ashford town supporters club
Eastbourne away finished as a 2-2 draw enabling town to get another invaluable point with a terrific header by Mark Lovell in the 88th minute to level the scores on what was a green but very bumpy surface at "The Saffrons".
The relief and joy of that equaliser saw Mark and the rest of the team celebrating with the travelling fans who were congregated behind the Eastbourne goal.
Back then to Homelands on Wednesday 3rd February against high flying Fleet Town.On a desperatetly cold dark and drizzly winters evening the gate suffered to a paltry total of 90.Ashford had new loan signing Craig Cloke in the back line defence direct from Dover and Homelands saw both Darren Hare and Andy Hessenthaler to view their player who is short of first team action and sharpness.
It was to be a baptism of fire with Ashford going in at half time 4-0 down!We were totally out gunned by the best team that has come to Homelands this season.Town in the second half came more back in to the game and added some respect to the final score of 4-1 but the points were not to be!
Homelands this season has suffered tremendously from being over played and the game against Walton and Hersham saw a pitch that resembled a war zone with sand being applied heavily to enable the match to be on.An appearance of rolled mud and sand through the most effected areas was the look!
We saw the re-appearance for Walton of Elliot Brathwaite who definately came in for some stick from the Ashford Supporters as he now seems to have perfected the art of "The Dying Swan" and for one so big and strong was up ended at the mearest touch!
The heavy pitch did nothing for Ashfords brand of free flowing football played on the ground with Walton definately making better use of what is now undoubtably one of the worst playing surfaces seen at Homelands for many a year.
The result of a 2-1 loss has alarm bells ringing in all quarters as we seem firmly entrenched at the foot of the table.This is all very worrying as we have more games to play at home than away and "Fortress Homelands" seems to be non existant.
So we look forward to Wednesday 10th February when we take on Whitstable Town at Homelands who yesterday came up against Leatherhead and received a 7-1 drubbing!
Now is the time to play them ,but they will not be an easy touch so we need all you faithfull supporters out there to wrap up warm and come and see if the "Nuts and Bolts" can get those much needed 3 points to our seasons tally. ______________________________________________________________
So its back to the rest of the season with hopefully the worst of the winters snowfall gone and a squad full of players raring to get on with winning and climbing out of the relegation zone.
An away game at Whyteleafe in Surrey saw the AMb coach employed again to get the town faithfull supporters to leafy suburban Surrey on what was a cold January Saturday.Many of the players and staff were on board as well.The game ended as a 2-2 draw and an invaluable point to add to our meagre tally earned so far this season.Down to 10 men in the early part of the second half with a 2-1 lead which was pegged back to 2-2 despite a valiant display by the magnificant 10.
Homelands on the 27th enabled the tie with Walton Casuals to take place on what was again an extremely cold and damp evening.A very sparse crowd of 83 witnessed town get a penalty awarded after 25 minutes when Mitch was pulled down in the area and as usual Mitch strode up to the spot ,made good contact with pace ,but a good guess by the casuals keeper saw a terrific parry save! This was Mitchell Sherwoods first penalty miss ever in a green and white shirt.
Town not to be out done less than 5 mins later Ross Morleys shot hit the post and the rebound was drilled home by Joe Fuller.5 mins later a free kick from 35 yards out was floated in to the box by dead ball specialist Ryan Briggs and was met with a powerfull header by Lee Hockey .So 2-0 to town which could well of been 3-0 and put the result beyond question.
With half time looming and a 2-0 lead all looked good!
On 44 mins Laurence Harvey fouled in the area and the penalty was shot past Josh Willis although he did get a hand to it.
2-1 at the break.
The second half saw Casuals come out more determined and town seemed to lose shape and purpose with the loss of Laurence Harvey in the back line.Tom Murphy soon limped out of the game and our best attacking forward was gone for the rest of the game.Disaster struck even worse soon after as Josh Willis went down dramatically whincing in pain from a knee injury and was stretchered off the pitch and straight off to hospital!
With Scott 3 names now in goal town were under the cosh trying to secure the 3 points but on 90 mins Mitchell Sherwood fouled in the area and Scotty failed to stop a well taken penalty kick.
Thats how it finished at 2-2 and a very hard earnt point.More to the injury list so when we travel to fellow strugglers Eastbourne Town this Saturday it will be interesting as to towns line up!
_________________________________________________________________________________
New Year, Same snow. How is our pitch holding up? Well with NO games being played, not even by our tennants, the pitch is having time to recover. With the snow pretecting the pitch from serious frost and covers protecting the most vulnerable areas. We will hopefully soon see our own brand of unique football back at The Homelands.
