Tonbridge Angels 2 Oxford City 2

Match 30/22/2037 - Saturday, 8th October 2022 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Soares-Junior 53 Santos 67
Oxford City (2) 2 Ashby 26 Parker 45

Attendance: 1,073
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3
Mileage: 38/2,381

A friend of mine, from another club, contacted me to ask how I thought the opening couple of months of Jay Saunders tenure had gone. “What’s not to like, we are ninth; the football is mostly pleasing on the eye, but I just wish he was a bit luckier”, was my assessment.

There is a criticism banded about, supposedly drawn from a season at Maidstone in which Saunders used 50 players that he operates a revolving door policy and with 29 players used by early October the argument might have merit, but I think most people could name correctly at least nine of his starting XI, if he had a full squad to choose from.

Injuries turned this game into farcically chaotic at times. The signing of Scott Wagstaff after last week’s friendly had left me excitedly anticipating a midfield spine of James Taylor, Wagstaff and Lewis Gard but these hopes were dashed in front of our eyes as Taylor went down during a warm-up routine to limp away from the session and out of the game. Out of adversity, step up Jeremy Santos, promoted from the bench to start and my, oh my, what a way to grasp the opportunity.

The opening 10 minutes saw Louis Collins shoot wide, but after seven minutes came the first talking point as Ruben Soares-Junior was clearly body checked in the area for what looked a stonewall penalty but referee Aaron Farmer set his template for the afternoon inexplicably waving away the claims.

Tonbridge had almost total domination, so it was very much against the run of play when Oxford City went ahead after 26 minutes. An initial through ball from Josh Parker sent Klaidi Lolas clear but he was well marshalled by Tommie Fagg before the ball was laid out to the right from where Jean-Baptiste Fischer laid the ball back to Josh Ashby who angled a drive into the far bottom corner.

The goal didn’t change the momentum of the half with a Soares-Junior header saved low by Ben Dudzinski, although Sonny Miles produced a goal-saving tackle before Parker struck, right on the cusp of the break, with a header at the far post following a beautifully flighted cross from substitute Lewis Coyle.

The Angels didn’t deserve to be behind at the break, let alone two behind, and it was going to take a monumental effort to salvage something in the second period.

Something special was needed and it came, firstly from Soares-Junior after 53 minutes. The Portuguese man collected a crossfield pass from Gard to the right hand side from where he cut in to the angle of the 18 yard box before letting rip a shot into the far corner with the keeper grasping at air.

Tonbridge drew level in equally stupendous fashion after 67 minutes. Santos picked up the ball deep in his own half and passed forward to Gard who laid the ball back into the path of Santos, who, first time from 30 yards fired past the bemused Dudzinski.

Unfortunately it was injuries that took most of the attention after the second half goals. Joe Tyrie, who had been a half-time replacement for Fagg, took a ball square in the face and was unable to continue, so another reshuffle saw Craig Braham-Barrett moving into the centre of the defence with Joe Turner, for about the third time this season, filling in at left back.

There were long breaks in play firstly for an Oxford player before Tyrie and even an medical incident behind the goal that saw the Tonbridge physio attend and whilst all that was going on, another Tonbridge player went down that necessitated Tommy Parkinson acting as stand-in physio!

There were 14 minutes of added time in which Jonny Henly was brought into the action with a couple of smart saves to preserve the hard-earned point.

Saunders luck must surely change soon and then we can make a sound judgement, but for now, ninth will do nicely.

Photos: Kathryn Bell

Staplehurst Monarchs 1 Rochester United 0

Match 29/22/2036 - Saturday, 8th October 2022 - SCEFL Division One

Staplehurst Monarchs (0) 1 Osagie 74
Rochester United (0) 0

Attendance: 331
Admission: £6
Programme: £2
Mileage: 1/2,343

Seven years ago I made my first visit to Jubilee Field, home of Staplehurst Monarchs, which considering at the time I had lived in the village for two years was pretty shameful. Admittedly it was for a Kent County League game, but the attendance amounted to 15 people. The ground was an open field with another match being played on an adjoining pitch. There were no stands, no floodlights and no toilets. Equally shameful on my part, it was another three years before I made a return visit despite continuing to live just half-a-mile away, this time for a pre-season friendly, nothing had changed and the attendance had shrunk to just 12.

