Lordswood 5-1 Ash United - Lordswood will support Ethan Stewart as best we can throughout his rehabilitation, but we don't know how long he's going to be out for but he's certainly not coming back any time soon, says shocked boss Matt Barman

Lordswood 5 – 1 Ash United
Location	Martyn Grove, North Dane Way, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 8YE
Kickoff	26/08/2023 15:00

LORDSWOOD  5-1  ASH UNITED
The Isuzu FA Vase First Qualifying Round
Saturday 26 August 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Martyn Grove

LORDSWOOD manager Matt Barman says the club will support Ethan Stewart after the midfielder suffered a nasty looking injury to his right leg and ankle, break of the Fibula, fracture of the Tibia, dislocation and two possible fractures to his ankle during their FA Vase First Qualifying Round victory over Ash United.
 

The 23-year-old – who works for a drainage company with a family member – was tackled by Ash United’s central midfielder Jamie Hilton in the 33^rd minute.

Several screams and horrific sight of his leg/ankle bent at the wrong angle proved that he was in serious trouble and now faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation.

Referee Stephen Ryan – who confirmed that Jamie Hilton had not committed a foul, so no red card was issued – told both teams to return to the changing room and that he would wait for 45 minutes before deciding whether to continue or abandon the game, while Stewart was covered and cared for on the pitch, while a NHS ambulance was called.

It arrived at two minutes past four and drove on to the pitch so Stewart could receive medical care before being taken to hospital.  Everyone wishes the Lordswood number 11 a speedy recovery and best wishes for the future.

Lordswood had grabbed the lead – against-the-run-of-play – through impressive right-winger David Falako’s counter-attacking debut goal.

The first half lasted one hour, 49 minutes and 51 seconds (the second half lasted 45:28) and once play resumed Lordswood doubled their lead through striker David Ajao.

Barman’s boys – Lordswood’s players are aged between 17 and 23 – showed plenty of character during the second half, as Ajao and Falako each scored again before striker James Jeffrey came off the bench to add a fifth in difficult circumstances.

Alexander Thomas' side scored a consolation goal from central midfielder turned striker Jack Melbourne, who rifled in his third goal of the season, with seven minutes left but Stewart’s serious injury overshadowed Lordswood’s victory.

“The last we’ve heard is that I’ve literally just got a message from his dad, they’ve put it back in now, it’s in a cast and he’s going to have an x-ray, so we’ll probably know more in the next two or three hours,” Barman said at the start of the post-match interview, which started at six o’clock.

“Credit to the ambulance service, they were here in pretty good time and the three girls’ that were there done a fantastic job with him.

“I went out and sat with him for a period of time. He was absolutely gutted. He is in good form, he’s scored three goals in the last five games and that was all he was talking about when he was lying on the floor.  He’s going to be out for a while.

“I haven’t seen it (the tackle on the video). I personally didn’t think there was anything in the tackle.  I don’t think Ash came across like that, they were quite combative but I didn’t think there was anything untoward there. It’s just unfortunate.

“I’ve probably seen it twice in 40 plus years’ that I’ve been in football, so it is a freak.  It is something that we’re quite lucky is not a regular occurrence and we’ll support him as a club as best as we can throughout his rehabilitation.

“These are tough days. I really feel for Ethan.  He came in towards the end of last season, one of my first signings. We had a seven-day approach from (Isthmian League South East Division side) Herne Bay at the start of the season and he said ‘no, I’m buying into what we’re doing here,’ which tells you all you need to know about Ethan.

“He felt like this is his home. He’s been in and around a few clubs. I think he’s a special talent, a special player that just needed to find that right home and he seemed to have found it.

“I just feel gutted for him. We don’t know how long he’s going to be out for but he's certainly not coming back any time soon, so we’ll support him as best we can and the club will do their best for him as well.”

Lordswood went into the game sitting in fourteenth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with two draws from 180 minutes of league football, being held to draws by Rusthall (1-1) and Whitstable Town (3-3).

Lordswood had beaten Egham Town 2-1 in The FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round and Steve McKimm’s Isthmian League South East Division side Cray Valley needed two games to beat Lordswood, a 1-1 draw here before finishing of job with a 4-1 win in Eltham.

Ash United play one level lower than Lordswood and arrived in Medway sitting in 12^th place in the Wessex League Division One table with six points from their first four outings in the tenth-tier of English football.

Barman made six changes to the side that were knocked out of The FA Cup in midweek, admitting he had one eye on their home date against local rivals Hollands & Blair.

