Gillingham (0) 1 Clarke
Salford City (0) 0
Attendance: 5,278
Admission: £20
Mileage: 45/3,732
Sunday, 8 December 2024
Gillingham 1 Salford City 0
Match 50/24/2289 - Saturday, 7th December 2024 - League Two
Gillingham (0) 1 Clarke
Salford City (0) 0
Attendance: 5,278
Admission: £20
Mileage: 45/3,732
Gillingham (0) 1 Clarke
Salford City (0) 0
Attendance: 5,278
Admission: £20
Mileage: 45/3,732
Thursday, 5 December 2024
Tonbridge Angels 2 Herne Bay 1
Match 49/24/2288 - Tuesday, 3rd December 2024 - Kent Senior Cup QF
Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Sutcliffe 25 Robinson 65
Herne Bay (1) 1 Salako 36
Attendance: 278
Admission: £8
Mileage: 38/3,687
Tonbridge Angels progressed to the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup with a narrow win against a stubborn Herne Bay side that stayed in game for its duration.
“It sounds good (to be through the the semi-final), that was the plan at the beginning of the night but I’m not overly impressed with the team performance. It’s difficult when you make seven changes, there’s some lads in there that haven’t played for some time so this competition is important for that, let alone actually trying to win it, it’s good for us to be able to give some of the boys a game. We are through, I thought Herne Bay worked really hard, put us under a lot of pressure and didn’t let us settle and we made hard work of it,” commented Jay Saunders after the match.
The seven changes referred to saw Andrew Norburn make his first senior start between the sticks. Crossley Lema, Ryan Hanson, Trevan Robinson, Deondre Date, Naz Bakrin and Mo Dabre being the starters from Saturday’s side at Weymouth.
It was one of those nights cold enough to see a cloud of steam coming off the players whenever there was a huddle following an injury and the vast majority of the attendance, including a very vocal cluster up from the east Kent coast, seeking the relative warmth of the covered enclosures.
The opening half-hour was pretty much one-way traffic with the Angels dominating. A third minute corner was met with a header from Hanson that was blocked with the follow-up shot going over and minutes later, Date flashed a shot across the face of goal.
On 24 minutes, Robinson was sent clear by Santos, who through the evening was the centre of everything, but he had his angle narrowed by Josh Bexon, the visiting goalkeeper, who deflected the ball away for a corner, the result of which being delivered by Santos to the head of Ethan Sutcliffe who scored from around six yards.
Herne Bay’s first real foray into the Angels’ territory brought a surprise equaliser on 36 minutes when the dangerous strike pair of Kane Haysman and Michael Salako linked well for the latter to finish into the bottom corner. Haysman, three minutes later, forced Norburn into his first save.
The crossbar thwarted the Angels taking a half-time lead when a corner from Santos was worked to the edge of the box from where a driven shot from Hanson rattled the woodwork.
The half-time break saw Scott Wagstaff, who had taken a heavy knock, replaced by Liam Vincent and this almost brought an instant dividend as he flashed one of his trademark crosses into the box that evaded everyone.
On the hour, Vincent’s cross to the far post saw Robinson hook the ball over the bar at the near post, before the striker received a superb crossfield pass from Sutcliffe to cut in from the left and bury his shot into the bottom corner to restore the Angels’ lead.
Chances to put the tie to bed came and went for the home side as Sutcliffe saw a header cleared from the line and Vincent’s shot clear the bar after good build up between Robinson and Lema.
A late free kick for Herne Bay on the edge of the box produced a nervous moment but the shot clear the bar and the game was seen out comfortably.
Dover beat Deal to seal one of the other semi-final positions with games between Bromley and Ebbsfleet, Phoenix Sports versus Welling to secure the other places.
Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Sutcliffe 25 Robinson 65
Herne Bay (1) 1 Salako 36
Attendance: 278
Admission: £8
Mileage: 38/3,687
Tonbridge Angels progressed to the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup with a narrow win against a stubborn Herne Bay side that stayed in game for its duration.
