ashfordvictoriafc.webs.com

The Kent Football Association today announced that the postponed Kent Junior Trophy fixture between Ashford Victoria and Mote Park Rangers will now take place at the Courtside Soccer Centre on Sunday 29 November. That means the League Cup fixture away to Park Farm Rangers originally scheduled for that date has been put back until the New Year to make way for the visit of the Maidstone League side after last weekends game was called off due to an unplayable pitch.

Victoria will now play a home league fixture against Burton Grove this coming Sunday, while the rest of the postponed Kent Trophy ties, including William Harvey's trip to Ashford Cavaliers, will also take place on the same day, a week earlier than Victoria's fixture.

That will mean that the Division Three games between Newchurch and Ashford Cavaliers as well as Bliby Reserves vs. Brabourne will be cancelled to make way for the rearranged Kent Cup fixtures this coming weekend.

It has just been announced that Sunday's Kent Junior Trophy fixture at home to Mote Park Rangers has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Victoria's Courtside ground. With the pitch currently unplayable and more wet weather forecasted for the next couple of days, Ashford Borough Council and the Ashford Sunday League made the joint decision to call off the game, and save the Maidstone based side a wasted journey should they have travelled and the referee deemed the pitch unsafe.

The second round tie has now been rescheduled for the following week, and will now take place, again at Courtside, on Sunday 22 November. With all council pitches closed this weekend, it is thought the majority of Sunday's league and cup programme will be wiped out.

Ashford Victoria will have to get past bogey side Brewmaster Reserves if they want to progress any further in the Sheber Challenge Trophy after the two sides were paired with each other in the draw for the second round. Brewmaster knocked the Vics out of both the Kent Junior Trophy and Division Three League Cup last season, and also ended Victoria's Sheber Trophy campaign back in 2007-08, also at the second round stage.

The Brews made it through to the second round after seeing off Man of Kent this morning with a 4-1 win. And now Brewmaster, who were runners-up in last seasons competition, will be looking to end yet another Victoria cup run and extend their five game unbeaten run against the Vics.

Brewmaster are currently in second place in Division Two, three points behind leaders Bromley Green Reserves, and have managed to keep the majority of last seasons squad together, although several players have stepped up to the first team this year including goalkeeper Tim Russell, striker Danny Trapp and former Vics midfielder Aaren Carlton.

Elsewhere in the draw for the last-16, William Harvey have been drawn at home to play Troggs Reserves, while Park Farm Rangers travel down to the Marsh to face either Stour Valley or Marsh Athletic. And in the tie of the round, the reserve sides of Market Hotel and Bromley Green clash looking to progress to the quarter finals.

In other club news, Vics manager Ryan Mills has tonight confirmed that former player Dave Cox may return to the club in the next few weeks after leaving Mersham Sports. Cox left Victoria at the end of the 2007-08 season looking for regular first team football, but things haven't worked out for the versatile player in recent months and he has decided to leave the village side.

Mills also hinted that Cox may be offered an additional role off the field, although it is not known at present where and what this involves, but will also be offered the chance to become a registered player should he be needed.

Sheber Trophy Second Round draw...

Bliby Reserves  vs.  Kennington Reserves

Stour Valley/Marsh Athletic  vs.  Park Farm Rangers

Givaudan  vs.  Newchurch

Ashford Eagles  vs.  Ashford Spartans

Aldington Sports/Brabourne Anchor  vs.  Burton Grove

Brewmaster Reserves  vs.  Ashford Victoria

William Harvey Inn  vs.  Troggs Reserves

Market Hotel Reserves  vs.  Bromley Green Reserves

Ashford Victoria have been drawn to play against Maidstone League side Mote Park Rangers in the second round of the Kent Junior Trophy. The fixture, to be played at Victoria's home ground at the Courtside Soccer Centre, will take place on Sunday 15th November, and the prize for the winners will be the chance to progress to the final qualifying round before the competition goes county-wide in the New Year.

Mote Park Rangers play in the Maidstone League Third Division, and are currently sitting in third place with a game in-hand on leaders White Horse and Lower Bell FC. Like Victoria, they have have won three of their five league fixtures this season including 9-1 and 7-1 victories over The Fisherman's Arms and Marden Minor Reserves respectively.