Fast forward to 2022, the inaugural SCEFL Groundhop and the Monarchs are hosting Game 2 of 6 against Rochester United, in front of a record 331 attendance in an enclosed ground with stands and lights. On the field, they are steadily establishing themselves as a SCEFL club with ambitious plans for the future.

The Groundhop saw a coach load of hoppers, from I know not where, but along from me there were a group that was obviously down from Liverpool, some doing all six, last night at Punjab; this game then on to Bearsted and Larkfield before finishing off at Rusthall and Tunbridge Wells on Sunday. One bloke in the scouse group was disappointed that he had to get back to Merseyside on Sunday for the Everton v Manchester United game!

Groundhoppers need feeding and watering and the queue for Aldo’s was lengthy and continuous whilst the outside bar with a couple of barrels of real ale was also doing a roaring trade at 10.30 in the morning!

Since my earlier visits this season at the tail end of a long, hot summer the pitch has recovered remarkably from its straw appearance to a lovely, lush green surface that encouraged the ball players.

To say that an entertaining game was served up for the visitors from far and wide is a bit of a stretch but it was engaging and, with the hoppers worrying about their goal averages, it at least served up a winning goal that was worth the entrance fee and avoided the dreaded goalless draw.

Staplehurst are obviously being asked by their management team to play a possession-based game that starts with the goalkeeper, who utilises his full backs to play the ball into midfield areas but when this is not possible it tended to go back to Steve Lawrence, the home custodian, who began the process again, and again, and again with the visitors, Rochester United pressing high. It did become a little tedious and had one wishing for a good, old fashioned hoof upfield!

The first scare for either side came from one of these situations, after 11 minutes, when the pass back to Lawrence was a little heavy and the goalkeeper’s touch saw the ball heading towards the line before he scrambled it away with the Rochester forwards claiming the ball had crossed the line.

Rochester certainly made the early running and Lawrence did well to turn aside an effort after 25 minutes and it wasn’t until the later stages of the half that the home side carved out a couple of chances with Brad Large firing a shot across the face of goal and also shooting over.

The second period became a little bit attritional with some hefty tackling that found the referee with some awkward moments to deal with, and certainly not in a manner that brought approval from both benches.

The big moment of the match came in the 74th minute after Rochester had seen a good move end with a shot from Lucas Payne that was cleared from the goal line with a punt forward that eventually found its way to substitute John Osagie, who cut in from the right, found a bit of space open up in front of him before burying a shot into the far, bottom corner from 20 yards.

Rochester made a valiant effort to retrieve a point with efforts from Louis Dos Santos and a header from a corner from Tom Whittaker that cleared the bar before the referee brought the curtain down and the hoppers made their way back onto their coach and on to the equally delightful surrounds of Bearsted. Let us hope they fondly remember their visit to Jubilee Field.

Greenacre Academy 2 Hugh Christie 6

Match 28/22/2035 - Wednesday, 5th October 2022 - Academies League Championship

Greenacre (1) 2
Hugh Christie (4) 6 Southern 2, Grant, Boorman, Devlin, Thompson

Attendance: 1
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 32/2,342

Tunbridge Wells 2 Deal Town 2

Match 27/22/2034 - Saturday, 1st October 2022 - SCEFL Premier

Tunbridge Wells (1) 2 McCreadie 4 Abooa 76
Deal Town (1) 2 Chapman 7 Millbank 74

Attendance: 305
Admission: £5
Programme: Not purchased
Mileage: 6/2,310

This was the first time seeing Tunbridge Wells since the opening day of the season at Kennington when they were disappointing to put it mildly.

But, the visit of second placed Deal Town to Culverden showed that Luke Carpenter has made some good progress in the last couple of months.

My first visit to Culverden this season also brought a surprise in the new stand for the Sunshine Club, small but perfectly formed!

