Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Akrofi 60
Wingate & Finchley (0) 0
Attendance: 635
Entrance: £5 Senior
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 38/2,684
Clubs up and down the land have differing ways of attracting people who are twiddling their thumbs waiting for the England game to start (and then find themselves bored witless within 15 minutes of the national anthems). Several take the line of a season ticket with a league club offers entry; Billericay, surely not requiring a cash injection, offered half price for fancy dress; Redhill were among those who offered free admission whilst many did a pay what you like initiative. My personal favourite was North West Counties club, West Didsbury & Chorlton, who offered a concession for anyone turning up with their dog, who was rewarded with a treat!
Tonbridge offered half-price admission for adults and this attracted a bumper crowd of 635. Hopefully the entertainment was sufficient to entice a few back, we can but hope, perhaps a few disenchanted Crystal Palace supporters might be tempted.
It would be interesting to hear what a few of the non-regulars made of the game with a noisy social media section voicing their disquiet at Steve McKimm’s much-maligned diamond formation. If you had not been blessed to what Nick Wheeler at Longmead in the last two season, I wondered if any would have noticed.
In all honesty, I would not think that this was a game to drag many from their comfy, expensive seats at the Emirates or Stamford Bridge on a regular basis. But in the context of our season at Tonbridge, the three points lifts the club to within three of a play-off spot and extends the clean sheet run to four in five.
In a shot-shy first period the best chance fell to Wingate & Finchley when, following a corner, a header from Shaun Cronin hit a post.
McKimm’s rotation of his strikers continued, this time starting with Nathan Elder and Alex Akrofi, who forced a good save from Wingate’s goalkeeper, Luke Sheldrick.
The stand-out performer of the first period was the visitor’s right winger, Nathan Mavila, who displayed a fierce turn of pace coupled with with odd trick of two. On a couple of occasions he put in crosses low into the box begging for somebody to put a toe on one, but that was not to happen.
The early part of the second half was a cross from Luke Blewden that evaded Elder and a cross from Joe Turner that found the striker’s head but only to direct it into the arms of Sheldrick.
On the hour, the hosts took the lead when they took advantage of schoolboy defending by Wingate. Play to the whistle, was something always told at school, and when Blewden was felled in the area, it seemed that the visiting defence had accepted the penalty appeal. Play continued, the ball at the feet of Akrofi who swept it home.
The Angels took the ascendancy and for the first time dominated the game. Elder made way for Dan Thompson, and on 78 minutes, we thought, in fact prayed, that the barren spell of a league goal had ended when he directed a header from a Jack Parter cross goalwards. The Scheimichael-esque star jump save of Sheldrick, with the ball first hitting his arm and then falling onto his knee, denied the man, whose backside must surely get in the way of a shot going wide, to open his account soon.
Wingate set up a late onslaught with Rob Laney headed over, but in virtually the last touch of the ball, Cronin met a cross, but only to put an unchallenged header wide of the post as Longmead held its breath.
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