Kentish Football 
Cumberbatch hails "excellent" Matata signing - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
It doesn’t rain, it pours for Ashford Town manager John Cumberbatch, writes Stephen McCartney.
His side were deservedly beating Cray Wanderers by two goals to nil at Hayes Lane on Saturday but the heavens opened during the half-time break and an excellent playing surface during the first half was deemed unplayable as the downpour left puddles on the pitch, forcing Chipstead based referee Mr Nigel Lugg to abandon the game.
Goals from Matt Carruthers, an excellent 20-yard free kick, which bent around a poorly built three man wall, and a 25-yard drilled shot from Walid Matata, however, came to nothing.
Orpington resident, Cumberbatch, however, was “cheesed off” as his side, unbeaten in their last three completed games, were deservedly winning after their two goals inside the opening twelve minutes.
“I’m more than cheesed off because one, because we were playing so well,” he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.
“We were 2-0 up, we were confident we would get the next goal, and the next goal was going to be key.”
From his position standing in the main stand at Hayes Lane, Cumberbatch added: “And on top of that, while I’m standing here looking at the pitch, the pitch is perfectly playable.
“There was a major downpour at half-time,” he explained. “But if the ref had given it five to ten minutes into the second half, it would have been fine.
“So I think it was a very, very wrong decision by the ref.”
Cumberbatch hailed the signing of lightening quick, and highly-rated Tottenham based striker Walid Matata as “excellent.”
Matata, formerly of Milton Keynes, Dover Athletic, Folkestone Invicta and East Thurrock United, has scored twice for Ashford Town but his other goal, in their 2-2 draw against Hastings United at The Homelands, didn’t count as that game was also abandoned.
Cumberbatch said: “Excellent signing, because it’s just not the goals that he can score, but he’s running off the ball is tremendous, and the fact when the ball does get there he take on two or three players.
“He takes a lot of pressure off our defence, but again it’s very frustrating for Walid because in all the games he’s played, he’s played very well.
“Now he’s gone and stuck the ball in the net twice with two superb goals and they’ve both been wiped out because the games been abandoned so it’s frustrating for him and frustrating for us.”
Although Ashford remain in the bottom three on eighteen points, they have enough quality in their side to climb the Ryman League Division One South table.
Cumberbatch said: “We don’t have any aspirations other than to keep it going and see if we can get some points and climb up the table a little bit.
“Then we can turn round and say “well, we’ve got a little bit of consistency and let’s have a look to see where we can go.”
Cumberbatch also highlighted his concern over a fixture backlog caused by the weather.
He said: “Our main concern is the longer that goes on, we’re going to get a stage of the season when players are going to be forced to play on pitches that are more dangerous than we are currently getting.
“But we won’t be the only team to be affected by that.”
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Sittingbourne v Ashford Town
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 9th January 2007
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Bourne Park, Central Park, Eurolink, Church Road, Sittingbourne
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd