Aldershot Town Under-18 2 Tonbridge Angels Under-18 0

Match 43/21/1908 - Thursday, 14th October 2021 - FA Youth Cup 3QR

Aldershot Town Under-18 (0) 2 Davey 55 Evans 90+6
Tonbridge Angels Under-18 (0) 0
Attendance: 167

Admission: £3 Senior
Programme: None
Mileage: 150/2,450

So Tonbridge Angels wait for a place in the FA Youth Cup First Round will need to wait for another, but the management and squad of the Youth team can be rightly proud of their efforts at the home of National League Aldershot Town last night.

Not since 2004 has the club’s name graced the first round draw, but as Academy manager Tommy Parkinson said after the game, there was very little between the sides bar a wonder strike from 25 yards and a last kick goal when all bar Nat Gibb in the Angels goal was thrown forward in a desperate search for an equaliser.

The celebrations of the entire Aldershot squad following the second goal emphasised their relief.

The game barely threw up a clear cut chance inside the box for either side but when the ball from a corner fell at the feet of skipper Joe Tyrie, it took a brilliant smothering save from Harvey Keogh to preserve the Shots parity.

Tonbridge started the game really well and dominated the opening 20 minutes but without testing Keogh too much. Finn Hartley shot narrowly wide and Luca Woodhouse fired over, whilst in the 15th minute, Angels’ goalkeeper Gibb made a good save turning over the bar an effort from Harvey Limb.

After surviving the initial period, the home side wrested the momentum from their visitors and pressed hard for the opener. Limb again narrowly cleared the bar but Gibb was mostly untroubled during this time.

A Woodhouse free that was just wide of the right hand post was as close as anyone had come to breaking the deadlock.

An early header from Tom Green from a free kick was the opening chance of the second half but it was directed at Keogh.

Aldershot stepped up their game and they took the lead after 55 minutes after a period of pressure. Kailen Davey picked up a loose ball in midfield and from 25 yards found the bottom corner with a quality strike. The Angels youngsters responded well to the setback with Ben Hermitage forcing Keogh into a decent save after 57 minutes and three minutes later Cameron Wootton headed over a Leo Vowles cross.

Harry London saw his shot deflected wide and following a series of corners, the big chance fell to Tyrie after 69 minutes. A yard left, a yard right, such small margins but Keogh emerged as the Shots saviour.

Aldershot stifled the game in the last 20 minutes to the point that Keogh was booked for persistent time wasting but it was game management being well executed.

Into time added, the Angels had one final free kick from Woodhouse that was brilliantly saved by Keogh and then, in the 96th minute, Finn Evans was sent clear and clinically finished past the advancing Gibb to end Tonbridge’s involvement in the competition for this season but everyone can look back with pride in their performances.

Staplehurst Monarchs United 1 Chatham Town 7

Match 42/21/1907 - Wednesday, 13th October 2021 - Kent Senior Trophy

Staplehurst Monarchs United (1) 1 Pallett 18
Chatham Town (5) 7 Pugh 36,38 Watts 40,60 Richards 42,43 Garlinge 65
Attendance: 155

Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: £1
Mileage: 1/2,300

Both teams fielded weakened sides but Chatham’s greater strength in depth proved far too much for Staplehurst Monarchs.

For 36 minutes that outcome wasn’t really on the radar mainly because of Chatham’s wayward finishing and the unlikely event that saw the Monarchs actually take the lead.

Chatham fielded a team of mostly teenagers and in the opening 20 minutes it was a fairly even game. On 18 minutes, Kieran Pallett seized on a mistake around the edge of the box and drove past a startled goalkeeper.

Chatham responded to the shock and exerted their quality on the home side except for the final finish as chance after chance going to waste or being thwarted by the young Monarch’s keeper.

Despite the profligacy, one sensed that the breakthrough had to come and when it finally did it led to a deluge of goals.

After 36 minutes, a cross from the left saw Andy Pugh turn the ball home and within two minutes another cross this time from the right saw Pugh’s shot only helped into the net by the keeper.

The Chats went close on 40 minutes but seconds later they were 3-1 in front when Jude Watts brilliantly took the ball down and applied a clinical finish.

42 minutes saw the score advanced to 4-1 when a shot from Jack Richards went straight through the beleaguered goalkeeper. Within another minute it became five goals in seven minutes when the home defence failed to clear and the ball span into the path of Richards who made no mistake to send the Chats into the dressing room certain of their place in the next round of the Kent Senior Trophy.

The second period was a one-way procession with the only mystery as to how Chatham failed to more than two goals to the total. Mind you, the sixth goal on the hour was a thing of beauty as Watts collected a poor clearance and waltzed through several, you have to say half-hearted, challenges before finishing one on one with the keeper.

On 65 minutes, Kian Garlinge bundled the ball home for the final act of the evening with Chatham happy with their evening’s work and Staplehurst just glad it was over.

Chatham Town 5 Tunbridge Wells 1

Match 41/21/1906 - Saturday, 9th October 2021 - SCEFL Premier

Chatham Town (2) 5 Bradshaw 34,57,71 Evans 37 (pen) Pugh 80
Tunbridge Wells (0) 1 Gething 55
Attendance: 647

Admission: £5 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 34/2,299

A trip to the Bauvill with Chatham Town’s array of expensively-procured talent was always going to be a tough ask but from 2-0 down and a man light the mountain becomes insurmountable.

For the first 30 minutes, 11 against 11, Chatham could possibly have made the argument that they were the better side, but it wasn’t overwhelming and Tunbridge Wells were well and truly in the game. But, in the space of three minutes, a defensive error and a rush of blood left them 2-0 down and reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Ryan Cheek.

Sheppey, and possibly Glebe, will make their case as contenders but with the likes of Jack Evans and Dan Bradshaw, along with the older hands of Matt Bodkin and Ryan Hayes, all players that could and should be playing at a higher level you get the feeling that they should win the league at a canter.

Hayes had shown the threat in the opening 20 minutes forcing Aaron Lee Wharton (ALW) in a good, low save with the rebound hacked away and then setting up Bradshaw with a chance that he should have done better than pull wide.

But the Wells were not without their own chances with James Nurden having a shot blocked and Josh Froggatt striking the top of the bar.

But after 34 minutes the home side got their noses in front when Nurden failed to take the opportunity to clear and Hayes crossed, low and hard across the face of the goal for the arch poacher Bradshaw to touch home from close range.

Three minutes later the game changer came when Hayes curled a shot towards the top corner and beyond the clutches of ALW, Cheek was positioned on the post and successfully turned the ball away but with the use of his hand. The referee had no alternative but to show the red card and the punishment was doubled as Evans scored from the spot.

Chatham continued to dominate after the break with Evans starting to revel in the extra space afforded by the man advantage. A wonderful link with Charlie Dickens ended with the full back volleying the ball out of the ground before setting up Hayes with a great chance that he wasted.

Then out of nothing but a punt forward, Matt Gething was clear and with the Chats goalkeeper Andy Walker hesitating, the Wells striker finished well and the visitors were back in the game.

But those hopes lasted a mere two minutes when, after 57 minutes, Hayes crossed to the near post for Bradshaw to glance a header into the far corner.

The Wells goal was now under siege and the only surprise was that it took another 15 minutes for Chatham to score again, due to brave defending and some wasteful finishing. A cross from the right was met by the head of Bradshaw, ALW saved well but the ball broke to the striker who completed his hat-trick and his afternoon’s work, being immediately substituted.

Bodkin and Evans were now showcasing their skills, as the Tunbridge Wells defenders were frightened to put in tackles inside the box and eventually the ball fell to substitute Andy Pugh, whose close range shot could only be palmed into the net by ALW.

ALW singled handedly kept the scoreline at five making three saves in the final minutes.

Chatham are a club ready for Step 4. The stadium has improved beyond recognition in the last three years; they have the 3G surface generating revenue; they have a massive (in terms of Step 5) fan-base that enjoys the facilities in terms of bar usage and, most importantly, they have a squad that could sustain themselves at the higher level.

Tunbridge Wells 5 Bearsted 2

Match 39/21/1904 - Tuesday, 5th October 2021 - SCEFL Premier

Tunbridge Wells (1) 5 Gethin 3 Nurden 46 Cheek 51 Corke 72,89
Bearsted (1) 2 Ababio 33 Stace 78 (pen)
Attendance: TBC

Admission: £5 Senior
Programme: None
Mileage: 36/2,187

Tunbridge Wells produced a scintillating second half performance to overwhelm a Bearsted side that had appeared to have gone into the break with the momentum.

On a thankfully dry and mild evening that had followed a day that had started with a deluge that had brought flash floods in areas in the south-east, it was a credit to the ground staff at Culverden that the game was able to go ahead. But the threat of a postponement had obviously affected the attendance that had looked pretty sparse.

Those that came had barely focused their eyes on the far end when Matt Gething drove the ball home from the right side of the box.

The early minutes of the game were surprisingly open and chances came thick and fast. Sam Stace went close for Bearsted after 10 minutes whilst, a minute later, Gething went close.

Jordan Ababio announced that he would be a threat on 14 minutes and on 34 minutes duly delivered with a run that scythed through the Wells defence and ended with a blistering shot from the angle of the six yard box.

Ababio would turned provider three minutes later when his cross really should have produced a goal for Andy Irvine who somehow steered his header wide. The ex-Wells striker was somewhat lucky to stay on the pitch a couple of minutes later when a poor challenge brought him a yellow card.

If the number seven shirt of Ababio had lit up the first period it was the red number seven of Regan Corke that electrified the second.

Just 20 seconds if the half had elapsed when Corke capitalised on an error from Adesima Luqman and crossed for James Nurden to find the bottom corner.

The momentum had completely changed and Gething was denied before a cross from the left was headed home by Ryan Cheek.

The Wells were now in complete command of the game and on 72 minutes wrapped it up with a goal of unlikely similarity to Ababio’s first half effort. Corke’s pace and control saw him carve his way through a Bearsted defence almost frightened to put in a tackle and his finish was a shot that whistled past Illiah Saukh.

Bearsted were offered an unlikely lifeline when a clumsy challenge brought a penalty award from which Stace fairly blasted his spot kick straight down the middle.

But a comeback was not on the cards and in the second minute of time added, Corke’s corner deceived the goalkeeper and went straight in.

Tonbridge’s enforced three week break gives me the opportunity to watch three Wells games on the trot, I hope they are all as entertaining.

Tonbridge Angels 2 Concord Rangers 3

Match 38/21/1903 - Saturday, 2nd October 2021 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Turner 37 Olutade 50
Concord Rangers (1) 3 Payne 39 Green 46 Allen 86
Attendance: 463

Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 38/2,151

Football can be the cruellest of games and, reflecting life, sometimes you don’t receive the rewards that are justifiably deserved.

Such was Tonbridge Angels fate on a afternoon of monsoon conditions, they were the better side but emerged pointless as Concord Rangers found a winner in the closing minutes in the most unfortunate of manners.

The weather forecast had been for driving rain, a 99% possibility, and the early morning drizzle quickly turned into the expected deluge.

Twenty months ago this game would not of reached its conclusion but the tireless work of the ground staff and thousands of pounds of investment have produced a surface that can now withstand the fiercest of downpours.

Steve McKimm made one change from the side that beat Dorking last Saturday. Adam Lovatt’s loan spell has ended and with the prospect of no games for three weeks it wasn’t renewed at this time. Into the side came Jamie Fielding but the bench looked paper thin with just four, two of which being 16-year-olds.

Tonbridge made the early running with Joe Turner in the thick of everything that was good about them, but the best of the early chances fell to Concord’s Lamar Reynolds who fired over.

After one of several corners, Concord’s goalkeeper, Myles Roberts, briefly the custodian in a loan spell at TN10, failed to hold the greasy ball and the scramble that ensued might have brought a goal but saw the ball hacked to safety.

Turner had the clearest chance after 24 minutes with a shot narrowly wide of the post and three minutes later his free kick was just over the crossbar.

On 33 minutes, Concord reminded the Angels back line that they were still in the game and Jonny Henly needed to be at his best, making a superb double save from Reynolds.

But it was the Angels that took a deserved lead after a break from Ibrahim Olutade ended with a cross for Turner to touch home from close range.

The lead was only to last two minutes as Joe Payne drove home after good work down the left.

As the teams turned round for the second period it was Tonbridge’s turn to face the howling gale and driving rain. Henly’s first kick saw the ball returning in his direction to highlight the task in hand and this was made harder when the visitors went in front after just a minute of the half when an unchallenged header from Danny Green found the target.

This time it was the Angel’s turn to quickly respond and after 50 minutes Turner’s free kick was audaciously back heeled into the net at the far post.

The home side now dominated the proceedings and thought that they had gone in front after 64 minutes when a Tommy Wood header was ruled out, we know not why.

The chances to get the noses back in front came and went for the Angels before, four minutes from time, a wicked stroke of misfortune gave Concord the opportunity to win the game which was gratefully accepted by Ben Allen. A hopeful punt forward saw Allen, first take advantage of a slip on the sodden grass by Harry Hudson and as Henly advanced he similarly slipped over to allow the Concord player a finish from an acute angle into the unguarded goal.

The weather-depleted crowd of 463 showed their appreciation of a good Angels performance and that sometime’s it just isn’t your day.



Picture: Dave Couldridge

Staplehurst Monarchs United 1 Larkfield & New Hythe 2

Tonbridge Angels U18 3 Croydon U18 0