Tonbridge Angels 2 Bognor Regis Town 1

Match 49/19/1771 - Saturday, 23rd November 2019 - FA Trophy 3QR

Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Turner 44 Derry 62
Bognor Regis Town (0) 1 Crane 83 (pen)
Attendance: 456

Admission: Pass
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 38/3,755

One round hardly constitutes a Cup run, but given Tonbridge Angels recent history in FA competitions, it’s about as good as it gets!

Bognor Regis Town came to Longmead on a fine run of Isthmian League form leaving one sensing that this was not even the proverbial banana skin, more so an almost predictable upset.

Steve McKimm was forced to make changes from last week’s win against St Albans with Jason Williams cup-tied and Ben Greenhalgh refused permission to play by Dartford.

Bognor started with the confidence of a side borne of their good run with Tommy Leigh shooting wide in the opening minutes and Bradley Letheridge posting a threat. This continued for the first 20 minutes before the Angels had their first chance with Joe Turner firing marginally wide.

But that Turner effort was no deterrent to Bognor’s forward momentum and, after 29 minutes, Jonny Henly saved well from Josh Flint with Mason Walsh firing over the loose ball.

A quickly worked free kick that saw Tonbridge sleeping allowed Harvey Whyte to set up Dan Smith but his shot was wide.

So it was against the run of play when the home side went ahead a minute before the break when a Jared Small cross from the right was met at the far post by Turner who finished well.

Henly was brought into action once more after three minutes of the second period saving a James Crane header before Tonbridge enjoyed their best period in the game. Rhian Bray put a header from a corner wide and Khale Da Costa had an effort deflected over. On the hour, Jack Parter saw his effort brilliantly touched over the bar by the visiting goalkeeper, Amadou Tangara.

Tonbridge doubled their advantage when a superbly worked move ended with highly impressive Christ Tiehi brushing off a challenge to put in a killing cross for Tom Derry to slide in a the far post and convert.

Tonbridge were now dominating, but as is their want, they gave their supporters a nervous last ten minutes when Bray gave away a penalty for holding with Crane converting from the spot.

Thankfully, a perhaps encouragingly, the home side managed the game out despite breath being held as a final minute free kick from Flint was safely directed into the hands of Henly.

All cup runs start somewhere, we can but hope!

Worthing 1 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 48/19/1770 - Wednesday, 20th November 2019 - National Academies Alliance

Worthing (0) 1 Merrydrew 59
Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Lewis 28,88 (pen)
Headcount: 25

Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 130/3,717

Tonbridge Angels’ Academy maintained their three point lead at the top of the National League Under-19 Alliance when a penalty, two minutes from time, sealed victory at Worthing.

At a bitterly cold Woodside Road, two unbeaten sides went head-to-head and produced a game that successful distracted attention away from Jack Frost nibbling at the toes.

The Angels began the first half on the front foot and their ascendancy was to last throughout the opening 45 minutes. Two early free kicks from Ben Twist saw one blocked and the second headed over by Harry Hudson. Ned Lewis brought saves from the home goalkeeper and it was fully 20 minutes before Worthing mounted an attack of any substance bringing comfortable saves from Charlie Martin.

Two efforts in two minutes from Lewis narrowly went the wrong side of the right hand post before, after 28 minutes, Lewis linked with Saul Musengeyi before giving himself a touch to line-up a shot into the top corner from 20 yards.

Tonbridge’s domination of the first half should have brought greater rewards but chances came and went, including a thrilling run from Sam Babayale that parted the Worthing back line but the full back dragged his shot wide.

The time in the dressing room brought a shift in momentum with the home side working hard to get themselves back into the game. A header in the first minute was comfortable for Martin but, after 58 minutes, he could only watch on as a great chance went begging with a shot screwed wide.

But the reprieve was only to last a minute when an uncharacteristic error from captain Hudson saw him robbed as he tried to shepherd the ball over the bye-line by Jack Merrydrew whose shot found the bottom corner.

The goal was the wake-up call with the Angels regaining the upper hand. From a Babayale corner, Harrison Mayhew headed at the goalkeeper, who similarly saved from Lewis a minute later.

Manager Tom Parkinson made three substitutions bringing Aiden Murphy and Louis Copeland into the attack and Regan Bowden slotting in at full back allowing Leo Deere to move forward.

After 76 minutes, Twist won a ball in midfield, drove into the box but unfortunately his finish was straight at the goalkeeper.

