Friday, 25 July 2025

Aylesford 3 Tonbridge Angels U18 3

Match 6/25/2349 - Wednesday, 23th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Aylesford (1) 3
Tonbridge Angels U18 (1) 3 Trialist 20 Honivar 50 Barton 70
Headcount: 40
Admission: Free
Mileage: 25/363
New Ground: 391

Sunday, 20 July 2025

Leatherhead 2 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 5/25/2348 - Saturday, 19th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Leatherhead (1) 2 Akinnibi 11 Hedley 79
Tonbridge Angels (2) 2 Peart 2 Simon 5
Attendance: 254
Admission: £3
Mileage: 104/328

The Angels surrendered their 100% pre-season record at Leatherhead despite going two goals ahead within the first five minutes.

Brody Peart and Eddie Simon got the visitors off to a flying start before the home side got a 80th minute goal to earn a deserved draw as Tonbridge became disjointed following wholesale second half substitutes.

Craig Nelson on the second half performance: “The boys were not up to speed with the game to execute anything of note, saying that we had one blocked on the line and another from which we should have scored, so we could have been 4-1 up before they scored. But, it is damning from the way we conceded, we don’t get first, second or third contact from the throw. Preventable, but happy with the first half but the boys will tell you they needed to be better in the second.”

It seems crazy that in July, after the intense heat that the south-east has had, that a pitch inspection might be needed but after a night of thunderstorms and heavy rain, one was made before the game was given the go-ahead.

Craig picked a strong first half team with just a couple of trialists and, on what appeared a lush, green grass pitch, they opened up the Leatherhead defence with only two minutes on the clock when a through ball from Marcus Sablier sent Peart clear to slot past the advancing goalkeeper, Sonny Wheeler.

When Peart turned provider, supplying a right wing cross for Simon to turn home, the Angels looked to be already in cruise control, but, following a defensive mistake that allowed Kareem Akinnibi a run on goal and finish into the bottom corner, the game was once more a contest.

Tonbridge continued to play positive, attractive football and chances came for Bradley Williams, who shot narrowly over and, after 18 minutes, Peart brought a very good save out of Wheeler from a 20-yard free kick.

At the end of a half that had been completely dominated by the Angels, having seen further opportunities for Brandon Pierrick, Jordan Higgs, Peart and Williams, they would have been disappointed to go into the break just a goal to the good.

Although the fluidity of the first half performance had been lost due to the multitude of substitutions, it was still the visitors that were dominating the game and, on 70 minutes, it was a case of “how did that not go in” as the Tanners’ defenders threw bodies in front of the ball to eventually clear from the line.

Ten minutes from time, as Leatherhead has seized the momentum, a long throw into the box was poorly dealt with and the ball eventually fell to George Hedley who drove the ball home following a good, parrying save from substitute goalkeeper, Alexander Dubov.

A late, instinctive header following a free kick from Mackenzie Richardson saw the goalkeeper turn the ball over the bar, but the Angels had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Thursday, 17 July 2025

Tonbridge Angels 1 Bracknell Town 0

Match 4/25/2347 - Tuesday, 15th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Tonbridge Angels (1) 0 Babajide 40
Bracknell Town (0) 0
Attendance: 159
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/224

Craig Nelson’s troops emerged from their toughest workout so far this preseason with a single goal win over Bracknell Town, courtesy of a 40th minute goal from Bumni Babajide.

Craig commented in his post-match interview: “I knew from meeting them last season that they would be tough opposition and, credit to them, they were competitive from minute one to the end and it was just what we needed. I would have liked to have played them closer to the season because they were a good side, gave us a good test but we stood the test really well for large parts of the game. They pressed us aggressively in the second half, which was good. When we made the mass changes they game swung in their favour, but all-in-all a good workout for the boys.”

On a cooler evening than of late, Craig maintained his first half side into the second period, giving several players their first full hour of preseason.

The opening opportunity of the match was created by the Angels when Bradley Williams cross from the right was met with a driven shot from the edge of the box from Jordan Higgs that struck the right hand post.

The game was highly competitive with a few robust challenges that brought a wag of the finger from the referee, before Bracknell came into the game with a last ditch challenge from Naz Bakrin denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Tonbridge opened the scoring on 40 minutes when new signing Brandon Pierrick pulled the ball back from the left for Babajide to coolly finish from around 12 yards.

Bracknell pressed hard for an equaliser from the outset of the second half with Jordan Esprit firing a shot that cleared the bar when well placed and, just over the hour mark, a trialist struck the Angels bar.

