Wingate & Finchley 1 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 93/18/1686 - Wednesday, 13th February 2019 - Bostik Premier

Wingate & Finchley (1) 1 Beckles-Richards 17
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Turner (pen) 71 Small 87
Attendance: 101

Admission: £6
Programme: £2
Mileage: 128/5,466

It was the cliched game of two halves. After a surprisingly easy sail through the Dartford Tunnel, the second period of the journey became torturous as the attempt was made to circumnavigate the North Circular with the aid of Doris the Sat taking us on a magical mystery tour of north London’s back streets. To her credit we avoided standing still for any great length of time and arrived at the Maurice Rebak Stadium in good time.

Despite the warm welcome of the Wingate people and the delight of their main stand that has been restored to its former glory plus the perilous charm of their terracing in front of said stand (a Health and Safety issue waiting to happen), the nature of the journey is such that I don’t think many club’s supporters from our neck of the woods will be sad to see them drop into the division below should they be relegated at the end of the season.

The match itself was also the cliched two halves. Tonbridge were, quite frankly, quite awful in the first half and improved immeasurably in the second to just about deserve the spoils at the finish.

The visitors started well enough. Alex Read tested Shane Gore after five minutes; a move between Joe Turner and Chinedu McKenzie ended with the latter shooting wide and a McKenzie header was directed at Gore following a Read cross. But then Tonbridge lost their way, much the same as I felt I had on the journey.

After 16 minutes, a clumsy foul by Arthur Lee following his own mistake brought a free kick a yard outside of the box.

The free kick rebounded back off the wall to Reece Beckles-Richards whose effort took a deflection to wrong foot Jonny Henly enroute to the back of the net.

For the next 15 minutes Tonbridge were hanging on only by virtue of the home side’s profligacy in front of goal and were very fortunate to stay just a goal adrift after 31 minutes when a shot from Rob Laney struck the right hand post.

The half-time exchange of words had the desired effect on the visitors and from the outset of the second period the attitude was more positive, wrestling the initiative from Wingate and Finchley.

Turner brought a good save out of Gore and from the resultant corner a shot was cleared from the line.

A double substitution just past the hour brought new signing Tom Derry into the action in place of McKenzie and Jared Small for the ineffective Adem Ramadan. Derry has been brought to the club from East Thurrock until the end of the season courtesy of the generosity of a group of supporters who have financed the move.

After 71 minutes, the breakthrough was finally made when Read was brought down in the box for the award of a hotly contested penalty. Wingate central defender Sean Cronin was so incensed that he talked himself into a yellow card that quite easily, in fact should, have resulted in him walking back to the dressing room.

Turner’s penalty-taking style of giving it the full leather saw the ball rocket into the roof of the net before Gore had even given thought to what direction it might take.

Now the ascendancy was all Tonbridge’s but they had to wait until three minutes from time when a beautifully crafted move, started by D’Sean Theobalds; a surging run through the heart of the pitch by Tom Beere before laying off the ball into the path of Small who finished with a superb shot from the right into the far corner.

A similar run from Beere as the clock ticked to the final minute brought a cynical foul but the free kick was blocked as Tonbridge saw out time added without a scare.