Dorking Wanderers (1) 1 Prior 37
Tonbridge Angels (0) 0
Attendance: 330
New Ground: 330
Admission: £7 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 120/3,650
Such was the case at Meadowbank where an uncharacteristic mistake by Arthur Lee ultimately allowed Dorking Wanderers passage into the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round and in turn banking the £4,000 prize money.
Meadowbank is the new home to Dorking Wanderers. It is a fairly smart facility that is also home to the Surrey FA and within the grounds of a Family Park that houses a Playground, Soft Play and a Cafe.
The first impression you get is not a normal one, rarely are you charged £3 to park your car at a non-league ground. This came as a particular shock for the players who are similarly charged, in fact they would have paid even more given they were in the car park for a longer period.
Inside the stadium, the main stand is functional rather than attractive and the covered standing areas are oddly positioned in corners rather than central positions. As it was a day of heavy showers it was a case of pick your position and stay where you are and as with all new builds these days, the game is played out on a 3G pitch that appeared overladen with the rubber pellet base.
Tonbridge started slowly and pretty much stayed on the back foot for the opening half. Goalkeeper Jonny Henly made his first save to deny Jerry O’Sullivan after seven minutes and made further saves at the feet of the prolific Jason Prior after 23 minutes and from the head of Lewis Taylor following a 25th minute corner. In between, Tom Beere brought a save out of Slavomir Huk and Joe Turner flashed a cross across the face of goal with no one to apply a finish.
After 37 minutes a throw-in from James Folkes back into his own six-yard box inexplicably escaped from under the feet of Lee, to a waiting Prior, who must have been as surprised as anyone in the ground, but had the composure to fire home past Henly.
Tonbridge were more of an attacking force from the outset of the second half forcing several corners that saw headers from Lee and Liam Smith miss the target. But it was not one-way traffic as Henly saved once more from O’Sullivan.
On the hour, Tommy Whitnall was introduced for Callum Taylor and 10 minutes later, Craig Stone made way for Alex Read as Tonbridge needed to press forward in search of a goal that would take the tie back to Longmead.
Whilst Henly had kept his side in the game, it was now the turn of Huk to preserve Dorking’s place in Monday’s draw, saving from Read and Turner before brilliantly turning over an effort from Adem Ramadan in added time.
The referee blew his whistle on a modest three minutes of time added early as if he knew of the monsoon conditions that were about to engulf the ground and with it Tonbridge’s hopes of a cup cash windfall disappeared down the drain with the torrent of water from the skies.
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