Thorogood promises Ashford Town fans a better season - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Midfield star Simon Glover – back at the club having signed from Heybridge Swifts – scored their only goal last night – a left-footed screamer from 25-yards.

But Thorogood was concerned that his side failed to create any worthwhile chances until Glover’s 75^th minute wonder goal.

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with www.kentishfootball.co.uk, he said: “I think we did allright, didn’t we?  Probably didn’t create enough open chances though and that’s what we’re struggling with at the moment.

“We’re not creating enough good chances and we’re not getting in good positions – final ball’s poor!”

Lively Tonbridge Angels’ striker Luke Piscina accepted a gift from Ashford Town goalkeeper Dave Wietecha, opening the scoring after just 15 minutes before Ray Powell made it two, just two minutes before Glover’s magic.

“I felt second half we had far more of the ball than they did,” reflected Thorogood.

“But I’m quite pleased because let’s be fair they got two bad mistakes by us.  Two very poor goals but that’s a little bit too similar to last year.”

Thorogood is signing quality players this summer to avoid the poor results that the club has suffered in the past two years – finishing third from bottom twice and just avoiding the drop.

Looking ahead to their trip to Hartsdown Park, Thorogood revealed his team haven’t been training for a while, which probably explained why full-back Dan Tanner was looking unfit.

“We’re treating Margate the same as all the other games,” he said.  “We’ve played two different systems in the last two games.

”I’m pleased with the system, pleased with the way we dealt with it because its new to a lot of players and to be fair we haven’t had a training session for a while so we need a training session.

“The game on Saturday is the same as any other game - we want to win!”

Ashford have started their pre-season campaign against four Premier League sides, but welcome Kent League side Hythe Town on Tuesday, 1^st August.

“The problem that we’ve got at the moment with one draw and two losses, playing three good sides and Margate are another good side,” said Thorogood.

“But it’s the way you perform that matters at the moment.  Results aren’t really that important because of the amount of changes you’re making.

“You expect things sometimes to go wrong.  Sometimes you lose your shape and sometimes it’s not quite pretty.”

Thorogood revealed that he’ll be bringing in another player to the club later this week.

“We’ve got a fairly strong squad,” he said.  “But we don’t look like we’re going to score enough goals at the moment because goalscorers don’t hang on trees so we’ll have to get on with it.

“But the ones we’ve got are good players but the final balls are poor and if you don’t get quality balls in the box then I’m afraid you’re not going to score too many goals,” he warned.

“We’ve got to look at the goalscorers and share it out a bit more.

“We need more from midfield, we’ve got that from Simon Glover with a great finish (at Tonbridge).

“Let’s be fair we’re playing quality opposition at the moment.  We’re not playing two bob monkey’s and in our league they're not many of them.  They’re all quality sides but we’ve played sides all from the premier and at the moment I’m quite pleased.”

With players like Simon Glover and Anthony Allman in the team, the Ashford Town chief revealed there’s more to come.

He also insisted Allman is “committed” to Ashford Town, and is at Homelands as a player and not player-coach.

“Two great players and we have a few more to come,” Thorogood revealed.  “There’s a few more players that will be here and the players that we’ve got, we’ve got a good side.”

Peter Mortley, meanwhile, was pleased with his second-half work-out at Longmead Stadium last night.

The 30-year-old, PE Teacher from Strood, feels the club will improve on their last two dire campaigns.

He said: “It was a good work out, a nice pitch and we were able to get the ball down and play.

”Everyone had a good run-out, shame about the result, a few silly mistakes, but that’s what pre-season games are all about – getting them out of the way and getting your fitness ready for the start of the season.”

But Mortley, a former Tonbridge player, feels his side can get points from Kingstonian (away) and Cray Wanderers (home) in the opening week of their Ryman League Division One campaign.

He said: “Tough start but that will be a good test.  Get a result at Kingstonian that sets you up for the season.

“Obviously we’ve got a game on the Tuesday (22^nd August) against Cray Wanderers, two good wins or a win and a draw you’re looking to push start the season.”

Mortley is pleased with the standard of players being brought into the club this summer, adding: “The management have pulled in players at the start of pre-season who can push the club forward.

“I think we’ve got a stronger squad than we had last year and I’m sure everyone’s hopeful that we can have a very good season.”

Robin Trott’s Margate side, however, go into this game unbeaten, having drawn a young Millwall side (1-1) on 8^th July, before beating Nationwide Conference South newcomers Fisher Athletic 5-2 last weekend.


Margate  v  Ashford Town
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 29^th July 2006
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate