Fisher 2-2 Ashford United - We've got to lick our wounds, says John Ovard

FISHER  2-2  ASHFORD UNITED
Southern Counties East Football League
Monday 24^th March 2014
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

ASHFORD UNITED assistant manager John Ovard refused to blame tiredness after slipping up in the Southern Counties East Football League title race with ten games to go.

Paul Chambers’ side – playing their fifth game in nine gruelling days – missed a third minute penalty; threw away a 2-0 lead; before conceding an injury time equaliser against a Fisher side that played with ten men for 39 minutes to keep Whyteleafe in the driving seat.

Fisher went into the game on the back of a 7-2 defeat away to league leaders Whyteleafe at the weekend and manager Billy Walton made four changes tonight.

Ashford United made five changes to the side that fought back from being 2-0 down to win 3-2 at third-placed Tunbridge Wells at the weekend.

Pat Kingwell, who scored a twice taken penalty at Culverden Stadium, placed his penalty wide of the right-hand post, before Fisher central defender Tom Carr headed into his own net to hand Ashford United the lead.

Fisher lost left-back Ashley Henry-Brown to a second yellow card after 51 minutes and they faced an uphill struggle when Ashford United skipper Gary Clarke clipped a volley into the far corner to score his tenth-goal of the season.

But a fine solo run was finished off by Fisher striker Junior James for his eighth-goal of the season, before Bermondsey boy Danny Maguire volleyed home his tenth of the season at the death to leave Ashford United six points behind Whyteleafe, who travel to Dartford’s Princes Park Stadium to play Greenwich Borough on Tuesday night.

“I’m chuffed to bits again,” said a proud Walton afterwards. 

“I asked the lads – it weren’t that side that played Saturday I must admit – it was four lads that we had missing against Whyteleafe on Saturday, but I was more than delighted with the performance tonight after Saturday.

“I’m proud as anything for those lads in there.  To get beat 7-2 on Saturday and then come back and play for how ever how long with ten men against the second best team in the league and dominate long periods of the game, I thought we were absolutely fantastic.”

Ovard admitted he felt disappointed, especially after their impressive result at Tunbridge Wells at the weekend.

“We’re bitterly disappointed after the ups on Saturday and what we did to get a result there, to come here and not perform was very disappointing,” said Ovard.

“I thought we deserved the Tunbridge Wells result and we deserved what we got here.

“It was not enough.   We didn’t play well as a group. We didn’t move the ball well. We didn’t work hard off the ball or on the ball.

“We didn’t do what we’re good at and you just can’t afford in any game – I don’t care who you play – you just can’t afford to do that!

“It’s very hard to do that every single game for 90 minutes but that’s why we’re at the top because we need to keep doing it but we’ve got to lick our wounds. We’ve got a very big game Wednesday, they come thick and fast at the moment for us. There’s no point sulking about it. We just got to re-group and play again.”

When asked whether his players are feeling tired due to their gruelling schedule, Ovard replied: “I don’t think it’s easy for the players at all because physically you’re asking the lads to play (often) – they’re not full-time professionals.

“It’s a ridiculous amount of games! We’re playing every other day at the minute it feels like. It is very difficult because we play a high intensity game of football but we’ve still got enough in the group. We’ve still got enough squad for us to put in better performances than that so I don’t really like to use that as an excuse.”

A deep cross from left-back Dan Scorer resulted in Henry-Brown being booked for tripping Dave Cook inside the box after referee Valentine Anekwe pointed to the spot.

But former Hythe Town defender Kingwell stepped up and placed his right-footed penalty past the right-hand post with two and a half minutes on the clock.

“There’s not much I can say into that, it’s unfortunate,” said Ovard.

“Pat’s got the bottle to go up and there and do it, especially after Saturday.  He’s had the courage to take the second one and put it away so when a player runs up the pitch and wants to take a penalty, I’ve got no qualms with it and that’s the luck of a penalty.”

Walton added: “I don’t know if whether he went down pretty easily, where it was pushing, I don’t know. It looked pretty innocuous from where I was sitting. It looked like a soft penalty. The lad stepped up and put it wide of the post, thank god.”

Ashford United called shaky Fisher keeper Oshane Brown into action inside eight minutes.

Full-back Tom Scorer cut in from the right to float in a cross towards the far post where striker James Dryden hooked his shot towards goal from an acute angle and the young keeper caught the ball to his left.

