Tonbridge 1 Weston-super-Mare 1

Match 63/12/1016 - Wednesday, 3 April - Conference South

Tonbridge (0) 1 Lovell 55
Weston-Super-Mare (0) 1 Grubb 90+2
Att. 283

Entrance: £6 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 26/5,288

Match Report

If you've watched the game for a long time, the culmination of this game was something that you would have seen many times before. A team, fighting for their lives at the bottom of a division, not getting the breaks and with Tonbridge struggling in Conference South, an injury time equaliser was a real kick in the teeth as just a couple of minutes earlier they had seen a Frannie Collin effort hit a post and roll agonisingly along the goal line before spinning out of play.

But then, the saying "what goes around, comes around" rang hollowly true as the last gasp point earned against Billericay on Easter Monday was reversed.

An early April evening fixture should be presenting a little bit of comfortable spectating but this never-ending Winter offered up another evening when light snow showers and a biting wind eventually bit hard at the extremities.

The first half was one of limited opportunities, Weston-super-Mare probably having the best of them, before Nathan Green forced Lewis Carey into his first real save of the half. Ex-Angels’ loanee Kayne McClaggon was a constant threat and put a couple of chances wide of the post.

The feature of the second half was the impression that both wingers, Green and Henry Muggeridge, were able to make whenever they were given the opportunity to run at their full backs.

Tonbridge opened the scoring ten minutes into the half. Lee Browning laid an inch perfect cross from which Mark Lovell steered the ball into the bottom corner. Green might well have doubled the advantage two minutes later when through one-on-one with the keeper, but his shot was straight at Carey who saved comfortably.

There were several chances for both sides in what became an entertaining encounter before the final dramatic moments and the one that could define Tonbridge’s season. Muggeridge skipped a couple of tackles in a run along the bye-line before pulling back a pass to Collin, whose shot first hit the post and then ran along the line before spinning out for a goal kick.

Almost immediately, Dale Grubb, who was probably the best player on the pitch, took an advantage of a slip from Gary Elphick and curled a fantastic 25-yarder into the top corner for a heartbreaking equaliser with 92 minutes on the clock.

You feel that Tonbridge can take some consolation from what was a good performance on the night and, from reports, a much improved display from their Bank Holiday Monday encounter against Billericay. But not just character is going to see the Angels get out of this relegation fight, a little bit of Lady Luck might go some way to helping.