Peavehaven & Telscombe 4 Tonbridge 1

Match 12/14/1121 - Wednesday, 13th August 2014 - Ryman Premier

Peacehaven & Telscombe (2) 4 Burton 35,45, Jones 50,
Pitcher 76
Tonbridge (0) 1 Whitnell 67
Att. 226

Entrance: £5 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 95/775
New ground: 259

Match Report

After their opening day success against VCD at Longmead, Tonbridge were served a huge dose of reality at Peacehaven & Telscombe. The Ryman South champions have maintained their momentum of last season with a reasonable looking draw on opening day at Leatherhead and, whilst the visitors would point to individual mistakes contributing to this heavy defeat, they look strong enough to mount a challenge from the top half of the table in the coming months.

Against a backdrop of the rolling hills of the South Downs and black, threatening clouds, the quaintly named Piddinghoe Avenue (admittedly ignoring the bland Sports Park bit) made for a picturesque venue, but one that falls a long way short of the standards that will be required to move further up the pyramid. Its 150 seat stand and a covered area in front of the clubhouse and dressing rooms provided the only cover, mercifully the threatening clouds managed to skirt the ground and drop just a few drops of rain whilst somewhere in the distance was getting a fair drenching. A new stand is planned for next year.

Peacehaven & Telscombe suffered tragedy as a club in April 2012 when their 19-year-old central defender Connor Saunders was killed in a fracas in Rottingdean following a night out with mates. A 14-year-old was later found not guilty of manslaughter. Peacehaven have subsequently retired his Number 5 shirt and a banner in his memory hangs behind one of the goals.

They also seem to have made light work of the loss of their leading goalscorer from last season, Charlie Walker, who left to join Luton Town. A livewire striker in Jamie Brotherton was proving a real handful until injury removed him from the action at the half-time break.

Tonbridge made a reasonably confident start, with Dee Okojie posing a significant threat, but they failed to really stretch the P&T goalkeeper whilst Kyle Merson in the visitor’s goal was three times called into action making good saves before succumbing to a poor opening goal in the 35th minute. A corner to the far post was met with an unchallenged header by Tom Burton that went in off the underside of the crossbar.

Tonbridge needed to get into the break with no further damage, but in the time added at the end of the half, Burton was once again allowed time and space to bury a close range header.

The game was over as a contest five minutes into the second half when P&T worked the ball to the left hand side of the box where the man over, Josh Jones drove a low shot past Merson.

A lifeline was offered five minutes later when Billy Medlock was brought down in the box. The striker stepped up to take the spot kick but could only hit a post. At that point, it didn’t take Einstein to work out that this was not to be Tonbridge’s night.

They did, however, have the small consolation of scoring the best goal of the night when Tommy Whitnell struck a powerful shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards after good work from Okojie and Alex Teniola.

At this point we wondered, but that thought wasn’t too last long. Ben King dwelt on the ball and lost possession to Charlie Pitcher who drove a shot through Merson to complete the scoring.

So it was back to earth with a bump for the Angels, who were made to pay for individual mistakes by a committed Peavehaven side.

Mention should be made of the size of the following that Tonbridge took to the south coast. My own estimate would be that there were around a 100 supporters and the fact that Peacehaven’s average attendance was virtually doubled on the night would suggest that guess is not too far adrift.