Local home grown youth is the way forward, says Ashford chief

Thursday 20th August 2009

ASHFORD TOWN chairman Don Crosbie says this is a season of consolidation for the Homelands club, writes Stephen McCartney.

The much-changed Nuts & Bolts have began their new Ryman League Division One South campaign with a 7-0 defeat at the hands off big-spending Croydon Athletic, but a much better performance followed during last night’s 2-0 home defeat to Merstham, who completed a smash-and-grab raid.

There were only five familiar faces in last night’s sixteen-man squad from last season; Lee Hockey, Ryan Briggs, Mitchell Sherwood, Paul Jones and Darren Ibrahim.

The non-league journeymen, who move from club to club to chase the money, have all jumped ship, and whilst Anthony Browne, Mark Lovell and Danny Lye remain on the sidelines through injury and suspension, it’s a new look side at Ashford this year.

Despite currently sitting at the foot of the table after only two games, Mr Crosbie, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk last night, told fans not to worry.

“It’s the start of the season, with a lot of youngsters coming through,” he said.

“There’s some promising players there, perhaps in a years time, but that’s ok, (we’re) building for the future.

“It will take three or four games to get them gelling, but they could’ve got something out of tonight.”

With Messrs Browne, Lovell and Lye ruled out at present, Mr Crosbie believes the trio will strengthen the side upon their return.

“We’re not at full strength at the moment,” he added. “In a couple of weeks we’ll have three or four of these players back, which gives us eight boys of the old team, which will strengthen it up a little bit.”

Mr Crosbie says local home grown talent is the way forward.

“The thing is, at the end of the day, we won’t be relegated, we can assure you of that, we will not get relegated,” he insisted. “It’s just a question of consolidation.

“We’ve rebuilt our youth set up, we’ve got brilliant under 18s and under 16s coming through, that’s the backbone of the team is going to consist of within five years time.

“That was my dream when I came here and that’s what we’re going to work on and we want local home grown players.

“We’ve got 300 boys in our set-up and if we can’t put a decent team together out of them in three or four years time, then we haven’t done a job.

“But I’m sure Steve (Lovell) and Hugo (Langton) are looking at all these boys and they will put a team together.”

Ashford Town’s financial problems were well documented during the close season, but Mr Crosbie insists he is in for the long haul.

He said: “I had the heart attack in the beginning of April. I’ve lost a couple of stone in weight, which is probably not bad, but it’s all about lifestyle, getting the proper sleep, food and not burning the candle at both ends and not trying to do too much.

“I’m more relaxed this year. I’m not going to do as much. I’m 100% behind Ashford, I’m working hard on our planning permission because we need the planning permission to give us a sustainable business package for the club and then the club will leapfrog forward.”

When asked about his aspirations for the new season, Mr Crosbie replied, “Our aspirations are not to go down of course, to get as high as we can. But to build a team that we know will be around for a few years.

“We want to build it with a young contingent and we want to build it from our youth set-up as well with a couple of experienced players around them.”

Despite his side’s disappointing start to the new season, Lovell, who was also speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk last night, is pleased with the squad that he has re-built.

When suggested that his side only lost to Merstham last night as they didn’t have the prolific firepower up front, although his side worked hard and played well, the Welshman replied, “I’m not worried, that’s part of football. You’ve got your goalkeeper and you’ve got centre forwards, in any kind of football their the ones that cost the money, but money doesn’t make any difference. You’ve got to get on with it and do it.

“Jonah (Paul Jones) is a proven goalscorer, Joe Fuller done well when he went up front tonight. He had a couple of really good chances, the (Merstham) keeper made some really good saves.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s home game against Godalming Town, surprise early pace setters with a 100% record from their opening two games, Lovell is confident his side will claim three points to get their season underway.

“Tough game, they’re all tough games,” he said. “But I’ve got a great bunch of lads in there and we’ll roll our sleeves up and work on things and we’ll get back in on Saturday and give it a go.

“All we can do is keep working with what we’ve got and hopefully we’ll turn it around.”

He added: “The squad’s only been together for two games and I think we’ve done remarkably well tonight, having only been chucked together.

“We’ve played in pre-season, but like everybody in pre-season, you play hundreds of people and the last two games, is the only time we’ve had a settled eleven to play.

“The boys went out there tonight and played really well. Just disappointed that they didn’t get anything out of it.”

Assistant manager Langton went to watch Godalming win at Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday night, so Ashford will be fully prepared as usual.

“They play a little diamond in midfield,” said Lovell. “You can go and watch teams play but it’s mainly for set-pieces.

“In general play, it’s what we can do and the endeavour and the hard work is there. The work-rate from everybody is there, but we just need that little bit of quality, I wouldn’t say quality, a little bit of things going your way.”

Meanwhile, the club would like to remind supporters that their away game at Sittingbourne will take place at Bourne Park on Tuesday, 25th August (7:45pm)

And Lovell’s men lock horns with Mile Oak in the preliminary round of the FA Cup at Homelands on Sunday, 30th August (3pm), which means their home Kent derby against Whitstable Town has been moved back to Wednesday, 2nd September (7:45pm).

Visit Ashford Town’s website: www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk

Ashford Town v Godalming Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 22nd August 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Homelands Stadium, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent TN26 1NJ