Staplehurst Monarchs (0) 1 Large 58
Bridon Ropes (2) 3 Kirby 37 Juniper 39,61
Attendance: 96
Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: £1
Mileage: 1/1,049
It was another hot day and that walk was slightly laboured in the heat before reaching, alongside every other patch of grass in the south-east of England, a very parched Jubilee Field. A soon to be enforced hose pipe ban is going to make matters even worse for beleaguered gardeners and groundsmen.
The Monarchs have made the simple, but welcome, addition of a white board listing the teams, so no need for the guessing game of who’s who.
Twitter was my lifeline from Weymouth and, try as I might, it was a constant source of distraction from the game in front of me.
I sought refuge from the sun to find some shade under the small covered enclosure alongside the seated stand that had most of its seats occupied as the majority of the attendance of just short of a hundred similarly sort respite from the sun.
Having devoured the available information from Dorset, time to focus on a Monarchs side that has been assembled under new management with a younger look although the evergreen Pete West still led the line.
Bridon Ropes provided the opposition and it quickly became apparent that the concrete hard nature of the pitch was going to prove difficult for both sides.
An early exchange of corners brought no reward but the ping of my phone, that needed turning to silent as people around me were reaching for theirs, brought joy as Tonbridge had taken an early lead.
The Ropes had the best opportunity so far after 11 minutes when Steve Lawrence needed to be at his best when first saving from George Luck and then managing to smother the follow-up effort from Bradley Hoffman.
Bridon created another chance before the home side had their best opportunities with the visiting keeper, Alex Jones, saving low from Omar El Mantawy on 26minutes; Kian Garlinge seeing his header cleared from the line and West spurning a great chance after being sent clear by El Mantawy.
The now silent phone brought further joy from Dorset with the news of a Sonny Miles cracker that I would have walked 500 miles for, well I would have driven the 175!
Staplehurst were still making the chances but it was Bridon Ropes that took the lead and then doubled it within two minutes. A snap shot from 20 yards by Jack Kirby found the far corner and Max Juniper’s shot from a similar distance after 39 minutes beat Lawrence at his near post to the keeper's obvious disappointment.
Into the second period and a couple of Staplehurst substitutions reinvigorated the side and they were back in the game after 58 minutes when a shot from substitute Caine Smith came back from the underside of the bar for Bradley Large to poke home the rebound.
Hopes for a recovery from the Monarchs were quickly dispelled as great work from Gibson Perkin-Donson gave Juniper his second goal of the game.
By now, nervous refreshing of Twitter was happening as Weymouth had reduced the deficit and, in front of me, Bridon Ropes were now controlling the game with the substitute Perkin-Donson proving a handful.
The heat was taking its toll on the game and both sides had utilised their full complement of substitutions before the referee contributed to the last action of the game when he got in the way of the ball and the resultant drop ball ended with Bridon’s Aaron Reber seeing his effort cleared from the line after Lawrence had parried his initial effort.
Probably to the bemusement of people around me, a third goal for Tonbridge brought a punch to the air during a quite moment in the match 175 miles away, so despite the disappointment of seeing my home town team lose, it was a happy man walking home!
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