Fisher created their first opening just 55 seconds later when Henry-Brown played the ball into Harry Draper – who was forced off with a shoulder injury at the interval – but James’ left-footed shot on the turn bounced into Joe Mant’s gloves for a comfortable save.

Clarke rolled the ball through Dryden’s legs for Adam Cuthbert to crack a left-footed drive, which sailed wide of the left-hand post from 30-yards, before Fisher went close during a frenetic end-to-end first half.

Maguire swept the ball out wide to give winger Kieron Campbell a licence to utilise his pace to speed past a couple of defenders to reach the penalty area before stroking a right-footed drive towards goal, which Mant saved low to his right.

Walton said: “Kieron was a threat all night. He’s a young lad. I’ve tried to hold him back but I think it’s time to let him go now and just let him play and give him the freedom.  The lad can express himself and give him the freedom to play. I’m not going to ask him to do tracking back. I just want him to go and express himself in their final third.”

Ashford United midfielder Ollie Finch steered his shot past the post from a tight angle after Dan Scorer whipped in a corner from the right.

But Ashford United drew first blood, scoring in the 21^st minute.

Dan Scorer sent a deep cross towards the far post where Dryden was left unmarked and he headed the ball across goal but Carr headed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of his own net from six-yards as he attempted to get across to the near post to clear the danger.

Ovard said: “It’s the first time we built a little bit of play and put the ball in a little diagonal and Jimmy does what he’s good at and gets across his man but we didn’t do that enough today.

Walton was full of smiles when he said: “One of the best headed goals that I’ve ever seen in my life!

“I said to Tom, I will definitely put him in the best three goals of the season for us for that so well done Tom – great goal!”

Dryden should have got on the scoresheet himself, but he scuffed his shot into Brown’s gloves, before Clarke cracked a right-footed wide of the left-hand post from ten-yards after Dan Scorer shanked the ball forward.

Fisher striker Jay Garrick lacked composure when he was released through on goal and dwelled on the ball for too long, but moments later he drilled a right-footed half-volley towards goal from 30-yards, which bounced into Mant’s hands for a comfortable save.

An Ashford move involving Finch and Clarke resulted in Dryden unleashing his right-footed volley sailing harmlessly wide of the right-hand post from 25-yards.

Fisher were denied an equaliser in the 32^nd minute when Maguire cut a corner back to Campbell, who drilled a deflected shot, which looped up and Ashford’s central defender Ben Jordan cleared the ball off the line.

Ashford were to be denied a second goal when Finch cracked a powerful right-footed drive from 30-yards, which Brown did well to pluck out of the air above his head.

“He’s hit one Finch and we’re grasping at straws when we’re thinking that these are the best chances that we can create,” admitted Ovard.

Walton was pleased that his young keeper put in a more steady performance during the second half.

“He’s only a young lad, I think he’s only seventeen,” said the Fisher manager.

“I must admit it’s been really hard to replace Billy Hensman since he’s been injured. It’s been a problem for us.  We’ve had one or two lads on loan.  Oshane’s come in. He’s got a lot to learn, but I thought he did well tonight.”

The pacy Campbell roamed down the right flank before drilling a right-footed angled drive into the side netting from a long way out, but Ashford United went into the half-time break in the lead.

Both camps were asked their thoughts at half-time.

Walton said: “I worked out Ashford’s shape. It was sort of like four at the back, two in front of that, two in front of that and two up top so they put six men through the middle of the park. It was really strange!

“I just said to the lads at half-time, I don’t want to put players in to stop that. Let’s attack where they’re weak.  If we can get our full-backs pushed on and our two wingers we’d have a two-on-one situation against them all the time and I thought our wingers really gave their full-backs a torrid time tonight so that’s what we tried to do and I think it worked.”

Ovard said: “We said at half-time we need to re-group. We said we need to press the ball and we didn’t do that enough. We didn’t get the goals to kill them off and that’s what you need to do against teams down the bottom.  You have to kill them off!”

The second half didn’t produce the same open play of the opening half, but Fisher created the first chance after two and a half minutes.

Maguire swung in a right-footed free-kick from the left, which was cleared out to Piers Hanifan, who turned his man before unleashing a speculative right-footed drive on the turn from 30-yards, which sailed over the crossbar.

Campbell then played the ball inside from the right touchline to Garrick, who dragged his left-footed shot past the near post.

Fisher faced a struggle when Henry-Brown was shown his second yellow card (followed by a red) for an innocuous tackle on Cuthbert on the half-way line, which clearly upset Walton.

“Having the assessors here, I just think it puts so much pressure on the referee to go by the book, instead of (using) common sense,” claimed Walton.