The visitors continued to make chances, but were wasteful with their finishing whilst an Angels trialist crossed for Mackenzie Richardson to head goal wards only to see the ball cleared from the line.

A long delay in the game whilst a Bracknell player received attention saw the game into seven minutes of time added and, in that time, the visitors had further chances to salvage something from the game but they went begging.

Craig said of his recruitment that they “were almost there” with perhaps only a defender to add to the squad alongside any of the trialists that could be signed in the coming days.

Tonbridge Angels 1 Beckenham Town 0

Match 3/25/2346 - Saturday, 12th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Sablier 71
Beckenham Town (0) 0
Attendance: 258
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/186

Heat proved the ultimate winner as both sides laboured in the conditions in which the Angels recorded their third successive pre-season win with a 71st minute strike from Marcus Sablier.

Beckenham Town provided a resilient opposition and, on another day, might have had a goal to reward them for their effort.

Craig Nelson acknowledged in his post-match interview that the heat had played its part in the afternoon’s proceedings: “The conditions were tough, easy to say from the sidelines, my feet were burning, I had to kick my boots off, so I can only imagine what it was like to play in! But this is what pre-season is for, about putting them at a point where they feel uncomfortable and seeing how they cope.”

As with the previous pre-season games, Craig fielded virtually a different side each half, with Arthur Penney playing a full 90 minutes.

After a quiet opening, it was the visitors that sprang to life with Kenny O’Banaya having three opportunities, a strike from distance that cleared the bar on 17 minutes; he brought a save from Alexander Dubov on 22 minutes and had another effort over the bar on 31 minutes.

Meanwhile, the only Angels effort of note came from Trialist15 who saw his shot saved by James Batt.

The Angels second half side brought a greater intensity with Brody Peart, who has signed on loan from Wycombe Wanderers, to the fore.

Peart had an effort deflected wide and, from the resultant corner, Penney’s header was cleared from the line.

Trialist6 brought a good save from Batt as the home side dominated. On 65 minutes, a Penney header across the face of goal found Eddie Simon, but his snap shot was wide.

The breakthrough came, on 71 minutes, when Trialist15’s run and cross from the left was only partially cleared into the path of Sablier, who drove his shot into the roof of the net.

Beckenham rallied in the closing stages with a header that brushed a post and a late effort that was saved by Jacob Adams.

Craig summed up the performance: “A little bit displeased, if I’m honest. From a result perspective, job done but I think the boys will know that they need to move the ball better, be a bit more clinical and have that cutting edge to goal. But all-in-all, job done, minutes in the legs and we move on and move forward.”

Picture: Wes Filtness

Thursday, 10 July 2025

Tonbridge Angels 4 Welling United 2

Match 2/25/2345 - Tuesday, 9th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Tonbridge Angels (3) 4 Trialist15 12,33,40 Sablier 73
Welling United (1) 2 Vaughan 29 Sinai 62
Attendance: 340
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/148

Tonbridge Angels eased to their second pre-season win with a 4-2 scoreline in an entertaining encounter with Welling Unitedat the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium.

Craig Nelson utilised the same set of trialists that featured at Margate on Saturday with one of them making a significant impact with a first half hat-trick.

Assistant Manager Joe Vines, taking the post-match interview said of the trialist: “There is a conversation to be had. He is a trialist, but he is someone that is known to us. I’ve known him a long time, he did terrific but alongside others as well. When you think about the nature of the goals, winning the ball high and quick, incisive passes. We will see, these conversations are always ongoing, it makes it a little easier in some ways and also a little more difficult in others!”

Ten years ago to the day, an Angels trialist, Junior Dian, collapsed on the pitch at Whyteleafe and lost his life despite the heroic efforts of Tonbridge Angels physio, Melvin Slight and Junior was remembered with a minute’s silence prior to the start of the game.

Welling, under the new management of Lee Martin, are a squad of many new faces and trialists and, in the early stages looked like a team getting to know each other as the Angels’ passing and movement cut through them almost at will before finally going ahead courtesy of a poor pass across the face of the box that was intercepted and put away by the trialist wearing number 15.

From that reversal, Welling grew into the game and, on 21 minutes, spectators were left open mounted as Jacob Adams, in the Tonbridge goal, brought a series of four, even five, close range saves in a matter of seconds before the ball was hacked to safety.

On 29 minutes, the bad back pass was reciprocated and Welling were level through Ruben Shakpoke, who tucked the ball away nicely into the bottom corner.

