Ashford United will treat everyone with the utmost respect, says Mark Patterson

ASHFORD UNITED director of football, Mark Patterson says the club will treat their Kent Invicta League opponents with the respect they deserve this season, writes Stephen McCartney.


Football in Ashford returned when a crowd of 1,126 flocked through the turnstiles to see a full-strength Gillingham side ease to a comfortable 3-0 win last night, courtesy of first half goals from Luke Rooney, debutant Lewis Montrose and Dennis Oli.

It was great to be back at Homelands watching Ashford playing football again - and they must win two promotions to get back to where Ashford Town were playing – Ryman League Division One South – before their sad demise just over a year ago.

The club is clearly the largest in the newly formed sixteen-team Kent Invicta League with the best stadium, the largest support and the biggest expectations to secure the title at the first attempt.

“Everyone expects us to, but it doesn’t always work that way,” warned Patterson.

“We’ll go into the League, we have to pay everybody the utmost respect because that’s what we expect from them and that’s what we’ll give them.

“We’ll try our best and if the best isn’t good enough then we’ll try again the year after.

“Hopefully we’ll be at the top end of the table and competing because we feel there’s enough players out there who can do the job but we can’t ever say we will win the league.  It doesn’t happen that way.

“We’ve got to go out there and treat every game on its merits and every team on their merits and hopefully we’ll be good enough at the end of the season but we’ll be having a go that’s for sure!”

Central defender, Lee Shearer, 34, meanwhile enjoyed the work-out against full-time opposition last night.

“Yes, it was alright, it weren’t too bad,” he said.  “I was surprised actually, over the years I’ve always played against Gillingham especially playing for all the Kent sides and they’ve always come and stuffed us 8-0 and 5-0 and 6-0, as they’ve always turned out a good side, like they did tonight.

“They’ve brought out all of the first team down, which was really nice for the crowd, for everyone to see, but I thought the lads went out there, a really young side - obviously I doubled the age of the average, I’m 34 this year, not done anything for six months!
 
“I thought the lads done really well, especially the youngsters that were there.  It’s the first time that everyone’s played together and I thought, at times, we done really well.  We played some good football and things look promising for Ashford Football Club.”

League Two side Gillingham played the game at a slow pace, with manager Andy Hessenthaler treating their opening game as a training session.

“You could say that they wasn’t at full pace, which is understandable, but still, to lose 3-0 to a Gillingham side you’ve got to be happy,” admitted likeable Shearer, who got through 85 minutes.

“It looks bright, if we can build on that, continue like that, things can only get better here.”

Shearer revealed that he is weighing up his options before deciding his future.

“I’ve got a phone call from Paul Chambers, Patto’s (Patterson) been on my case because I haven’t been doing anything for six months, just having a bit of time with my missus and my little boy, but they’re trying to get me to sign but another couple of other clubs have phoned but this is on my door step, it seems a like a nice enough club and I’ll run it past the missus to see if she will let me play as well.  We’ll see.”

But Shearer admits to being impressed with first impressions of the artist formerly known as Ashford Town.

“The people who you have in charge here at the moment, it is professional, the way it’s run,” said the former Hythe Town defender.

“Straight away you walk in the changing room, things are right.  There only going to get better.  You’ve got a good backing with the board, they want the club to be where it should be so hopefully fingers crossed Ashford Football Club is on the way back!”

Shearer appreciates that opposing players will raise their game when they visit Homelands Stadium – but Ashford players will have to adapt when they play at some modest venues on their travels.

He said: “You’ve got to remember from when you were younger you always had to play on pitches like that so it’s how you deal with it.  It’s no different to when you were a kid at school. It’s the same for the other side.  You’ve just got to stick in what you believe in, play the football you want to play and just grind results out.  You can’t help that.  The incentive’s there, if you go and win all your games you win the league, you play on better pitches.”

When asked whether the aspirations of the club is to be playing Kent League football in season 2012-2013, Shearer said, “I should imagine so, yes!  Why not?  First league, back in it, why not go and win it?!!  But let’s see what happens first.  First few games.  It’s a long way to go yet, it’s only the first game yet!”

Ashford United continue their pre-season campaign when Ryman League Division One South side Whitstable Town visit Homelands Stadium on Tuesday, 19^th July (7:30pm).

Visit Ashford United’s website: www.ashfordunited.co.uk