Rangers made it through to the second round of the Kent Junior Trophy after thrashing Maidstone Second Division side Invicta Sunday 5-0 in round one, a result that proved they are capable of scoring goals having netted 34 times in their eight fixtures this season.

Elsewhere in the draw, Ashford Cavaliers face William Harvey in the tie of the round, while Bliby Reserves face a tricky fixture away at Kennington Reserves. Ashford Spartans have a good chance of progressing after being paired with Maidstone League side Mid Kent Athletic and Brabourne Anchor travel to face Man of Kent.

Kent Junior Trophy Second Round draw...

Ashford Cavaliers  vs.  William Harvey Inn

Ashford Spartans  vs.  Mid Kent Athletic

Ashford Victoria  vs.  Mote Park Rangers

Cassidy's Phoenix  vs.  Mersham Sports Reserves

Kennington Reserves  vs.  Bliby Reserves

Man of Kent  vs.  Brabourne Anchor

Newchurch  vs.  The Odds

The Park Inn  vs.  Marsh Athletic

The first five weeks worth of league and cup fixtures were announced this weekend, and on paper Ashford Victoria will be pleased with what the fixtures computer has generated for the club. Victoria begin the 2009/10 campaign with a home fixture against Bliby Reserves, before travelling to Ashford Eagles seven days later. Brabourne Anchor visit Courtside to face the Vics on 20 September, before Victoria visit Park Farm Rangers the following week. Then comes the mouth watering Ashford Charity Trophy tie with Premier Division giants Bromley Green on the first Sunday of October to round off an exciting first month of the season.

The opening fixture with Bliby Reserves will be the clubs first ever game at their new ground in Stanhope, and the Vics will be hoping to avenge last seasons shock 5-1 Sheber Trophy defeat to the newly promoted side. In other games in the division that day, last seasons fourth division champions Ashford Cavaliers visit Aldington, while title favourites William Harvey travel to Burton Grove.

On 13 September, Victoria make the now well known trip to Smeeth to face Ashford Eagles in what will be the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides. The Vics do know a little bit about the Eagles side however after their recent pre-season friendly meeting, with Victoria running out 4-0 winners earlier this month. On the same morning, William Harvey entertain Newchurch in what will be classed as the game of the month by some, while Park Farm visit Brabourne.

Victoria's third fixture is at home to Brabourne, who the Vics beat 2-0 in last years Kent Junior Trophy Preliminary Round. Other games taking place elsewhere see Cavaliers take on Bliby Reserves, Aldington host Eagles and Burton Grove visit Newchurch.

Next up is the short journey to our old rivals at Park Farm, and Victoria will be hoping to overcome the unwanted record of never winning at their Kingsnorth ground. In the five previous meetings between the two sides, Victoria have won three out of three at home, including a 9-3 league win in the 2006-07 season and the well remembered 10-1 League Cup semi final victory in March 2008. But at Park Farm's ground, the home side have come out winners on both occasions, and were the only team to beat the Vics on their way to promotion in the 2007-08 campaign.

Then comes the Charity Trophy fixture at home to Bromley Green on 3 October. The two sides have never met before at any level and the game will be a real chance for Victoria to test themselves against higher league opposition.

Ashford Victoria will step up their pre-season preparations this weekend with a practice match against neighbours Ashford Spartans at William Road after training. The Vics begin the first of their five pre-season friendlies in two-weeks time against Division Four side Man of Kent, but Victoria manager Ryan Mills has organised for Spartans to join his side for an hours training before playing out a non competitive practice match for 70 minutes.

Victoria have a mixed record against Shaun Hardwick's side over the past three years, with Spartans winning the first meeting between the two sides 4-3 back in September 2006 at Hythe Road. Spartans raced into a 4-0 lead before Aaren Carlton and a brace from Darren Banks made the final score a little more respectable.

Later that season Jack Bundock hit a late equaliser to earn the Vics a point in a 2-2 draw, while the following season Aaren Carlton scored twice sandwiched between strikes from Bundock and Shane Jupp as Victoria got the 2007-08 season off to a flier with a 4-1 win.

