cuthbert and Josh Woolley, and
all have been in and out of the side, this season. However, one fixture in the
side, and a very reassuring presence, has been goalkeeper George Kamurasi –
but, unfortunately, George has recently had the shock of losing his father, and
so, quite understandably, was absent today. My thoughts are very much with Big
George.
Replacing
George in goal was young Owen McLeod, in front of a central defensive pairing
of skipper Stuart West and Pat Kingwell, with Charles Dickens and Savage George
the full-backs. (Kingwell has evidently been on holiday, being almost unrecognisable
without a beard and with a sun tan). There was a start for Mickey Phillips,
alongside Tom Michelson in central midfield, with Danny Lye playing both Rory
Hill and Ryan Palmer as wide men. In a 4-4-2 formation, Shaun Welford, going
into today’s game with six goals in the eight games played so far, led the attack,
alongside Brett Ince, who was making his fourth appearance for the club.
I
can’t confirm whether Paul Booth was named as one of Ashford’s substitutes,
(and Gay Dawn Farm, for all its picturesque, rustic charm, is annoying in that
it lacks a PA system and doesn’t provide team sheets), but those who were
definitely on parade were Tom Fagg, Luke Eldridge, Mikey Dalton and Ben
Davisson. So that’s two strikers and two central midfielders, with zero cover
for the back five – but more on that later !
After
a wet trip down the M1 and M25, The Farm, situated just outside the village of Longfield,
just south and east of the Dartford Bridge, was dry, if very overcast. In terms
of the match, the early brightness came from the home side, who did most of the
pressing in the first ten minutes, with Ashford being forced to defend. This
was a fairly typical Corinthian side – very young, but fairly physical, and
with an intention to get the ball on the ground and play decent football. Owen
McLeod was tested early on, during this period, and looked a little uncertain
when hesitating to come out and intercept a through ball, but no mishap
resulted. Shortly after, he made a comfortable save, falling to his right to
thwart a low shot from Corinthian’s skipper Luke Tanner, and that seemed to
settle him. Owen then looked very competent between the sticks – up until his
departure, in the 79th minute, which completely altered the course
of the match.
Ashford’s
best chance early on came in the tenth minute, when the impressive Rory Hill
pushed the ball past his full-back, on the right, and managed to deliver a
dangerous cross, but was unable to find an Ashford head in the centre. From
this point, the visitors began to assert themselves on the game, having the
majority of possession, as they played down Gay Dawn’s gently undulating slope.
Rory Hill, on the right, and Ryan Palmer, on the left, looked skillful and
dangerous, and Kingwell, West and Dickens looked classy and composed as they
comfortably dealt with any Corinthian attack.
It
was the home side, however, that took the lead – in the 27th minute.
Charlie Dickens committed a foul on the Ashford left, close to the corner flag.
The resulting free kick was taken short, but the visiting defence repelled the
attack, at the expense of a corner. Again, Corinthian played the ball short,
and the attack on the Ashford penalty area was halted, (according to Referee Jamie
MacLeod), by a Mickey Phillips trip, in the penalty area. Phillips appeared to
disagree with the decision, (unsurprisingly), but the ref was well positioned
and wasn’t far away. It was Luke Tanner who took responsibility for taking the
penalty, and, with Owen McLeod seemingly wrong-footed, easily side-footed the
ball into the net.
So,
just as in the corresponding fixture last season, Ashford were faced with having
to come from behind – except that Corinthian scored a minute earlier, back in
March.
The
goal appeared to spark Ashford into life, as they went in search of a quick Denzil
Washington. The first chance came as a result of a chip to the far post by Rory
Hill, which was misjudged by a Corinthian defender and fell at the feet of
Shaun Welford – but goalkeeper Dan Bygrave made a good save, from almost
point-blank range. Soon after, Mickey Phillips was convinced that he had been
tripped in the Corinthian area, in an incident that appeared to be very similar
to the one that led to the home side’s goal – but Mr MacLeod was unconvinced,
in spite of prolonged Ashford protests.
