Torquay United 0 Tonbridge Angels 0

Match 39/24/2278 - Saturday, 9th November 2024 - National League South

Torquay United (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 3,250
Admission: Media Pass
Mileage: 550/3,014

Tonbridge Angels bounced back from the disappointment of their FA Cup exit with a performance of resilience, concentration and stubbornness to return from Torquay United with a hard-earned, well-deserved point.

A delighted Jay Saunders reflected: “We asked the boys for a response and we ran hard today. It’s never an easy place to come, they are doing really well in the league, good management team and a good squad of players that are full time and obviously we’ve had an early start this morning, so you know that you are up against it. But I’m really pleased with the performance … a clean sheet away from home at Torquay, you’ll take a point.”

Arrival on the English Riviera was greeted with as leaden skies as those left behind in the Garden of Eden.

Three changes were made from last Saturday’s starting XI with Trevan Robinson, Scott Wagstaff and Mo Dabre coming in for Noel Leighton, Taylor Maloney and the recalled Jason Adigun.

The playing of the Last Post and a minute’s silence was respected by the crowd of 3,250 which included an official total of 44 hardy Tonbridge Angels fans that had made the 250-odd mile journey down to the Devon coast.

Naturally enough, buoyed by their body of support, Torquay made much of the early running, but in all honesty, they created very little of concern in the opening half-hour whilst a raking cross to the far post from Liam Vincent that just evaded Crossley Lema and a Jamie Fielding from a corner that was steered wide of the post were concerning moments for the home defence.

At the half-time whistle, Matt Rowley returned to the dressing room having not had a save to make.

No doubt with a few harsh words in their ears, the home side once again started the second half with momentum and there were celebrations from areas in the stadium when a left wing cross from Matt Carson was swept into the side netting by Omar Mussa and when Carson went down in the box under a challenge from Ryan Hanson, there was a collective holding of breath from the Angels faithful.

But the Angels continued to defend with a degree of comfort until, with memories of the time added heartbreak at Truro flooding back, a free kick from Jordan Young found the diving head of Rekealan Jeffers to bury the ball into the far corner. Despair turned to relief with the sight of a raised linesman’s flag and the moment had passed and a goalless draw had probably not been so rapturously celebrated in a long time.

And mention must be given, and acknowledged by Jay Saunders of the support given by those Angels fans, who led by the incessant drumming of Harry Lewis, put in a shift in the same manner as their purple clad team had on the pitch. “I thought the support was outstanding today, we fully appreciate it’s a long way to come, cost a lot of money and I’m just glad we have given them something to go home with. But from first to last minute, again fantastic and as much as we let people down last week, we fully appreciate them coming in their numbers and making the noise they did.”

Torquay United 2 Tonbridge Angels 1

Match 58/23/2181 - Saturday, 2nd December 2023 - National League South

Torquay United (1) 2 De Silva 10 Ash 61
Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Mampolo 59
Attendance: 1,850
Admission: £19 Senior
Mileage: 464/4,404
Weather: 7degC, dry and bright but cold

It’s 5.48am, I’ve beaten the alarm by two minutes and get dressed and downstairs to a couple of bemused cocker spaniels not used to being offered the outside world at this unearthly hour.

By 6.20, just a cup of tea later, I’m closing the front door and the journey to Torquay has begun, on a supporters club coach running for the first time in 17 years.

Torquay United, who didn’t know who Tonbridge Angels were two years ago when drawn together in the FA Trophy, is the destination for a league game.

It’s freezing, the temperature dial doesn’t shift from zero all the way to Tonbridge but at least the coach is warm.

The “ultras” serve up their full repertoire of songs, naughty and nice, as we head west with a welcome stop at Leigh Delamere before finally arriving at Plainmoor at 12:55 pm.

On arrival we are greeted with the news that the gates don’t open until 14:00 and away supporters are barred from the club house. This is an ex-League club, full time, absolutely ridiculous to leave people hanging around for an hour without so much as a toilet.

That be said, Plainmoor is a nice ground but, like Yeovil before, the facilities afforded to away supporters is sparse to be kind.

And so to the match. The difference between the teams was the cutting edge up front. Overall, Tonbridge went toe-to-toe with one of the league’s big hitters and, whilst coming away empty-handed, the visiting supporters departed with a feeling of injustice at the result.

I’ve heard rather patronising comments from BBC Radio Devon calling us “a good, little side”. So, we are obviously still the unknown minnows of the National League.

After a good start the Angels went behind on 10 minutes when a sweeping counter attack of just three passes that covered almost the entire length of the field ended with Dillon De Silva free at the right hand post to finish.

The Angels continued to have plenty of the play. There were half-hearted claims for a penalty as Jordan Greenidge went down under a dive at his feet from goalkeeper, Mark Halstead and a 25 yard effort from Jordan Higgs on 26 minutes clipped the top of the crossbar.

On the stroke of half-time following a corner Halstead made successive reaction saves to deny Higgs and Jamie Fielding.

