Monday 25 March 2024

Tonbridge Angels Women 2 Tunbridge Wells Foresters Women 4

Match 97/23/2220 - Sunday, 24th March 2024 - KCFA Women's Plate SF

Tonbridge Angels Women (1) 2 Mayhead 16 Kemp 79
Tunbridge Wells Foresters Women (1) 4 Stokes 9,73,90+3 Wignall 58
Attendance: 136
Admission: £5
Mileage: 38/6,852

Tonbridge Angels Women departed the KCFA Women’s Plate at the semi-final stage with their heads held high having stretched their Kent Premier Division opponents, Tunbridge Wells Foresters, all the way until an added time goal made the game safe for the visitors.

Whilst congratulating and wishing his opponents good luck in the final, manager Joe Rowe was proud of his team’s performance: “I think all of us come away from today disappointed in the result but proud of our efforts and to get to the semi final. The team gave everything and on another day we may have got the result we wanted but today Foresters were the deserved winners. Our challenge now is to use this feeling as a catalyst to ensure we finish the season strong and have something to show for what has been a very positive opening season for the team.”

An impressive attendance of 136 that had assembled in bright late afternoon sunshine to see these local rivals go head-to-head and they would have left Longmead Stadium having seen a competitive match of great quality.

The Angels enjoyed the better of the opening moments with a Charlotte Cresswell effort clearing the bar before Foresters went ahead after nine minutes when a cross from Adi Stapleton-Berry found its way to the far post from where Annabel Stokes swept the ball home.

Tonbridge responded positively and were level on 16 minutes when a cross from Jade Folkard was fired home by Grace Mayhead.

As the half unfolded, Tonbridge were the equals of their opponents with chances for Cresswell and Mayhead, although the Angels goalkeeper, Ashleigh Rhodes needed to be at her best saving well following a Foresters corner and earlier Stapleton-Berry had an opportunity cleared from the line.

Tunbridge Wells Foresters dominated the opening quarter-hour of the second half and eventually got their reward on 58 minutes when Rona Wignall was sent clear to finish well past Rhodes.

When Stokes added a third on 73 minutes the tie looked all but done but the Angels staged a spirited recovery that saw a free kick from Amanda Beeput recycled from the right into the box for Beth Kemp to volley past the Wells goalkeeper.

The goal set up a grandstand finish that saw chances fall to Aimee Churchill before in the third of five added minutes, a fortunate rebound saw Stokes stride clear to finish clinically and complete her hat trick.

Saturday 23 March 2024

Tonbridge Angels 2 Truro City 1

Match 96/23/2219 - Saturday, 23rd March 2024 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Higgs 84 Fielding 90+3
Truro City (0) 1 Josh Hinds 65
Attendance: 1,033
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/6,814

Jordan Higgs had one of those days! At fault for the goal that saw the Angels slip behind, his shot from the left side of the penalty area brought his side level before a last gasp winner from Jamie Fielding sealed the points with Higgs taking home the Man of the Match award.

On a day at the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium when early arrivals were greeted with a hailstorm but the afternoon turned to bright sunshine, Jay Saunders’ hand was forced with illness and injury hitting the squad. Sean Shields (illness), Nathan Odokonyero and Kodi Lyons-Foster (injuries) dropped out of the squad with Matty Mcarthur making his first start whilst Lewis Gard and Scott Wagstaff returned to the starting XI.

The first half was largely dominated by the Angels, who employed Gard as their furthest forward, but it was little more than gentle probing and the visiting Cornishmen packed their rearguard limiting the home side to precious few openings, the best of which fell to Wagstaff who shot over after two minutes and a free kick from Liam Vincent that similarly cleared the bar.

At the other end, Jonny Henly was largely unemployed, fielding with ease an effort from Connor Riley-Lowe, under a challenge from Mo Dabre.

The second half started and continued in much the same vein. An early chance for Macarthur was too high and, on 58 minutes, Higgs danced his way into the box but found himself crowded out by the massed ranks of red and black striped shirts.

Skipper Scott Wagstaff, who had taken a ball in the face in the first half, was substituted for Josh Popoola.

It was almost unthinkable that, on 65 minutes, Truro took the lead when Higgs stumbled on the ball on the edge of his box to be robbed by Josh Hinds (Tariq’s brother) who had an open goal to roll the ball into.