Parity was only to last four minutes as trialists 14 and 15 combined to allow the latter the roll the ball past the advancing goalkeeper.

The visitors were continuing to threaten and Adams did well to turn over a rasping shot from Henry Sinai, who then could have done better with a header from the resultant corner.

Five minutes before the break the same trialist combination brought about the hat trick goal for trialist 15.

An entirely new Tonbridge side took the field for the second half but none of the fluency was lost with a shot from Alfie Allen just clearing the bar and following some good wing back play from Bailey Akehurst, Bunmi Babajide turned the cross wide from close range. On 62 minutes, Welling reduced the deficit to a single goal with a good finish from Sinai, but the Angels regained control of the game with several chances ending in near misses before the ball broke on the edge of the box for Marcus Sablier to drive his shot into the bottom corner.

Joe Vines summed up the performance: “I thought it was a good performance, both both sets of 11’s. Once we got used to their shape, we took control of the game both in the first half; in the second we had to get used to their rotation which we did quickly, but with the ball we were very good, without the ball we worked really hard. There is still a lot to work on, but overall, well deserving of our win with a lot of good performances both individually and as a collective.”

Sunday, 6 July 2025

Margate 2 Tonbridge Angels 3

Match 1/25/2344 - Saturday, 5th July 2025 - Pre-Season Friendly

Margate (1) 2 Derry 27 Atkins 75
Tonbridge Angels (0) 3 Trialist12 51 Trialist14 66 Richardson 78
Attendance: 608
Admission: £3
Mileage: 110/110

Craig Nelson’s tenure as Tonbridge Angels’ manager got off to a winning start at Margate with an exciting second half performance that brought three goals as a right-sided trialist caught the eye with a stunning strike and an assist as the visitors rallied from a 1-0 half-time deficit courtesy of a goal from ex-Angels 2019 play-off hero Tom Derry.

Nelson reflected on the performance: “We controlled the game in both halves really well. In the first half, a little bit too slow but the boys are learning something new; they don’t know each other too well either, so they are learning about each other whilst playing a game of football which is not the easiest thing to do. In the second half the guys did really well, they upped the tempo and there were some great finishes, all three goals were well worked and seeing the boys gel with some of the signed players was good.”

On a warm, but thankfully cooler than of late, afternoon, a decent attendance with a healthy following from Tonbridge watched on as Pete Doherty of the Libertines set the game in motion, in his hat and to be almost immediately substituted.

First chance of the afternoon fell to the hosts after nine minutes when a ball into the box from Harrison Hatfull found the head of Sam Blackman, whose effort rebounded from the crossbar.

Tonbridge responded well and, after 15 minutes, they too hit the crossbar with a shot from Nazir Bakrin. This was quickly followed by a good save from Tom Wray as a shot from 20 yards from Jordan Higgs was goal bound.

The Angels fell behind on 27 minutes when a quickly taken free kick sent Derry clear to slot past the advancing Jacob Adams. The Tonbridge goalkeeper was brought into action once more within a couple of minutes denying Derry a second goal.

Another Higgs effort from distance was saved and Bunmi Babajide also tested Wray as the Angels ended the half strongly.

The second half brought a complete change in the Angels line-up and brought to the fore trialist number 12 who made an instant impression that was further enhanced with a stunning strike on 51 minutes into the top corner after he had jinked his way from the right touchline into the box.

The visitors hit the front after 66 minutes when good work down the right from Matty Warren saw the ball met inside the six yard box by trialist number 14 whose crisp half-volley finish gave Wray no chance.

Tonbridge were in full flow as Warren fired over and the trialist 14 forced Wray into a good save and it came as a surprise when, after 75 minutes, a long cross from the left found its way to Louie Atkins who scored at the far post.

The home side’s joy was short-lived as, three minutes later, a drive down the right from trialist 14 followed by a low cross into the box that was finished neatly by Academy player Mackenzie Richardson.

Richardson saw a header turned over the bar and Wray saved well from trialist 17 as the Angels saw out the game well on top.

Nelson added: “We were pleased, all in all, things need to be tweaked, which is absolutely fine, that’s what pre-season is for, but it’s good to get minutes into the legs and also to win the game.”

Saturday, 24 May 2025

Parky's XI 6 Ex-Angels XI 4

Match 105/24/2343 - Saturday, 24th May 2025 - Tom Parkinson Testimonial

Parky's XI (2) 6
Ex-Angels XI (1) 4
Est. Attendance: 200
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/6,991