Tonbridge (1) 3 McCollin 4,90 Konchesky 51 (o.g.)
Billericay Town (4) 8 Robinson 10, Bricknell 29,38,45 Cunnington 47,62 Lawrence 55 Krasniqi 80
Attendance: 653
Entrance: £5 Senior
Programme: £1
Mileage: 94/8,297
Match Report
A place in a cup final, whether it is the FA Cup or the Tunbridge Wells Charity Cup, is to be cherished, an opportunity to be proud of your club whether you win or lose. All you have to do is turn up and give a good account of yourselves and supporters will forgive you virtually anything. You reached the Final, you tried your best but, unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough. The players of Tonbridge Angels failed to honour the faith of their supporters and only heaped embarrassment on around 300 people that had made the journey to Carshalton.
Nobody could have underestimated the size of the task that faced Tonbridge Angels. The high profile bankrolling of Billericay Town has seen Paul Konchesky, a former England international, drop four steps from League One; Jamie O'Hara making a similar journey and Jake Robinson leaving National South club Hemel Hempstead for an eye-watering £24,000. Each one rumoured to be earning around £3,000 a week. Remember, this is the Ryman Premier League!
That might have been the size of the task, but that is not a reason to raise the white flag.
The nature of the game to unfold was encapsulated in the opening three minutes. Billericay carved open the Tonbridge defence only to see Adam Cunnington fire wastefully over the crossbar and Tonbridge goalkeeper, Jonny Henley, saving low to his right from Billy Bricknell. Then, out of nowhere, Tonbridge took the lead. Luke Blewden, cutting in from the left, fired in a shot that was parried away by Jack Giddens into the path of Andre McCollin to finish from close range.
The joy was not to last. Henly made saves from Cunnington, Bricknell and Matt Johnson before Robinson cut in from the right hand side to angle a shot into the far corner after 10 minutes.
The tide was already one-way but the floodgates were beginning to open. For the next 20 minutes Billericay made too many chances to mention individually suffice to say that Henly was asked to make meaningful saves with the Essex side's strikers wasteful. But the breakthrough came just before the half-hour when Bricknell cut in from the left and fired in a shot that came back off the post to strike the back of the diving Henly and rebound into the goal. Technically, it was an own goal but given to Bricxknell on the night and as he went on to score a first half hat-trick no doubt he will claim it.
At this point, personally, I was offering up prayers of getting to half-time at just 2-1. There is no footballing god. A third goal came in the 38th minute when a cross from Robinson found Bricknell with time and space to drill an unstoppable half-volley past Henley. On the stroke of half-time it was four when Bricknell completed his hat-trick, Robinson once more supplying the pass for the striker to loop a shot with the aid of a deflection in off the post.
Steve McKimm shuffled the pack at half-time with Alex Akrofi on for Nathan Elder and Nicky Wheeler replacing Bradley Fortnum-Tomlinson. There was little left to play for but pride and a respectable scoreline, even this drifted away within a couple of minutes of the restart. A cross from the left was half-heartedly cleared to the feet of Cunnington who gratefully drove the ball back and into the centre of the goal.
For the next 45 minutes, I felt shell-shocked, just staring into the space that was the pitch but not really taking in what was going on. I've a feeling there were more than a few of the Tonbridge players doing much the same.
Billericay showed a charitable side when Akrofi crossed from the right and Konchesky inexplicably headed into his own net. The strange thing about this game was despite the devastating manner of their forward play they had shown a vulnerability at the back, something for them to work on in their cruise to next season's championship.
There was no let-up in the relentlessness of the orange shirts though and three minutes later normal service was resumed when a cross from Robinson was met by Byron Lawrence with a low shot into the bottom corner.
Six became seven when Cunnington found the top right hand corner just past the hour and fears of double figures were not without foundation. Thankfully, Billericay showed mercy and indulged in a display of keep ball and showboating that saw out 20-odd minutes without a goal.
Five minutes remained when Henly made two great saves but got no help from any of his defenders as the ball finally fell at the feet of substitute Kreshnic Krasnniqi to tuck home.
Tonbridge supporters, who had taken the humiliation with humour, had a final cheer when Tom Phipp's shot came back off a post for McCollin to tap in.
There was still time for O'Hara to attempt to inflict the final indignity when he shot from about 250 yards that, thankfully, drifted wide. O'Hara, who couldn't shift a muscle at Gillingham, showed throughout what you get for £3K a week, a figure beyond most of the Ryman Premier's entire squad budget.
Tonbridge's management were understandably damning of their players and it remains to be seen what sort of reaction will evolve from this embarrassing episode.
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