Tunbridge Wells 3 Greenwich Borough 3

Match 88/14/1197 - Monday 18th April 2015 - Southern Counties East

Tunbridge Wells (1) 3 Cass 7, 53 Seenan 82
Greenwich Borough (2) 3 Vines 9,68 Humphries 23
Att. 204

Entrance: £4.00
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 36/6,306

As an hors' doeuvres for the main course to be served on 2nd May, this was a tasty little appetizer.

Both managers were mindful of the upcoming League Cup Final and neither wanted to show their hand when it came to team selection. I cannot imagine for one instant that the likes of Paul Booth or Lee Radford will be warming the bench at Park View Road and for Greenwich Borough, Gary Alexander being employed as a centre half.

Back in November, on a really cold evening at Prince’s Park, Greenwich were disappointing given their highly publicised budget and Tunbridge Wells were well worth their point. On this occasion, especially in the first half, they gave glimpses of what can be achieved when such resources are made available. For long periods, the home side chased shadows but to their credit they hung in there and produced a second half performance in which they might even have gone on to win the game, but that said, a draw was a fair result from a highly entertaining game.

The game got off to a blistering start with a couple of goals in the opening 10 minutes and continued with much the same tempo for the entire 90 minutes. After six minutes, Brendan Cass converted a Ian Parsons cross at the far post to open the scoring for the Wells, but this was only to last a couple of minutes when a slick two pass attack opened up the home defence and allowed Paul Vines to place his shot past Steve Lawrence.

A similar quality goal from Jamie Humphries on 23 minutes put Greenwich in control as they particularly dominated the midfield areas.

The introduction of Lee Radford in the second half gave Tunbridge Wells renewed momentum and, 10 minutes into the second half, Cass was able to convert a Beecroft cross from close range with a header at the far post.

Vines added his second of the game and it appeared that Greenwich would be going into the Cup Final with a confidence building win before Chris Seenan bundled the ball home from close range after good work down the left from Radford to level the scores once more.

In the aftermath of the goal, the Greenwich goalkeeper, Craig Holloway, made a claim to the referee that brought the Wells’ manager, Martin Larkin, from the sidelines to remonstrate with supporters who similarly claimed that nothing untoward had happened. It was a spicy end to a game that was perhaps initially seen only as a curtain-raiser but ends up taking some baggage into the Final.