“I thought it was really harsh. There were worse tackles than that all night. It’s hard on the referees, they’re being scrutinised for every little thing and it’s hard.  I don’t have a problem with Val the referee. I just think they’re put under pressure. 

“Why should the assessor be here and tell him (he’s here).  Just turn up and sit at the back of the stand and then go and see him after the game but when you tell him that he’s here, you see it all the time, they’re under so much pressure, all three officials, there’s too much pressure on them.”

Ovard turned into Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger – who reached the 1,000 game milestone in the Gunners’ 6-0 humiliating defeat at Chelsea at the weekend – when he was asked about the incident.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t (see it) and I don’t think too many people did,” said Ovard.

“It was so quiet. The whole game itself was flat. Everyone was flat. Everyone literally. The supporters. The team. Everything.  I didn’t see the red card situation so I couldn’t comment to be honest.”

Ashford United took full advantage and seemingly won the game in the 55^th minute.

Dryden threw the ball in from the left, the ball was flicked on at the near post by Dan Scorer and an unmarked Clarke clipped his right-footed volley across Brown into the far corner from 12-yards.

Walton explained: “It was a shame because we had to bring Harry Draper off at half-time for a shoulder injury and Harry was designated to mark Gary Clarke throughout the game.

“From our point of view it was a shame because Harry was put on to mark him in those situations and he would’ve been marking him.”

Ovard was full of praise for his inspirational skipper.

He said: “He struck it well. He joined in the attack well and he took his goal well.

“In fairness to Clarky, he’s fit as a fiddle but maybe he’s one that’s played a lot of football in a very short space of time but yes it was a great goal, a great strike.

“He’s definitely a player we wanted to get in (from Tunbridge Wells) last year. We got him.  To be fair to him he’s a very consistent performer. He rarely has a bad game. He’s one of our stronger players.”

But Fisher, lurking in the bottom four with 19 points from 24 games, grabbed a lifeline and pulled a goal back just 155 seconds later.

James picked the ball up on the half-way line and penetrated the Ashford defence before keeping composed to roll his left-footed shot across Mant into the bottom right-hand corner from sixteen-yards.

“He’s got that in his locker, Junior,” beamed Walton.

“I’m just trying to get more of those things out of these players.

“I said to him in that final third he’s so quick. Players like Pat Kingwell and people like that don’t like nippy players running at them and I told him to have a go at him. He’s got his reward, didn’t he?

“He scored two on Saturday, one tonight, so he’s scored three goals against two of the better teams in the league, so I’m pleased for him. Well done.  Shame he didn’t score the one against Beckenham, we might have gone through (to the League Cup Final).”

Ovard felt the goal should not have stood, for an earlier foul on Dryden.

“I think it was a foul on Jimmy,” he claimed.  “Everyone stood there waiting for the referee to give the decision, even the linesman said yes it was a foul, but she can’t obviously make that decision for him. 

“That’s not really an excuse because the ball still has to travel the length of the field before they put the ball in our net. There was a lot of room for us to stop that danger and we didn’t and the lad’s gone on a good run and put it away.

“It was a foul. In fairness to the boy he has pulled him. Jimmy’s running in, he’s done him with a bit of skill, he’s running into the box. There’s no one round him. Jimmy’s not a diver, but it was a foul!”

Fisher created the next chance in the 69^th minute when Carr launched a long throw into the penalty area, which was punched away by Mant under pressure and Leighton Francis came up from the back to clip his left-footed half-volley back into Mant’s gloves from 20-yards.

Fisher continued to press as it appeared that Ashford United were content to sit back and protect their slender lead.

“Sit back? Not deliberately,” answered Ovard. “We didn’t get our foot on the ball and stretch the play. They put us under pressure. They kept going and I think they had a good 20 minute end spell and they played with a bit more vigour and a bit more energy and they nicked a goal at the end. Good luck to them.”

Billy Walton – the manager’s son – played the ball across the Ashford box for James to lash his first time shot over the crossbar.

With ten minutes remaining, Fisher rued a missed opportunity when Maguire swung in a corner from the left, which was headed away and Walton sent an acrobatic volley over the crossbar.

Ashford United created a rare chance when substitute Gary Mickleborough cut in from the left touchline to drill a powerful right-footed drive, which screamed wide of the left-hand post from 35-yards.

Mant used his chest to block Hanifan’s right-footed drive from 30-yards, before the keeper gathered Campbell’s shot, which deflected off Dan Scorer.

