Lovell rues his luck during seven-goal Ram raid

Tuesday 18th August 2009

ASHFORD TOWN boss Steve Lovell says luck turned against his side during their humiliating 7-0 opening day defeat to big-spending Croydon Athletic, writes Stephen McCartney.

Rams’ striker Gary Noel netted FIVE goals against the shell-shocked Nuts & Bolts, with Scott Forrester and Ben Godfrey ensuring it was a miserable day out for the Kent club.

“They’re not bad, they’re not bad, but what could have gone wrong Saturday, went wrong,” Lovell, who also saw his side score from a scramble, but was disallowed, told www.kentishfootball.co.uk this lunchtime.

“It wasn’t a 7-0, it definitely wasn’t a 7-0, but they’re a good side and I think they could take the league by storm to be honest.”

Welshman Lovell was pleased with the opening exchanges at Mayfield Road - but then it all went wrong!

“We had two chances, could have scored quite easily, everything was looking quite good,” he reflected.

“They got a goal, which all our players said was handball and a couple of them got booked for demonstrating with the officials.

“The second followed, a penalty, which was a penalty, no arguments about that one.

“The third, the ball was out of play, the linesman didn’t give anything, they crossed it and the fella scored, so we had bad lucky with that.

“They scored two goals in the last twenty minutes when we had nine men on the park.

“Although they’re a good side and they deserved their victory, I felt 7-0 flattered them to be honest.”

With the score at 5-0, Lovell lost Mitchell Sherwood to an ankle problem and debutant Dan Scorer will be out for up to two months with ankle ligament damage.

“I made three changes just before the hour mark and then within the next five minutes, two of my boys went down injured so we were down to nine men.”

Lovell admitted: “I think it’s my highest defeat ever in 33 years of being in pro football. I’ve never lost 7-0, so it’s a first for everything.”

Lovell and his players will dust themselves down in time for the visit of Merstham to Homelands tomorrow night.

“There’s obviously a couple of boys that had poor games, they know who they are so they’ll get an opportunity to put it right on Wednesday,” said Lovell.

“It’s not the correct thing to change your team entirely after losing a big game. They’ve done well in pre-season and I think it was an off day for everyone and certain circumstances contributed to the result.

“We’ll roll our sleeves up and have a go and see what happens Wednesday.”

Merstham arrive in Kent on the back of a 2-2 home draw against last season’s beaten play-off finalists, Metropolitan Police.

Lovell added: “I think this league will be exactly the same it’s been over the years. Anybody can beat anybody on the day and there’s one or two teams that will take the league by storm and I’m sure Corydon (Athletic) will be one of them.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game.

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

Ashford Town v Merstham

Ryman League Division One South

Wednesday 19th August 2009

Kick Off 7:45pm

At Homelands Stadium, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent TN26 1NJ