Ash Trees 2 Saints 6

[Swifty]

Difficult to be hard on the lads as they were up against a very good St. Albans team. That game should be seen as a yardstick for what our young lads can achieve for themselves, both match-wise and physically, in the next few years. St.Albans defended stoutly, they had very good upper body strength, and attacked with vigour. It was a good flowing game, an excellent watch for the neutral.

 

I felt we missed Bairoh badly and his injury meant an unwanted change to the formation and game plan. My only real criticism is that we were all too happy to backtrack and let the attackers come on to us when we need to hold our ground and pressure them more, but the lads did well to equalise straight away early on (great work by Dan in the assist for Bitz's goal) and, though it wouldn't have been easy, we carried on playing decent, clean football and never gave up, as shown by Sammy's run and cross for Kofi's goal. Great save by their keeper to keep it at 1-1 early on which may well have been a pivotal moment.

 

I thought there was an offside in the build-up to St. Albans' second, and a few thought the penalty award was a bit harsh, and the ref did nake a few head-scratching decsions, but take nothing away from St. Albans who gave us a good lesson today and, hopefully, one we can learn from. The lads shouldn't lose heart or confidnece after that result, they should just take stock and learn what they can from it.

[Beano]

Here's a match report (the sound you hear when reading the intro is almost certainly me disapearing up my own fundament):

 

http://www.ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com/index.php/first-team/match-reports/539-ashford-s-cup-dream-comes-to-an-end

[lazarus]

A disappointing result, as it always is when you exit the FA Cup. One day we will reach that 1st Round Proper!

 

I thought it was all fairly even to start with and when we equalised within a minute, at that moment I could see us pushing on. Let's be honest though, there was no doubting the quality of St. Albans although, as always, games are determined by key events through the 90 minutes, especially goals of course. At one apiece, from my angle it looked as if we should have had a nailed on penalty as a defender put his hands up and in so doing denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity. On another day it might well have been a penalty and a dismissal, which may then have changed the match.

 

Not too long after, in fairly similar circumstances, although our defender was further from the goal, a similar situation arose but this time, a penalty was awarded which set St. Albans on their way and they never looked back.

 

Perhaps the other key moment was immediately after half-time when, losing 1-4 and still with slim hopes of retrieving the situation, we immediately conceded to go four goals behind and that was definitely game over, as our defending, lacking the pace of Bairoh, deteriorated quite alarmingly at times. That said, at no time did we give up and it was of some (albeit minor) consolation that we scored the final goal.

 

That was certainly a positive, and I also thought that Perry played extremely well when he came on. Dan worked his socks off up front and although it was disappointing overall, we had our moments and maybe these big decisions will go our way in the next match. Certainly no need to be too disheartened.

 

As to "Refwatch" to be fair he did not duck the inevitable question in the boardroom and was keen to explain his decisions from his point of view. He said he did not have a good view upon our penalty claim and had looked across at his assistant who did not re-act. The assistant then said that in his view that although it was definitely handball, the player concerned was so close that he had no opportunity to get his hand out of the way and therefore it was unintentional. It all depends of course upon the definition of intentional - these days penalties are usually given if a defender has his hands up whether he intends to handle the ball or not.

 

With the St. Albans penalty, the referee was adamant that he did not need to consult his assistant as he saw quite clearly that our player's hand went up, and it was a definite penalty as far as he was concerned.

 

Highly frustrating for us, especially as a similar incident denied us a penalty against Burnham earlier in the week. However, I won't make any comment upon how, when a "bigger" club plays a "smaller" one, the bulk of the decisions always seem to go the way of the "biggun", albeit that they are invariably sub-conscious. Mr. James was far from the worst referee we have ever seen, was always up with play and spoke to players but it was hard to argue against the biggun/littleun theory on this occasion, and not just the two crucial decisions.

 

St. Albans have been drawn at home to Lowestoft in the 3rd Qualifying Round and we wish them all the best. Nice people with well behaved supporters.

[Swifty]

Apart from one ar$e in a St. Albans City sweatshirt who was laughing at and berating the size of our boardroom at half time. Absolutely no clue about how we've grown over the years. I nearly said something to him but remembered I can't talk slug.

 

Now that's funny, Alan...."I won't make any comment upon how, when a "bigger" club plays a "smaller" one...." and then you make a comment!