ASHFORD TOWN MIDDLESEX F.C. vs Harlow Town Saturday 5th October 2019 | KO 3:00pm #ASHHAR @ashfordtownmx 2 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com CLUB PARTNERS If you would like to become a club partner please contact our commercial team: [email protected] #ASHHAR 3 @ashfordtownmx CONTENTS Page 6: Welcome to the RPS Page 8: Recent Action - Chertsey Town Page 10: Today’s League Fixtures Page 12: Today’s Opponents Page 22: League Teams Directory Page 26: Fixtures & Results Page 28: League Table Page 30: Appearances & Goalscorers Page 32: Recent Action - South Park Page 34: Under 18’s Fixtures & Results Page 35: Under 18’s League Table Page 36: Ashford Town Women Page 38: The Non-League Paper Page 42: Today’s Squads Page 10 Page 12 Page 26 Page 28 Page 34 Page 36 Page 38 Page 42 4 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club Limited The Robert Parker Stadium, Short Lane, Stanwell, Middlesex TW19 7BH Telephone: 01784 245908 Email: [email protected] Website: ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com Member of the BetVictor Isthmian League, affiliated to Middlesex and Surrey FA’s, and an FA Charter Standard Community Club Company Registration Number: 07904731 Company Limited By Guarantee Directors: First Team Manager: Russell Canderton Nick Bailey (Chairman), First Team Assistant Manager: Scott Weight Graham Felce (Vice-Chairman) Goalkeeper Coach: Steve Honey Alan Constable (General Secretary) Physio: Martin O’Connell Paul Blair (Football Secretary) Steve Clark (Finance Director) Chris Canderton (Membership Secretary) Women’s Team Manager:Will Boye Steve Honey Robert Parker Under 18’s Manager:Finn Kemp Under 18’s Assistants: David Gully, Sam Eason Patrons: Russell Grant - The Lord of Ashford in Middlesex Groundsmen: Liam Balmer, Steve Honey Ray Dorset President: Programme Edited by: Paul Gully for Elevated Online Robert Parker Website and Social Media:Elevated Online Vice Presidents: Lynne Morgan Follow us across social media Bob Lewis Pat Munns Stewart Lloyd Life Vice-Presidents: Paul Burgess Alan Constable @ashfordtownmx Gareth Coates #ASHHAR 5 @ashfordtownmx Welcome to the RPSAlan Constable We welcome everyone connected with Harlow Town to Short Lane this afternoon. We have played each other in the past but this will be the first meeting since the 2008-2009 season when we were both in the Premier Division of the Isthmian League. We lost at home that season by 2 goals to nil but did well in the away game, winning 5-2. Our scorers back then were Warren Harris (2), Luke Pigden, Anthony Joseph and Byron Harrison. At the end of last season our visitors were relegated from the Isthmian Premier Division but have done quite well so far this season arriving here in 5th position, with 13 points from their opening seven league matches. They were knocked out of the FA Trophy though in midweek losing in a replay at Hanwell Town. We remain at the foot of the table but there has been room for optimism after the last three matches. The draw against Barking was about right but we most certainly did not deserve to lose, albeit narrowly against Chertsey Town on the Tuesday evening and we maintained the momentum in the most recent match, with an exciting 3-3 draw away at South Park. More importantly, the squad is now showing signs of settling after the disastrous early games and with more signings this week, it looks reasonable to assume that we will be off the bottom of the table soon. Due to further FA re-structuring at the end of the season it is only the bottom club that will be relegated and even that might be avoided as the bottom club in each Step 4 division will play off against a runner-up in a Step 5 league. Hopefully not too many people travelled to Uxbridge on Tuesday in the Velocity Trophy, with the match being postponed shortly before kick-off due to the torrential rain that started falling about 6.00 p.m. It seemed that whilst most of the Uxbridge pitch remained playable, parts of the far end became flooded leaving the referee with no choice. We await a new date for that one. As far as the writer is aware, we are not playing this coming Tuesday, although it is possible that one or other of the remaining Velocity Trophy matches could be re-arranged. What is definite is that we will entertain Canvey Island here next Saturday in the Preliminary Round of the FATrophy. They are another club we have not played for some years, the last meeting being in the 2009-2010 season when we lost 1-2 at their ground and then drew the home match one apiece right at the end of that particular season on 20th April, our goal being scored by James Awuah. Ashford Women are also at home this weekend, kicking off at 2.00 p.m. on Sunday, against Dulwich Hamlet in the London and SE Regional League. They will be itching to get their previous game out of their system when they lost 0-1 in a very uncharacteristic performance to Saltdean to go out of the Women’s FA Cup and losing out on a match away to Fulham in the next round. The Under-18’s were also disappointing in their last outing losing 1-2 against Manorcroft in the last minute after having a man sent off for two cautions. 