Chatham Town Under-18 (3) 3
Tonbridge Angels Under-18 (2) 4 Knight (pen) 15 Burke 45 Button 50 Firimans 53
Headcount: 45
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 32/7,446
One week after Tonbridge Angels Isthmian Youth League side ended their season, manager Dom Welsh took a mixture of existing players and a new intake following trials to Chatham Town for a friendly, end of season or pre-season take your choice.
After going a goal down within a minute and 3-1 down after 34 minutes, a cracking free kick from Rocky Burke on the stroke of half-time inspired the young Angels to a comeback 4-3 win.
A moment’s hesitancy in defence saw Chatham take the lead with a superb effort from the edge of the box into the top corner that gave Matt Larkin no chance.
It took Tonbridge a while to settle from that setback and Larkin had to make a block at a forward’s feet before they were further disappointed with an offside decision after good work down the left from Hayden Velvick set up Burke for a tap-in, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
But, after 15 minutes, some smart control in the box saw Velvick brought down for a penalty that Ethan Knight duly converted.
Parity lasted barely a minute as an Angels attack broke down and, on the counter, a shot into the bottom corner restored the Chats lead.
Larkin needed to be at his best to keep the deficit at one on a couple of occasions but, after 27 minutes, it took a great tackle to deny Velvick after he had rounded the goalkeeper.
Tonbridge had a good spell at this point with the Chats keeper saving from Joe Newman and Burke but it was the home side that extended their lead when a midfielder surged into the box to score with a good finish.
The majority of the first half team had been existing players with more of the new intake being introduced for the second half after Burke’s last kick of the half goal had brought the score to 3-2.
After just five minutes of the second period, the visitors were level when George Button curled which might have been a cross into the top corner over the despairing goalkeeper.
And just three minutes later, the Angels were in front when a shot from Sam Firimans found the bottom corner.
Tonbridge dealt relatively comfortably with anything Chatham threw at them in the second half with Larkin not seriously troubled and with Zach Garcia and Mason O’Connor prompting from midfield further opportunities were created for Cameron Honiver and Button.
Dom Welsh commented after the game that whilst the result was of no importance it was good to get a win on the board with his reshaped squad with some classy football against a strong Chatham side.
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