Tonbridge continued to push forward in search of something out of the game with Academy striker Hayden Velvick now on the pitch and finally, with six minutes remaining, Truro’s resistance was broken when a corner was only partially cleared to Higgs whose cleanly hit shot nestled into the bottom corner.

Now searching a winner, Jamie Fielding was pressed forward and the chances began to open up for the Angels with Gard firing over; Higgs steering a header wide from Liam Vincent’s cross before, in the third of five added minutes, Popoola wriggled his way to the byline to despatch a low cross that evaded bodies to find Fielding at the back post to touch home.

Artois 3 Welling Town 3

Match 95/23/2218 - Friday, 22nd March 2024 - Maidstone & Mid Kent Sunday League Challenge Cup Final

Artois (2) 3
Welling Town (1) 3
Artois won 4-3 on penalties
Attendance: 461
Played at Gallagher Stadium
Admission: £5
Mileage: 20/6,776

Tuesday 19 March 2024

Chatham Town U18 0 Tonbridge Angels U18 5

Match 94/23/2217 - Monday, 18th March 2024 - Isthmian Youth League

Chatham Town U18 (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 5 Puffette 3 Honarvar 24,85 Aberdeen 32 McLeod 90
Attendance: 50
Admission: £1 Senior
Mileage: 32/6,756

Four games, all away from home, will draw down the curtain on the season. Mathematically the league can still be won, but realistically as high position as can be attained would be a fitting conclusion to a season which has already seen the highest points total gained since reformation of the Under-18’s. And for those now over-18’s who depart for universities, home and abroad or futures of their choice, leaving clutching a runners-up medal would be just reward.

The first step towards this objective was taken with a comfortable 5-0 win at Chatham Town on Monday evening. Dom Welsh said after the game: “Strong performance, five goals away and a clean sheet. We were ruthless in the first half followed by a slightly wasteful second but dominant throughout and some outstanding displays in the final third.”

The scene was set for the evening as early as the third minute when Will Puffette was allowed to touch home at the near post following a corner.

Chatham had a decent chance after 20 minutes pressing Toby Edwards into action with a low save but chances for the Angels to extend their lead had already fallen before the second goal, in rather bizarre fashion, on 24 minutes. Sam Firman danced his way through a couple of chances before his shot was saved, but then dropped by the Chats goalkeeper for Cameron Honarvar to stab home.

After 32 minutes, the Angels went three clear when a long ball forward was collected by Honarvar who rolled it into the path of Nijae Aberdeen to score his first goal for the club.

The second half was largely one-way traffic and it was both surprising, and wasteful, that it took until the 85th minute for a fourth to be scored when Puffette picked out Honarvar to run clear and score past the advancing goalkeeper.

The game was wrapped up in the final minute of regular time when Honarvar, turned provider for Fin McLeod to score into the bottom corner.

Sunday 17 March 2024

Tonbridge Angels 4 Torquay United 1

Match 93/23/2216 - Saturday, 16th March 2024 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (1) 4 Hinds 22 Odokonyero 71,76 Shields 72
Torquay United (0) 1 Ash 79
Attendance: 1,308
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/6,724

Tonbridge Angels supporters departed the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium full of the joys of spring after watching their favourites demolish Torquay United with three second half goals in a five minute spell. For the visitors, it was the end of a terrible week that had seen a 10 point deduction following their intention to go into receivership.

After a morning of sunshine, cloud cover was hardly spring-like as Jay Saunders made two changes from the side beaten at Aveley on Monday. Kodi Lyons-Foster and Ryan Hanson returned following injury with Jernade Meade and club captain Scott Wagstaff, who had been ill this week, dropping to the bench.

A healthy contingent of Torquay supporters had defied the M25 closure to take their places in an attendance of 1,308.

After a quiet opening 10 minutes the game sprang to life with Torquay’s goalkeeper, Mark Halstead, making a superb save to deny Hanson’s header at the near post from a Sean Shields corner.

Within a minute, the visitors had a great chance when a cross into the box from Bradley Ash found Aaron Jarvis who dwelt too long allowing Jonny Henly to smother at his feet.

