Colliers Wood United (1) 5
Tonbridge Angels Under-21 (1) 1 Jones 38
Headcount: 31
Admission: Free
Team Sheet: None
Mileage: 128/773
New ground: 325
One of those nights when anything destined to go wrong did. I always knew that my departure time was going to leave it tight to make the kick-off but as it was a new ground I decided to give it a go. In fact, the traffic on the M25 dissipated as the journey progressed and a made good time and was on schedule to arrive in time. But now the tale of woe ...
For the information of groundhoppers that have yet to tick Colliers Wood United bear in mind the following. When your satnav tells you that the ground is 800 yards on your left, slow to a crawl. Despite there being a sign 50 yards or so from the turning, the entrance is concealed and once you have drifted just a few yards past such is the nature of the A3 there is no turning back and a 15 minute travel to turn yourself around ensues. I finally arrived at least 10 minutes into the game with Colliers Wood already a goal to the good.
On a warm evening at the Wibbandune Sports Ground the parched pitch adjacent bore testament to the hot summer but in contrast the playing area was a beautiful, lush green surface that almost defied reason.
After conceding the early goal that I missed, the Angels worked their way back into the game with chances falling to Dominic Touissant and Sam Jones before Jones followed up to tuck away an equaliser after the goalkeeper had parried an initial shot.
If anything, the Under-21s finished the half in the ascendancy and should have sensed their opportunity to press on in the second period. But they were quickly set back on their heels as a Colliers Wood player (no team sheet for identification) was allowed to travel across the face of the goal before shooting past Stuart Copeland.
Tonbridge produced a decent move that ended with Touissaint bringing a save out of the goalkeeper before, on the hour, a cross to the far post found a man, hopelessly unmarked, to slot home Colliers’ third.
Things might have got worse still but Copeland produced a fine save to deny the home team from the penalty spot, but goals in the 77th and a 87th minute effort that gave the Colliers man a hat trick left a Tonbridge Angels defence with some soul searching.
Chris Wye’s preseason has been made difficult by player unavailability through the holiday period as he has for the coming season implemented a policy of limiting the use of over age 21 players to an absolute minimum, of which at the present time he has just the one.
To complete my tale of woe, the parking space in which I hurried dumped the car proved to be a total block-in and it took a 30 minute wait to extricate the car from the Wibbandune.
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