Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Odokonyero 18 Lyons-Foster 89
Yeovil Town (2) 4 Young 10 Wannell 17,65 Worthington 90+5
Attendance: 1,356
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/5,751
The home side will rue defensive errors that contributed to three of Yeovil Town’s goals and an added time header from Jordan Greenidge that was directed straight at the goalkeeper from a couple of yards.
Ethan Sutcliffe returned to the Angels starting XI following his time back with his parent club, slotting in for the suspended Tariq Hinds and Mo Dabre came in for Lewis Gard who dropped to the bench.
A mild afternoon with light rain developing greeted an attendance of 1,356 with a healthy following from Somerset.
There was an early effort from Paris Lock that was deflected for a corner but it was the visitors that took a 10th minute lead when a tackle won in midfield by Sam Pearson who surged forward before releasing a pass to Jordan Young who finished clinically.
On 17 minutes Tonbridge found themselves two down when a corner from Young was met with an unchallenged header from Jake Wannell that took a wicked deflection to wrong foot Jonny Henly.
There was the proverbial mountain to climb but the Angels at least set up a base camp within a minute when Nathan Odokonyero seized on a misplaced header from Michael Smith to finish well past Joe Day.
When half-time came it was unwelcome to the hosts as they had Yeovil hanging on by their fingertips. A effort from Lock was narrowly wide whilst Day saved from Sean Shields and Odokonyero.
A relatively quiet start to the second half ended on 65 minutes with a third goal that I’m sure would’ve infuriated Jay Saunders as much as it did me. A corner from the right was met with the easiest of unchallenged headers from Wannell.
Tonbridge supporters should take great pride that their team didn’t roll over at this point but took the game to their illustrious opponents.
Greenidge entered the fray for the last 20 minutes and Tonbridge buzzed around the Yeovil box like the proverbial flies but couldn’t find a finish until the ball was scrambled away for a Jordan Higgs mishit shot to find its way invitingly to Kodi Lyons-Foster who squeezed a shot between the goalkeeper and his post with a minute left on the clock. Too little, too late we guessed, but …
A minute later, Shields put in the most delicious of crosses from the left that cleared the Yeovil defender for Greenidge to dive in, but his header was only directed at Day, who made a good, instinctive save, any deflection would have made it hard for the keeper. Day’s parry looked to be falling at the feet of Gard, who was brought down, but Steven Hughes, the best referee in the league who had another fine game, saw no reason to point to the spot.
A last gasp corner saw Henly go forward and Shields corner was met by the Angels’ goalkeeper but his header drifted wide and with the final play of the match an Angels attack broke down with everyone bar Henly in the opposition half which allowed Matt Worthington to stride forward and with Henly 30 yards from his line slot into the unguarded goal.
This was a great watch, a great advert for National League South and, even in defeat, a great advert for Tonbridge Angels. Yeovil Town will not be around next season, they have never played a league match at Longmead before and perhaps never will again.
Stunning photograph from Kathryn Bell
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