The game got off to a bright start with a goal apiece in the opening 10 minutes. Tunbridge Wells opened the scoring after six minutes after Matt Astle pulled the ball back from the byline to Trevor McCreadie, who received with his back to goal but with a nifty turn and shot into the bottom corner for his sixth goal of the season.

But the lead was to last barely two minutes when a cross from the right found Ben Chapman in far too much space allowing him to head past Jason Tibble.

The game was an entertaining end-to-end affair and after 25 minutes, McCreadie once again showed his sharpness in front of goal when an overhead kick struck the top of the bar.

On 36 minutes, Deal required some desperate defending to deny firstly an effort from James Nurden with goalkeeper, Henry Newcombe, saving the follow-up from Jon Shea.

Deal’s chances to go into the break in front came in the final five minutes with Tibble saving low from Connor Coyne and a header, following a corner, from Kane Smith.

The second half was not as fluent as the first and got more than a little scrappy at times with the game stopping and starting all too often. Frankie Griffin struck the bar from outside of the box for the Wells whilst Chapman pulled a shot wide for the visitors.

Deal got their noses in front after 72 minutes when Chapman was brought down in the box for Smith to convert from the spot into the bottom corner.

But, once again, a lead was to last just a few minutes when an inch perfect through ball from Robbie Bissett sent substitute Ezekial Abooa clear to plant a confident finish past Newcombe.

In time added, McCreadie shot wide, but overall the points shared was a fair result.

Tonbridge Angels 3 Hythe Town 2

Match 26/22/2033 - Saturday, 1st October 2022 - Friendly

Tonbridge Angels (1) 3 Santos 41 Rutherford 54 Holness 68
Hythe Town (0) 2 Caney-Bryan 72 Phillips 79

Est. Attendance: 150
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 38/2,304

Pictures: Kathryn Bell

Bromley Under-18 4 Tonbridge Angels U18 2

Match 25/22/2032 - Friday, 30th September 2022 - FA Youth Cup 2QR

Bromley (1) 4
Tonbridge Angels (2) 2

Attendance: TBC
Admission: £5
Programme: None
Mileage: 80/2,266

Bromley produced a powerful second half performance to overcome a 2-1 half-time deficit and knock Tom Parkinson’s side out of the FA Youth Cup on a wild, wet night at Hayes Lane.

The rain, swept by a stiff wind caused problems for both sides all game with the ball zipping off the 3G resulting in many over hit passes.

Bromley, who play a division higher than their visitors, went ahead after five minutes when a ball into the right side of the box saw Angels goalkeeper, Matt Larkin, advancing to collect but beaten to the ball. The Bromley forward, lobbed to ball goalwards, but it appeared to be going wide before Lateef Adaja followed it in to head the ball into the net at the near post.

Tonbridge responded immediately and, a minute later, were level when a corner from the right, taken by Leo Vowles was headed home by skipper Tom Green.

It was the injection of confidence that the Angels needed and they went on to dominate the first half.

Bromley showed a vulnerability from set pieces lofted into the box and, after 25 minutes, with a carbon copy of the first goal, Vowles' corner was this time headed home by Will Puffette.

Vowles continually posed problems for the home side’s defence and two minutes later surged into the box but only found the side netting.

Harry Day forced Bromley goalkeeper, Cemal Osman into a good, low save as the Angels finished the half strongly and well worth their lead.

The home side emerged early from the dressing room, undoubtedly with a flea in their ear, and a vastly different performance from Bromley resulted.

It was felt that the next goal would be vital and it went to the home side after 56 minutes and sparked a spell in which the Angels were swept out of the game.

From the outset of the second period, the Angels were under pressure with Larkin saving a header from a corner and, after 51 minutes, the bar was struck as a shot was hooked on after another corner.

There was an inevitability about the equalising goal, although the manner in which it was conceded was disappointing. A cross from the left found Adaja, in front of goal with time and space to pick his spot.

On the hour, Tonbridge might have found themselves back in front when Harry London’s effort was saved and the follow-up from Hayden Velvick was agonisingly wide.