In
the 33rd minute, Brett Ince showed the one spark in what was, I
thought, an otherwise disappointing performance. A long ball played out of
defence was well taken by Ince, who turned and then delivered a shot, which
went just wide of the goal.
Two
minutes later, Ashford were level, and the goal was, once again, scored from
the penalty spot. Shaun Welford did well to turn his man and run onto a through
ball, and was clean through on goal when a covering defender came across and
body-checked the big No.1. The ref was once again close to the action, and,
this time, had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Welford stepped
up to take the kick, and readily sent the ‘keeper the wrong way.
Ashford
now took control, and besieged the Corinthian goal for the remainder of the
half. In the 38th minute, yet another cross from Rory Hill found
Mickey Phillips in the centre of the penalty area, and the midfielder attempted
an ambitious overhead kick, which went just past the post. Two minutes later,
Hill was again the provider, doing well to get to the by-line and sling in a
dangerous cross. Phillips, again well forward, was on the end of this cross,
but his initial shot, from close range, was saved by Bygrave. But Shaun Welford
was there to apply the finish, and put Ashford ahead with his, and the visitors’,
second goal.
As
drizzle swept across the ground, the Ashford pressure continued, but Corinthian
made it to half time without further loss.
Ashford
appeared to rather sit on their lead during the second half, during which time
their work was fairly sloppy and careless. The home side’s play was fairly poor
in the final third of the pitch, which helped to preserve Ashford’s lead, as
did the quality of Ashford’s back four.
In
fact, the first half an hour of the second half was fairly unremarkable, with
little of note to report, beyond bookings and substitutions. Stuart West was
the first to see a yellow card, for a foul committed right on the edge of the
penalty area, in the 49th minute, which must have been perilously close
to being the third penalty of the match. Danny Lye was also the first of the
managers to make a substitution, pulling off Mickey Phillips, after an
impressive shift, in the 53rd minute, replacing him with Ben
Davisson.
Corinthian’s
Jack Billings earned himself a deserved yellow card when he blatantly tripped
Rory Hill as the Ashford winger was making rapid progress through the home side’s
half. There was, however, to be no further punishment for the home side, as Ryan
Palmer curled the free-kick just high and wide of the angle of post and bar.
Both
teams made a substitution in the 63rd minute. Manager Michael
Golding replaced Joe Loft with James Sutherland for Corinthian, whilst Danny
Lye sent young Luke Etherington on in place of Brett Ince.
Ashford
looked livelier with the two substitutes on the field, but the defence
continued to be the busier unit. There were also instances where Corinthian
broke through, and Owen McLeod had some work to do. In the 52nd
minute, Jack Billings tried a shot from outside the penalty area, which clipped
Charlie Dickens’ heel, and Owen did well to gather the spinning ball. On the
hour mark, the same Corinthian player had time and space in which to line up a swerving
shot, from a similar position, and the ‘keeper again made a good save. But
McLeod’s best moment came in the 74th minute. A good passing
movement from Corinthian cut through the Ashford defence, putting Conor Johnson
through on goal. He looked certain to score, but Owen came out and made a great
save, diving at Johnson’s feet. (Seconds later, Luke Eldridge was booked, for a
late tackle).
In
spite of these chances falling to the hosts, Ashford continued to look the
better side, and very likely to hang on to their one-goal lead, whilst showing
little to suggest that they might actually score a third goal. Then, in the
final 15 minutes, the game changed completely.
