Ash United FC
Shawfield Stadium
Youngs Drive
Ash
Aldershot
Hampshire
GU12 6RE
Ground: 56
Date: Saturday 29th September 2018
Ash United 3-4 British Airways
Combined Counties League Division 1
Attendance: 35 (official)
Ash United FC - History
Ash United were founded in 1911 and initially joined the Surrey Intermediate League, winning the league in the 1948/49, 1951/52, 1964/65 and 1966/67 seasons before moving up to the Surrey Senior League in 1968. The club remained in this league for three seasons until having to drop out after being forced to leave their Ash Common ground. After relocating to their current ground, the club then rejoined the Surrey Senior League in 1976.
After two seasons back in this league, the league changed name to the Home Counties League for the 1978/79 season, before again rebranding itself as the Combined Counties League for the following season. The club finished 2nd in both seasons of rebranding, which was then followed by the league splitting into East and West Divisions for one season (1981/82), with the club placed in the West Division and winning the title before the league reverted back to a single division the following season.
The club won the title again in the 1986/87 season, and again in the 1998/99 season, with a wide variety of finishes (ranging from 2nd to second-from-bottom) in between. When the league gained a second division in the 2003/04 season, Ash were placed in the Premier Division and initially thrived, finishing as high as 3rd in the 2005/06 season. However, the turn of the decade saw a turn for the worse in the club's fortunes, finishing 20th in both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons before being relegated to Division 1. The club have remained here ever since, finishing 10th in three of their four seasons at this level so far (the pattern was broken when they finished 12th in the 2016/17 season, though).
In the FA Cup, the club's best run saw them progress as far as the 2nd Qualifying Round in the 1998/99 season, beating Pagham before losing to Walton & Hersham. As for the FA Vase, the club have twice progressed as far as the 4th Round: in the 1998/99 season, the club beat Three Bridges, Southwick, Tunbridge Wells and Melksham Town before losing to Tiverton Town; in the 2001/02 season, the club beat Erith Town, Metropolitan Police, Leatherhead, Falmouth Town and Stotfold before losing to Tow Law Town.
My Visit
Initially, the plan for yesterday had been to meet my dad somewhere between Guildford and Chichester and then go to a game (the non-game part of that plan was meant to happen today instead, but the incompotence of South Western Railway put paid to that). However, as I had an evening commitment that I had to be back for by 6pm-6:30pm, it became quickly apparent that a change of plans would be required.
With those restrictions in mind, I had a quick look through the Groundhopper app to see what options and, after checking how a few of them would work out, it turned out that this was the only option I had if I wanted to tick off a new ground. So, with that in mind and the forecast looking good, I ordered my train tickets yesterday morning and left the house just after 1:30pm, my train leaving Guildford at 2pm and getting into Ash ten minutes later. It was then a 15 minute walk to the ground and, upon my arrival, I paid £5 for entry which included the programme (an excellent publication, plain to see why it won "Programme of the season" in CCLD1 last season), even though I should have really been charged for the programme as well.
After being almost immediately being identified as a groundhopper, I had conversations with a few of the people at the ground, first explaining to one what a groundhopper is and then talking about a few of the places I've been (as well as some I've yet to visit, when I was asked about the likes of Farnborough and Aldershot Town). After this was done, I did my usual circuit of photos in the Autumn sunshine (regretting how much I'd underestimated how warm it would be as I went), only stopping along the way to read through the programme.
By the time I finished my circuit of photos, the teams were being written up and, while waiting for that to be concluded so I could take a photo, news came through that kick-off would be delayed as one official was caught in all of yesterday's chaos between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction. This did end up meaning I missed my initial return train and got back to the house later than I'd intended, but as my evening commitment had been moved to 6:30pm that didn't prove to be an issue, other than meaning I didn't get to have dinner before heading out again (but I did have a cheeseburger and chips at half-time, which proved sufficient anyway).
This was just the second time this season going into an entirely neutral groundhop (i.e. one not involving Yaxley) that I took the time to look at the table beforehand, but at this early stage of the season it was difficult to make much of a prediction about how the game would progress, even more so due to British Airways' rather inconsistent start to life at Step 6.