“It sounds good (to be through the the semi-final), that was the plan at the beginning of the night but I’m not overly impressed with the team performance. It’s difficult when you make seven changes, there’s some lads in there that haven’t played for some time so this competition is important for that, let alone actually trying to win it, it’s good for us to be able to give some of the boys a game. We are through, I thought Herne Bay worked really hard, put us under a lot of pressure and didn’t let us settle and we made hard work of it,” commented Jay Saunders after the match.
The seven changes referred to saw Andrew Norburn make his first senior start between the sticks. Crossley Lema, Ryan Hanson, Trevan Robinson, Deondre Date, Naz Bakrin and Mo Dabre being the starters from Saturday’s side at Weymouth.
It was one of those nights cold enough to see a cloud of steam coming off the players whenever there was a huddle following an injury and the vast majority of the attendance, including a very vocal cluster up from the east Kent coast, seeking the relative warmth of the covered enclosures.
The opening half-hour was pretty much one-way traffic with the Angels dominating. A third minute corner was met with a header from Hanson that was blocked with the follow-up shot going over and minutes later, Date flashed a shot across the face of goal.
On 24 minutes, Robinson was sent clear by Santos, who through the evening was the centre of everything, but he had his angle narrowed by Josh Bexon, the visiting goalkeeper, who deflected the ball away for a corner, the result of which being delivered by Santos to the head of Ethan Sutcliffe who scored from around six yards.
Herne Bay’s first real foray into the Angels’ territory brought a surprise equaliser on 36 minutes when the dangerous strike pair of Kane Haysman and Michael Salako linked well for the latter to finish into the bottom corner. Haysman, three minutes later, forced Norburn into his first save.
The crossbar thwarted the Angels taking a half-time lead when a corner from Santos was worked to the edge of the box from where a driven shot from Hanson rattled the woodwork.
The half-time break saw Scott Wagstaff, who had taken a heavy knock, replaced by Liam Vincent and this almost brought an instant dividend as he flashed one of his trademark crosses into the box that evaded everyone.
On the hour, Vincent’s cross to the far post saw Robinson hook the ball over the bar at the near post, before the striker received a superb crossfield pass from Sutcliffe to cut in from the left and bury his shot into the bottom corner to restore the Angels’ lead.
Chances to put the tie to bed came and went for the home side as Sutcliffe saw a header cleared from the line and Vincent’s shot clear the bar after good build up between Robinson and Lema.
A late free kick for Herne Bay on the edge of the box produced a nervous moment but the shot clear the bar and the game was seen out comfortably.
Dover beat Deal to seal one of the other semi-final positions with games between Bromley and Ebbsfleet, Phoenix Sports versus Welling to secure the other places.
Sheppey United U18 0 Tonbridge Angels U18 4
Match 48/24/2287 - Monday, 2nd December 2024 - Isthmian Youth
Sheppey United U18 (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 4 Penman 12 Famibafobee 28 Larkin 32 (pen) Pritchard 48
Attendance: 40
Admission: £5
Mileage: 54/3,649 cThe Under-18’s cruised back to winning ways on Monday with a comfortable four goal win at Sheppey United.
Dom Welsh said after the game: “It was a dominant performance and we played some outstanding football in large periods that perhaps deserved more goals but the final pass didn’t always land.”
It was also good to see patience rewarded for a player who shone on the night: “A top performance from Rush Broderick, he has waited for his opportunity and absolutely took it tonight.”
When the wind blows off the estuary at Sheppey, it makes for a cold night and the number of “hoods up” bears testimony to the chill wind.
Tonbridge dominated the game from the first whistle to practically the last, although much credit should be given to the Sheppey side that acquitted themselves to a difficult task, especially in the second half.
After early chances for Fiachra Pritchard and Robert Penman, the Angels took the lead after 15 minutes when Broderick set up Penman to score from the edge of the six yard box.
