Tonbridge Angels 5 Thamesmead Town 0

Match 09/16/1317 - Saturday, 30th July 2016 - Jon Heath Testimonial

Tonbridge Angels (1) 5 Scannell 22,85 Blewden 70 Heath 83
Kwayie 89
Thamesmead Town (0) 0
Attendance: 255

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 38/1,247

Saturday, 30 July, of course, holds special memories for all English football fans with the winning of the World Cup 50 years ago. For 255 supporters, the date will give them a reason to also say, "I was there" when Jon Heath scored.

If there was ever a man fully deserving of a testimonial it is Jon Heath. The ultimate one-club man whose career was sadly blighted and brought to an end by injury, he nonetheless, made 308 appearances for the Angels but never, in a competitive fixture scored a goal. There were, however, two other goals scored in friendlies at Tilbury and Bedlington Terriers.

The programme carried great tributes to Heath from ex-Angels who played alongside him. Frannie Collin sent the message: As a player he was deceptive since although he was not particularly large, he seemed to be able to get in the way of players - I would have hated to have to play against him. Jon Main wrote: Injuries, of course, unfortunately held him back and he certainly could have played for longer and arguably at a higher level. Ben Judge recalled him as one of the best left backs he had played alongside. There were other testimonies from John Beales, Lee Browning and his old manager, Tommy Warrilow (in charge of today's opponents, Thamesmead Town) who all made the same point. Jon Heath is a great guy.

As you would hope against opposition from Ryman North, Tonbridge were pretty much dominant from the opening whistle to the last, but for over an hour it could be said that they were making hard work of their task. After a couple of early chances, one in which saw Andre McCollin outpace the visiting defence only to pull his shot wide, the home side took the lead after 22 minutes with the sweetest of volleys by Damien Scannell from the left hand angle of the six-yard box following a deep cross from Tommy Whitnell.

Tonbridge continued to create chances for the rest of the half, with Anthony Di Bernardo only stretched the once.

It was a similar pattern in the second half, but after Scannell had laid on the second goal for Luke Blewden to slide in from close range, the floodgates rather opened.

McCollin had a goal disallowed before Heath's champagne moment arrived. From a Nicky Wheeler corner, Heath rose high above the Thamesmead defence to plant a firm header into the far corner. It was pure fiction.

A fine Tonbridge move two minutes later opened up the visitors on the right for Scannell to once more pick his spot. And there was sufficient time left on the clock for young substitute Tashie-Jay Kwayie to skip a couple of challenges in the box before placing his shot purposefully into the far corner.

It was a good exercise for Tonbridge, but more importantly, it gave the Tonbridge faithful a chance to say farewell and thank-you for one of their greatest ever servants.