ARDLEY UNITED 3-1 BINFIELD: LIGHT-HEARTED MATCH REPORT...

Ardley Leave Late Moles Wondering Why They Bothered To Arrive At All

Ardley United 3-1 Binfield

Whilst attempting to put together MFI furniture a long while back and also being left-handed, the assembly was always awkward for me but what really irritated was the apparent unwillingness of screws to sink into pre-bored holes straight. They just didn’t seem to fit. Or even want to. And they twisted at angles, all awry. This Hellenic League encounter was also a bit of a misfit. There were miscues, sliced punts, spills by the home ‘keeper, a lack of accuracy in passing and little or no pattern to the game at all. And yet there was no difficult wind, no rain, nor any suggestion of cold weather. Binfield even arrived late, being jammed on the A404, I believe and so the Moles were ill-prepared anyway. The officials punctuated the many stoppages for offside, fouls and complaints with rare moments of actually allowing the match to flow, which naturally worsened when substitutions added to the interruptions. All that said, both teams could have won the match, even though Binfield saved their more offensive moments until the final quarter of an hour. Both ‘keepers made fine second-half saves but the severe lack of quality reared its ugly head throughout the contest, like those rotten screws, which would never turn neatly into MFI DIY furniture… 

THE TOSS...

In the opening moments, Ardley goalie Lee Farrow followed a low cross towards his left and fell to grab the ball on the byeline, only to lose it on the damp turf like he had lost his soap in the bathtub and Mole Sean Moore took the ball from him but after making an angle for himself his weak shot was ushered from the goal-line by the tall Brad Cox whose early defence work included one or two heavily sliced clearances. Considering their late arrival Binfield had begun fairly busily and a shot by Michael Walton bounced off a colleague before James Knight, always one to look for a creative pass, shoved a left-side centre across the face of goal whereby Farrow hesitated and so did the Binfield forwards, allowing Ardley to clear the snubbed ball.

ANOTHER STOPPAGE?

Following a deep cross from the right by Ardley and then a delivery from the left, which Mole Garry Aulsbury did well to punch away, the visitors suddenly broke forth and James Knight’s feed sent Liam Ferdinand scurrying through the middle and his finish was unerring past the advancing Farrow. Ferdinand was Binfield’s most effective forward although in truth, late chances would be squandered by others. 

FERDINAND HAS SCORED...

GOOD START FOR THE TARDY MOLES...

RED HUGS...

A long shot was fielded by Farrow before the hosts, with the rapid Leam Howards irritating the Moles like a hornet in the hair, fashioned an unlikely equaliser. He wasn’t offside it appeared, as he moved onto the ball at inside-right but fell under a challenge which a linesman flagged as a foul. The referee was called over to speak to his assistant and despite the fact that the lino hadn’t placed his flag across his chest to signify a penalty, he did in fact encourage the referee to award one. Not good protocol at all, gentlemen. I would imagine that the Binfield coaches were thinking of somewhere else the linesman should position his flag… Anyway, Jacob Walcott stepped forward and slotted a smart spot-kick into the bottom right corner of the net, as Aulsbury leapt the other way.  

PENALTY-MAN WALCOTT KEEPS THE BALL...

Brightened, Ardley saw a long Michael Walton shot drift well wide of their goal before Dan Meade began to cause some consternation for the Moles with his running, usually towards the left. He tucked a low shot wide but when casual play in the Binfield midfield led to Michael Walton losing possession, left-flanker Troy Bryan slipped a pass through the inside-left channel, from whence Dan Meade sped away onside and his flick past Aulsbury into the bottom right corner of goal was as neat as the general midfield play was mostly untidy.

2-1...

THE SCORER WAS DAN MEADE...

The third Ardley goal was a real killer blow for the Moles and in particular Ferdinand, who went close twice to regaining parity beforehand. First, in a melee, Ferdinand was unable to power in a shot, then from a right-side corner, the ball evaded all but him and from the far upright his poked effort bounced up perfectly for the lean Cox to turn over his own crossbar with a header. Soon a sliced kick by Walcott fell kindly for Ardley and Carl Tappin fed the ball, right to skipper Luke Cray who fished out Howards nearer the touchline. The nippy forward made for the byeline, crossed well, Aulsbury turned to scamper across his goal and cover but defender Alex Walton slid and sliced the ball away from right-back Jake White and it bobbed up gently for the amazed but grateful Bryan to lean and nod into the net from a couple of yards out. It was a farcical goal. With two Waltons on the losing team, one could almost hear John-Boy calling: “G’night, Michael, g’night Alex…”

3-1: BRYAN'S LOW HEADER...