That proved a big moment in the game as, within four minutes, Bromley scored twice. A cross from the left found the head of Shakur Beech, who once more benefited from too much space. A free kick, on 66 minutes, from the right by Frankie Hvid, that sailed straight into the far corner signalled the end of the Angels interest in the FA Youth Cup for another year.

But, credit should be taken that the Angels youngsters weathered the storm and were competitive to the final whistle. A penalty was conceded deep into injury time gave Adaja the opportunity to complete his hat trick but his shot missed the target and, to be fair, 5-2 would have been harsh on the Angels.

It was very much the cliche of a game of two halves and Parkinson echoed that commenting after the game: “First half we were excellent but second half we crumbled, and Bromley in the end were worthy winners.”

Hemel Hempstead Town 1 Tonbridge Angels 0

Match 24/22/2031 - Tuesday, 27th September 2022 - National League South

Hemel Hempstead Town (1) 1 Morgan-Griffiths 39
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0

Attendance: TBC
Admission: Pass
Programme: None
Mileage: 162/2,186

Football supporters are crazy, I’m crazy and why do we put ourselves through it. This was one of those nights that leave you wondering why you bother. Why do you set out on what is forecast, and was, a chilly evening; defy the vagaries of the Dartford Tunnel and the inevitable overnight lane closures on the M25 before returning home just short of midnight, tired and frustrated. And the craziest point of all, in your heart of hearts, you know what is about to happen and you still decide to put yourself through it.

Hemel Hempstead is one of those places where the outcome is rarely positive for Tonbridge Angels and this occasion was no different and, in truth, the outcome was what they deserved. Ninety minutes in which the final pass was never there; strikers that just needed another touch; more injuries and a single mistake that lost the game and that’s before referencing the referee and the most Mickey Mouse of watches!

Vauxhall Road, apart from the pitch, is a decent stadium, a mishmash of old and new with some good terracing in places, nicely carpeted with off-cuts from the pitch, that I envied for my viewing position at Longmead. A group of local teenagers that, for some reason known only to them, decided they would “support” the Angels whilst proclaiming their school was just down the road were highly irritating and then a couple of incidents after the final whistle only added to the bizarre nature of the evening.

Jay Saunders made one change from Cheshunt with Ben Swift injured and replaced by Jeremy Santos with Tommie Fagg slotting into Swift’s central defensive position.

Tonbridge started well enough and in the opening 20 minutes there were efforts from Joe Turner and Fagg following corners and a speculative shot from distance that drifted wide from Jayden Crowhurst.

On 27 minutes ex-Hemel goalkeeper, Jonny Henly was forced into his first meaningful save, turning away a shot from Ogo Obi.

The Angels were still playing some attractive football and a neat interchange between Lewis Gard, Louis Collins ended with Santos shooting wide.

It was largely against the run of play when Hemel Hempstead took the lead on 39 minutes. A Tonbridge attack broke down with a punt forward that the young Southend loanee, Crowhurst appeared to have covered but he misjudged a bounce that reared up off the pitch allowing Dominic Morgan-Griffiths to stride forward before planting a powerful shot past Henly.

A half-time substitution of playmaker Gard for TQ Addy signalled a shift in momentum as the home side enjoyed a greater share of possession although both goalkeepers were brought into action in equal measures.

Ruben Soares-Junior stretched the home custodian, Craig King whilst Josh Castiglione drove straight at Henly. Sadly, the game descended into a frustrating huff and puff tussle until the four minutes of time added in which a shot-cum-cross from Santos was tipped over by King and from the resultant corner with Henly adding his presence to the attack the ball broke loose but the Hemel attempt on goal from the half-way line was underhit and Turner was able to get back and clear.

After a free kick to Hemel that brought a stoppage of at least a minute, the referee blew his whistle dead on the four minute mark triggering the annoyance of both the visiting supporters and management.

One lane closure after the other slowed the journey home increasing the frustration but like supporters up and down the country who have suffered a Tuesday night disappointment, we will be back on Saturday. Crazy, not really.