Tonbridge Angels 1 Bracknell Town 0

Match 4/25/2347 - Tuesday, 15th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Tonbridge Angels (1) 0 Babajide 40
Bracknell Town (0) 0
Attendance: 159
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/224

Craig Nelson’s troops emerged from their toughest workout so far this preseason with a single goal win over Bracknell Town, courtesy of a 40th minute goal from Bumni Babajide.

Craig commented in his post-match interview: “I knew from meeting them last season that they would be tough opposition and, credit to them, they were competitive from minute one to the end and it was just what we needed. I would have liked to have played them closer to the season because they were a good side, gave us a good test but we stood the test really well for large parts of the game. They pressed us aggressively in the second half, which was good. When we made the mass changes they game swung in their favour, but all-in-all a good workout for the boys.”

On a cooler evening than of late, Craig maintained his first half side into the second period, giving several players their first full hour of preseason.

The opening opportunity of the match was created by the Angels when Bradley Williams cross from the right was met with a driven shot from the edge of the box from Jordan Higgs that struck the right hand post.

The game was highly competitive with a few robust challenges that brought a wag of the finger from the referee, before Bracknell came into the game with a last ditch challenge from Naz Bakrin denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Tonbridge opened the scoring on 40 minutes when new signing Brandon Pierrick pulled the ball back from the left for Babajide to coolly finish from around 12 yards.

Bracknell pressed hard for an equaliser from the outset of the second half with Jordan Esprit firing a shot that cleared the bar when well placed and, just over the hour mark, a trialist struck the Angels bar.

The visitors continued to make chances, but were wasteful with their finishing whilst an Angels trialist crossed for Mackenzie Richardson to head goal wards only to see the ball cleared from the line.

A long delay in the game whilst a Bracknell player received attention saw the game into seven minutes of time added and, in that time, the visitors had further chances to salvage something from the game but they went begging.

Craig said of his recruitment that they “were almost there” with perhaps only a defender to add to the squad alongside any of the trialists that could be signed in the coming days.