However, Fisher grabbed a deserved equaliser, 2 minutes and 15 seconds into injury time.

Carr launched a long throw into the penalty area, which Ashford failed to deal with and Maguire looped his right-footed volley into the bottom right-hand corner from 15-yards.

Walton felt ashamed that his side scored from such a method.

“I didn’t see it as a long throw, I thought it was a short throw, a great cross in and knocked in, Danny Maguire on the volley, so that’s what I’m going to dream about tonight – is that great cross into the box!

“I get criticised for the way that I try to play and you saw tonight we play a lot of good football on the floor.

“That’s something that I don’t like to coach, but we’ve got it (a long throw) with Tom and it’s twice now we’ve worked it and it’s paid off for us.

“So listen, I only use it in desperate times and both times were desperate times and it worked for us.”

Walton says Maguire lives close to the new stadium and wants to lead out his home town club when it returns home.

“There’s a few local lads. We’re trying to build the club to get as many local lads to play for us as possible. I know their scattered few and far between all over the place, the lads that come from Bermondsey. As I’ve said to you before, the club’s on the way back to the new stadium and it will only get better.”

Ovard said: “Poor on our case because we had numerous chances to get rid of the ball. Alright we didn’t play well but we would have gone in at full-time, sat down and discussed that but we’ve given them a lifeline, not cleared our lines and they’ve punished us for it.”

Walton was bitterly disappointed that his side lost their Macron sponsored League Cup Semi-Final tie to bitter-rivals Beckenham Town 6-4 on aggregate, going down to a 3-0 defeat at Eden Park Avenue in the second leg.

He said: “We had a massive disappointment.  Last week was possibly my own personal worse time in football getting beat by Beckenham in the semi-final, who by the way I thought were possibly the best side we’ve played all season.  Last week was a huge disappointment for the club but football is ups and downs and Fisher like being on a roller-coaster, great games.

“Tonight was exciting for everybody that was here. End-to-end stuff.  Ashford contributed in that. They played some good football and I thought we matched them. It was a real exciting game.”

John Fowler’s Whyteleafe will go nine points clear with a win over Greenwich Borough on Tuesday night.

The Leafe arrive at Ashford United on Saturday, but Ovard is playing down that game because his side travel to fifth-placed Corinthian first.

“We’ve got a game on Wednesday.  Me and Paul have never given an interview about titles, winning that and winning this.

“It’s going to be a tough game. Corinthian are a good side. They played well against us. We have to re-group.  There’s no point moaning and sulking about tonight. We got a point. It would’ve been far worse to get zero, to get nothing out of it, so we have to go and get some points on Wednesday and see where it takes us then we don’t look any further than that.”

In an attempt to build-up the clash against Whyteleafe at the weekend, Ovard was having none of it.

“But we’re away to Corinthian on Wednesday. It’s far more important. There’s no point worrying about a game that’s after another game. Whyteleafe are not going to be thinking about us because they’ve got a game tomorrow night.  Every manager that’s trying to be competitive, they just look at the next game. A lot can change as you’ve seen in the last couple of days.

“There’s going to be a number of games where teams don’t pick up results, don’t play well and sneak games.

“We’ve just got to take each game as it comes. Wednesday night is just another game.  You’re not going to get me talking about another game after that. Wednesday night is the next one and we’ll re-group and we’ll go again.”

Fisher: Oshane Brown, Piers Hanifan, Ashley Henry-Brown, Leighton Francis, Tom Carr, Billy Walton, Kieron Campbell, Harry Draper (Stephen Ita 46), Junior James (Aaron Seales 90), Danny Maguire, Jay Garrick (Michael Daramola 76).
Sub: Charles Headley

Goals: Junior James 58, Danny Maguire 90

Booked: Ashley Henry-Brown 3, Jay Garrick 75

Sent Off: Ashley Henry-Brown 51

Ashford United: Joe Mant, Tom Scorer (Sam Conlon 61), Dan Scorer, Gary Clarke, Ben Jordan, Pat Kingwell, Dave Cook, Adam Cuthbert, James Dryden, Sam Fisher (Gary Mickleborough 70), Ollie Finch.
Subs: Ian Wallace, Luke Cuthbert, Paul Chambers

Goals: Tom Carr 21 (own goal), Gary Clarke 55

Booked: Sam Fisher 48, Dan Scorer 90

Attendance: 67
Referee: Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley)
Assistants: Ms Louise Saunders (Rochester) & Mr Matt Sell (Rochester)