Dorking Wanderers 2 Tonbridge Angels 3

Match 69/17/1519 - Tuesday, 5th December 2017 - Bostik Premier

Dorking Wanderers (2) 2 Taylor 5 Sole 9
Tonbridge Angels (2) 3 Elder 23 Akrofi 43,62
Attendance: 205

Entrance: £7 Senior
Programme: £2.00
Mileage: 122/4,573

Match Report

At 2-0 down after less than ten minutes it looked like the game of chicken we had played to cross a high speed, busy dual carriageway was the only one we were going to win.

But the evening was to have a happy ending, Dorking Wanderers pushed the self-destruct button giving Tonbridge the opportunity to recover from that disastrous opening.

At the beginning of the season it was unlikely that Tonbridge would ever have had the joy of an Isthmian League match at Westhumble. They are due to relocate to the town centre site of the now defunct Dorking Football Club, but the due dates of August and November have not been met and from the mouths of locals there was not much optimism that the move will made anytime soon.

Westhumble is a different place to visit in the evening than on a nice, sunny afternoon in August when we visited for a pre-season friendly in 2015. I then described the place as: Everything about Westhumble was kind of "pretty". Nestling in the foothills of the North Downs, with its cabin style clubhouse and wooden perimeter fencing at a perfect height and width for leaning on; looking out on the most beautiful, lush pitch that you could wish for in non-league, it was a scene that could have emanated from the Sound of Music!

Sadly, it doesn’t look quite the same on a midweek evening in December. The parking was a nightmare. Arriving just after 19:00, the car park was already full and pulling up onto the verge to discuss where to relocate with the steward with the arse of your car poking out as car sped by with their hooting blasting abuse was not ideal. Down to the next roundabout, back up the carriageway on the other side of the road to find a lay-by that parked the car but left us with the task of crossing the carriageway on foot in pitch black light that meant it was even difficult to see the sanctuary of the central reservation, but we live to tell the tale!

Tonbridge started the game on the front foot with Joe Turner crossing for Nathan Elder to bring a good save out of the home goalkeeper, Slavomir Huk, with the rebound being blasted over by Xavier Vidal.

It was though the home side that opened the scoring after five minutes when James McShane played in ex-Angel Lewis Taylor to drive a low shot from 20 yards past Jonny Henly.

Things went from bad to worse for Tonbridge four minutes later when Taylor turned provider finding Giuseppe Sole who drilled his shot past Henly from the edge of the box.

Tonbridge had to work hard to find a way back into the game as Dorking exercised a fine passing game whilst dominating the middle of the pitch.

But they gained a lifeline in the 23rd minute when a poor clearance fell out the feet of Elder whose, not so clean, contact was enough to find its way into the bottom corner.

Now the momentum had changed with the Dorking back line struggling to contain Elder’s physical presence and Alex Akrofi’s pace and movement.

The major turning point and the most controversial decision of the evening came in the 27th minute when Elder got marginally clear of Isaac Philpott who brought him down. The referee made the decision that he had been the last man and sent him off. It seemed harsh to me, but others thought it was the correct decision.

The Dorking manager made a strange decision making a double substitution following the sending-off that did nothing to shore up his defence.

With the man advantage, Tonbridge turned the screw and Dorking owed a great deal to their goalkeeper for keeping them in front until a minute before the break. He made good saves to deny a Turner free kick; saved low to left from Jack Parter and similarly a Turner shot from 20 yards.

Huk was finally beaten when a pin-point cross from Taylor found the head of Akrofi, whose downward header bounced into the roof of the net.

Into the second period saw Bradley Stevenson replace Vidal just before the hour to stretch the game the full width of the pitch. Stevenson almost immediately had a shooting chance but blasted well over.

Three minutes later the Angels were in front following a cross from Turner that Huk failed to gather but saved well on two occasions from Stevenson before the third rebound fell to the assured feet of Akrofi to score.

At this point it was expected that Tonbridge would make hay and chances came and went but as the game entered its final minutes Dorking threw caution to wind to find an equaliser. Long throws into the box started causing problems and with three minutes remaining Henly made a save that was as match-winning as Akrofi’s goal with a close range stop from Tom Tolfrey.

On the sidelines we lived on our nerves and Elder failed to calm these when a free kick from Ryan Worrall saw his header directed at Huk.