Brightlingsea Regent 0 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 32/18/1625 - Saturday, 15th September 2018 - Bostik Premier

Brightlingsea Regent (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Read 32 Small 89
Attendance: 198

Admission: £6 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 196/1,776

Manager-speak will say that nothing is won in September and the head knows that is true but why not enjoy it while you can. Six points clear at the head of the Bostik Premier, just a single goal conceded in seven games (none on the road), things could hardly be better for Tonbridge Angels supporters at the present time.

This away trip to the outskirts of Clacton-on-Sea, following the League restructure, is just about as far north as those supporters will go for a League match this term and they turned out in their numbers and were rewarded with a handshake from each player as they celebrated a comfortable 2-0 win.

Those supporters will only complain that it took until the 90th minute to finally put the game to bed after dominating for long periods.

It was a lovely, warm early autumn day in north Essex and the pitch sounded like horses galloping on concrete, looking like it had not seen water in a very long time.

A relatively quiet opening period saw Brightlingsea have the ball in the net after 14 minutes but Matthew Baxter had strayed offside.

Tonbridge picked up the pace and, three minutes later, James Bradbrook, in the Regent goal, made the first of several good saves, diving low to his left to deny Tommy Whitnell.

After 25 minutes, the Essex-side broke through the offside trap with Baxter sent clear but Jonny Henly made a fine stop when it seemed that the hosts were destined to open the scoring.

That was almost the last that was seen of Regent in the first period going forward as Tonbridge dominated the remainder of the half.

Joe Turner tested Bradbrook; Whitnell, Jack Parter and Adem Ramadan had shots on goal before, after 32 minutes, Turner slid a pass into Alex Read who fired in a powerful shot that nestled in the corner of the net between Bradbrook and his near post.

If the Regent ‘keeper needed to redeem himself he did it in spades as he single-handedly kept his side in the game before the break making good saves to thwart Ramadan twice, Read and an Arthur Lee header from a corner.

Brightlingsea forced Henly into a good save from Baxter, five minutes into the second half and three minutes later Lee needed to make a goal-saving header from the line as the hosts stepped up their efforts.

Following the scare, Tonbridge regained their dominance and, once more, it was Bradbrook emerging as Regent’s hero, brilliantly tipping over a Turner effort destined for the top corner and within a minute a shot from Read from close range brought a save reminiscent of Jim Montgomery’s Cup Final save of 1973.

All the time the game remained a 1-0 there was that worry as the visitors continued to spurn the chance to wrap it up, but in the final minute, substitute Jared Small cut in from the left hand side and from the edge of the box unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot from which Bradbrook could only feel the draught as the ball whistled past.

One Tonbridge supporter said to me, following the game, “this is dreamland”. No Dave, that was Margate, but I know what he meant!

Brightlingsea Regent 0 Tonbridge Angels 3

Match 76/17/1526 - Saturday, 30th December 2017 - Bostik Premier

Brightlingsea Regent (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (1) 3 Turner 35 Bennett 63 Bantick 67
Attendance: 261
New Ground: 321

Entrance: £6 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 190/5,076

I sense there is a general acceptance among Tonbridge supporters that we are where we are and, unless there is an unexpected reversal of the first half of season form, come the end of April we will find ourselves mired in the middle of the table. Inconsistency has been the watchword since August, seemingly unable to string together two performances of similar quality, good or bad.

Since we had endured a low point with the second half display at Folkestone perhaps the long trip to Brightlingsea would bear some fruit, but a first look at the team sheet didn’t really put hope into the heart.

As expected, both strikers, Nathan Elder and Alex Akrofi continued to nurse their hamstrings with Chris Kinnear’s name also being added to the long list of walking wounded.

Liam Smith returned to the starting line-up with Tom Jelley moving into the holding midfield spot vacated by Kinnear.

The visitors started on the front foot with Dan Bennett having an effort deflected over and Craig Stone seeing his header from a Joe Turner corner cleared from the line whilst Brightlingsea offered very little of note.

After 35 minutes the Angels finally got reward for their endeavour when a long cross from Smith on the right found the head of Turner who only needed to steer it back to the far post for the opener.

Tonbridge continued to dominate the half that ended with the home goalkeeper, Harry Palmer, saving low to his left to deny Xavier Vidal.

Fears of another second period following Folkestone were completely unfounded as Tonbridge produced a half of one-way traffic with Sam Bantick and Turner causing the home defence continuous problems from both flanks.

Just past the hour, the dividend was paid when Vidal fed Turner whose low cross was swept home from close range by Bennett.

Seven minutes later, another cross from Turner was almost comically dealt with by the Regent defence with the ball looping into the air for Bantick to volley it home.

Bantick hit a post as Tonbridge sought to add a little cream to their day at the Essex seaside.

This was a first visit to the Taydal Stadium, a ground that is going to find future development restricted to it being back onto by residential properties on all sides.

There was a nice clubhouse with a warm welcome and covered standing in three different positions. The main stand was rather oddly placed towards a corner flag and its scaffolding construction suggested temporary but probably wasn’t.

In the scheme of consistency, the New Year’s Day arrival of the Billericay Circus doesn’t herald well, but as it would have been considered a “free hit”, who knows.