One-way traffic was maintained before, after 28 minutes, Adam Larkin’s cross found Tolu Fabimafobee in space on the right side of the box to finish between the goalkeeper and his near post.
Just past the half-hour, the Angels were awarded a justified, but somewhat fortunate, penalty as a defender stumbled and fell on the ball clearly handling it in the process. Larkin converted from the spot.
Before the break, Noah Millis struck a fierce shot from 20 yards that cannoned down from the underside of the crossbar with the goalkeeper saving from River Ballach.
An early second half goal from Pritchard after good approach play from Fabimafobee and Ballach might have opened the door for an avalanche of goals but Sheppey worked hard to avoid such an occurrence.
The home side had their first real opportunity of the night on 55 minutes when their centre forward, who had grafted tirelessly, saw his shot go narrowly wide and the Angels’ goalkeeper, Josh Hanson, needed to be alert to save from the same attacker.
The Angels had several opportunities to add to their total but their touch in front of goal eluded them through the second period.
Sheppey United U18 (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 4 Penman 12 Famibafobee 28 Larkin 32 (pen) Pritchard 48
Attendance: 40
Admission: £5
Mileage: 54/3,649 cThe Under-18’s cruised back to winning ways on Monday with a comfortable four goal win at Sheppey United.
Dom Welsh said after the game: “It was a dominant performance and we played some outstanding football in large periods that perhaps deserved more goals but the final pass didn’t always land.”
It was also good to see patience rewarded for a player who shone on the night: “A top performance from Rush Broderick, he has waited for his opportunity and absolutely took it tonight.”
When the wind blows off the estuary at Sheppey, it makes for a cold night and the number of “hoods up” bears testimony to the chill wind.
Tonbridge dominated the game from the first whistle to practically the last, although much credit should be given to the Sheppey side that acquitted themselves to a difficult task, especially in the second half.
After early chances for Fiachra Pritchard and Robert Penman, the Angels took the lead after 15 minutes when Broderick set up Penman to score from the edge of the six yard box.
One-way traffic was maintained before, after 28 minutes, Adam Larkin’s cross found Tolu Fabimafobee in space on the right side of the box to finish between the goalkeeper and his near post.
Just past the half-hour, the Angels were awarded a justified, but somewhat fortunate, penalty as a defender stumbled and fell on the ball clearly handling it in the process. Larkin converted from the spot.
Before the break, Noah Millis struck a fierce shot from 20 yards that cannoned down from the underside of the crossbar with the goalkeeper saving from River Ballach.
An early second half goal from Pritchard after good approach play from Fabimafobee and Ballach might have opened the door for an avalanche of goals but Sheppey worked hard to avoid such an occurrence.
The home side had their first real opportunity of the night on 55 minutes when their centre forward, who had grafted tirelessly, saw his shot go narrowly wide and the Angels’ goalkeeper, Josh Hanson, needed to be alert to save from the same attacker.
The Angels had several opportunities to add to their total but their touch in front of goal eluded them through the second period.
Glebe 1 Tunbridge Wells 1
Match 47/24/2286 - Saturday, 30th November 2024 - SCEFL Premier
Glebe (0) 1 Bamber 52
Tunbridge Wells (1) 1 Hudson 45
Attendance: 100
Admission: £8
Mileage: 65/3,595
Glebe (0) 1 Bamber 52
Tunbridge Wells (1) 1 Hudson 45
Attendance: 100
Admission: £8
Mileage: 65/3,595
Welling United 2 Tonbridge Angels 2
Match 46/24/2285 - Tuesday, 26th November 2024 - National League South
Welling United (2) 2 Lankshear 11 Redfearn 19
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Vincent 60,78 (pen)
Attendance: 503
Admission: Pass
Mileage: 86/3,530
How’s your glass? If it’s half full, then a point from 2-0 down after 20 minutes is a good one. If it’s half empty, then a second half of one-way traffic might well have ended with that elusive first-ever win against Welling at Park View Road.