The last time the two sides met was in December 2007, Bundock again amongst the goals with a double as Victoria dropped two crucial points in the Division Four title race in a 2-2 stalemate in terrible conditions.

"It will be something different and will help bridge the gap between training matches and the friendlies" said Vics manager Mills.

"It's hard to recreate the real match atmosphere in matches in training, sometimes the games lose a sense of importance and are not taken too seriously. But playing against an unfamiliar bunch of players, wearing club kits and with a referee and linesman, hopefully the boys will take a different mental approach to the training game than they would have done playing against their own team mates.

Mills will take the opportunity to take a closer look at several new players and traillists before trimming his squad next month. Former players Darren Banks and Mark Bennett will be included while new signing Joe Mort will also feature along with Chris Kemp, Liam Wratten, Danny Bushell and Matthew Deeble.

Squad...

1 Mark Bennett, 2 Luke Hendry, 3 Tony Mason, 4 Luke Stafford, 5 Ryan Martin, 6 Mark Rutland, 7 Shane Jupp, 8 Gary Foreman, 9 Matthew Deeble, 10 Wayne Cleave, 11 Joe Mort, 12 Sam Burgess, 13 Liam Wratten, 14 Josh Hatcher, 15 Darren Patterson, 16 Danny Bushell, 17 Darren Banks, 18 Samuel Mills, 19 Chris Kemp.

Ashford Victoria have been handed a tough draw in the first round of the Ashford Charity Trophy after they were paired with Premier Division side Bromley Green. Victoria will face the famous old club in either September ot October at their new pitch at the Stanhope Soccer Centre, and it will be the first meeting between the two clubs.

Bromley Green were founded back in 1930 and as one of the oldest clubs in the local area, have a great history full of various honours, titles and cup successes, including lifting the Charity Trophy in 2007-2008. Green were knocked out of last seasons competition by fellow Premier Division side Brewmaster in the second round, and Victoria will be looking to cause another cup upset and end their interest in the competition again this time around.

The Vics beat higher division opposition last year in both The Albion and Highfield United, before bowing out in a 3-2 defeat to first division Lydd Town in the Quarter Finals.

"We enter this competition so we can test ourselves against the best teams in and around Ashford, and in Bromley Green we got one of the better ones for sure" said Vics boss Ryan Mills.

"We have never played against a team from the top division, so it will be a massive ask of the boys to pull off another cup upset, but Bromley Green will check us out for sure before the game to see what we are all about. We can go into a game like this with no pressure and go out and show what we can do, and it'll probably depend on the day how serious they take us".

"Being realistic Bromley Green are expected to roll us over, but on our day we can beat anyone and we've shown that in the past, so we'll go into the game the same way we do every week, to win".

Ashford Victoria will finish the 2008-09 season with an away league fixture at The Ridge in Kennington to face Burton Grove on Sunday 17th May. That game comes just three days after a midweek evening fixture at either Locomotive Inn or Brewmaster Reserves, currently scheduled in for Thursday 14th May, and the final details and opposition will be confirmed on Sunday after the Sheber Trophy semi-final between the pair.

Brewmaster take on Locomotive Inn in their cup semi-final this weekend, and the Vics will face the losers of that game on Sunday 3rd May in the league. If Brewmaster win on Sunday, Victoria would definately travel to High Halden to play the Brews for the fourth time this season on Thursday 14th May in an early evening kick-off. But if Locomotive Inn are victorious and make it through to the Sheber Trophy final, then manager Ryan Mills is hopeful that he can move the return fixture with the Loco's ahead to Sunday 10th May as neither side has been appointed a game that day.

If it turns out that Ashford Victoria have no fixture on Sunday 10th May, then a friendly fixture with neighbours William Harvey Inn has already been pencilled in at Hythe Road Rec' in Willesborough. Other key games see Brewmaster Reserves take on William Harvey Inn on Sunday 17th May in a double header fixture, while Shadoxhurst complete their season at Burton Grove a week earlier on Sunday 10th May.

The Sheber Trophy final will take place on Sunday 3rd May at Hythe Town's Reachfields Stadium as Bromley Green Reserves will take on either Brewmaster Reserves or Locomotive Inn, while Kennington and Brewmaster's first team will contest the final of the Bodkin Cup on Sunday 10th May at Ashford Town Football Club.

