Tonbridge 1 Maidstone United 0

Match 17/14/1126 - Monday, 25th August 2014 - Ryman Premier

Tonbridge (0) 1 Teniola 90
Maidstone United (0) 0
Att. 1,168

Entrance: £6 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 34/1,077

Match Report

As the final whistle sounded, soaked through to the skin by the incessant rain, if somebody had told me that I would have to stand there for another 90 minutes to ensure the result that I had witnessed I would have happily done so.

Whether your derby is in North London, Manchester, Liverpool or the A26, the passion remains the same with the local bragging rights on offer. The Merseyside fixture may have the reputation as a friendly derby, but in general, the respective club’s supporters don’t much like each other and a special hostility is reserved for players that move from one local rival to another.

For the first time, in a league fixture, the trio of players that left Tonbridge Angels for the greener plastic at the other end of the A26, lined up in the amber and black of Maidstone United against their old employers. Much has changed at Longmead since Frannie Collin and Lee Worgan left the club two years ago with Sonny Miles following this summer.

Players, who make these moves, either way, are always going to be the subject of a certain amount of light-hearted banter (!) and they should be professional enough to ignore any abuse directed at them. Tonbridge supporters knew they could get at Miles and extract a reaction and Sonny was quick to oblige. Referring back to the not-so secret amount of money that was on offer to sign for Maidstone, he made gestures symbolising his new-found wealth and when he slipped on the obviously wet surface, he proclaimed that Longmead was a sh*thole.

Following Saturday’s defeat at Finchley, I feared for Tonbridge with Maidstone extending their opening run of victories to five with a home win against Bury Town. A first look at the team sheet did nothing to diminish my fears. A back four cobbled together with a full back playing in the centre and a left back playing right back and, as Saturday, a bench that could only muster four substitutes.

An hour before kick-off, space in the car park was already like finding a needle in a haystack and, once inside Longmead, behind both goals there was a large concentration of supporters from the county town.

An early opportunity fell the way of the hosts and nearly left their ex-goalkeeper red-faced. Worgan had his clearance charged down by Billy Medlock but the resulting angle was too acute and the striker’s effort only found the side-netting.

Action both ends of the pitch led to Maidstone’s first, and probably best, opportunity to open the scoring. Tonbridge claimed a penalty after Alex Flisher’s challenge on James Folkes but, with that turned away, James Roger’s clearance found Collin in the clear capitalising on a slip by Jack Parter, but the ex-Tonbridge goal machine dragged his shot wide, much to the relief, and derision, of the home support.

Maidstone exerted a short period of pressure with a succession of corners but the half wound its way to its conclusion with shots from both sides that were not too far wide but also not stretching either goalkeeper.

The second half was one of attrition with the battle being fought in the middle of the field where the two Parkinson brothers, Tom and Jack, faced each other for the first time. Tonbridge had an early chance with Tommy Whitnell shooting wide whilst the ever-dangerous Flisher flashed in a cross that begged a connection that wasn’t forthcoming for the visitors.

At the point in the game where substitutions are made, the relative strengths of the respective benches were apparent as Maidstone brought on experience with Tonbridge having only teenagers at their disposal.

As the game moved towards what seemed an inevitable goalless draw, my own thoughts were that, at any time from leaving home to this rain sodden 90th minute, I would have taken a point with great pleasure. As Tom Parkinson received the ball on the right hand side, my only desire was that he retained it and wound down the clock, but his pass inside to Flavio Tavares saw the youngster run at a defender on the edge of the box whose tackle took the ball away from Tavares but found its way to the right foot of Alex Teniola. A shot on the turn went in off the post with the aid of a slight deflection, and mighty irony, off Sonny Miles to the delight of the Tonbridge faithful who had found their voice once they had an end of their own.

At the season’s end, Maidstone’s resources will, almost certainly, result in a higher finishing position than their neighbours, although they looked a long way short of a promotion-winning side on this performance. But derby day wins are not always decided by the size of the boardroom wallet, they require passion, a desire to play for the shirt and, on this occasion, those attributes found Tonbridge Angels the richer of the local rivals.