A first 20 minutes in which the home side didn’t exactly spring from the traps, more so that the Angels didn’t leave them at all, saw them two goals down that could easily have been three, and possibly game over, had it not been for a goal line clearance.
Jay Saunders said of the slow start: “The first half hour wasn’t good enough. Away from home you need to be solid, you need to be hard to beat. I thought we came here and expected the game to be played at our tempo and our own way but the players have to earn the right away from home, especially when you come to a team that have not been on the best of runs but had a great result at Slough (on Saturday), they were obviously up for it and we weren’t awake One of our supporters shouted “wake up” that hit the nail on the head, we just hadn’t got going.”
On a coldish night, mercifully dry, Saunders elected to go with the side that beat Hemel Hempstead Town at Longmead on Saturday and with the relative short journey to South London, there was a healthy following of Angels supporters in attendance.
An 11th minute attack from the home side saw a dangerous cross from Paul Osew that was deflected away for a corner, from which Alex Lankshear was allowed to climb, unchallenged, at the far post, to head home.
Two minutes later another corner spelt trouble for the Angels as Jack Burchill’s stabbed shot needed Charlie Pegrum to head from the line.
Tonbridge threatened to get back on terms after 15 minutes when a through ball from Sean Shields sent Makise Evans clear but the Welling goalkeeper, Rhys Lovett, was quick off his line to smother with the rebound falling to Mo Dabre, who could only shoot into the side netting.
On 19 minutes, the Angels fell two behind, when a cross from the right from Chiori Johnson was met by Josh Redfearn with a touch that took it beyond Matt Rowley and into the far corner.
A reaction was certainly needed and Tonbridge needed to wake from their slumbers and the first seeds of a recovery were planted when they were denied a clear penalty after 23 minutes when Dabre got in front of his marker to be wrestled to the ground only for the appeals to be waved away.
Jay Saunders made two half-time substitutions with Crossley Lema replacing Ethan Sutcliffe and Taylor Maloney replacing Ryan Hanson with a change of shape that saw them going to a four along the back line. Both Lema and Maloney, ex of the parish of Welling, made an immediate impact with Maloney’s cross from the left finding its way across the face of goal to strike the far post and Lema’s cross that saw an effort from Evans clear the bar.
A sigh of relief was breathed when a good opportunity for Burchill was struck wide before, on the hour, the Angels reduced the deficit as a right-sided free kick from Liam Vincent found the gap between Lovatt and his post.
Evans headed over from an inviting cross before, on 78 minutes, a corner from Shields was headed towards the far post and as Evans tried to get to the loose ball he was bundled to the ground by Garrett Kelly, who saw a second yellow and subsequent red for his efforts.
Vincent stepped up to calmly strike the ball into the bottom corner, giving Lovatt no chance.
With the man advantage and momentum, the Angels searched for the winner and the big chance came in the final minute of regular time when Evans was sent clear by Shields but Lovatt made a really good stop with the follow-up from Pegrum clearing the bar.
Jay Saunders summed up: “It was interesting before the game, there were a few of the subs that were disappointed not to start and I said that the subs are going to be massive tonight and, to be fair, everyone of them that came on, first Taylor and Crossley were excellent, Santos came on and made a difference and Deondre when he came on, so that was a positive out of tonight.”
Welling United (2) 2 Lankshear 11 Redfearn 19
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Vincent 60,78 (pen)
Attendance: 503
Admission: Pass
Mileage: 86/3,530
How’s your glass? If it’s half full, then a point from 2-0 down after 20 minutes is a good one. If it’s half empty, then a second half of one-way traffic might well have ended with that elusive first-ever win against Welling at Park View Road.
A first 20 minutes in which the home side didn’t exactly spring from the traps, more so that the Angels didn’t leave them at all, saw them two goals down that could easily have been three, and possibly game over, had it not been for a goal line clearance.
