Tonbridge 3 Truro City 2

Match 70/12/1023 - Saturday, 27th April 2013 - Conference South

Tonbridge (2) 3 Gayle 2, Collin 14, 48
Truro City (1) 2 Hayles 12, 70
Att. 582

Entrance: £6 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 26/5,782

The last day of the regular league season with no nail biting necessary, no incessant refreshing of the mobile phone screen, this was Relax Saturday. The last seven days had seen jobs completed; Gillingham champions and Tonbridge safe. Port Vale and Rotherham, Billericay and Hornchurch could get on with their last day fixtures without any concern from yours truly.

Martin Allen had chosen to take a squad to Burton Albion that showed eight changes from the previous Saturday, and whilst he chose not to call it a reserve team or a weakened eleven, I made the decision that a 400 mile round trip was too far to see a total of six teenagers make their Football League debuts.

Tonbridge, who won a Kent Senior Cup semi-final at Ebbsfleet on Tuesday for the right to meet Charlton Athletic in the Final, also chose to rest several key players for their final Conference South fixture against long-since relegated Truro City. A couple of young reserves, Matt Hardin and Ollie Bankole made their debuts and Bankole, in particular, gave an eye-catching performance.

To quickly run through the events of the afternoon, due to traffic problems, Truro arrived at the ground only 15 minutes prior to kick off and their legs were probably still on the coach as Tonbridge swept into a second minute lead when Aaron Gayle finished following a cross from Frannie Collin, with Bankole involved in its inception. Barry Hayles, who still showed a touch of quality at a level far below where he would have been in his prime, equalised on 12 minutes after getting goal side of Ollie Schulz.

Another sweet passing move that culminated in Collin waltzing around the goalkeeper two minutes later restored the home side's lead. Collin extended the lead early in the second half for his 20th goal of a season in which he supposedly hasn't hit the heights of his Golden Boot year of 2011-12. Truro showed plenty of spirit, on and off the pitch with their vocal following and Hayles dragged the Cornishmen back into the game with a second goal. Unfortunately, the revival stuttered to a halt when they lost Joe Broad to a red card that was seemingly missed by everybody bar the referee, who most definitely will not feature on Truro City's Christmas card list.

So with this unbelievable season heading towards two cup finals in the coming week, it is a good time to reflect on how it has taken its rather bewildering course. Nobody quite knew what to expect from Martin Allen and his remodelled Gillingham team. I was not alone in doubting that his relationship with Paul Scally wouldn't last beyond Christmas. But, holding my hands up, we couldn't have been more wrong. Gillingham started off like a runaway train; had a shaky bit in the middle and when they were found wanting from a gung-ho performance at home to Exeter, the ship was steadied and they ground out performances from that point until the championship was won. Sometimes the football wasn't easy on the eye, but they just didn't lose (until it no longer mattered).

Meanwhile at Longmead, Tonbridge failed to maintain the momentum from their successful first season in Conference South. They flirted with the relegation places for much of the season, but when the stakes were at their highest they produced home wins against Eastleigh and Staines in addition to a trio of draws and with safety confirmed their win against Truro actually elevated them to a lofty-looking 16th place. Once again, many supporters were critical of the quality of the football played, but another season in Conference South is justification enough.

And finally, Tunbridge Wells. They are more than the icing on the cake in this momentous season, on Saturday they are the cake. Can they have their cake and eat it? Probably not, but getting to Wembley is an achievement that I never dreamt possible. My only wish is that the momentum they have lost while playing catch-up with their fixture list isn't going to cost them dear on Saturday.

This Saturday was Relax Saturday . . . I've a strong feeling next Saturday at Wembley won't be.