Ashford Victoria will meet fellow promotion candidates Aldington Sports Reserves on Good Friday in what will be the clubs first ever competitive fixture not to be played on a Sunday. Victoria may have been knocked out of both the League Cup and the Sheber Challenge Trophy in successive weeks, but with ten league games still to play and a Charity Trophy quarter final tie still to be completed, the Vics may still struggle to fit in all of their remaining fixtures before the end of the season.

And with the prospect of having to play evening midweek games to ease the fixture congestion, Victoria boss Ryan Mills came up with the solution of playing on Easter Friday when there was more chance of getting a strong side together with everyone off of work due to it being a public Bank Holiday.

"We really can't afford to be playing midweek evening games, as too many players work either shift work or evenings and it would have been impossible to assemble a team together with the squad we've got at the moment" said Mills. "Hopefully playing on a Friday morning will help and we won't have to play an evening fixture now and I'm confident we'll have a better chance of getting a team together at Easter than a 6-30pm kick off on a Tuesday or Thursday".

"It will also help Aldington out who have amazingly played less games than ourselves so the date benefits both parties. Hopefully, if things go well, we can make it a regular annual event as we have trained on Good Friday before so why not play instead?" added Mills.

Victoria will face Aldington on Friday 10th April at the George Reynolds Recreation Ground and then play again just two days later on the Sunday, although the opposition for that day is still to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, mainly due to the hectic schedule the Vics have created for themselves due to cup runs this season, Ashford Victoria has decided not to enter any of the Kent Sunday Cup competitions for the 2009-10 season. The Vics crashed out in the last 32 of the Kent Junior Trophy back in November having already seen off both Brabourne Anchor and Holtwood Rangers, and Mills believes that the club would benefit ditching  one of the cup competitions for next season.

"We have done well in the cups this year, the Charity Trophy tie at Lydd next week will be our tenth cup fixture of the season, and add the fact that we have had some very poor weather this winter resulting in several postponed matches, the Fixtures Secretary has probably been ripping his hair out trying to arrange our games" said Mills.

"Not competing in the Kent Cup next season should give us a less hectic fixture schedule next year, and after seeing some serious miss matches and loop holes in the rules in recent weeks involving local sides in the competition, it's probably a trophy we can put on the back seat for a season or two".

The fixtures computer has handed Ashford Victoria a tricky month ahead after the latest fixtures were announced this morning for March. Victoria have three home league games and will host Givaudan, Newchurch and Brewmaster Reserves while they also visit Division One side Lydd Town in the Quarter Finals of the Ashford Sunday Charity Trophy.

First up, the Vics face bottom side Givaudan in what will be the very first meeting between the two clubs. The works side, formally known as Quest, have struggled this season in the league and have only picked up two points so far from draws against Newchurch and William Harvey Inn. Givaudan also have been on the end of several heavy defeats including an 11-1 reverse at home to Aldington Sports Reserves and have conceded nine goals twice in their two league meetings with leaders Shadoxhurst.

Then Victoria travel down to the coast to face Lydd and will be looking to cause yet another cup upset in the Charity Trophy having already knocked out higher league opposition in The Albion and Highfield United earlier in the season. Lydd themselves caused an upset in the previous round beating Premier Division Aldington Sports 6-2 away, but have suffered from inconsistency in the league this season and currently sit seventh in Division One, just three points above the relegation zone.

The Vics then face two massive promotion clashes against Newchurch and Brewmaster Reserves, with Newchurch first to visit Hythe Road on 22 March. The Marshmen are comfortably sitting second in the Division Three table and will be hoping to turn the tables after Victoria came away from Dymchurch back in October with a 6-4 win thanks to a hat-trick from big Wayne Cleave. The following week, Brewmaster are back in town fresh from last weeks thrilling 6-5 League Cup semi final victory over the Vics and both sides know that defeat will probably end either sides title ambitions.

Other interesting league fixtures include Aldington’s tricky trip to the much improved William Harvey Inn on 8th March, Aldington again the following week away at Newchurch, and Shadoxhurst’s visit to the unpredictable Locomotive Inn on 22 March.

8 March