Tonbridge 3 Woking 6

Match 13/11/900 - Monday, 29 August 2011 - BSq Conference South

Tonbridge (1) 3 Collin 37 (pen),90 Andrews 75
Woking (3) 6 King 2 (pen), McNerney 17, Ademola 39, Hammond 77,
Gray 85,87
Att. 922

Entrance: £6 Senior Citizen
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 26/898

Match Report

It was always suspected that during this first-ever season of Conference football, somewhere, along the way, Tonbridge were going to pick up the odd pasting. I had deep misgivings that the August Bank Holiday visit of Woking might well prove to be one of them, sadly I was correct.

Ever since the first couple of games when Tonbridge were well beaten at home by a Sutton side that had taken an opening day thrashing from Woking this game took on the mantle of an accident waiting to happen. Saturday’s encouraging goalless draw at Dover offered some optimism that defensive fragility had been addressed, two minutes of playing time told a different story.

Once the home side had conceded an early penalty, they were on the back foot, chasing the game and mostly chasing a Woking forward line that cut through almost at will. It is disappointing that a positive that can be taken from the game, scoring three times against a side that had previously conceded just one goal in their first five matches, will be lost in the scoreline.

A bumper attendance of 922 watched the horror show unfold. Six goals would suggest that the back line were to blame, but this has to be shared with a midfield that was completely swamped as Mark Ricketts and Jack King dominated whist Paris Cowan-Hall was a box of tricks to which Tonbridge had no answer. Perhaps it is a good indication of the strength of this Woking side that Cowan-Hall was making his first start of the season, until today having been a bench-warmer. Upfront was the experienced pairing of Elvis Hammond, once a £250,000 signing for Leicester City and Moses Ademola who had Football League experience at Brentford.

Cowan-Hall sent a pass through to Ademola, Lee Worgan seemed slightly hesitant from his line and brought down the forward to concede a second minute penalty from which King converted and the tough afternoon was on its way. The visitors hit a post before doubling their advantage on 16 minutes, Worgan parried a shot from Hammond but only into the path of Joe McNerney who wasn’t going to miss from close range.

It was one-way traffic but the home side were offered a route back into the game five minutes before the break when Sonny Miles was pushed in the box and Frannie Collin cooly despatched the resultant penalty. It was imperative that Tonbridge reached the break trailing by just the single goal but that wish lasted a mere minute. The pest that was Cowan-Hall wriggled his way into the box, Worgan parried again but only into the path of Ademola who thumped it home. I make that of the last six goals that Tonbridge had conceded as at half time in this match, Worgan had parried four of them only to see the rebound fall to the eventual goalscorer, unlucky or poor defending?

Any lingering hopes were quickly extinguished in the second half. Chris Henry was unfortunate to pick up a booking for simulation when he clearly appeared to be tripped before Hammond blasted home on 55 minutes to wrap up the match. Credit does go to Tonbridge that they continued to pose problems for the Cards’ defence and with 15 minutes remaining pulled another goal back when Ben Andrews squeezed his header in from a corner. Once again a whimsical ounce of hope was quickly brushed to one side. Wayne Gray, a substitute boasting over 300 Football League appearances, came off the bench to score twice from close range after Cowan-Hall and Dale Binns had shredded Tonbridge’s right hand side.

I have to admit a pressing need to be somewhere else led to a resignation of this match and, by all accounts, Collin’s goal to make it
6-3 was the goal of the game, but I wasn’t there to see it.

There are probably going to be a few more thrashings but Tommy Warrilow and his troops have to set these aside if and when they happen and keep the confidence as high as possible, because as Tonbridge have already proved, there are going to be very few teams quite as potent as Woking and there are plenty more points on offer to secure safety.