The second period featured the referee’s rather persuasive tones overriding players’ complaints, substitutions were made, the errors increased, the ball spent a good deal of time in the air but apart from a pair of fine Aulsbury saves and a superb stop by Farrow from Ferdinand, which heralded a too late comeback by the Moles, there was little to admire. Farrow collected a 20 yard drive by Ferdinand at the second attempt, Cox nodded an Ardley free-kick back across goal, the guests’ skipper Alex Luis was replaced by Louis Wiggins and the disappointing Binfield striker Mo Davies was relieved of his duties too, allowing Matt Jones to make an appearance.

"YES, I KNOW IT WAS THE NUMBER 6 BUT I DON'T LIKE HIM..."

Then Aulsbury excelled himself. Reece Bayliss livened up the home attack when he replaced Walcott but I think it was Tappin’s 22 yard drive from a Binfield clearance which Aulsbury leapt left for and just managed to flick the ball past that upright. The resulting flag-kick caused a scramble and home central defender Chris Jackson’s downward shot bounced up towards the roof of the net from 7 yards away but Aulsbury’s reactions were splendid, as he touched the ball to safety. After a Ferdinand shot from 20 yards dipped too late at the other end, Alex Walton committed the first of two fouls which on another day with another referee would both have drawn cautions, then Bayliss lifted a free-kick too high for Ardley and Mole Moore was cautioned for an incident ‘off the ball’. He was soon replaced by Ben Poynter.

BAYLISS GETS A LENGTHY LECTURE.
HE REALLY DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW, REF...

Jack Ross replaced Bryan (that’s the life of Bryan…) as the game continued to be dispersed with irritating stoppages and thus a lack of flow of any kind but then, as a right-wing Ardley corner was awaited, Wiggins and Howards were seen to be harassing each other near the goal-line, rather like two Year 9 kids messing about in the dinner queue. It was really weird. Yet Ferdinand went really close to reducing his team’s deficit when he fastened onto Grant Kemp’s pass and like a skier in a slalom, he whipped past Cox and Cray in style and looked sure to score but Farrow dived low right and made a fine one-handed save from the striker’s shot.

AULSBURY: A COUPLE OF GOOD SAVES...

STOP IT, LADS...

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE DINNER QUEUE?

Matt Cruse replaced Howards for the hosts, he then nearly benefited by cruising along the right byeline but Aulsbury baulked him with his boots at the near stick and then Binfield rose to the occasion, at last. Ross did really well to deflect a low Kemp shot from inside-right across goal for a corner, Farrow then spilled  a delivery from the right to Jones, whose weak shot was dragged off his own goal-line by Cox (his third goal-line clearance, in effect…) and after an Ardley free-kick had deflected wide off a hovering United body, Kemp dragged another shot from inside-right across the face of the Ardley goal.

A MOLE IS SURROUNDED...

It remained only for one of the three tall Ardley central defenders, Joel Meade, to make the second of his two long runs from defence but although he waited for Bayliss’ support, the linesman flagged the substitute offside and the eventual shot drifted wide anyway. A check on the video clip makes interesting watching though… As does Ryan Knight’s first-half push on Binfield’s Matt Davis in the Ardley goalmouth… 

AN UNUSED MOLES' SUBSTITUTE WARMS UP ANYWAY...

This was a strange game altogether and few players really stood out, although Aulsbury’s saves, some of James Knight’s passing and much of Ferdinand’s forward play were noticeable for the visitors. The three tall home defenders, despite some anxious moments, did OK, Dan Meade’s movement was decent enough, Howards was a pain to the Moles and Tappin was busy but in all it was a tough one to watch and one has to say that Ardley deserved to win because they simply took three of their chances. 

I drove back to the Midlands thanking the god Thor that I never have to assemble MFI furniture these days…

TEAMS:

ARDLEY UNITED:

LEE FARROW, LUKE CRAY (CAPT), RYAN KNIGHT, JOEL MEADE, CHRIS JACKSON, BRAD COX, JACOB WALCOTT, CARL TAPPIN, LEAM HOWARDS, DAN MEADE, TROY BRYAN.

SUBS: 

JACK ROSS, MATT CRUSE, JAMES FOSTER, JACK HEAP, REECE BAYLISS.  

BINFIELD:

GARRY AULSBURY, JAKE WHITE, ALEX LUIS (CAPT), MICHAEL WALTON, MATT DAVIS, ALEX WALTON, SEAN MOORE, JAMES KNIGHT, LIAM FERDINAND, MO DAVIES, GRANT KEMP.

SUBS:

LOUIS WIGGINS, MATT JONES, GEORGE LOCK, BEN POYNTER, LIAM VAUGHAN.