Tonbridge Angels (0) 1 Wood 72
Worthing (0) 2 Willard 69 Nash 83
Attendance: 1,109
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/5,050
Any neutrals walking away from the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium would surely have considered their afternoon well spent having been given a highly entertaining game for their admission fee.
Tonbridge Angels supporters might have returned home with the very slightest sense of injustice as their team ran Worthing, a team in the thick of title contention, very close.
Jay Saunders said of the visitors: “Worthing are a very good side, you can see why they are going for the title when you look at their squad, the quality they have going forward, they cause you a lot of problems. I thought we showed them a bit too much respect in the first half, which wasn’t the instruction, but towards the end of the half we were a bit more aggressive and in the second half better, without being at our best. But, you can see why Worthing are up there.”
On a damp, grey afternoon, Jay was able to call on the returning services of Ronny Nelson and Harry Ottaway while adding new recruit Christie Ward to the starting XI. Missing out from the side that took a point from Tuesday’s visit to Hornchurch were Ryan Hanson (concussion), Nazir Bakrin (suspension) and Gianluca Botti, who dropped to the bench alongside Brody Peart, the second of the Wycombe Wanderers loanees.
The opening half-hour saw the visitors look every inch the title contenders they undoubtedly are and only fine saves from the Angels goalkeeper, Matt Rowley, denied Danny Cashman, Jack Spong and Mo Faal from giving Worthing the lead.
Tonbridge were forced into two early substitutions with captain Scott Wagstaff being replaced by Trevan Robinson following a calf injury after 25 minutes and, nine minutes later, Crossley Lema limped out of the game to be replaced by Bailey Akehurst.
The introduction of Robinson added a different dynamic to the game with his pace troubling the Worthing defence and, as the first half progressed, the Angels grew into the game and ended the first half with half chances for Robinson and a strong penalty appeal that was turned away.
The second period was hugely competitive with neither side laying claim to being on top. Rowley was needed again to make a great save, after five minutes, turning a shot from Liam Nash over the bar.
Worthing took a 69th minute lead when the introduction of Tommy Willard brought an instant dividend cutting in from the left to curl a shot into the top corner.
Parity was restored for the home side within three minutes when Jack Wood produced an effort of equal quality to the opening goal to find the far corner from around 18 yards.
With both sides sensing that a draw was of little benefit to their league position, each sought a winner in a tense finale, but it was Worthing that found the net when, on 83 minutes, a blocked shot fell kindly to Nash, whose snap shot from 12 yards produced the ultimate winner.
Tonbridge had one final chance to rescue what might have been considered a deserved point but Botti steered his shot wide.
Jay added after the game: “The disappointing thing for me was the second goal, the referee has pulled Taylor Maloney up for clipping a boy’s ankle 15 minutes earlier, and then when exactly the same thing has happened, the fourth official has agreed, but at the moment, we seem to have every official without comms that works, so they can’t tell them what they’ve seen, so it doesn’t help. But our quality on the ball wasn’t good enough, we can normally handle the ball well, whether that was the changes, but we were not good enough in possession to have sustained spells where we could cause them problems.”
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