Pictures of Pitch 11/01/2010 ______________________________________________
December and Christmas is now nearly gone and following our 1-0 defeat at Folkestone we fans need something to look forward to in 2010.The first glimmer of something a fresh was the 2nd half introduction of a young striker on loan from Gills that lad being Tom Murphy.We had 2 Gills lads warming up at Folkestone ,both wearing their blue Gills tracksuits but it was Tom who got the nod from Steve Lovell to try to salvage at least a point if not some pride.We as a team raised our game at Folkestone but alas it was still not good enough.We came away from Cheriton beaten but not disgraced which i,m sure the vast majority thought we would be!
The time is nigh!
Steve and Hugo need now to pull out all the stops and start to get some much needed wins under our belt!Failure to do so is NOT an option.If we as a team show the fight and commitment that was evident at Folkestone we will survive and fight again in this league.There are teams out there weaker than us .We just need to perform! There are plans in the new year to strengthen the team with more loan signings and also to give the up and coming ressies a chance to show their worth at first team level.Paul Jones is sadly missed up front and as yet we have seen nothing from Mark Lovell or anyone else for that matter and with Joe Fuller still out we are sadly lacking in goal scoring.At the end of the day its goals that win matches!The defence with Lee Hockey and Laurence Harvey is getting a stronger understanding and bond with every passing match which bodes well.However as i said earlier we are lacking in fire power up front.Midfield is looking old and dated with the forever trying Danny Lye working his socks off but having to do too much!Ryan Briggs for me is well past his sell by date and to me is the biggest let down of all the senior players this season with far too many dire performances!
The club have realised that we need more strength to the squad in order for us to get off the bottom of the table.To this end its absolutely no good looking for loans/signings from our level of the football pyramid.To this end we are talking to the likes of Ebbsfleet,Gillingham and higher so lets all stay faithfull to the cause and support ATFC and show the powers that be that we want to have a team in Ashford to be proud of.
November has certainly seen some horrendous weather that has certainly put back both a few cancelled games and delayed on going works at the Homelands with regard to training facilities.With the loss of life in the north of the country being down to floods and just too much water in too short a period of time,we must be gratefull in the south that we have been inconvenienced more so than devastated.
On the football front we are bottom position in the Ryman league with only 2 wins to our credit from 17 games.We all knew that this season was one of consolidation! For that read one of survival! The recent interview and questions from you to Don Crosbie has been posted on to the main ATFC website with some interesting if cautious reaction.
We all know that this season would be a hard fought one at players level due to the mass exodus of last seasons players that promised so much and in the end delivered so little.To his credit Steve Lovell has stuck with it .Hugo also has shone behind the scenes and with the resources available both have worked wonders so far ,with i am sure more to come to make sure that our Ryman Div 1 status is maintained.The position is not a favourable one ,at the moment.It still needs continued support from us all to make sure that we still believe we all want a football team through thick and thin.History says that there have in the past been many broken promises and this keeps regurgitating to the surface when as now the results are not there.We cannot change the past.That is dead and gone.We can however be optimistic about the future and keep the faith with ATFC as it is today.To my knowledge Don Crosbie has not promised anything that he has not delivered.Maybe not straight away.Maybe in a watered down version of original expectations but never a broken promise.
The supporters club has since the rift between the two owners,taken a much more pro active role that has been missing in the recent past.We have tried to bring together a committee with a blend of youth and experience.The Homelands has seen many hours of constructive work to paint behind both goal stands as well as plans to introduce social facilities and the construction of a bat and trap pitch within the stadium.Darts.pool and 5 a-side soccer teams are also part of the plans.Indeed we now have two pool tables at the club .The 5 a sides had their first tournament at Eastbourne and a fair day out was enjoyed by all.As for the results,yes we got hammered!All to play for then!We have an up and coming fixture with Dulwich Hamlet so speak to Matt about this one.
The recent dog race night was a great success and with many lessons learnt from the first effort put together by the present committee a total of £470 was raised along with a great evenings enjoyment.There are plans to put on a horse race night and a repeat of the dog race night.To date with all activities the Supporters club have raised £1003 and rising since the start of the season.
The launch of this website has seen a tremendous amount of "Hits" as can be seen on the web counter visible to all.The "Nuts and Bolts" site is to run alongside the official ATFC site as web mastered by Steve Monk with both sites exchanging articles of joint interest.We have no Forum ,leaving that to the ATFC site but we try to bring to all fans an informed look at the club and to supply something that in the past has been sadly lacking,that of up to date information.
Back then to Homelands on Wednesday 3rd February against high flying Fleet Town.On a desperatetly cold dark and drizzly winters evening the gate suffered to a paltry total of 90.Ashford had new loan signing Craig Cloke in the back line defence direct from Dover and Homelands saw both Darren Hare and Andy Hessenthaler to view their player who is short of first team action and sharpness.