6 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com #ASHHAR 7 @ashfordtownmx Recent Action Ashford 1 - 2 Chertsey Town 8 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com Home to Chertsey #ASHHAR 9 @ashfordtownmx Today’s League Fixtures 10 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com #ASHHAR 11 @ashfordtownmx Today’s Opponents Harlow Town Club History The club was originally formed in 1879, playing its first match in October of that year against Saffron Walden Town. It is one of the oldest Clubs in the County of Essex. In those early days the club, just known as Harlow, played friendly matches against local opposition until the formation of East Herts League in 1896. As with most clubs around this time Harlow had their fair share of amalgamations with other local clubs, and was known as Harlow & Burnt Mill before later becoming Harlow Town. Over the years Harlow, which became a New Town in the early 1950’s, expanded beyond recognition, and the Club grew with the town. The club moved into the Spartan League in 1932 and were granted Senior Status in 1937, competing in the F.A.Cup and Essex Senior Cups for the first time. At this time Harlow had one of the smallest populations for clubs competing at this level, a far cry from today where the population is around 80,000. After the Second World War, Harlow continued to compete in the Spartan League until moving into the London League in 1953. Six seasons were spent in the London League before a move into the Delphian League. In 1960 the club moved away from its roots in Old Harlow, moving into the Sportcentre ground in the new town, which was the clubs home for the next 46 years before moving to The Harlow Arena in September 2006. With the reorganisation of the amateur game in the early 1960’s Harlow found themselves playing in the newly formed Athenian League Division Two for the start of the 1963-64 season, winning promotion at the first attempt after finishing in third place. After eight seasons in Division One, Harlow finally won their first senior championship by winning the Athenian League Division One title. The following season saw the club finish fourth in the Premier Division before joining the Isthmian League for the start of the 1973-74 Season. After joining the Isthmian League Harlow had more than their fair share of ups and downs. Promotion was achieved five times, including lifting the Division One and Division Two (North) titles, whilst the club suffered four relegations and had to sit season 1992-93 out after severe financial problems threatened the club’s very existence. Five seasons were spent in the top flight of the Isthmian League with an 11th place finish in season 1979-80 being the best to date. The Club made a name for itself in season 1979-80 with a terrific F.A.Cup run, which saw the club progress to the fourth round proper, having started out in the preliminary round. 12 #ASHHAR ashfordtownmiddlesexfc.com Wins against Lowestoft, Hornchurch, Bury Town, Harwich & Parkeston, Margate, Leytonstone-Ilford, Southend United and finally Leicester City, gave the club a fourth round tie away to Watford. The BBC “Match of the Day” cameras were at Vicarage Road as Harlow eventually bowed out of the competition, although they went down fighting, losing 4-3 to Graham Taylor’s side. Since that time Harlow have appeared in the Competition proper on four further occasions, the last of which was 2008/09 when Macclesfield Town finished the club’s dream with a 2-0 win at Barrows Farm in the first round. In recent times the Club have got back on their feet following the problems of the early 1990’s. Having been relegated two divisions by the League for the season that the Club could not compete; the Club worked their way back to where they were before the enforced break. After a few near misses the “Hawks”, as they are now known, won back-to-back promotions from Division Three and Division Two of the Ryman League and after a poor first season back in Division One, managed to establish itself in the Division until the end of the 2003/2004 Season when the re-structuring of the non-league game saw the club switch to the Southern League.