In Brackets

Ashford Town (Middlesex)  2  Chalfont St Peter  0

Isthmian League – Division One South Central

I forget the name of the player, or indeed the club, but I do recall the story of a perplexed footballer once turning up at Ashford Town in Middlesex only to discover that his teammates were in actual fact at Ashford Town in Kent!

I can also recall that the two Ashford Town’s once played in a pre-season friendly, due to the relationship the two secretaries had developed courtesy of having to re-direct mail to each other when it arrived at the wrong location.

It can’t happen now though, because Ashford Town in Kent re-formed as Ashford United, but, the suffix or brackets if you prefer, of ‘Middlesex’ firmly remains part of the name of the club situated a very short distance from Heathrow Airport.

So, on a cold and wet day, myself and my partner in crime (Mark Thorpe – Alfreton Town Club Shop) decided it was worth a trip to have a look at Ashford Town (Middlesex) and find out a little more about the club that has had to be more specific than most about their own identity.

It's A Wet One

The rain lashed down as we travelled South, but comfortable in the knowledge that Bedfont Sports were at home on the 3G a mere stones throw away, we travelled without any concerns of not finding any football. The journey wasn’t too tricky, the M1 was a bit more of an issue than the M25 which is somewhat unusual, but once inside the M25 and coasting along the Southern perimeter of the airport, the ground on Short Lane was found with ease.

Considering the proximity of one of the busiest airports in the World, the Robert Parker Stadium has something of a rural feel to it. Set in a larger area of greenery, two sides of the ground are tree lined, while more pitches sit to the rear of the ground, across the car park. Behind one goal are the famous gas holders, and they are the only real indicators of an incredibly busy urban location.

Gas

The clubhouse sits just outside the ground and provided warmth and cover from the incessant rain that showed no signs of abating. Refreshments were indeed taken, although real ale enthusiast Mark was less than overwhelmed by a traditional pint of Courage! The Fosters however, was on blinding form so I was more than happy.

The ground is very neat and tidy. Just through the turnstiles is a club shop and a tea bar, albeit minus hot food today. The players enter the pitch in the corner, and to the left of this is a shallow seated stand, with a further area of covered terracing further up the side towards the half way line. Behind one goal is another area of cover, while a larger main stand sits on the airport side of the ground.

The floodlights are noticeably very low, presumably again due to the proximity of the airport, while at the gas holder end, high netting is in place to prevent stray footballs from leaving the arena.

The Airport Sits Behind

The club chose to add ‘Middlesex’ to its name in the early nineties, and that coincided with a period of unprecedented success on the field. From 1995 onwards the club won the Combined Counties League championship five times in six seasons. This saw them promoted to the Isthmian League in 2000, which lasted until 2004 when they were switched to the Southern League. A runners-up spot in 2006 saw them promoted, and indeed moved sideways to the Isthmian League Premier Division, where they remained for four seasons.

Relegation saw them flipped back to the Southern League (as a club on the borderline between Isthmian and Southern this is always a hazard), but after four seasons they found themselves back in the Combined Counties League. Two seasons was all it took to get back to the Southern League, but, at the start of this season they were moved back into the Isthmian League, and now ply their trade in Division One South Central!

This season it’s going quite nicely, they sit just outside the play-off places, and with the visitors sat in the lower half of the table, they were hopeful of a victory.

Getting Wetter

A crowd of 91 were huddled under the cover, and despite the visitors having plenty of the ball, it was the hosts that went in at the break two goals to the good. James Cottee opened the scoring in the eleventh minute after the Chalfont keeper had initially made a great save, while the second came in the thirty ninth minute courtesy of Nebay Haile who finished well after great work from Tommy Brunton.

At the start of the second period, the referee did an impromptu pitch inspection in one of the penalty areas, the ball wouldn’t bounce, but it would float! Anyway, he chose to soldier on and to be fair, the pitch was playable, albeit one or two areas were getting waterlogged. The players however were sensible and deserve credit for putting on a very good spectacle in the conditions.

Low Floodlights

The second period was fairly even although the better chances did fall to the visitors, but they lacked the killer edge to convert, and consequently it was the Tangerines that took the three points. I commented to Mark at the final whistle that I would not have been surprised had games been abandoned today, but to be fair the casualty list wasn’t as big as I thought. Local to Ashford, only Molesey bit the bust.

So that was Ashford Town (Middlesex), a great day out at a very welcoming and homely club, I suspect if you ever did go there by mistake, part of you would just want to stay anyway!