Jay Saunders said of the slow start: “The first half hour wasn’t good enough. Away from home you need to be solid, you need to be hard to beat. I thought we came here and expected the game to be played at our tempo and our own way but the players have to earn the right away from home, especially when you come to a team that have not been on the best of runs but had a great result at Slough (on Saturday), they were obviously up for it and we weren’t awake One of our supporters shouted “wake up” that hit the nail on the head, we just hadn’t got going.”
On a coldish night, mercifully dry, Saunders elected to go with the side that beat Hemel Hempstead Town at Longmead on Saturday and with the relative short journey to South London, there was a healthy following of Angels supporters in attendance.
An 11th minute attack from the home side saw a dangerous cross from Paul Osew that was deflected away for a corner, from which Alex Lankshear was allowed to climb, unchallenged, at the far post, to head home.
Two minutes later another corner spelt trouble for the Angels as Jack Burchill’s stabbed shot needed Charlie Pegrum to head from the line.
Tonbridge threatened to get back on terms after 15 minutes when a through ball from Sean Shields sent Makise Evans clear but the Welling goalkeeper, Rhys Lovett, was quick off his line to smother with the rebound falling to Mo Dabre, who could only shoot into the side netting.
On 19 minutes, the Angels fell two behind, when a cross from the right from Chiori Johnson was met by Josh Redfearn with a touch that took it beyond Matt Rowley and into the far corner.
A reaction was certainly needed and Tonbridge needed to wake from their slumbers and the first seeds of a recovery were planted when they were denied a clear penalty after 23 minutes when Dabre got in front of his marker to be wrestled to the ground only for the appeals to be waved away.
Jay Saunders made two half-time substitutions with Crossley Lema replacing Ethan Sutcliffe and Taylor Maloney replacing Ryan Hanson with a change of shape that saw them going to a four along the back line. Both Lema and Maloney, ex of the parish of Welling, made an immediate impact with Maloney’s cross from the left finding its way across the face of goal to strike the far post and Lema’s cross that saw an effort from Evans clear the bar.
A sigh of relief was breathed when a good opportunity for Burchill was struck wide before, on the hour, the Angels reduced the deficit as a right-sided free kick from Liam Vincent found the gap between Lovatt and his post.
Evans headed over from an inviting cross before, on 78 minutes, a corner from Shields was headed towards the far post and as Evans tried to get to the loose ball he was bundled to the ground by Garrett Kelly, who saw a second yellow and subsequent red for his efforts.
Vincent stepped up to calmly strike the ball into the bottom corner, giving Lovatt no chance.
With the man advantage and momentum, the Angels searched for the winner and the big chance came in the final minute of regular time when Evans was sent clear by Shields but Lovatt made a really good stop with the follow-up from Pegrum clearing the bar.
Jay Saunders summed up: “It was interesting before the game, there were a few of the subs that were disappointed not to start and I said that the subs are going to be massive tonight and, to be fair, everyone of them that came on, first Taylor and Crossley were excellent, Santos came on and made a difference and Deondre when he came on, so that was a positive out of tonight.”
Tonbridge Angels U18 3 Welling United U18 4
Match 45/24/2284 - Monday, 25th November 2024 - Isthmian Youth
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 3 Penman 7 Pritchard 15 Famibafobee 35
Welling United U18 (1) 4 26, 72, 87, 90
Attendance: 33
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,444
Tonbridge Angels U18 fell victim to an amazing comeback from their visitors, Welling United, who recovered from 3-1 down to take home the points with three second half goals.
Manager Dom Welsh bemoaned “silly mistakes and missed chances at pivotal moments” whilst praising the visitors on their second half performance.
It all looked plain sailing for the Angels after 15 minutes in which they had dominated the game and opened up a two goal lead. Strangely plain sailing as Welling are always one of the better sides in the division.
The opening goal came on seven minutes when a well worked short corner routine caught the visitors flat footed and ended with a shot from Robert Penman finding a heavy deflection on its way into the net. On the quarter hour a cross from the right saw Fiachra Pritchard outpace the defence to fire home.