A series of corners brought some desperate defending from Worthing which included a shot from Copeland that just cleared the bar.

With two minutes remaining, another corner saw Babayale wrestled to the ground by a Worthing defender, as they both rose the Worthing player put his hand to the face of of the Tonbridge player who went back down. The referee was well placed to view the incident and immediately pointed to the spot, brandishing a yellow card to the home offender.

Lewis successfully converted the penalty, leaving the visitors to see out the remaining minutes without alarm.

Parkinson commented after the game that: “it was a good result against a very good footballing Worthing team but it should have been a lot more comfortable with a lot of chances missed, especially in the first half. But a much better performance than last week and six wins from six.”

Gillingham 1 Sunderland 0

Match 47/19/1769 - Tuesday, 19th November 2019 - FA Cup 1RR

Gillingham (0) 1 Hanlon 105
Sunderland (0) 0
After Extra Time
Attendance: 3,581

Admission: £11 Senior
Programme: £2
Mileage: 46/3,587

Tonbridge Angels 2 St Albans City 1

Match 46/19/1768 - Saturday, 16th November 2019 - National South

Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Greenhalgh 29 Da Costa 77
St Albans City (0) 1 Banton 90
Attendance: 592

Admission: Pass
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 38/3,541

It will be several months, through the bleak, dark days of winter, before we know whether the turning point of this season, as with the Brightlingsea game of almost a year ago, was that last minute equaliser against Oxford City a fortnight ago. The comparisons are very stark, a late equaliser (although not quite as late as Oxford) and a new signing lifting the spirits.

At the start of this month, a make or break in lots of people’s eyes, nine points out of the 12 on offer was the dream scenario. As it stands, because of the postponement at Hungerford, four from six is the total and I think those people might accept that.

Ben Greenhalgh has arrived, on loan from Dartford, and made an instant impression with a superb free kick after 29 minutes against similarly relegation-threatened St Albans City. Also boosting the hopes of supporters was the performance in midfield of another recent signing, Christ Tiehi, who was simply magnificent.

Early nervousness gave way to optimism as Tonbridge started brightly with Greenhalgh shooting wide and St Albans goalkeeper, Dave Snedker saving from D’Sean Theobalds after parrying a Khale Da Costa cross.

The optimism rose further, after 29 minutes, when Greenhalgh curled a free kick from the edge of the box into the right hand corner of the net to give the Angels a deserved lead.

St Albans barely registered a shot on target in the first half whilst further chances fell the way of Theobalds and Jared Small.

After an early effort from Da Costa into the side netting, St Albans had their first, and only period in the game when they looked threatening. Guiseppe Iaciafano shot over and Olayemi Oyinsan headed over.

After 71 minutes, Jason Williams replaced Tom Derry and the move quickly brought a dividend when he linked well with Da Costa, setting up the winger to steer a shot into the far corner from the left side of the box.

But nothing comes easy at Longmead and after substitute Joe Turner had wasted a great chance, firing at Snedker, Zane Banton drove a shot into the roof of the net to set up an unnecessarily nervous finish. When St Albans won a free kick on the edge of the box, three minutes into added time, all sorts of nightmares were rekindled but Scott Shulton’s effort did no more than hit the wall and everyone breathed once more.

Folkestone Academy 2 Hugh Christie 12

Match 45/19/1767 - Wednesday, 13th November 2019 - Kent Academies Cup

Folkestone Academy (1) 2
Hugh Christie (4) 12 Hutson 20 Fife 25 Ruck 44 Reed 45+2,70,83,87 Barden 56,72,81 Kempton 85 Knight 90+3
Headcount: 8

Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 100/3,503

Tonbridge Angels Academy Development side, Hugh Christie, cruised into the Quarter Finals of the League Cup in a one-sided match at Folkestone Academy.

The home side compete at a lower level than the Angels and despite being given a goal start when awarded a penalty after two minutes, the gap between the sides became more cavernous as the game progressed.

Folkestone fielded a young lady as their main striker and a tap on her ankle led to the early penalty that was duly despatched.

On a sodden pitch it took the Tonbridge side a while to recover their composure and assert their obvious superiority on the home side. A Josh Reed header from a corner brought a good save from the corner and from an Angus Fife free kick, Max Webb headed over before, after 20 minutes, Luke Hutson converted with a header from a free kick.

The feeling that the floodgates were about to open grew when Fife curled a free kick into the top corner from 20 yards after 25 minutes.

