Tonbridge Angels (1) 4 Babajide 37 Baker 53,66 Bakrin 84
Gillingham (1) 3 Dayal 43 Theodore 53 Booth 82
Attendance: 407
Admission: £10
Mileage: 38/3,708
Tonbridge emerged for the second time in three years victorious in the Wink Derby with a 4-3 win in an exhilarating Kent Senior Cup Quarter Final.
Whilst we at Tonbridge refer back to 1975 for our last Kent Senior Cup success, remarkably, Gills supporters have to have very long memories as their wait goes back to 1948!
Gillingham did what they always do by fielding a youth side and refusing to play any Kent Senior Cup game at Priestfield whatever the draw as terms of their entry.
What they did bring to the Yeomans was a talented group of youngsters that thrilled going forward but lacked a bit of resilience defensively.
Card marked before the game by old friends who have survived the toxicity of the final years of the Scally era (unlike myself) to watch out for Sullivan Booth, who was very good, but eyes were drawn to the sparkling wing play of Damian Theodore, who embellished his performance with a superb strike.
Scott Wagstaff, it was revealed on the day, has been appointed Youth team Manager at the Gills and he would be more than welcome to send these two lads our way on loan next season.
Spring has meteorologically sprung but it remained a chilly evening as Alan Dunne almost completely rotated his squad following Saturday’s defeat at Hemel Hempstead.
Gills started brightly, and dominated the opening half-hour, with Theodore immediately to the fore, perhaps a touch too many at times but never anything less than a real threat.
Tonbridge’s first attempt on goal came after 31 minutes when Sean Shields brought a save out of substitute goalkeeper, Benji Spencer before they went ahead on 37 minutes when Bunmi Babajide received the ball on the left to bury a shot into the far, bottom corner.
The Gillingham youngsters were not to be cowed by going behind with a cross-cum-shot from Kelly Adams that only narrowly drifted wide of the right hand post. The equaliser that their first half performance richly deserved came two minutes before the break when Theodore crossed to the for Louie Dayal to steer the ball home from 12 yards.
Perhaps the telling factor of the second half would be that from the bench, each substitution made the Angels stronger and this brought an immediate dividend as substitutes Ricky Korboa and Frankie Baker combined for the latter to convert Babajide's right-sided pass inside.
Theodore decorated his performance after 53 minutes when he cut in from the left to bury an exquisite strike into the top corner to bring the scores level once more and for a period of 10 minutes, the Gills were once more on top.
But, after 66 minutes, a shot from 20 yards from Matt Warren wasn’t held by Spencer and the ever-alert Baker was on hand to force home the rebound.
Any thought that that was that for evening’s highly engaging entertainment were dispelled eight minutes from time when Booth collected a through ball and sped through a gaping hole in the centre of the defence to finish clinically past the advancing Laurie Shala.
With penalties on the horizon, as was the case two years ago, the Angels found a winner on 84 minutes when a free kick swung into the box saw Ethan Sutcliffe head the ball back into the centre of the goal to the feet of Nazir Bakrin who poked it home from six yards.
The Angels move forward to the semi-final where they will visit Chatham Town. It is not the FA Cup, but one feels that, good though the Chats were back in October at Longmead, Tonbridge didn’t do themselves justice on the day and it will be something of a compensation to put one over them before looking forward to a Kent Senior Cup Final where the old enemy, Maidstone United lie in wait.
Photo: Dave Couldridge
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