Welling were shocked into action and after asking a couple of saves from Josh Hanson, they pulled a goal back on 26 minutes when a header was buried from a corner and they were searching hard for an equaliser, including a good save from Hanson, when the Angels restored their lead to two goals after 35 minutes when Tolu Fabimafobee tucked the ball home after a cross found him at the near post.
Welling came from the dressing room with a renewed sense of purpose but successive chances for Callum Fincham and Penman should have taken the game beyond them before, with 18 minutes remaining, they pulled a goal back with a far post header.
Momentum was with Welling and when the ball was scrambled home with four minutes remaining there was a sense of foreboding that there might still be time for a winner and so there was when, in the final minute, a cross into the box was tucked home from close range to seal a stunning comeback.
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 3 Penman 7 Pritchard 15 Famibafobee 35
Welling United U18 (1) 4 26, 72, 87, 90
Attendance: 33
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,444
Tonbridge Angels U18 fell victim to an amazing comeback from their visitors, Welling United, who recovered from 3-1 down to take home the points with three second half goals.
Manager Dom Welsh bemoaned “silly mistakes and missed chances at pivotal moments” whilst praising the visitors on their second half performance.
It all looked plain sailing for the Angels after 15 minutes in which they had dominated the game and opened up a two goal lead. Strangely plain sailing as Welling are always one of the better sides in the division.
The opening goal came on seven minutes when a well worked short corner routine caught the visitors flat footed and ended with a shot from Robert Penman finding a heavy deflection on its way into the net. On the quarter hour a cross from the right saw Fiachra Pritchard outpace the defence to fire home.
Welling were shocked into action and after asking a couple of saves from Josh Hanson, they pulled a goal back on 26 minutes when a header was buried from a corner and they were searching hard for an equaliser, including a good save from Hanson, when the Angels restored their lead to two goals after 35 minutes when Tolu Fabimafobee tucked the ball home after a cross found him at the near post.
Welling came from the dressing room with a renewed sense of purpose but successive chances for Callum Fincham and Penman should have taken the game beyond them before, with 18 minutes remaining, they pulled a goal back with a far post header.
Momentum was with Welling and when the ball was scrambled home with four minutes remaining there was a sense of foreboding that there might still be time for a winner and so there was when, in the final minute, a cross into the box was tucked home from close range to seal a stunning comeback.
Sunday, 24 November 2024
Tonbridge Angels 2 Hemel Hempstead Town 0
Match 44/24/2283 - Saturday, 23rd November 2024 - National League South
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Shields
Hemel Hempstead Town (0) 0
Attendance: 796
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,406
Two second half goals from Sean Shields, on his 50th appearance, were more than enough for Tonbridge Angels to comfortably record a first-ever victory over Hemel Hempstead Town.
On an afternoon where Storm Bert had all but a dozen hardy supporters from the nearly 800 attendance heading for the covered enclosures, the Angels were largely in control of the game throughout.
Jay Saunders speaking after the game: “I’m pleased that we’ve kept our unbeaten run at home in the League going with a good three points in difficult conditions, especially in the first half, against the wind was difficult. I was pleased with the all-round performance, we’ve controlled large parts of the game and today taken our chances.”
Jay brought his new loan signing, Makise Evans straight into the starting line-up for Trevan Robinson with Ethan Sutcliffe and Shields returning from the side that exited the FA Trophy at Gosport Borough; Crossley Lema (who had suffered illness during the week) and Nazir Bakrin taking places on the bench.
Having sacrificed their favoured, second half direction of play towards the south stand to play against the wind in the first half they restricted the visitors to precious little whilst creating the best chance when Charlie Pegrum steered his shot wide from close range after being sent clear by Shields.
There was no lack of passion in the game as three first half challenges from both sides ended up in yellow cards and player melees but as the game settled into a pattern it was the Angels that wove them albeit without testing the Hemel goalkeeper, James Holden unduly.
