Beckenham Town (0) 2 Alobiosu 52 Humphries 83
Tunbridge Wells (1) 1 Crandley 24
Attendance: 210
Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1
Mileage: 85/4,831
Match Report
Listening to the rain beating against the office windows throughout the night in Bermondsey left me with grave doubts that my Saturday afternoon would be spent at Longmead watching Tonbridge in action against the Metropolitan Police. But, checking Facebook, etc., as soon as I got up, it seemed that a successful forking of the pitch had taken place and the game was declared on. Leaving home just before 2 p.m., one last check continued to say game on. But, as I pulled into Longmead's car park, Radio Kent were reporting the game's postponement. Five minutes into my journey, the referee had changed his mind with one area of the pitch was deemed unplayable.
The satnav was quickly booted up and it predicted an arrival at Beckenham's Eden Park Avenue at 3:20. Seventy minutes football is better than none, so up the A21 I headed.
Last Saturday's heavy home defeat to AFC Croydon had left much soul searching on and off the field at Culverden Stadium and heralded another week of comings and goings highlighted by the departure of club stalwart Joe Fuller. Those Tunbridge Wells supporters that turn out in big numbers deserve so much more than they have been offered this season and for 45 minutes (or 25 in my case), they saw a much improved, highly committed performance.
As with my late arrival at Woodstock Sports on Tuesday, I was met with a helpful young lady on the turnstile who informed me that the game remained goalless and pitchside I met with a fellow Tonbridge supporter who had made the same journey, his motorbike having negotiated the traffic and parking quicker than myself.
Having come from a waterlogged pitch, it was amazing to see the pristine nature of the Beckenham pitch. It always has been one of the best, but given the conditions of this winter, it was truly impressive.
After five minutes of watching one-way traffic in Tunbridge Wells' favour, Bradley Large stood up a perfect cross for Ryan Crandley to head in from close range. On-loan from Gillingham, Crandley was very impressive, whilst new signings Dane Moore and Basit Ajala also caught the eye in a half in which it was hard to believe that only the maroooned Holmesdale sat below the Wells in the table.
Tunbridge Wells continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession early in the second half but were undone when Marvin Alobiosu got through down the right hand side and produced a good finish.
What happened on the hour was one of the most unseemly fracas I've witnessed on a football pitch for a long while. The initial incident, I have to plead Arsene Wenger, as my eyes followed the ball and when they returned to the scene, a Tunbridge Wells player was on the ground and a scuffle between a couple of players had begun. This quickly escalated in a mass brawl with half the players throwing punches, whilst the others were trying to bring some order. When some semblance of calm had been restored the referee stepped in and showed the red card to Alobiosu, who responded by launching himself back into the melee before being dragged away. As he walked towards the dressing room, a member of the Beckenham staff ran from the dug outs, sensing I think that it was all going to kick off again behind the goal. Who became Alobiosu's target, or who provoked him, again I'm pleading Wenger, but some Tunbridge Wells players ran from the pitch into that kerfuffle and another almighty set-to ensued. At this point, my thoughts were that this game was about to be abandoned. Out of that bundle, Tunbridge Wells' Keiron Tarbie was shown a red.
Once everybody was ready to play football again, Tunbridge Wells' found it difficult to get back into their stride and with seven minutes remaining a cross into the box was met with the faintest of touches from Jamie Humphries to give the home side the lead.
A couple of goalmouth scrambles might have produced an equaliser for the visitors but it was not too be and the travelling contingent could only take satisfaction that their side's first half performance was not that of a team struggling badly at the foot of the table.
Jason Bourne has made the decision, whether forced by his budget or otherwise, to put his faith into a much younger set-up and, from my discussions with supporters, they are willing to buy into this policy, as long as the endeavour shown in the opening 45 minutes is replicated for the rest of, what has been, a desperate season.
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