Cray Wanderers (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Fielding 64
Attendance: 1,222
Admission: £6
Mileage: 85/1,486
New Ground: 386
Four years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, Tonbridge Angels disposed comfortably of Taunton Town to make the FA Cup First Round Proper, to many, denied the right of admission, it didn’t count and then the records need to be trawled back to 1972 for the last appearance. Realistically, if you are less than 60 years of age, you’ve waited for this moment all of your life!
This certainly was not a game for the purist. It was a horribly scrappy game that on another occasion would not last five minutes in the memory, but this wasn’t just another game but one with one objective as Jay Saunders commented: “It was a proper FA Cup game, credit to Cray, they took it right to the end. I don’t think we were at our best, but at this point it is about getting through and we’ve managed to do that. I’m delighted to be through, you’ve seen the scenes at the end with the supporters and I’m delighted for everyone associated with the club.”
An afternoon, punctuated with showers, some heavy with no cover for those not seated, saw Saunders make two changes from the side beaten at Slough. Jamie Fielding returning from his enforced concussion protocol in place of the suspended Crossley Lema and Jeremy Santos in for the injured Scott Wagstaff.
Whilst the Angels commanded the better of the possession and created the two real chances of the first half, neither team could lay claim to have control of the match.
Fifteen minutes of sparring with neither goalkeeper being troubled was brought to an end with a Ryan Hanson shot that was deflected for a corner that resulted in Hanson heading wide at the far post.
On the half-hour came the best chance of the half when a cross from Liam Vincent was initially spilt by the Cray Wanderers goalkeeper, Shaun Rowley, who recovered brilliantly to save at the feet of Mo Dabre.
The hosts best chance of the half came on 35 minutes when a cross from Lateef Adaja to Nyren Clunis saw Fielding clear to safety.
The opening of the second period saw a cross-cum-shot from Ronny Nelson strike the crossbar before the game being brought to a halt for the best part of 10 minutes while an assistant referee needed to be treated and then replaced after suffering a hamstring strain. Oh, how those 10 minutes led to a stressed Angels contingent about half-an-hour later!
With 64 minutes on the clock, Tonbridge found the all-important goal. An expected long throw from Vincent was instead played short to Fielding on the left side of the box who hooked it on towards Sean Shields, followed by a header from Ronny Nelson that found Fielding back at the right side of the box to turn the ball home.
Tonbridge were now largely controlling the game and substitute Trevan Robinson brought a good save out of Rowley as he retrieved the ball from the byline to cut in and test the Cray stopper at his near post.
On 81 minutes Hanson produced a tackle that was worth as good as a goal as Adaja was about to shoot having broken into the box.
With the board showing 10 added minutes, Cray had little choice to throw all they had left at the Angels and fingernails were being bitten to the quick as in the first of these, Toby Steward brilliantly turned over the bar an effort from Anthony Cook.
The clock had ticked past the 10 minute mark as Tom Bonner’s header from a corner was cleared from in front of the line by Naz Bakrin.
There was still time for Shields to break clear only to be denied by Rowley and when one final corner ended with a Cray shot disappearing into the south London sky, the Angels fans could start the celebrations and this they did as the weary players stayed out on the pitch for half-an-hour to celebrate with them.
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