Tonbridge (2) 2 Booth 43 pen, 44
Bury Town (0) 3 Reed, Sam 50, 80 Reed, Lee 62
Att. 429
Entrance: £10
Programme: £2
Mileage: 26/878
Match Report
Football supporters are a superstitious bunch and I’m not a lot different. Over the years I’ve taken the same route to home matches whilst on a winning trot, worn the same clothes and have forever shouted “Come On Gillingham” as the teams emerge from the tunnel at the beginning of the game.I’ve had a trusty scarf for a good few years that had definitely seen better days and following last season’s relegation decided that it should follow the club into the bottom drawer and be replaced. I decided that I wanted to look as stylish as Roberto Mancini and would purchase a blue and white bar scarf.
Pre-season I took myself off to the club shop to buy the new piece of attire only to find that as the club colours had changed to blue and black they were no longer selling the scarves. Not liking the new style, and still wanting to be as cool as Mancini, I decided that the Internet was bound to solve the problem.
Here I came across a site called Football Heaven where they not only sold the blue and white version, but also a blue and black style. As they were only a fiver each and I’ve always doubled a Gills scarf as a Tonbridge scarf, I decided to go for both.Proudly sporting the blue and black to Gillingham’s first home game brought the good fortune of a 50/50 Lottery win (a shirt that wasn’t available), a decent draw, but sadly no win. An away draw and a home defeat later and the scarf still hasn’t collected a victory.
Last night, for the first time, the blue and white version had its maiden run-out at Tonbridge. Two goals up at half-time, it was obvious that the blue and white was the way to go . . . 45 minutes later, a 3-2 defeat leaves me thinking that these bloody scarves are jinxed.
The blue and black will go to Morecambe on Saturday, a loss and I’m scuttling back to the bottom drawer to retrieve the old faithful.
Tonbridge had something other than my scarves in common with Gillingham at the beginning of this season, a high expectation that was brought down to earth with a bump following a 3-0 opening day defeat at Billericay. Last night’s visitors, Bury Town, are new to the Ryman League having crossed over from the Zamaretto after a highly successful last term.
Tonbridge dominated the opening half, but it appeared that it was going to be fruitless until Paul Booth scored twice in a minute to establish a healthy half time lead. His first came from the penalty spot after Lee Browning had been brought down, followed by a smart turn of pace and calm finish to complete his brace.
Although Tonbridge were by far the better side, there had been odd moments during the half that Bury had showed a bit of life going forward. Keiran Leabon had brought the best out of Lee Worgan with a fine save, touching away his goalbound header.
A foul on the edge of the box early in the second half was duly punished when Sam Reed curled the ball round the wall to begin the visitor’s fight back and signal the beginning of some suicidal defending from the home side.
Within a quarter of an hour, Tonbridge had survived courtesy of another fine save from Worgan, but conceded their advantage when a straightforward through ball split the defence for Lee Reed to equalise with an expert finish.
The home side were now well and truly under the cosh and several chances went begging before woeful defending allowed Sam Reed to convert a cross from an unmarked position at the far post.
Tonbridge responded, too little too late, with efforts from Collin and Booth in the final minutes before the final whistle sounded to the bemusement of the majority of the 429 attendance. How? Why? I guess were the questions being asked by many an Angels’ fan as they made their way back to their cars . . . I just looked accusingly at the aforementioned woollen article.
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