Weymouth (0) 1 Roberts 63
Tonbridge Angels (1) 1 Shields 7
Attendance: 957
Admission: £12 Senior
New Ground: 381 (revised to align Futbology)
Mileage: 352/2,320
Weather: 20degC., Warm in the sun, cold in the shade
An 80 mile detour to Weymouth following a very pleasant six days on the Isle of Wight wasn’t coincidental and two sides stationed in the lower reaches of National League South served up an entertaining encounter to end our holiday.
Tonbridge Angels had made the 160 mile journey on the day, arriving with a squad without a recognised striker with Jordan Greenidge suspended, Sonny Fish injured and Joe Turner unavailable. Reshuffles were needed during the match and in a different scenario a point might be seen as a good result, this wasn’t one of them.
The Bob Lucas Stadium, named after a president of Weymouth Football Club but also the goalkeeper that represented Tonbridge in their first ever fixture in 1948, was a first visit. It is a classic old stadium, originally built in 1954 for greyhound and speedway racing; the football club moving there in 1987, two years after the dogs and the bikes had departed.
In those days it had a capacity of 10,000 but these days of greater health and safety regulations sees it with a reduced, but still substantial 6,600 capacity. Its main grandstand is towers high over the pitch with the bars and dressing rooms underneath. There is covered terracing at both ends and a long stretch of cover on the opposite side to the main stand. To add to the classic nature of the Bob Lucas there are four old floodlight pylons, known the trade as floodlight porn!
The Angels survived an early scare when a post was hit in the fifth minute while they came to terms with an unfamiliar formation that saw Lewis Gard as the lone striker.
But any unease was quickly dispelled when Sean Shields curled a low free kick into the right hand corner from just outside the box to give the visitors a seventh minute lead.
Confidence quickly grew from the lead and Tonbridge were well in control of the game for the vast majority of the first half. Successive corners brought headers from Ben Swift and Jamie Fielding that were not that far off target; Jernade Meade shot wide with Tariq Hinds and Jordan Higgs having shots saved by Smalley, the half was brought to an end with the Angels disappointed not to be further ahead.
Kodi Lyons-Foster, injured in the opening quarter-hour, failed to appear for the second period causing a further reshuffling of Jay Saunders’ depleted numbers.
Despite this, Tonbridge continued to retain control with efforts from Higgs and Fielding stretching the goalkeeper, but on 63 minutes, the game was turned on its head with the dismissal of Swift for a poor challenge on Thomson, one that was needlessly made.
Further punishment was enacted from the resultant free kick when Roberts headed home for the home side’s equaliser.
Charlie Pegrum was sacrificed to add Tommy Parkinson to the back line as the Angels expected an assault on their goal with a man disadvantage. But, in fairness, it never really materialised. In fact, in the second of an added seven minutes, Shields fired in another beautifully taken free kick only to see it rebound from the underside of the bar and to safety.
Saunders will be reshuffling his pack again next week. On the plus side his front men should all return but the distinct probability is that he will be without both his central defenders.
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