Tonbridge (0) 4 Phipp 62 (pen), Blewden 67, 88, Whitnell 72
Brentwood Town (0) 0
Attendance: 431
Entrance: £10
Programme: £2
Mileage: 38/788
Match Report
It is far too easy to get carried away with early season form; the old cliché it’s a marathon not a sprint comes quickly to mind, but Steve McKimm’s Tonbridge side are giving plenty of reason for such optimism.
A look beyond the starting eleven highlighted the strength of the bench with Sobers, Whitnall, Phipp, Webster and the new lad, Ellis Brown, awaiting their chance to prove their own point, which Whitnall and Phipp did to good effect later in the game.
During pre-season the optimism was always tempered with the caveat that there wasn’t a 20 goal striker at the club and that one would be needed to make a challenge at the top end of the table. Luke Blewden is on a mission to prove there was no need to lure the likes of Zak Attwood or Chris Smith to the club as he was the man to supply the finishes.
Blewden’s boundless enthusiasm has translated itself into goals with a hat-trick at Bognor Regis on Saturday followed by a brace against newly-promoted Brentwood Town this evening leaving him the Division’s leading goalscorer with seven goals.
Tonbridge dominated throughout the first half although Anthony Di Bernado had to be at his best to turn a shot around the post in an early foray from the visitors. Nathan Elder spurned the host's opening chance, steering a close range header wide after 16 minutes followed by a Tom Parkinson header that struck a post on 34 minutes. Blewden was sent clear just before the break by a neat header into his path by Elder, but the Brentwood goalkeeper, Martyn Guest, advancing from his goal, smothered the shot of the striker to leave the game goal-less at the break.
The introduction of Tom Phipp, a 56th minute substitute for Lee Carey, swung the game decisively in favour of the home side. He made an immediate impact with a surging run and chip that was finger-tipped to safety by Guest. This proved to be only momentary respite for the visitors as Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick (SHP) forced a save from the goalkeeper but as the ball rebounded to him, he was bundled to the floor for a penalty that was duly converted by Phipp.
Nicky Wheeler, a constant threat to the opposition, saw his free kick hit a post but the rebound fell nicely for Blewden to fire home the second goal after 69 minutes.
Tonbridge were now rampant and a shot from Elder was parried to SHP whose shot was cleared from the line as the Brentwood defence lost their shape completely. Two minutes later, they got themselves into a complete muddle with goalkeeper and defender,under pressure from Blewden, challenging each other for the ball, but only achieving a deflection to Tommy Whitnell who was able to walk the ball into an empty net.
Tonbridge wrapped up the game with a couple of minutes remaining when another surging run by Phipp from midfield opened up a pass to Charlie Webster who crossed low for Blewden to score from close range.
McKimm will almost certainly subdue talk of promotion via automatic or play-off means but in this kind of form it is almost impossible not to get over-excited about the club’s prospects in the coming months.
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