The Autumn sun made it quite frustrating to photograph the entirety of the team listings, so this was the best I could manage before kick-off
Here's my report on a game that proved to be one of the most interesting I've seen all season, with goals galore and plenty of opportunities for both teams to have scored more:
Kick-off was delayed until 3:12pm, due to one of the officials being stuck on the train courtesy of the issues between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction. When we eventually got underway, Ash made the perfect start, catching the BA defenders napping and setting Luke Cairns through on goal to shoot in the box and score. At this point, you couldn't be blamed for thinking that BA were in for a long afternoon, but they weren't giving up that easily. Instead, they started to go on the offensive and took just seven minutes to equalise, a cross from deep reaching the head of Daniel Clifton to score.
The Ash manager wasn't pleased at all and made a very early substitution, bringing off Ethan Dixon for Stan Staines (I'd assume it was for an injury if Dixon was limping or something, but there was no indication of that so I have to assume it was a tactical decision). However, this substitution didn't help Ash at all, as BA went on the attack again and scored again on 16 minutes, a second corner in quick succession eventually being headed in by Daniel Callan. BA's Cameron Edwin then attempted to score from an overhead kick on 19 minutes, but his effort was massively audacious and well wide.
Speaking of audacious efforts, another one came for BA after 22 minutes via Daniel Clifton, but unlike the overhead kick three minutes previously his curling shot from 25 yards was on target and eluded Nick Watmore in the Ash goal to go straight into the top corner. I had noticed before this that BA had been frequently attempting audacious shots like that from range - including a couple of attempts from a corner - but this was the first (but not only) time this game that it paid off. Despite being 3-1 down in just over 20 minutes, Ash hadn't quite given up yet and created another good chance on 26 minutes: a corner was played into the box to an Ash attacker, who got a shot away that required an excellent fingertip save from BA keeper Chedle to keep it out.
This was then followed by a brief uneventful period before BA came close to a fourth on 35 minutes: Lewis Nobes was in a good position to cross but instead decided to shoot, with his shot beating Watmore but going inches wide of the far post. Just a minute later, the fourth did come though, Clifton again shooting from around 25 yards to score, his shot once again going straight over Watmore and in to complete his hat-trick. Cue a couple of shouts from a couple of BA players to start shooting from range, even though they had been doing so the entire half anyway. The last notable incident of the half came a couple of minutes later when Ash almost pulled a goal back, a shot from the edge of the box requiring an excellent reflex save from Chedle to keep out.
The second half started a few minutes late due to the Ash players not coming out on time (presumably still getting yelled at by their understandably-irate manager), but we eventually got underway again at 4:15pm, after an 18 minute half-time break. The results of the half-time team talk for Ash soon became apparent as they started to take control of the game, looking a completely different team compared to the first half in terms of intensity and cohesion (the same could be said of BA, but not in the same positive fashion). As such, it was unsurprising when they pulled one back on 54 minutes through their captain Nick Holmes, a free kick slipping through several bodies to be tapped in by Holmes. This was then followed by a yellow card for BA's Harvey Pasma for a poor tackle, which was then followed by a series of substitutions from both sides as Ash attempted to continue the comeback, while BA tried to return to their first half performance levels without much success.
The game largely ebbed and flowed without much incident for a while until another BA yellow card for Callum Bennet on 73 minutes, after which BA began to become more obvious in their attempts to run the clock down and frustrate Ash. However, these attempts didn't prove successful at first, as Ash were able to pull another goal back through Giacomo Di-Lullo on 82 minutes (this presumably helped earn the forgiveness of his manager, who was unhappy with Di-Lullo for going to shower without permission in preparation for coming on): a free kick was floated into the box and Di-Lullo was first to it to score. Ash then laid siege to the BA goal for a few minutes before conceding possession, at which point BA tried to play it into the corner and run the clock down. Even while doing this, though, BA almost scored a fifth when Callum Deverill found himself one-on-one with Watmore, but he lacked composure and his shot went miles wide. Regardless, BA were able to hold on for the win.
The Ash manager wasn't pleased at all and made a very early substitution, bringing off Ethan Dixon for Stan Staines (I'd assume it was for an injury if Dixon was limping or something, but there was no indication of that so I have to assume it was a tactical decision). However, this substitution didn't help Ash at all, as BA went on the attack again and scored again on 16 minutes, a second corner in quick succession eventually being headed in by Daniel Callan. BA's Cameron Edwin then attempted to score from an overhead kick on 19 minutes, but his effort was massively audacious and well wide.