“We’ve got a tough game on Monday.  We’ve got a very young squad from 17-23, Ethan’s the 23-year-old, so I think if we hadn’t had Cray Valley then maybe I’d look at it a bit different,” explained the Lordswood boss.

“I understand it’s a squad game and it’s been the same 11 for pretty much since we started the season, which that’s nice but the reality is you’re not going to get through with that same 11 week-in-week-out.

“We’ve got to try our squad, we’ve got to trust our squad to go out there and do that.  I can’t just keep giving them 10 or 15 minutes off the bench, so with the game on Monday, we didn’t take the decision lightly.  We decided that we were going to make some changes for the game.”

Lordswood’s play was disjoined and their lower-league visitors’ were wasteful when they created some decent goalscoring chances.

Lordswood centre-half Joel Odeniran’s attempted square pass intended for left-back Lucas Mvongo was intercepted and Ethan Hilton stepped inside Stewart before cracking a right-footed drive sailing high over the crossbar from 25-yards, inside the opening eight minutes.

Ash United striker Luke Taylor often dropped deep to pick up the ball at his feet and he linked up well with Ethan Hilton, who cut inside and laid the ball off to Jamie Hilton, who brought a comfortable save down on his knees by Lordswood’s seventeen-year-old goalkeeper Ivor Williams.

Lordswood swiftly went up the other end and just 13 seconds later, winger Ewan Sallis cut in from the left before dragging his low left-footed angled drive across the keeper and past the far post.

Lordswood were a threat down the right with winger Falako often cutting inside Ash United’s weak link in defence, left-back Nick Baker.

The home side hit Ash on the counter-attack in the 18^th minute with Jack Peters slipping the ball into Falako, who played a short five-yard pass into Ajao, who easily sprinted past Ash United’s centre-half Ryan Jones before lacking composure inside the box and dragging his shot across keeper Chas Davies and past the far post.

“I felt we played quite a bit of the game in second gear and then when we went through the gears, I thought that showed the difference between the two sides,” added Barman.

“They created quite a few of their own chances, alright, they hit the crossbar at 0-0 and our keeper made a good save, so I’m happy with that for a Vase result.”

Williams pulled off a great save to prevent Ash United taking a 21^st minute lead.

Baker hurled the ball into the box from the left, the ball was flicked on and winger Danny Taylor flicked his header from inside the six-yard box towards the roof of the net, which was superbly flicked away by Williams’ outstretched left arm underneath his crossbar.

“Tom Crump is our number one but he’s been out injured (twisted ankle), but we’ve got confidence in Ivor,” said Barman.

“He is 17. It’s a bit crazy saying that, but we do (have confidence) and that’s the philosophy that we’re trying to do as a club and go forward.

“If you come, we’re not looking at which age you are. If you’re prepared to learn and prepared to work hard, good in the dressing room, buy into what we’re trying to sell and stick with the team spirt, then you’ll get opportunities.

“We train as a first team and development squad so we see what we’ve got amongst us so when I see a player like Ivor, I’m going to give him that opportunity and I tell the rest of the (development) team that if you keep working hard week-in-week-out, you’ll get opportunities.”

On the chance itself, Barman replied: “At times we were a little bit lethargic defensively. I suppose there’s two ways to look at that and we spoke about that at half-time.

“It was quite easy to cut out and it was a case of there was a flick on and we didn’t put anyone in front of him and that’s stuff we need to spot because if they put that one away, it’s maybe a different result altogether because they get a lift then and they have something to fight for.”

Lordswood got away with one in the 27^th minute, when the crossbar frustrated the Surrey outfit.

Centre-half Dylan Marsden floated a free-kick into the box from the halfway line and good play from striker Luke Taylor saw him turn Odeniran inside the box before hooking his shot over Williams and looping against the crossbar.

“I think we need to be a bit more switched on defensively.  Again, we spoke about that at half-time. It almost happened in slow motion, so we could’ve, should’ve dealt with that better but it’s good because it gives us an opportunity to go and learn and we haven’t really been punished from it,” admitted Barman.

Lordswood grabbed the lead with 27:44 on the clock, courtesy of a counter-attacking goal and some more poor defending from Baker.

Odeniran played a lovely through ball along the deck which split open Baker to release Falako through on goal and once inside the box he drilled his right-footed shot across the keeper, who stuck out his right leg but failed to prevent the ball nestling inside the bottom far corner.

“I thought we had three or four really good chances before that,” said Barman.

“At that point the game had got a little bit messy for us, it almost became a little bit like basketball, they have an attack, we attack, so it was a good time to score as well.