But, despite many a close thing, that did not happen until the final couple of minutes of the half as Folkestone defended valiantly with the aid of the woodwork. But after 44 minutes Reed set up Brynley Ruck with time to turn and shoot. A couple of minute into added time a fourth was added when Webb’s effort came back from the bar for Reed to fire into the top corner.

With the tie virtually safe, manager Dominic Welsh shuffled his pack throwing full back Adam Barden into attack and the defender was able to tap in a rebound after the goalkeeper fumbled a Fife free kick.

The game was now almost embarrassingly one-way traffic but it was Fife, who had shown the most quality from midfield, that was left a little red-faced as he fired wide a 66th minute penalty.

A lapse in concentration saw a throw-in find its way to allow the hosts to score from close range but within four minutes, the sixth through Reed and the seventh through Barden re-established order.

It was a case of how many the visitors would score and as the Folkestone side tired and became even more ragged defensively, five goals in the last 10 minutes rounded up a dozen. Barden collected an unlikely hat-trick from his starting position at the back; Reed (who is normally a centre back) had a tap in for his hat trick; Harry Kempton brought up double figures and a Reed header for his fourth made it 11.

Arguably, the best goal of the game was the final one when Jacob Knight hooked in a volley at the near post from a Kempton cross.

Hugh Christie now go on to meet what can only be expected to be sterner opposition in Dover Christ Church Academy in the next round.

Bearsted 0 Chatham Town 1

Match 44/19/1766 - Tuesday, 12th November 2019 - FA Vase 2R

Bearsted (0) 0
Chatham Town (0) 1 Vines 82
Attendance: 141

Admission: £4
Programme: Free
Mileage: 15/3,403

Bearsted website report: This Bearsted result was probably an injustice as for much of the game they were much the better side and constantly putting their opponents onto the back foot. Certainly the highlights of the first half saw great opportunities for Nordirbek Bobomurodov, Peter Williams and Lucian Scarlat and on two occasions Chatham goalkeeper Jordan Carey came to their rescue. At the other end the possibility of being caught on the break was always a threat, but most of all when Scott Andrews diving low to his right to turn the ball around the post to deny Mikey Dalton from opening the scoring just before the half time break.
After the resumption, play for a while remained the same with the hosts on the offensive pitched against the possibility of being punished in return as the half wore on so the balance of play began to even up and seeing the home side . However having to suffer losing a player sent to the sin bin. Although they managed to survive this period of play the stalemate was eventually broken when after 82 minutes following a run and cross into the box, set Paul Vine was able to find the opportunity to score from close range and to take his team through to the next round.

Hungerford Town P Tonbridge Angels P

Saturday, 9th November 2019 - National South

Hungerford Town P
Tonbridge Angels P
Wasted Mileage: 240/3,388

Luton Town Cedars 3 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 43/19/1765 - Wednesday, 6th November 2019 - National Academies League Cup

Luton Town Cedars (2) 3 Summers 2,72 Ball 33
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Lewis 44 (pen) Mayhew 55
Headcount: 6

Admission: Free
Programme: None
Mileage: 200/3,148

The width of a crossbar denied the Angels’ Academy at least the opportunity of League Cup progression via penalties as Harrison Mayhew’s spectacular volley crashed back from the woodwork in the final minutes of the game against Luton Town Cedars.

The Angels had recovered well from a poor start, conceding after just two minutes when several chances to clear a cross from the right were passed up before the ball eventually fell to Luton’s Ben Summers who made no mistake from six yards.

Once they settled into their game, the Angels showed they would be a stern test for their Football League opponents and a slick move after 11 minutes between Ned Lewis and Jacob Lambert ended with Leo Deere shooting into the side netting.

Summers was proving a handful, as was winger Jack Percy, and when a cross from the latter was poorly dealt with in a manner similar to the opening goal, full back Daniel Ball was on hand to score from close range and double the home side's advantage.

The game entered a phase following the second goal when the home side enjoyed a period of dominance with the Angels’ goalkeeper, Charlie Martin making regulation saves from Sam Scott and Joseph Sellers-West.

But the visitors were handed a foothold in the game in the final minute of the half when a cross from Sam Babayale found Lewis, who was clumsily brought down. The striker dusted himself down to score from the spot.

The second half began with Tonbridge showing a renewed sense of determination and after Lambert had a shot blocked and Gabriel Ogunseri had fired over, they found a leveller after 55 minutes when a free kick into the box from Babayale was headed home by Mayhew.