Tonbridge picked up where they left off after the first period, on the front foot, and when Francis Mampolo equalised on 59 minutes nobody could deny that they were well worth their equaliser. And what a goal, picking the ball up on the left hand side, 35 yards from goal, he weaved his way through a series of defenders that failed to make a challenge before letting fly from the edge of the box with a shot that picked out the top corner.

Unfortunately, the parity was only to last two minutes when a cross from the right saw Bradley Ash peel away from his marker to bury a shot past Henly. It was a great finish from one of the best in the division, a striker that has destroyed the Angels in the past.

Still being backed to the hilt from the noisy Angels support, Tonbridge pressed hard right to the final whistle for an equaliser but it wasn’t to be.

The journey home stretched the day out to a total of 17 hours, a long day but one with a strange sense of satisfaction despite the defeat. The coach ran successfully with a promise that it would run again and, on the field, another day in which Jay Saunders’ team has proved competitive against the best in the division.

Torquay United 1 Gillingham 1

Match 44/10/862 - Saturday, 22 January 2011 - League Two

Torquay United (1) 1 Benyon 6
Gillingham (0) 1 Rooney 87
Att. 2,368

Entrance: £18
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 460/6,967

Match Report

Gillingham’s visit to a chilly Plainmoor was a mirror image of the corresponding fixture at Priestfield in October. Same scoreline that was arrived at via a late equaliser for the visitors; a mistake from Gillingham keeper, Alan Julian, whilst his counterpart, Scott Bevan produced a Man of the Match winning performance. It is, perhaps, stretching the coincidence, but both games ended with one team ending the match a manager light on the bench, back in October, Andy Hessenthaler missed the second half having been taken ill, whilst Paul Buckle was removed from the dug out following an altercation with referee Graham Scott.

Fielding an unchanged side, Gillingham got off to the worst possible start. The visitors defence, so sound in recent weeks, looked unsettled. Barry Fuller had already put his fellow defenders under pressure with a misplaced pass before repeating the offence in the sixth minute. The skipper gave the ball away to Euan O’Kane, whose shot from 20 yards should have been collected by the goalkeeper. Julian spilt the effort and the livewire Elliot Benyon was on-hand to snaffle the rebound. The keeper complained that he had recovered the ball and it was kicked from his hands but his protestations were turned away by referee Scott.

The goal shook Gillingham to the core and the following minutes saw their back line put themselves under pressure with mistake following mistake. Josh Gowling, in particular, looking completely out of sorts, but it was the frizzy-haired central defender that almost levelled for the visitors after 20 minutes. A Danny Spiller corner was headed goalwards by Gowling which was brilliantly parried by Bevan, the rebound falling once again to Gowling and this time his return shot was turned away by the 6’5” inch custodian.

The near miss served to spur the visitors forward and for the rest of the half they held the balance of play with the game becoming Scott Bevan versus the opposition. He made good saves from Cody McDonald, Andy Barcham and Danny Jackman with a speculative lob from McDonald turned over the top when a shorter keeper would not have got near. A thumping drive from Jackman was just too high as the visitors finished the half strongly but still a goal down.

The game might well have been beyond Gillingham’s reach had Torquay’s big central defender, Mark Ellis buried a corner early in the second half. He rose unchallenged to power a header wide of the post when it seemed easier to score.

Gillingham were struggling to recover their first half momentum before Adebayo Akinfenwa was introduced for Spiller on the hour. I must admit I didn’t realise that the big striker had a spell at Plainmoor and this was the reason his entrance was greeted with boos from the so-called Ultras. Meanwhile Alan Julian was making recompense for his mistake with good saves from Benyon and Chris Zebroski.

Luke Rooney entered as a substitute for the ineffective Barcham as the manager gambled on attack to retrieve a point. Rooney curled a shot wide of the post before finding the net with three minutes left on the clock. Akinfenwa did well to retain possession before passing to Rooney in the left wing area, the youngster struck a shot from the corner of the box and with the aid of a deflection the ball found the bottom right hand corner. The sizeable following of 432 joyously greeted the goal, but not quite as much as the scorer. I’ve, not maliciously, called Rooney a bit of a headless chicken and his celebratory run to the bench was that of the same. No-one cared, it had secured a point that the visitors richly deserved.

This was my first visit to Torquay for a number of years. The terrace that housed the visiting support has been replaced by a modern covered standing area, but we chose to sit in the main grandstand that is not so grand and, frankly, should be condemned. The wooden structure is somewhat quaint but has long since seen better days. The wooden seats are downright uncomfortable and the view obstructed by supporting pillars. To enter the seating turnstile there was a queue of about ten people that took an age to get to the front. The turnstile operator, an elderly gentleman, was meticulously taking a ticket from his book, punching a hole in the stub before removing it and handing you the other end. What was the purpose of the punch? Perhaps he was a bus conductor in his previous job!

The stewards in the grandstand were continually counting the number of available seats and relaying the information back to the turnstile; surely it would have been easier for the bloke to have only the right amount of tickets! But it all added to the quaintness of the place. A pleasant walk along the cliff tops at Babbacombe Downs to some rather expensive but tasty fish and chips added to a satisfactory day where a point was a result I would have taken on the way in.