Tunbridge Wells 1 Corinthian 2

Match 13/16/1321 - Friday, 12th August 2016 - Southern Counties East

Tunbridge Wells (0) 1 Bryant 72
Corinthian (0) 2 Johnson-Cole 77 (pen), Housego 86
Attendance: 275

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 38/1,535

Match Report

In a parody of Abba's opening line in Dancing Queen, the cult group Half Man Half Biscuit, Tranmere Rovers supporters, sang "Friday Nights and the Gates are Low" in reference to their club's preference to play on a Friday evening thus avoiding clashing with Merseyside's big two. No longer in the Football League, the Prenton Park club no longer play their home fixtures on Friday, the same can be said for Southend United. Although the counter to this argument is that only a few Premier League fixtures kick off at 15:00 on a Saturday anyway. Sky also think there is mileage in Friday night football with a raft of televised fixtures announced, but, let's face it, they don't give a hoot about supporters that actually attend games.

The Southern Counties East have made it their wish that clubs trial Friday night fixtures in an attempt to boost attendances and Tunbridge Wells' opening league fixture was chosen as the guinea pig for the first weekend.

The opportunity that Friday night offers is that the people that pack the trains to London and further afield to watch Arsenal, et. al might be tempted to supplement their weekend fix with a trip to Culverden.

So, off the field, could it be considered a success? Social media suggests that several people took the opportunity for a second SCEL game the following day and, personally, Friday nights would allow me to watch Tunbridge Wells far more often. An attendance of 275 is very good by SCEL standards, but was about 40 down on Tunbridge Wells' gate for their FA Cup tie the previous Saturday when Eastbourne United brought a few fans whilst Corinthian's support amounted to a car full. This suggests that very few new faces were attracted on the night, but that is not to say it would not with more notice and better promotion in the future.

On the field, sadly, the hosts shaky start to the season continued. Corinthian consistently produce sides that are both competitive and easy on the eye and on this evidence they will continue in this vein this season.

They dominated the first half, created a plethora of chances but, almost bizarrely, could have gone into the break a goal down when Ollie Bankole's shot came back off the underside of the crossbar.

At times during the first period it was Tunbridge Wells goalkeeper, Steve Lawrence against the visitors. He made saves to deny Brima Daramy after just four minutes; tipped a header from Marcus Evans over the bar and saved with his feet from Michael Hagan.

The early period of the second half told the same story, although shots on target from Ryan Crandley and Jack Howlett at least suggested that the Wells knew the route to goal.

Tom Bryant put his good looks on the line when he took the ball full in the face to deny the visitors once more before, five minutes later putting the Wells unexpectedly ahead after 72 minutes. Connor Pring floated a free kick into the box and Bryant glanced his header home.

The lead was not to last as Bryant brought down Johnson Cole in the box with the Corinthian player safely placing the spot in the bottom corner to the delight of Corinthian's car load of supporters.

The visitors created further chances before a sweeping move ended with Oscar Housego netting from close range for a well deserved winner.

So is Friday night something for the future? Whilst they have initiated the trialling, the SCEL have not scheduled any further Premier League fixtures with League One matches taking up the Friday slot. Of course, they can, and probably will, switch fixtures at very short notice. I hope they give it a fair crack, but I have doubts that its ambitions for Friday nights are going to be met.