Hungerford Town (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (1) 1 Aransibia 38
Attendance: 330
Admission: Pass
Programme: Not purchased
Mileage: 234/3,736
It was cold, it wasn’t pretty and it was a long way from home but winning ugly at a place like Hungerford hasn’t always been in the Angels DNA.
The first real cold snap of the winter has arrived. The heaviest coat was in the boot of the car and gloves were donned for the first time this season.
Hungerford are always welcoming, but with them languishing at the foot of the table, the place was even more soulless than usual. It’s perhaps a trifle sanctimonious to decry the pitch but it was hardly conducive to any sort of quality and the pronounced slope dictated the pattern play of each half.
Jay Saunders made three changes with Lewis Gard returning after injury; Dajon Golding and Jack Wood coming in for Joe Turner (following his hernia operation); Louis Collins (concussion protocol) and Jamie Fielding on the bench.
Tonbridge, kicking down the slope, just about edged the early stages without too much threat but the best early effort was a shot from Hungerford's George Smith from distance that cleared the bar and after 18 minutes, Jonny Henly was brought into serious action making a smart save from Ryan Jones.
Having survived those scares, Tonbridge regained the momentum with Golding sending in a cross that just eluded Jordan Greenidge, who, after 26 minutes, saw a header saved by Jed Ward.
The traffic had turned one-way, downhill, with Wood and Greenidge seeing efforts bravely blocked as the home side for forced to defend their area in numbers.
The pressure finally told on 38 minutes. Initially, a free kick saw a shot from Sonny Miles deflected for a corner from which Gard floated to the far post to Devonte Aransibia who rose highest to head home.
The second half at least felt marginally warmer under the cover of the stand behind the goal. Hungerford obviously prefer to play down the slope in the second period and consequently searched hard for an equaliser. Henly turned a Jake Evans chip over the bar just past the hour and Jones shot narrowly wide.
The Angels had to dig really deep in the last 20 minutes to retain their lead but, despite the ball seemingly being permanently in their half, they saw out those minutes without any great alarm although the Angels supporters behind the goal at the other end held their breath on several occasions.
It wasn’t a classic, it was never going to be, but a couple of weeks ago a similar match at Concord Rangers was lost. Winning ugly can be a beautiful thing.
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