Tunbridge Wells 2 Beckenham 0

Match 73/14/1182 - Tuesday 17th March 2015 - SCEL Challenge Cup

Tunbridge Wells (1) 2 Radford 36, Booth 81
Beckenham (0) 0
(Tunbridge Wells win 3-2 on aggregate)
Att. 158

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 36/5,372

Match Report

The night shift can be a real pain at times; it can get in the way of the important things in life. The Southern Counties League Challenge Cup may not rank highly on most people’s list of priorities but as Tunbridge Wells bid to over-turn a 3-2 deficit from the first leg at Beckenham a week earlier, Culverden Stadium had a damned sight more appeal than Bermondsey.

A late start had been negotiated, but it was one that would not cover extra-time, an outcome that always appeared a likely prospect.

A late kick-off, for an unknown reason, added to the time pressure and several stoppages during a fragmented second half meant that I would not be able to even see regulation time to its conclusion. At 9.30 p.m., with about 10 minutes remaining, and with extra-time looming as Tunbridge Wells had brought the game level at 3-3 on aggregate, I had to reluctantly take my leave and head for the exit. Two minutes later and half-way up the drive, there was a loud cheer from the stadium behind me and I guessed, quite correctly, that Tunbridge Wells had scored what would ultimately prove to be the winning goal.

A poor performance on Saturday at Ashford United had forced Martin Larkin into changes and it came as a surprise to see Jake Beecroft, in particular, taking a place on the bench.

The Beckenham goalkeeper, Rilwan Aniba, was tested early both in terms of efforts on goal from Ian Parsons and off-the-pitch with the South Stand Choir as usual offering their own form of repartee, the custodian was equal to both.

Any team with a goalscorer with 36 goals in all competitions this season is going to prove dangerous and once Beckenham had withstood the early pressure they started to take control of the game. Jamie Humphreys, the striker in question and Damien Ramsamy were to prove a constant threat throughout a first half in which the visitors might have extended their aggregate lead.

But somewhat against the run of play, the Wells brought opened the scoring on the night and brought the aggregate score level. A pass from Joe Fuller, opened up a clear shooting opportunity for Dane Luchford, whose shot hit the inside of the post but rebounded into the path of Lee Radford who gleefully shot into the unguarded goal.

The home side should, almost immediately, have doubled their advantage when Paul Booth’s shot from close range at the far post was brilliantly saved by Aniba.

A dust-up between Tom Bryant and Beckenham’s aptly-named Frank Warren could have led to worse than yellow cards, but the referee showed good common sense.

However, the referee did rather take centre stage in the second half as the game became fragmented with numerous stoppages that were ultimately going to cost me the last ten minutes of the game.

Evidently the goal that I missed came when a shot from Fuller found Booth at the far post for a tap-in and Booth might have made the tie safe moments later.
Tunbridge Wells’ last chance of silverware now goes into a Final against either Phoenix Sports or Greenwich Borough. A Sunday date would do nicely, when work cannot possibly interfere.