Tonbridge (0) 2 Medlock 53,78
Hampton & Richmond Borough (0) 0
Att. 381
Entrance: £6 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 34/2,141
Match Report
Last season, with Tonbridge under the management of Tommy Warrilow, the relationship between the club and the unofficial forum was less than cordial. Poor results and a style of football that wasn’t pleasing on the eye brought negative viewpoints posted that, on occasions, were perhaps too personal, particularly with reference to Warrilow. For somebody who supposedly didn’t read the forum he took a great deal of offence and there were statements from within the club that the criticism wasn’t helping matters.
With the subsequent relegation and change of management, a forum member thought that the sponsoring of a match by forum members would go some way to repairing the damage in relations. And this was how we came to be the Keyboard Warriors in search of prawn sandwiches! As it was, the forum virtually repaired itself as the new management brought a renewed sense of positivity and, albeit in a lower division, a better style of football has brought encouragement from members despite the inconsistent nature of results.
We always knew that our choice of man of the match would be difficult given 10 different opinions but the ultimate choice of the two goal match winner, Billy Medlock, brought some humorous banter towards the group leader as no-one was actually owning up to voting for him!
The game was the archetypal one of two halves each as different as the weather they were played in. In the first, in pouring rain, Tonbridge struggled to find any momentum but, as the rain ceased for the second half, they dominated the game and found a couple of goals to win the game.
Hampton started the game brightly with speedy winger, Jerome Federico to the fore. Kyle Merson made a sprawling save at the feet of an attacker and the looping ball resulting from the challenge needed clearing from the line by James Folkes. The giant Moussa Diara then found himself the man over at the far post but ballooned his shot high over the bar.
It took 30 minutes before Tonbridge started to get a foothold in the game, but in the last 15 minutes of the half created three good chances to open the scoring. Dee Okojie badly pulled a clear shooting chance wide and then took a touch too many having been set free by Chris Piper. On the stroke of half-time the Hampton keeper saved at the feet of Medlock.
The rain turned to bright sunshine in the second half with the hosts continuing the momentum gained at the end of the first period. Hampton had an effort cleared from the line before Medlock opened the scoring on 53 minutes. Folkes crossed from the right to the head of Tommy Whitnall, whose goalward header was turned in by Medlock, stealing in from behind a defender.
Medlock made the game safe 12 minutes from time with his 14th of the season. A long ball from Tom Parkinson was spilt by the Hampton keeper a long sway from his line and Medlock pounced to score from a tight angle.
The Executive Lounge was a happy place as presentations were made from the Ryman League for performance of the month, the win over that lot from the county town and Medlock's man of the match. It was good of chairman, Steve Churcher, to spend some time and explain where the club is regarding the community club status. Now, where are those prawn sandwiches.
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