“I had David with me at Whitstable Town Reserves last season. He had a problem with his Achilles so this was his first competitive game since March, I think it is, so he came in and had a development game in the week, looked good.  The original plan was to give him 45 minutes (today).  He had the whole game.”

The referee suspended the game with 37:09 on the clock, before restating the game with a drop ball inside Lordswood’s half with 1:36:14 on the clock.

The ambulance arrived at two minutes past four before driving off at 16:29 and both teams were given a 10 minute warm up, which wasn’t enough for Mvongo, who was struggling with his hamstring.

When asked what impact Stewart’s situation had on the rest of his players, Barman replied: “A little bit shocked when I first walked in because I stayed with Ethan for a while.

“The boys went in and you could see there was concern because we were trying to keep them in the dressing room.  A few of them were looking out.  We’ve built a team here so we talk about us all being in together, so I knew a few of them would really feel on that.”

Barman admitted it was a situation where Lordswood would ‘win the game for’ their team-mate.

“We spoke about that and I think all of the boys agreed if we didn’t go out and try to up it a little bit and we went out and we played….

“It’s what Ethan would have wanted.  Would he sit in there feeling all sorry or would he want us to go out there and put this side to bed.”   

Lordswood re-started the game with all guns blazing, doubling their lead with 1:38:16 on the clock.

Right-back Rahman Kareem threw the ball to holding midfielder Archie Risdon – whose range of passing with his left-foot was of a high standard – and he split open Ash United’s right-back Wesley de Oliveria Quirino – and Ajao cut inside and drove his left-footed shot past Davis.

“Archie’s our 18-year-old captain,” Barman said proudly.  “I’ll be surprised if there’s anyone younger.  Archie’s been captain for the last four games of last season and now six games of this season.

“We think he’s an exceptional young man and then an exceptional player as well.  He leads the boys really well. He’s old beyond his years and you can see what he can do on the ball and that’s what he needs to continue to work at.”

Ash United squandered a glorious chance to pull a goal back when Jamie Hilton played in Danny Taylor – in between Lordswood’s two centre-halves – but the winger lacked composure inside the box and lifted his right-footed shot over the crossbar of an open goal – after keeper Williams rushed off his line.

Barman added: “We spoke about that. We gave the ball away in a needless area again, so Ivor came off his line really quick, which forced the shot over, so credit to Ivor there.  We should’ve tracked the runner a bit better though, if I’m honest.”

Luke Taylor hit a right-footed half-volley from 25-yards, which was comfortably gathered by Williams – after Ryan Jones hit a free-kick into the Lordswood box from the halfway line.

The time was eight minutes to five when referee Stephen Ryan blew his half-time whistle.

Barman revealed that Mvongo had pulled his hamstring and was withdrawn at the interval, so Sallis dropped in at left-back, while former Gillingham and Whitstable Town Jay Hards came on for his first team debut in midfield and Joshua Reid came off the bench at wide right.

Lordswood put the game beyond Ash United’s reach by scoring their third goal just 77 seconds into the second half.

Hards fed Ajao, who clinically stroked a right-footed drive past the diving keeper into the right-hand corner of the goal.

Barman said: “Good goal.  I’ve always liked Jay Hards as a player. I’ve known him going back to his Gillingham days. He went into Whitstable.  At the time Jay would probably know better than me, he wasn’t quite ready for that at the time.  Physically, he’s filled out now.

“I can see that quality already coming so for his first game in Saturday football, to have the composure to make that pass, was extremely pleasing.”

Ash United’s Danny Taylor put the ball into Lordswood’s box, the ball was cleared out to Melbourne, who cut the ball on to his left-foot before trying to score from 22-yards, which was gathered at the second attempt by Williams.

Davis pulled off a brilliant save to prevent Lordswood rattling in a fourth goal in the 12^th minute.

Jack Peters released Ajao, who easily got past Marsden, before drilling a right-footed drive towards the top right-hand corner, only for Davis to tip the ball over the crossbar, stretching high to his left.

“It was a good save. Credit where that’s due. That was a really good save,” said Barman.

“From the second he hit it, it was a very similar to the second goal. From when he hit it, I thought that was in and he’s reached up and got a hand to it and forced it wide.”

Lordswood notched their fourth goal with 28:04 on the clock, when Quirino opened the gate as the home side finished off a three-man counter-attacking raid.

Peters released Ajao down the left (who easily cut inside Quirino) and reached the channel before putting it on a plate for Falako, who tapped a first-time right-footed finish into the back of the net from within the six-yard box to join Ajao on two goals for the season.

