Ebbsfleet United 1 Tonbridge 0

Match 71/13/1097 - Saturday, 29th March 2014 - Conference South

Ebbsfleet United (1) 1 Thalassitis 39
Tonbridge (0) 0
Att. 1,102

Entrance: £8 Senior
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 52/6,743

Match Report

As the temperature in Northfleet climbed towards 20degC with the sun beaming down on Stonebridge Road, the weather was set fair for cricket but as a Tonbridge supporter it was only a score of cricket proportions that I feared. The gulf between the clubs in terms of resources and league position is cavernous and there could not be many among the Tonbridge following that expected anything less than defeat.

As those same people walked away from the ground they had indeed witnessed another Tonbridge defeat, and a further setback to their hopes of retaining Conference South status, but they may well have taken a great deal of optimism from a spirited performance that could quite easily have earned a valuable point.

Where the disappointment of those fans will lie is in the manner in which the only goal of the game was scored. Directly after Mark Lovell had spurned the best chance of the half, Ebbsfleet were awarded a free kick which was lifted towards the far post, at which Michael Thalassitis climbed the highest to plant a header into the net. Tonbridge’s under-fire manager, Tommy Warrilow, would be tearing his hair out at the manner his side defended what was a cheap free kick given away by Sonny Miles in the first place and Lewis Carey almost certainly should have collected Anthony Cook’s cross.

It was the second time in a matter of moments that Tonbridge supporters had their heads in their hands as Lovell had headed Lee Browning’s cross into the ground from close range with the bounce of the ball clearing the crossbar.

Encouragingly, Tonbridge did not lie down in the second half and accept their fate and pressed their near-neighbours throughout the half. Lovell, a never-say-die character anyway, shot narrowly wide and with 20 minutes remaining had a header cleared from the line by Dean Rance.

As Tonbridge had named five forward players on the bench their substitutions could only be of an attacking nature and Tom Collins, Henry Muggeridge and Ryan Watts were replaced by Louis Cumbers, new signing Evan James and Alex Teniola at various times during the half. Sadly, the more strikers Warrilow threw at the problem, the less likely his side looked to score.

Throwing a certain amount of caution to the wind, Tonbridge were inevitably caught on the break on several occasions but they were spared by the wastefulness of the Ebbsfleet strikers.

The ride home was far less despondent than the one brought about by Tuesday’s Gosport defeat. In fact, I’ve taken a great deal of heart that if this performance can be replicated over the games remaining, there is still a little bit of hope.