Lordswood 3 Tonbridge 1

Match 05/12/958 - Tuesday, 24 July 2012 - Pre-Season Friendly

Lordswood (1) 3 Dimmock 20, Cook 70,80
Tonbridge (0) 1 Awolles 46
Att. 70

Entrance: £1 Senior
Programme: None produced
Mileage: 34/140

This game wasn’t quite the fixture I envisaged as I left home for Lordswood. Tweets from some of Tonbridge’s senior players had indicated that this wasn’t going to be a first team game, but I thought the make-up of the side might be reserves and a few trialists, as it happened it was a youth side that represented the Angels. I ambushed Charlie Cole to photograph his team sheet to give me some idea of the Tonbridge squad, but to be honest I was none the wiser.

The evening did, at least, throw up a couple of amusing moments. Whilst I’ve been to Lordswood before, it was some years ago and after parking the car there is a short walk to the entrance which I unfortunately missed. Somehow I managed to enter the ground through a back gate without realising that I was avoiding the admission price. Not wanting to deprive a small club of my money, I found the turnstile and explained what I had done and was then charged the princely sum of £1!

The hot, sunny day was turning to night at the beginning of the second half when the floodlights were turned on, only for the whole of one side failing to shine. The referee explained to an official that he would allow the game to continue until it became too dark, but he managed to get the game to its finish by which time it was really quite gloomy.

The first half of the game was a reasonably even affair with Lordswood taking the lead after 20 minutes following a goalkeeping error. A shot from outside of the area was spilt by the keeper and Richard Dimmock was on hand to poach a goal from the rebound. This was the same Dimmo that I had watched at Thamesmead five years ago and at the time referred to him as portly, but whilst the years had added a few pounds (in actual fact he was only 28) there was still a bit of quality that caught the eye. Five years on and he can now only be described charitably as portly, is even less mobile, but obviously still has that keen eye for a goal.

Tonbridge equalised immediately at the beginning of the second half, substitute Dan Awolles cutting in from the left to score with a good finish. Their revival was cut short after 70 minutes when woeful marking allowed Gary Cook a free header and 10 minutes later from a corner Cook scored with a perfectly executed volley that was worth the entrance money alone, if even it was only a quid!