“Very nice movement and that was the bit we were talking about at half-time – two or three good quality passes, get it down those channels, get balls across their box and get good runners into the box,” said Barman.

“I was very pleased with that goal, very pleased for David to score it on his debut.”

Davis made another fine save after Reid cut the ball back for Falako, who lashed a rasping first-time drive towards goal, only for the visiting keeper to palm the ball over his crossbar.

Lordswood rattled in their fifth goal with 35:35 on the clock.

Centre-half Odeniran went on his second mazy run forward of the game and his skill took him past three Ash players inside their half before releasing Jeffrey down the left.

Ash United were awful in full-back positions and Jeffrey took a touch and from a tight angle, drilled a low left-footed angled drive across the keeper to find the bottom far corner to score his fourth goal of the season.

“The five we scored were good finishes,” said Barman.

“James has been with us since the start of the season. He’s been absolutely fantastic. I left him out today, as being a centre-forward, when there’s goals about, he was on at me every 10 minutes to get on, which I would expect.

“I thought there was an opportunity for him to get a goal, which will take us nicely into the Bank Holiday Monday derby, so that went as planned really. It was a nice finish.”

Ash United scored a consolation goal with 38:05 on the clock, as Peters gifted the ball to Melbourne with a poor pass inside and now playing as a striker Melbourne produced a quality right-footed drilled finish past Williams to find the right-hand corner from 22-yards.

“I think the ball bounced down and popped up at Jack. If he doesn’t quite make a good connection on it, it goes anywhere. It played the boy in. It was a good shot, good finish.

“I thought they did alright for that last 5-10 minutes. We probably took our minds off of things in that period.

“It would’ve been nice to have kept a clean-sheet because we haven’t kept one this season.  We know we can so that’s for us to do that.”

Jamie Hilton cut the ball onto his left-foot and tried to curl the ball past Williams from 22-yards, which was comfortably caught by the Lordswood goalkeeper before the referee called time after only 28 seconds of stoppage time and at eight minutes to six.

Lordswood play more lower-league opposition in the next round on 23 September, after Liam Giles’ Croydon defeated Shoreham 3-2 at home today.

“Shoreham are Step Five (Southern Combination Premier), so Croydon will be buoyed by that and will come here full of confidence from that and we need to be ready for that.”

Lordswood, meanwhile, will face tougher opposition when Scott Porter brings Hollands & Blair here on Monday (15:00).

The Gillingham-based outfit won 3-1 at Billingshurst in The FA Vase today and have picked up one point from three games and have Kennington and Stansfeld beneath them in the league table.

“I think they’ll come at us fast and hard and I think we need to be ready for that and be ready for the physical and mental test,” warned Barman.

“They’ve got some really good, experienced players. It’s a club that I really admire, the journey that Hollands & Blair have been on over the last two decades, from Rochester & District football to now.

“I’m really looking forward to spoiling their Bank Holiday Monday! 

“This game will mean an awful lot to Hollands & Blair. It doesn’t matter if they’re top of the league or bottom of the league, it’s a derby game, so they’ll try to utilise their best features and we’ll try to utilise ours.

“I’m a great believer in let the best side win.  Whoever wants it more, so that’s a good opportunity for us to show we can handle that side of the game because it is coming. There’s some tough sides in this league that are going to offer different challenges and I think we’ve got an idea how we think Blair will set up so we’ll look forward to that game.”

Lordswood: Ivor Williams, Rahman Kareem, Lucas Mvongo (Joshua Reid 46), Archie Risdon (James Jeffrey 70), Joel Odeniran, Oluyomi Ogundipe, Ewan Sallis, Jack Peters, David Ajao, Ethan Stewart (Jay Hards 45), David Falako.
Subs: Ryan Neal, Quadri Green, Artem Kuchkov, Tom Crump

Goals: David Falako 28, 74, David Ajao 45, 47, Jack Jeffrey 81

Ash United: Chas Davis, Wesley de Oliveria Quirino, Nick Baker, Ethan Hilton, Ryan Jones, Dylan Marsden (Archie Dupress 59), Danny Taylor, Jack Melbourne, Luke Taylor (Nicholas Meads 75), Jamie Hilton, Alimamy Kamara (Segjad Hekmat 59).
Sub:  Michael Leech

Goal: Jack Melbourne 83

Booked: Jamie Hilton 68

Attendance: 50
Referee: Mr Stephen Ryan
Assistants: Mr Karl Dunnage & Mr Simon Cuthbert

Article updated at 14:05 on Sunday 27 August - with further details of the injury and online fundraising link.