Tonbridge took a 22nd minute lead when Shields released Liam Vincent down the left and from his low cross, Tariq Hinds scored from close range at the far post.

The game was delayed when referee Dan England was struck on the head with the ball and within a minute of the official recovering after treatment, Jordan Higgs was similarly struck.

Six minutes before the break, Torquay went close when a cross from Jack Stobbs was back headed by Tom Lapslie but his effort nestled on the roof of the net.

On the cusp of half-time, Nathan Odokonyero saw his effort deflected narrowly wide.

The early part of the second half saw an Odokonyero shot saved by Halstead and after a fine interchange between Hinds and Odokonyero, Shields saw his space denied and the ball was scrambled to safety.

Torquay had a spell in which they dominated the possession before a five minute spell from the Angels saw them surge into an unassailable four goal lead. On 71 minutes Shields sent Odokonyero clear to cooly convert one-on-one with the goalkeeper and a minute later an audacious lob from the right side of the penalty area from Shields left Halstead helpless.

On 76 minutes, brilliant footwork from Odokonyero made space for a shot into the bottom corner and despite Bradley Ash scoring a 79th minute consolation goal for the Gulls the game was as good as done.

The announcement of Ryan Hanson as the Man of the Match brought a complimentary chant from the supporters of his ex-club before the final whistle brought disgruntled boos from same fans whilst the Angels supporters celebrated joyously at the other end.

Tonbridge Angels Academy 7 Maidstone United Academy 2

Match 92/23/2215 - Wednesday, 13th March 2024 - National League U19 Alliance

Tonbridge Angels Academy (0) 7 Velvick 47,83,86 Shave 65,71, C.Dudley 75, F.Dudley 81
Maidstone United Academy (2) 2 Kiel 30,37
Headcount: 15
Admission: Free
Mileage: 38/6,686

Tuesday 12 March 2024

Aveley 2 Tonbridge Angels 1

Match 91/23/2214 - Monday, 11th March 2024 - National League South

Aveley (1) 2 De-Graft 35 Ogunrinde 52
Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Odokonyero 47 (pen)
Attendance: 337
Admission: £10 Senior
Mileage: 92/6,648

Tonbridge Angels slipped to a narrow defeat on a chilly evening at Aveley’s Parkside Stadium.

Promotion, through the play-off route, chasing Aveley scored a goal in each half to further their credentials for the post-season finale.

Jay Saunders made two changes from Saturday’s drawn game at Havant with Scott Wagstaff returning from suspension for Ryan Hanson (injured) and Jernade Meade for Kodi Lyons-Foster, who was withdrawn injured at half-time on Saturday.

Tonbridge made the early running in the first half, forcing early corners and, in the 11th minute, Liam Vincent playing further forward than his normal full back position, was denied by Aveley goalkeeper Jonathan North’s feet that deflected the ball away for a corner.

Vincent was very much to the fore seeing a shot blocked and on 32 minutes, a header from a Sean Shields cross that cleared the bar was a great chance.

Three minutes later the Angels were behind when the home side broke away down the left that ended with Razzaq Coleman De-Graft shooting across the goal to find the bottom right hand corner.

Tonbridge had mainly been the equals of their hosts but nonetheless went into the break with that one goal deficit. This was quickly equalised in the second half when following an effort from Nathan Odokonyero that was turned away for a corner from which Ethan Sutcliffe was bundled to the ground with the referee immediately pointing to the spot. Odokonyero sent North the wrong way as he converted the penalty.

Unfortunately parity lasted a matter of moments as Jason Ring sent a cross into the box, that one being half-cleared back to Ring who recrossed this time for Manny Ogunrinde to fire into the bottom corner.

The hosts largely took control of the game following the goal. Odokonyero’s snap shot on 62 minutes cleared the bar whilst, at the other end, Ogunrinde fired over and shot into the side netting.

Jay Saunders shuffled his team bringing on Josh Popoola and Francis Mampolo but solid defending from the home side offered very little in the way of opportunities, apart from an almighty scramble in the six yard box that saw a couple of scuffed hits before North fell on the ball.

One last chance fell Odokonyero’s way but this drifted wide of the right hand post before the referee’s whistle saw the reasonably sized Angels contingent heading, disappointed, towards the QE2 bridge.