Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Vincent 38 (pen) Botti 59
Welling United (0) 0
Attendance: 727
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/5,422
A goal in each half was enough to comfortably ease the Angels past relegation-threatened Welling United and record back-to-back victories following Saturday’s win at Enfield Town.
On a cold evening at the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium, Jay Saunders effectively started with the side that finished the game at Enfield with Mikey Berry and Christie Ward starting ahead of Taylor Maloney and Crossley Lema, who both dropped to the bench.
Welling, who moved out of the bottom four with a draw at Chippenham Town on Saturday, were fast out of the traps and went close twice in the opening 10 minutes through Scott Kashket, the second of which saw his effort brilliantly turned onto the crossbar and over by Matt Rowley.
Tonbridge, relieved not to have fallen behind, settled into the game and Gianluca Botti rippled the side netting with a shot after 18 minutes after being found in a good position by Ethan Sutcliffe.
Now firmly in control of the game, Botti had a couple of half chances before in the 38th minute a great forward pass into the right channel from Jamie Fielding allowed Sutcliffe to take an excellent touch which took him into the box and commit the Welling defender, Riccardo Di Trolio, into a challenge that brought him down with referee Ben Robinson immediately pointing to spot from where, on his 50th appearance, Liam Vincent converted.
Successive corners prior to the break found the head of Fielding, but these went wide as the Angels entered the break well deserving of their single goal advantage.
The second half was largely one-way traffic as Tonbridge, with the energetic Berry finding pockets of space anywhere him roamed in the midfield with Ward tidying up any loose ends.
Sean Shields had a couple of efforts early in the half, the second of which brought a fine save from the Welling goalkeeper, Rhys Lovett and with the momentum firmly with the home side it seemed only a matter of time before the lead was increased.
This came, just shy of the hour, when Shields’ pinpoint cross found Botti to bury a header into the corner giving Lovett no chance.
Pantomime villain of the evening, Garrett Kelly, returning to Longmead, received an inevitable yellow card and when he was robbed late in the game it offered the chance for Maloney to shoot narrowly wide.
Lloyd Blackman, taking the post-match interview, said: “It was a thoroughly professional performance.”
Of the shape taken following Saturday’s win: “We felt we could hurt them in the wide areas with ‘Woody’ and ‘Shieldsy’ and, generally, that was our main route to goal. It was a slight change, but the boys adapted very well considering it was a quick turnover from Saturday to Tuesday. We gave them the game plan and they executed it really well.”
Picture: David Couldridge
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