This game was a big test for Ashford U18’s playing against the league leaders who like Ashford had only lost one game all season. Ashford have played 26 games including friendlies this season and have won 23 of those games. Four boys, Warren Harris, Guy Hollis, Jimmy Stanford and Danny Byron, have now moved on to the first team and are no longer selected for the youth team. There are another group who play regular reserve team football so all in all it is a real achievement to have such a record. One of those three defeats took place last week a 2 – 1 loss to Woking, which really came about because of a couple of individual errors. There was also the thought in Mick Snowdens’ mind that he had maybe been a bit too cautious with his plan for last week’s game. Therefore Mick and Ben got their heads together and introduced a more forward thinking plan for this game. It certainly worked on the training ground on Monday night and after this result it obviously worked in the game as well. Right from the first whistle Ashford put Camberley under pressure and within ten minutes their bench were appealing to their players to pass the ball better and not give the ball away. They were unable to deal with how quickly Ashford were pressing the player on the ball and consequently Ashford were dominating the opposition individually and also as a team. Dwayne Lowe Simms had to be substituted after about ten minutes, which was unfortunate for him as this was his first start for some time. George Jennings came on to replace him and his pace and ability to run with the ball caused Camberley all sorts of problems. It seemed that Ashford would score after a number of attacks that they could not quite finish off including hitting the bar. The goal eventually came from a long throw from Tom Butler on the left George Baldock attacked the first ball with George Jennings making a run in behind him. The ball bounced across the six yard line where Lewis Wombwell hit a nice strike from about six yards out that took a slight deflection before hitting the back of the net. This was a just reward for Ashford and they continued to dominate through to half time. In fact in the whole of the first half Camberley only had one shot at Dan Kennards goal and very rarely had got into Ashford’s penalty area. For about ten minutes in the second half Camberley upped their game and had several attacks. However the Ashford boys soon got to the pace of the game again and reasserted themselves. Midway through the second period Ashford scored their second from a free kick on the right. They have scored a number of goals from similar positions from free kicks delivered into the box by Jimmy Stanford. Ashford are lucky to have Daryl Loates who has a similar sweet left foot like Stanfords. Loates delivered the ball into the box at pace and the Camberley keeper who is a very good player and of some stature came for the ball. This was a misjudgement and Byron Watkins Ashford’s centre back rose in front of him and flicked the ball over him into an empty net. This was effectively game over as the pattern of the game continued in the same vein. Ashford made two further substitutions the first was Tom Snowden for Josh Finch. Tom was unfortunate to be substituted as he had played really well throughout the game. However Mick had switched him from right back to centre midfield and swapped Ryan Bona to right back. This was because Ryan had been booked early in the game and was becoming involved in several clashes with the frustrated Camberley players. The move took the pressure off Ryan and both players performed really well in their new roles. However Mick had three subs on the bench whose main position is centre midfield. Therefore Tom made way for Josh Finch who has recently impressed and continues to do so. Stewart Luwaw replaced a tiring Lewis Wombwell on the right of midfield. This game was played at a high pace and with a real competitiveness. The Camberley bench and players were frustrated throughout which showed itself in the continuous appeals to the referee every time there was a challenge or a throw or a corner. The referee dealt with the situation really well and allowed the boys to compete which all helped to enhance the standard of the football played. Mick and Ben were really pleased with the way the boys had taken on the difference in the game plan. As Mick explained part of improving for boys this age is to be able to listen to instructions and use their football intelligence to put those instructions into the game. They had achieved a 90 % success rate in all areas of the pitch, which made them into a well-organised unit. Man of the Match: Adam Fearn Team: Kennard, Snowden, Kazi, Watkins, Butler, Wombwell, Fearn, Bona, Loates, Lowe-Simms, Baldock. Subs: Jennings, Finch, Luwawa, Betts, Gough. | 
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
