Tonbridge 2 Wealdstone 3

Match 36/09/788 - Saturday, 12th December 2009 - Ryman Premier

Tonbridge (0) 2 Rook 47, Minshull 85
Wealdstone (2) 3 Ngoyi 30,62 Chappell 32
Att. 439

Entrance: £10
Programme: £2
Mileage: 26/4,398

After recent traffic disasters en-route to Gillingham away games I wasn’t overly disappointed to have to miss their game at Huddersfield due to a Christmas party commitment. It also gave the opportunity of seeing Tonbridge for two successive games, a chance to see exactly why their season is that of a stuttering nature.

A lot has been made of the manager’s budget, so much so that he has put a ban on it being used as an excuse for the inconsistency that has blighted the season. On the face of it, the eleven players starting, with the absence of Paul Booth, are a decent unit capable of better results. Scott Gooding returned after injury, a big plus considering Tonbridge have one of the worst defensive records in the Ryman Premier. Over the season so far, they have had several central defensive pairings, and the full backs have also been subject to change on a regular basis with Lewis Hamilton added to the injury list last Saturday. So excuse number one is made.

In a poor first half from the home side the defensive frailties’ were fully exposed against a good Wealdstone side, falsely positioned in the middle of the table with as many as five games in hand.

After about half an hour of mainly Wealdstone attacking the visitors opened the scoring. The Angels defence failed to deal with a right wing cross and Greg Ngoyi touched the ball home. Two minutes later the hill became a bit of a mountain as a Ngoyi through ball is deflected into the path of Lee Chappell, a youthful looking skipper, who smashed the ball past Lee Worgan in front of the jubilant Wealdstone support.

News had arrived via the text machine that Gillingham had taken an early lead, prompting thoughts that the good gods of Christmas were going to deem that I would also miss their first away win of the season, but by half time normal service had been resumed and Gillingham were trailing.

Tonbridge began the second half in the wake of what you would suspect would have been a half time rocket from Tommy Warrilow for a pretty inept first period display and instant dividends were paid. A slick move ends with a precise header from Carl Rook, converting a Kirk Watts cross. It was an ideal fillip as the weather threatened to turn nasty.

Tonbridge were buoyed by their goal and turned the heat on their visitors but against the run of play after 17 minutes of the second half Wealdstone regained their two goal advantage. A corner was met by Ngoyi, not exactly a towering striker, who steered a header past Worgan to the disappointment of the home support now getting pretty wet.

When Lee Minshull’s header came back off a post, one suspected that this was not to be Tonbridge’s day. It was Minshull himself who swept home five minutes from time to set up a finish but it was not to be.

Wealdstone deserved their win for their first half performance in which they were completely dominant and the home side must look at some poor defending which contributed to the defeat. Meanwhile, at Huddersfield, there was also no miracle.