The game which had been a good contest for an hour became a thriller as both sides strived to earn their place in the next round draw.

Percy’s cross across the face of goal begged a touch for the home side whilst free kicks from Regan Bowden and Ben Twist brought efforts from Lewis and substitute Louis Copeland that tested the home goalkeeper whose was small in stature in comparison to the physicality of the rest of his team, certainly the biggest that the Academy have met this season.

After 72 minutes, a wonderful through ball sent Summers clear to finish in the bottom corner to restore the Hatters’ advantage.

It was a long way to travel to go down without a fight and the Angels were not about to do that.

There were four minutes remaining when a free kick into the box was only half-cleared to the edge of the box from where Mayhew’s stunning volley deserved so much better than the hitting of the woodwork.

Babayale’s header only found the side netting and a final free kick from the full back drifted harmlessly over as time ran out for the Angels, who can nevertheless be proud of their performance against a Football League team with an unbeaten record this season.

Tonbridge Angels 4 Oxford City 4

Match 42/19/1764 - Saturday, 2nd November 2019 - National South

Tonbridge Angels (0) 4 Derry 48 Theobalds 55 (pen) Turner 85,90+2
Oxford City (2) 4 Benyon 31 Fleet 39 Brown 87,90
Attendance: 473

Admission: Pass
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 38/2,948

Another Saturday when football has to share centre stage with the Rugby World Cup and even if Liverpool and Manchester City were in opposition, it would have played second fiddle to a World Cup Final involving England.

So the household chores of a Saturday morning were scheduled around a kick-off time in Yokohama of 09:00 as we settled down to watch England crowned Champions of the World, or so we had been led to believe by the media. Turn up and it’s ours.

Of course, nothing is as predictable as that and South Africa were not ready to roll over and have their tummies tickled. Even to my less than knowledgeable eye it was soon apparent that the Springboks were more powerful in the apparently vital area of the scrum and as they wheeled the English around into offside positions, penalties built up an unassailable lead. When the second try went over with five or so minutes over, it was time to upsticks for Morrisons and the start of the footballing day chores.

Just as with the rugby, Tonbridge Angel’s game against similarly relegation threatened Oxford City was far from predictable and had a climax that would have had both sets of management watching from behind the sofa, if there had been a couple.

Torrential downpours during the morning had left the ground staff with an awful lot of mopping up to make sure that referee Daniel Lamport gave it the go-ahead.

Tonbridge started the game well and went on to dominate the first half, but somehow, went into the break 2-0 down.

In the first quarter-hour, with Jared Small’s pace causing the visitors concern, Tom Derry had a header deflected wide for a corner; Rhian Bray headed wide whilst the rejuvenated Joe Turner shot narrowly over and had another shot deflected wide.

It took Oxford City 20-odd minutes to mount a serious attack that came to nothing.

But, almost true to form one would say, it was indeed the visitors that took the lead on 31 minutes when a ball lost on the right of midfield was instantly pumped forward into the path of Elliot Benyon who drove a fierce shot between Jonny Henly and his near post.

Eight minutes later, the early dominance of the home side was well and truly put into the past as an Oxford corner from the left was met at the near post with a header from Reece Fleet to put City two goals to the good.

With Christ Tiehi having made way for Khale Da Costa after 35 minutes, Steve McKimm made a second change during the break with new signing Jason Williams replacing Small.

The changes had the desired effect with Derry converting a Da Costa corner three minutes in the half.

After 55 minutes the Angels were level when Da Costa was tripped in the box for D’Sean Theobalds to make no mistake with the spot kick.

The game had a good ebb and flow from that point with both sides having half-chances unconverted. But with five minutes remaining, Chinedu McKenzie linked with Turner before the winger cut in from the left to fire a pinpoint shot into the far corner. As the Tonbridge support celebrated what appeared to be the winning goal, no one was envisaging quite how the game was about to unfold.

Within two minutes, Oxford were level once more as a cross from the left from Nana Owusu found substitute Stefan Brown on the edge of the box with time and space to pick his spot into the bottom corner past Henly.

Joy of Turner’s goal turned into utter despair on 90 minutes when a three man move opened up the Tonbridge defence for Brown to finish.

But those that had braved the weather were rewarded two minutes into time added when a Da Costa corner from the left was met by the head of Turner at the near post and a point, albeit wholly deserved, had been salvaged.

No more sharing of Saturday’s which is a good thing because the heart and brain cannot continue to take the heady mixture of disappointment and celebration in equal measure.