It was to be a baptism of fire with Ashford going in at half time 4-0 down!We were totally out gunned by the best team that has come to Homelands this season.Town in the second half came more back in to the game and added some respect to the final score of 4-1 but the points were not to be!
Homelands this season has suffered tremendously from being over played and the game against Walton and Hersham saw a pitch that resembled a war zone with sand being applied heavily to enable the match to be on.An appearance of rolled mud and sand through the most effected areas was the look!
We saw the re-appearance for Walton of Elliot Brathwaite who definately came in for some stick from the Ashford Supporters as he now seems to have perfected the art of "The Dying Swan" and for one so big and strong was up ended at the mearest touch!
The heavy pitch did nothing for Ashfords brand of free flowing football played on the ground with Walton definately making better use of what is now undoubtably one of the worst playing surfaces seen at Homelands for many a year.
The result of a 2-1 loss has alarm bells ringing in all quarters as we seem firmly entrenched at the foot of the table.This is all very worrying as we have more games to play at home than away and "Fortress Homelands" seems to be non existant.
So we look forward to Wednesday 10th February when we take on Whitstable Town at Homelands who yesterday came up against Leatherhead and received a 7-1 drubbing!
Now is the time to play them ,but they will not be an easy touch so we need all you faithfull supporters out there to wrap up warm and come and see if the "Nuts and Bolts" can get those much needed 3 points to our seasons tally. ______________________________________________________________
So its back to the rest of the season with hopefully the worst of the winters snowfall gone and a squad full of players raring to get on with winning and climbing out of the relegation zone.
An away game at Whyteleafe in Surrey saw the AMb coach employed again to get the town faithfull supporters to leafy suburban Surrey on what was a cold January Saturday.Many of the players and staff were on board as well.The game ended as a 2-2 draw and an invaluable point to add to our meagre tally earned so far this season.Down to 10 men in the early part of the second half with a 2-1 lead which was pegged back to 2-2 despite a valiant display by the magnificant 10.
Homelands on the 27th enabled the tie with Walton Casuals to take place on what was again an extremely cold and damp evening.A very sparse crowd of 83 witnessed town get a penalty awarded after 25 minutes when Mitch was pulled down in the area and as usual Mitch strode up to the spot ,made good contact with pace ,but a good guess by the casuals keeper saw a terrific parry save! This was Mitchell Sherwoods first penalty miss ever in a green and white shirt.
Town not to be out done less than 5 mins later Ross Morleys shot hit the post and the rebound was drilled home by Joe Fuller.5 mins later a free kick from 35 yards out was floated in to the box by dead ball specialist Ryan Briggs and was met with a powerfull header by Lee Hockey .So 2-0 to town which could well of been 3-0 and put the result beyond question.
With half time looming and a 2-0 lead all looked good!
On 44 mins Laurence Harvey fouled in the area and the penalty was shot past Josh Willis although he did get a hand to it.
2-1 at the break.
The second half saw Casuals come out more determined and town seemed to lose shape and purpose with the loss of Laurence Harvey in the back line.Tom Murphy soon limped out of the game and our best attacking forward was gone for the rest of the game.Disaster struck even worse soon after as Josh Willis went down dramatically whincing in pain from a knee injury and was stretchered off the pitch and straight off to hospital!
With Scott 3 names now in goal town were under the cosh trying to secure the 3 points but on 90 mins Mitchell Sherwood fouled in the area and Scotty failed to stop a well taken penalty kick.
Thats how it finished at 2-2 and a very hard earnt point.More to the injury list so when we travel to fellow strugglers Eastbourne Town this Saturday it will be interesting as to towns line up!
_________________________________________________________________________________
New Year, Same snow. How is our pitch holding up? Well with NO games being played, not even by our tennants, the pitch is having time to recover. With the snow pretecting the pitch from serious frost and covers protecting the most vulnerable areas. We will hopefully soon see our own brand of unique football back at The Homelands.
Pictures of Pitch 11/01/2010 ______________________________________________
December and Christmas is now nearly gone and following our 1-0 defeat at Folkestone we fans need something to look forward to in 2010.The first glimmer of something a fresh was the 2nd half introduction of a young striker on loan from Gills that lad being Tom Murphy.We had 2 Gills lads warming up at Folkestone ,both wearing their blue Gills tracksuits but it was Tom who got the nod from Steve Lovell to try to salvage at least a point if not some pride.We as a team raised our game at Folkestone but alas it was still not good enough.We came away from Cheriton beaten but not disgraced which i,m sure the vast majority thought we would be!
The time is nigh!