Speaking of audacious efforts, another one came for BA after 22 minutes via Daniel Clifton, but unlike the overhead kick three minutes previously his curling shot from 25 yards was on target and eluded Nick Watmore in the Ash goal to go straight into the top corner. I had noticed before this that BA had been frequently attempting audacious shots like that from range - including a couple of attempts from a corner - but this was the first (but not only) time this game that it paid off. Despite being 3-1 down in just over 20 minutes, Ash hadn't quite given up yet and created another good chance on 26 minutes: a corner was played into the box to an Ash attacker, who got a shot away that required an excellent fingertip save from BA keeper Chedle to keep it out.
This was then followed by a brief uneventful period before BA came close to a fourth on 35 minutes: Lewis Nobes was in a good position to cross but instead decided to shoot, with his shot beating Watmore but going inches wide of the far post. Just a minute later, the fourth did come though, Clifton again shooting from around 25 yards to score, his shot once again going straight over Watmore and in to complete his hat-trick. Cue a couple of shouts from a couple of BA players to start shooting from range, even though they had been doing so the entire half anyway. The last notable incident of the half came a couple of minutes later when Ash almost pulled a goal back, a shot from the edge of the box requiring an excellent reflex save from Chedle to keep out.
The second half started a few minutes late due to the Ash players not coming out on time (presumably still getting yelled at by their understandably-irate manager), but we eventually got underway again at 4:15pm, after an 18 minute half-time break. The results of the half-time team talk for Ash soon became apparent as they started to take control of the game, looking a completely different team compared to the first half in terms of intensity and cohesion (the same could be said of BA, but not in the same positive fashion). As such, it was unsurprising when they pulled one back on 54 minutes through their captain Nick Holmes, a free kick slipping through several bodies to be tapped in by Holmes. This was then followed by a yellow card for BA's Harvey Pasma for a poor tackle, which was then followed by a series of substitutions from both sides as Ash attempted to continue the comeback, while BA tried to return to their first half performance levels without much success.
The game largely ebbed and flowed without much incident for a while until another BA yellow card for Callum Bennet on 73 minutes, after which BA began to become more obvious in their attempts to run the clock down and frustrate Ash. However, these attempts didn't prove successful at first, as Ash were able to pull another goal back through Giacomo Di-Lullo on 82 minutes (this presumably helped earn the forgiveness of his manager, who was unhappy with Di-Lullo for going to shower without permission in preparation for coming on): a free kick was floated into the box and Di-Lullo was first to it to score. Ash then laid siege to the BA goal for a few minutes before conceding possession, at which point BA tried to play it into the corner and run the clock down. Even while doing this, though, BA almost scored a fifth when Callum Deverill found himself one-on-one with Watmore, but he lacked composure and his shot went miles wide. Regardless, BA were able to hold on for the win.
As is fortunately proving to be a common trend this season, I massively enjoyed this groundhop, partially because of the crazy game but also because of the friendliness of the people involved with Ash, all of whom made me feel very welcome at the game. I'll definitely be coming back at some point in the future, that's for certain.
Next week Matt will be joining me again and, if the weather holds up and the SWR strikes don't cause too much chaos, we're aiming to finally visit Windsor, which is one we've both been talking about doing ever since last season but not yet had the opportunity to. Hopefully that will finally change next weekend, but we have a few back-ups in place if that proves to not be possible.
The Ground
Shawfield Stadium is a good ground for Step 6, with a fairly standard Arena stand - albeit with more seats than most at this level (150 seats, rather than the minimum 50 or the equally-common 100) - on the dugout side of the ground. Other than this, there's an area of covered standing behind the near goal, which could probably hold 150-200 people as well if required.
Other than this, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with a few chairs scattered here and there providing additional seating (including a few in the standing cover behind the near goal). As it is, I doubt there's much if any work that would be required should the club ever return to Step 5, and the ground is certainly more than good enough for Step 6.
The ground has an overall capacity of 2,500 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the record attendance at the ground was set when AFC Wimbledon visited in the 2002/03 season, with 914 people packing into the ground to watch.
Photos
