Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Leahy 37 Baker 51
Hampton & Richmond Borough (0) 0
Attendance: 648
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,510
A bad day a work, home and straight to the fridge where’s there’s a single can of lager with your name on it. Slump into your favourite armchair, crack the ring pull, the pressure is released and, suddenly, all seems right with the world.
As supporters, the past three days have for some while been seen as a pivotal point in Tonbridge Angels season, win them both and the finishing line in terms of safety was on the horizon, lose them, well, we really would be in the cack.
Saturday’s win against Chippenham Town opened the door, perhaps a fourth point against a rapidly improving Hampton and Richmond Borough might be enough.
At the final whistle, the proverbial ring pull was a celebratory one, two wins on the spin (at home, no less) and the magic 50 points is just nine away. Or if you are supremely optimistic, Football Web Pages predicted final table says one more win will be enough, personally I’ll set my sights on the heavenly 50!
Truth was, on the night, Hampton at times looked good but gave us a huge helping hand with a comical goal and a sending-off contributing to their own downfall.
Angels manager Alan Dunne said after the game: “We deserved those two wins, we overran them today, strong team but we got it right, but we have got to be humble, there is a lot of football to play.”
Spring is officially a few days away, but the mild evening that did eventually give way to a chill saw Dunne make three changes with the surprise return of Matt Rowley, on loan for the rest of the season, between the sticks being the main talking point and Bunmi Babajide and Frankie Baker returning to the starting XI.
Hampton started the game with a confidence borne of their splendid 4-0 away win at Bath City on Saturday knocking the ball around in a manner that belied their lowly league position. For 15-20 minutes, barring the normal raucous support from behind the goal, Angels supporters watched on pensively thinking that a long night might well be in store and a goal disallowed on the quarter hour for an offside that was tight was a warning shot across the bows.
A shot narrowly wide from Harry Gardner was also a forerunner to Tonbridge’s opening effort from Ricky Korboa that was saved comfortably by Marcus Dewhurst after a good combination between Kyle Smith and Babajide.
Tonbridge got their noses on front on 37 minutes with a goal that echoes the old saying “what goes around, comes around”. Only 10 days ago, a did it cross the line incident went against the Angels at Hornchurch resulting in a goal, tonight the boot was on the other foot as a scramble in front of goal following a corner was eventually hooked in by Tom Leahy, after a header from Noah McCann, with desperate attempts to clear in vain according to the officials.
In added time, Kwaku Frimpong was shown a yellow card that was to become significant in the early stages of the second period.
Tonbridge doubled their advantage after six minutes of the second half with a crazy goal. Miscommunication was the order of the day as Dewhurst rolled the ball towards a defender but Baker was the most alert, intercepting the pass and tucking the ball home from a couple of yards. Hampton protests followed, but for what who knows.
Things went from bad for worse for the visitors four minutes later when Frimpong saw a second yellow and subsequent red card for a foul on Korboa as the winger looked to break clear.
The game lost its edge as a contest despite a spirited effort from the visitors that had the home support wishing for a lot less than seven minutes on the added time board. But, it was Tonbridge that had the better of the chances and, perhaps, the one regret would be that it was an opportunity lost to wipe out the negative goal difference.
Fast forward now to Hemel Hempstead on Saturday, an absolute graveyard for the Angels, but at least this time approached with renewed confidence.
Pictures: David Couldridge
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