Steve and Hugo need now to pull out all the stops and start to get some much needed wins under our belt!Failure to do so is NOT an option.If we as a team show the fight and commitment that was evident at Folkestone we will survive and fight again in this league.There are teams out there weaker than us .We just need to perform! There are plans in the new year to strengthen the team with more loan signings and also to give the up and coming ressies a chance to show their worth at first team level.Paul Jones is sadly missed up front and as yet we have seen nothing from Mark Lovell or anyone else for that matter and with Joe Fuller still out we are sadly lacking in goal scoring.At the end of the day its goals that win matches!The defence with Lee Hockey and Laurence Harvey is getting a stronger understanding and bond with every passing match which bodes well.However as i said earlier we are lacking in fire power up front.Midfield is looking old and dated with the forever trying Danny Lye working his socks off but having to do too much!Ryan Briggs for me is well past his sell by date and to me is the biggest let down of all the senior players this season with far too many dire performances!
The club have realised that we need more strength to the squad in order for us to get off the bottom of the table.To this end its absolutely no good looking for loans/signings from our level of the football pyramid.To this end we are talking to the likes of Ebbsfleet,Gillingham and higher so lets all stay faithfull to the cause and support ATFC and show the powers that be that we want to have a team in Ashford to be proud of.
November has certainly seen some horrendous weather that has certainly put back both a few cancelled games and delayed on going works at the Homelands with regard to training facilities.With the loss of life in the north of the country being down to floods and just too much water in too short a period of time,we must be gratefull in the south that we have been inconvenienced more so than devastated.
On the football front we are bottom position in the Ryman league with only 2 wins to our credit from 17 games.We all knew that this season was one of consolidation! For that read one of survival! The recent interview and questions from you to Don Crosbie has been posted on to the main ATFC website with some interesting if cautious reaction.
We all know that this season would be a hard fought one at players level due to the mass exodus of last seasons players that promised so much and in the end delivered so little.To his credit Steve Lovell has stuck with it .Hugo also has shone behind the scenes and with the resources available both have worked wonders so far ,with i am sure more to come to make sure that our Ryman Div 1 status is maintained.The position is not a favourable one ,at the moment.It still needs continued support from us all to make sure that we still believe we all want a football team through thick and thin.History says that there have in the past been many broken promises and this keeps regurgitating to the surface when as now the results are not there.We cannot change the past.That is dead and gone.We can however be optimistic about the future and keep the faith with ATFC as it is today.To my knowledge Don Crosbie has not promised anything that he has not delivered.Maybe not straight away.Maybe in a watered down version of original expectations but never a broken promise.
The supporters club has since the rift between the two owners,taken a much more pro active role that has been missing in the recent past.We have tried to bring together a committee with a blend of youth and experience.The Homelands has seen many hours of constructive work to paint behind both goal stands as well as plans to introduce social facilities and the construction of a bat and trap pitch within the stadium.Darts.pool and 5 a-side soccer teams are also part of the plans.Indeed we now have two pool tables at the club .The 5 a sides had their first tournament at Eastbourne and a fair day out was enjoyed by all.As for the results,yes we got hammered!All to play for then!We have an up and coming fixture with Dulwich Hamlet so speak to Matt about this one.
The recent dog race night was a great success and with many lessons learnt from the first effort put together by the present committee a total of £470 was raised along with a great evenings enjoyment.There are plans to put on a horse race night and a repeat of the dog race night.To date with all activities the Supporters club have raised £1003 and rising since the start of the season.
The launch of this website has seen a tremendous amount of "Hits" as can be seen on the web counter visible to all.The "Nuts and Bolts" site is to run alongside the official ATFC site as web mastered by Steve Monk with both sites exchanging articles of joint interest.We have no Forum ,leaving that to the ATFC site but we try to bring to all fans an informed look at the club and to supply something that in the past has been sadly lacking,that of up to date information.
Details For Eastbourne
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Away Day player of the Month
Ashford Town FC Supporters Club are Proud to present:
Chris Field as Elvis
click picture for more info
*Installation of Dart Board in upstairs bar
Last Week
*Formation of Pool Teams
Weekly Superdraw Winners Week 36
£1,000 Mr Denis Hixon - C3301
£150 Sammi Fellows - D6186
£100 Mrs Margaret Marsh - L4634
£75 Mrs Doris Lloyd - J0478
£50 Wendy Smout - B0733
£50 Diana Hardiman - K5939
£25 Kelly Taylor - M1608
£25 John Fletcher - B3366
£25 Mrs S Mellor - Y1845
£25 Mr C Kiernan - E3356
The birth date drawn this week was 27.05.08, but there were no winners so next weeks' prize will be £700!