What
started the chain of events was the substitution of a visibly tiring Shaun
Welford with Tom Fagg, in the 77th minute. This appeared to be a
fairly routine, like for like replacement, but its true significance lay in
what happened just two minutes later – when Owen McLeod slumped to the ground,
inside his six-yard box, and required several minutes of treatment. I have no
idea of the nature of the problem that Owen had, but the lad was clearly in
some distress, and it soon became apparent that he was unable to continue. From
his body language, both at the time and when sitting on the bench afterwards,
it appeared that the problem might have been with his vision, or with his head,
but it’s dangerous to speculate. Anyway, the significance of the Welford
substitution, just two minutes earlier, is that Welfs would have been the ideal
replacement in goal, having had previous experience of goalkeeping, and having
performed heroically when replacing the red-carded George Kamurasi at
Crowborough last season, and keeping a clean sheet for 67 minutes !
As
it was, Tom Fagg, having just been introduced as a centre-forward, pulled on
the keeper’s jersey – probably more due to being the tallest of the outfield
players, than for any ability as a goalie that he might have. In the reshuffle,
it appeared that Rory Hill went up front, on his own, with Luke Eldridge
switching to the right of midfield. However, the main issue was whether the ten
men of Ashford could protect Tom Fagg, in goal, for the ten minutes, or so,
that remained.
Tom’s
first task was to face up to a corner, on the Corinthian right, which was
sliced straight behind for a goal kick – but a corner taken from the other
side, in the 84th minute, gave more of a sense of what might be to
come, as the ball flashed through the Ashford six-yard area, across the face of
goal, and out for a goal-kick.
Three
minutes later, alas, the inevitable happened. Corinthian No.11 Conor Johnson
sent in what was a fairly harmless cross, all along the ground, from the
by-line, and I’m afraid to say that Tommy made a complete hash of gathering it,
and the ball trickled over the line. It was a gut-churning moment, and one
which Corinthian seemed almost embarrassed to celebrate – but the question was
now whether Ashford would actually lose a game of which they had seemed to be
in full control since the closing minutes of the first half.
What
didn’t help the stand-in goalie was that the visitors showed little inclination
to use some intelligence and keep possession of the ball, and so Corinthian
were able to apply plenty of pressure on the Ashford goal for the remainder of
the game. In the 90th minute, (but with the certainty of a
considerable amount of added time), a shot was deflected behind for a corner to
The Hoops. The resulting cross found Mike Hagan, just inside the penalty area,
and it’s likely that a shot on target would have been enough to seal the three
points for the home side – but Hagan sliced his shot well over the bar.
A
minute later, Tom Fagg almost atoned for his earlier error. In spite of his
lack of ball handling skills, he showed himself to have an excellent kick, and
launched a long, high ball into the Corinthian half. Rory Hill took up a good
position, inside the “D” of the penalty area, which made him favourite to get to
the ball after its first bounce – only to be flattened by the advancing Dan
Bygrave. The free-kick was taken by Hill himself, his curling effort being
beaten away by Bygrave at the far post.
With
94 minutes on the clock, Ashford had a free-kick situation to defend
themselves, after Pat Kingwell had been uncharacteristically clumsy in
committing a foul. Before the kick could be taken, Corinthian manager Michael Golding
took the opportunity to throw on his final substitute – Brima Daramy, in place
of Jamie Taylor – in a last attempt to secure all three points, but the
free-kick came to nothing.
But
anyone who travelled to Gateshead, in February, to witness the pandemonium on
the banks of the Tyne, when Ashford snatched a late, late winner to beat
Dunston UTS in the Fifth Round of the FA Vase, will know that anything is
possible for our heroes. On that occasion, Tommy Fagg had a close-up view of
the winning goal, as he was the nearest Ashford player to the unfortunate Dunston
defender who knocked the ball into his own net. This time, he was wearing an
unfamiliar goalkeeper’s jersey as he began the move with another long kick from
inside his penalty area. The ball was picked up by Rory Hill, on the right, who
held onto the ball before squaring it to the advancing Tom Michelson. The midfielder
had plenty of time to pick his spot, and made no mistake, drilling the ball
into the far corner of the net.
Cue
- manic celebrations !
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