Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Dartford (1) 1 Napa 24
Attendance: 1,484
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 38/7,196
Mathematically, Tonbridge Angels will be taking their playoff challenge into the last three games and perhaps beyond, but the probability is that three wins still wouldn’t be enough.
So, now we go into a period of reflection. There are plenty of what might have been’s but that is a pointless exercise. What we can positively reflect is that the mandate for the season was not to be looking over our shoulders and at no time has this been necessary.
Negatively, we have been unable to turn Longmead into a fortress. Should we beat relegation threatened Cheshunt on the last day, that would take our total to nine wins and we already have 10 away with two to play. I’m not clever enough to reason why.
Manager Jay Saunders has long lamented the giving away of cheap goals and another was conceded that ultimately lost this game against playoff-bound Dartford.
Another bumper attendance piled into Longmead but, in truth, they were treated to a poor spectacle, surprisingly low in quality, poorly officiated and lacking the tension or atmosphere of a vitally important game.
Saunders picked a side with attacking intent, Jordan Greenidge and Jeremy Santos into the starting XI but those aspirations were doused by a superbly marshalled Dartford back line.
The first 20 minutes were a sign of what was to come, a bit of a yawn. The referee, Michael Robertson-Tant, set his stall out early for an afternoon of petty officiating, with a 10th minute booking for Dartford’s Kieran Murtagh; Jordan Greenidge gave Ben Dudzinski some fielding practice but it was dull enough to get distracted by the black clouds threatening the Hadlow area.
Perhaps, on 24 minutes, the two Tonbridge central defenders were similarly distracted when a punt forward from the keeper saw them leave the ball for each other to allow Malachi Napa to nip in between them and plant ball past a helpless Jonny Henly.
The game slipped back into its stupor for the remainder of the half with neither side showing enough imagination that would create an omelette if they had been given eggs. Meanwhile, Robertson-Tant was as frustrating as the game in front of us.
In fairness, Tonbridge got better in the second half and with it the game got a little better. But try as they might they just didn’t have the edge or the guile to unlock the Darts defence with Connor Essam and Tom Bonner the rocks on which many National League South’s attacks have foundered.
As an attacking force the visitors were pretty insipid considering their lofty position and for large parts Henly was just an interested spectator but the Angels just couldn’t create the clear opening that might have yielded a point, that probably wouldn’t have been much help but was better than nothing and something that was deserved, in as much that neither side deserved more.
Dartford’s place in the playoffs is assured and they will probably earn one of the two exemption places and home advantage. For the Angels, three games remain to finish as high as possible and then watch an interesting summer unfold.
Pictures: Kathryn Bell
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