Tonbridge (2) 3 Collin 26 (pen), 36 Browning 90+3
Salisbury City (1) 1 Giles 79
Att. 511
Entrance: £6 Senior Citizen
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 26/1,246
Match Report
Its 25 years since Greavsie muttered the words “It’s a funny old game, Saint”, the expression is still frequently used and the old guy had it right, it was and continues to be a funny old game. There are good reasons why only the lucky few ever won big on the football pools, as long as the game is honest it is so hard to predict.Take last Saturday, Tonbridge visited Thurrock, the two worst defences in Conference South going head to head, goals aplenty to come, none of it, it was somewhat inevitable that a goalless draw would ensue, it did. On Tuesday night at Southend, Gillingham had 15 shots at goal, failed to score and completed a fourth game without a goal from open play, today they took their goal shy attack to Hereford with a new strike partner for Danny Kedwell in Frank Nouble and the result was far less predictable.
Tonbridge welcomed their visitors, Salisbury City to Longmead following successive heavy defeats at Longmead, conceding six against Woking and another five from Farnborough. Salisbury are another full-time outfit and, in truth, I feared the worst for the Angels, but that’s where we come back to Greavsie and the funny old game.
Tonbridge started brightly but had to survive a couple of major scares before taking the lead on 26 minutes. Dan Fitchett dragged a shot wide after a weak clearance and when Ben Judge made a hash of cutting out a through ball, it looked odds on leading scorer Jake Reid would open the scoring but he pulled his shot wide of the post when through on goal. So a certain amount of luck had been ridden when Ben Adelsbury inexplicably handled a cross from Lewis Taylor to give away a penalty that was duly converted by Frannie Collin.
Ten minutes later a sublime effort from Collin put Tonbridge two goals to the good. Fully 25 yards from goal he spun and cracked a shot the whistled into the top corner, stood and took the acclaim in true Cantona fashion. If it had been in the Premiership, Match of the Day would have shown it half-a-dozen times on Saturday night, Tonbridge fans will have to make do with a YouTube clip.
Salisbury took to the field early for the second half with a couple of substitutions to retrieve the situation in which they found themselves and exerted a considerable amount of pressure during the second half but were found wanting in front of goal on more than one occasion. In between, Collin had a great chance to complete his hat trick and tie up the game but he also wasted the opportunity. 12 minutes remained when the visitors finally found a clinical finish, skipper Chris Giles driving a shot from the edge of the box through a packed penalty area to set up a tense finale.
Whilst Salisbury searched for an equaliser, Tonbridge were exploiting the spaces that were being left behind and eventually in stoppage time, Lee Browning showed great composure to finish a surging run with a rising shot that left the keeper with no chance.
Wholly unpredictable, or just me of little faith, whichever, a great result for the Angels against the odds. Meanwhile at Edgar Street, goal shy Gillingham ran riot with a record away victory of 6-1, it was enough for Greavsie to pop his head back on our screens and utter, “It’s a funny old game, Saint”.
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