In the second period, now with the worsening elements in their favour, the Angels pressed on quickly creating chances for Shields and debutant Makise Evans before finally going ahead after 53 minutes when Shields’ shot took a heavy deflection to wrong foot Holden.
Evans’ pace was continually troubling the Hemel backline and when Holden was needed to venture 30 yards from his goal line he was robbed by the debutant before the ball was scrambled to safety.
Of Evans’ debut, Jay commented: “I thought he had a really good debut, he’s had one training session with us on Thursday. He’s a young lad, one thing I knew we would get was work rate and honesty from him and I thought we got that and he was unfortunate not to score, but he worked hard and will get better as he is integrated into the squad.”
The second half was completely dominated by the Angels with the visitors not managing a shot on target until the 72nd minute that was comfortably saved by Matt Rowley.
The game was finally put to bed with three minutes remaining when a cross from Pegrum evaded Evans but fell to Shields who had an easy finish from the edge of the six yard box.
Jay concluded: “Today was a big win, now we need to back it up on Tuesday night at Welling, another place where we don’t have the best record, and it we can do that, we are in a good place.”
Bert tried his hardest to dampen the Angels spirit but nobody, supporters and squad alike, were having any of it!
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Shields
Hemel Hempstead Town (0) 0
Attendance: 796
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,406
Two second half goals from Sean Shields, on his 50th appearance, were more than enough for Tonbridge Angels to comfortably record a first-ever victory over Hemel Hempstead Town.
On an afternoon where Storm Bert had all but a dozen hardy supporters from the nearly 800 attendance heading for the covered enclosures, the Angels were largely in control of the game throughout.
Jay Saunders speaking after the game: “I’m pleased that we’ve kept our unbeaten run at home in the League going with a good three points in difficult conditions, especially in the first half, against the wind was difficult. I was pleased with the all-round performance, we’ve controlled large parts of the game and today taken our chances.”
Jay brought his new loan signing, Makise Evans straight into the starting line-up for Trevan Robinson with Ethan Sutcliffe and Shields returning from the side that exited the FA Trophy at Gosport Borough; Crossley Lema (who had suffered illness during the week) and Nazir Bakrin taking places on the bench.
Having sacrificed their favoured, second half direction of play towards the south stand to play against the wind in the first half they restricted the visitors to precious little whilst creating the best chance when Charlie Pegrum steered his shot wide from close range after being sent clear by Shields.
There was no lack of passion in the game as three first half challenges from both sides ended up in yellow cards and player melees but as the game settled into a pattern it was the Angels that wove them albeit without testing the Hemel goalkeeper, James Holden unduly.
In the second period, now with the worsening elements in their favour, the Angels pressed on quickly creating chances for Shields and debutant Makise Evans before finally going ahead after 53 minutes when Shields’ shot took a heavy deflection to wrong foot Holden.
Evans’ pace was continually troubling the Hemel backline and when Holden was needed to venture 30 yards from his goal line he was robbed by the debutant before the ball was scrambled to safety.
Of Evans’ debut, Jay commented: “I thought he had a really good debut, he’s had one training session with us on Thursday. He’s a young lad, one thing I knew we would get was work rate and honesty from him and I thought we got that and he was unfortunate not to score, but he worked hard and will get better as he is integrated into the squad.”
The second half was completely dominated by the Angels with the visitors not managing a shot on target until the 72nd minute that was comfortably saved by Matt Rowley.
The game was finally put to bed with three minutes remaining when a cross from Pegrum evaded Evans but fell to Shields who had an easy finish from the edge of the six yard box.
Jay concluded: “Today was a big win, now we need to back it up on Tuesday night at Welling, another place where we don’t have the best record, and it we can do that, we are in a good place.”
Bert tried his hardest to dampen the Angels spirit but nobody, supporters and squad alike, were having any of it!
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