Tonbridge (2) 2 Elphick 30, Suarez 42
Hayes and Yeading (0) 1
Att. 297
Entrance: £6.00 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 26/2,170
Match Report
Hayes and Yeading were fast out of the traps and looked a completely different side to the one that laboured through 90 minutes on Sunday; perhaps their pre-match meal had been a full-blown Sunday roast!
The visitors created a couple of half chances that were comfortably dealt with by Clark Masters before their good start was thrown into turmoil by a moment of insanity from Kelvin Bossman. Twenty minutes had elapsed when, on the far side of the ground, out of nothing, the referee brandished the red card to the H&Y striker. It later transpired that he had taken it upon himself to call the referee a bit of a tool, or words to that effect. Bossman had let his team down badly and they were made to pay.
Ten minutes later, a ball into the penalty area was challenged by the lanky Mikel Suarez, the ball fell to Tonbridge's Gary Elphick who blasted it into the net from the edge of the box. H&Y's keeper, Mikhael Jamiez-Ruiz, stayed on the ground implying that the Suarez challenge had been unfair, but the referee was having none of it.
A couple of minutes before the break, Nathan Green swung in a peach of a cross for Suarez to bury the easiest of headers to double the Angel's advantage. Green had been guilty of failing to clear the first man on numerous occasions, but this one time his delivery was inch perfect.
Two goals and a man to the good, a third would have killed the game, but whether Tonbridge got nervous, after all they haven't won an FA Cup tie for four years, they found themselves in a "stick or twist" situation and not knowing which hand to play. Louis Soares curled a free kick against the upright as the ball was consistently being given away and when H&Y introduced fresh legs, Tonbridge found themselves under pressure.
Amongst the panic that was setting in, a couple of chances came and went which would have made the last 15 minutes a lot more bearable. Phillip Appiah and Luke Blewden both failing to convert close range headers. With 12 minutes remaining, a through ball sent H&Y's Frankie Merriman clear and he coolly shot past Masters to set up the nervous finish.
Tonbridge rode their luck, although Green had another golden chance to end the agony, but survived six minutes of added time and a couple of close shaves on their goal, to seal their place in the next round.
General opinion seems to be that Lady Luck has smiled on them once more with their away draw at St Albans in the Third Qualifying Round. The Hertfordshire club sit mid-table in the Southern League Premier Division, a step lower, but I'm not so sure. It has the look of a banana skin to me and Tonbridge are going to have to impose themselves in the manner they did in the original game of this tie to force their way into the fourth qualifying round for the first time since 2007.
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