Hampton & Richmond Borough (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 391
Admission: £10
Programme: £2
Mileage: 120/6,971
I have an acquaintance, a huge Gateshead fan, who went into a complete tailspin last weekend as his beloved Heed lost a vital game at Brackley Town. It was all over; automatic promotion had been lost and they would fail in the playoffs. There are seven games to go, I reminded him, anything can happen and then went back to the Tonbridge Angels fixture list to torture myself with ifs, buts and maybes.
Of which one thing can be assured, that is that relegation threatened teams rarely get involved in classic examples of the beautiful game; they are scraps, riddled with tension and generally low on quality.
And such was this trip to Hampton and Richmond Borough, a game rescheduled following a postponement in February. In truth, it was a terrible watch, one that the Angels’ support ironically celebrated wildly when they forced their first corner after 89 minutes. But, all those supporters, who amounted to a good following on a Tuesday evening, knew the value of that precious point.
It is barely worth wasting time with a blow by blow account of a game in which neither side really laid a glove on the other. There were a few, second half, worrying moments in front of the Angels’ goal and the visitors themselves were denied what looked a stonewall penalty as Tommy Parkinson was felled in the box, but referee Kirsty Dowle, who had a decent game waved the appeals away.
On Saturday, we go to Chelmsford, similarly relegation haunted, while Gateshead entertain Chester in what undoubtedly will be billed as must win games and come the 5th May they may have been well be worthy of that billing but, until then, nobody really knows. Now where’s that pen, if we beat Ebbsfleet; Dorking beat Welling and Billericay only get a point at Hampton …
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