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#Post#: 538--------------------------------------------------
Ashford United 1 Whyteleafe 1
By: John Pease. Date: October 28, 2017, 1:24 pm
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ASHFORD UNITED 1 WHYTELEAFE 1
Bostik League South Division
Saturday 28th October 2017
by John Pease.
It's been a funny old week, what with manager Jason Whitmore
telling the local press he was prepared to stand down and Don
Crosbie issuing a statement on the club web site to refute what
appeared to be wild speculation on Social Media. Don's
statement did seem to give Jason the green light to carry on so
let's have no more talk of quitting.
On paper this was a tough fixture with the visitors riding high
in the league. Although they have lost their manager and a
couple of key players to Kingstonian in the past week they must
have fancied their chances of nicking all three points. A
vastly improved Ashford United made sure this did not happen.
As the teams took to the field it was noticeable that Whyteleafe
had at least three six footers in their ranks and looked
supremely confident but, for once, Ashford started boldly and
could well have opened the scoring inside the first six minutes.
First Tyrell R-B broke clear only to hit a weak shot straight
at Joe Tupper and then collected a good pass from Jack Healey
and fired narrowly wide. The visitors did threaten but created
only one half chance which was wasted by Charlie Postance.
Ashford then showed them how to do it by scoring in the 12th
minute. Joe Bingham picked up a loose ball and ran at the
Whyteleafe defence down the inside left channel. He was forced
wide but managed to take the ball to the bye line before hooking
it back to Tyrell who, from about two yards, bundled the ball
over the line. The visitors realised they had a game on their
hand and responded only to see a good shout for a penalty
ignored by referee Kane Dempster. Then it was the turn of
Aaron Lee Wharton to rescue Ashford with a good save. Back
came the home side with Tyrell over hitting a pass to Stuart
Zanone which was deflected for a corner. With 31 minutes gone
Ashford should have doubled their lead. Zanone outstripped the
visitors defence, rounded keeper Tupper but saw his shot clip
the post and go behind for a goal kick. Seven minutes later
Ashford had a narrow escape when Whyteleafe missed what looked
like an open goal. A minute from the break the visitors were
awarded a penalty. I don't know what it was for as all I saw
was a Whyteleafe attacker fall over his own feet. I then saw a
yellow card waved at an Ashford defender but again I cannot say
why. However, I was not the only one to remark that referee
Dempster had “previous” at Homelands. The kick was converted by
Sam Clayton and only a good save by Lee Wharton in time added on
prevented an unjust score line to a half that the home side had
largely dominated.
If Ashford took the first half then I must report that
Whyteleafe took the second. They had the ball in the net on 50
minutes only for the off side flag to stifle their celebrations.
Six minutes later Lee Wharton made a smart save and then Scott
Day was only just off target with a crisp shot. The whole
complexion of the game changed in the 64th minute. Joe
Bingham was hacked down, as he cut in from the right, and was
too badly hurt to continue. Ashford were awarded free kick but
I didn't see any card for the villain of the piece. I thought
Bingham was Ashford's best player but he had to be replaced by
George Humber. At the same time manager Jason Whitmore decided
to replace Stuart Zanone with Luke Eldridge. Stuart did not
look best pleased at this decision and the Ashford attack lost
it's focal point and shape. With twenty minutes to go
Whyteleafe looked the more likely to grab the points as they
started to find gaps in the home defence but too often their
final ball was poor. With 75 minutes gone it was Lee Wharton
to the rescue as he made a stunning save from Nkori-Venceslas
Bola. With seven minutes of normal time remaining, Jason sent
on Clark Woodcock for Max Watters. It was now one way traffic
with Whyteleafe pressing for a winner. With four minutes of
added on time I recorded four chances for the visitors to sneak
the winner but every effort was off target. So the game ended
in an honourable draw.
This was the sixth home game I have seen and it was far and away
the best performance. Jason seems to have discarded the non
performers and now has a decent balance to the side. I am not
saying the squad is perfect or complete but I'm sure we are now
going in the right direction.
The Ashford team was as follows:-
Aaron Lee Wharton, Fraser Walker, Thomas Cooney, Jon Difford,
Jack Healey, Pat Kingwell, Max Watters (Clark Woodcock – 83
mins), Ben Davisson, Stuart Zanone (Luke Eldridge – 65 mins),
Joe Bingham (George Humber – 65 mins), Tyrell Richardson-Brown.
Attendance = 243
M.O.M. = Both Aaron and Tyrell put in first class shifts but I
must give my vote to Joe Bingham who I thought was quite superb
until he was clattered out of the game.
#Post#: 539--------------------------------------------------
Re: Ashford United 1 Whyteleafe 1
By: philipbarham Date: October 28, 2017, 5:43 pm
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Thanks for the report, John. I was very encouraged by the
result, today. It's not so much the point that's valuable, as
the fact that the lads showed themselves to be capable of
getting that point. Your view that this was a much better
performance encourages me even more. I reckon there's still a
lot of work to do, but there are some good, proven players in
that team, so there's no reason why we shouldn't start to pick
up points.
Pleased to see your man, Tyrell, get on the scoresheet. I
couldn't help but report on what I saw at Carshalton, but I'm
always delighted to be proved wrong. I can't fault the lad's
effort.
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