Tonbridge Angels (3) 5
Walton and Hersham (1) 1
Attendance: 1,218
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/964
EASY DOES IT!
Even the hard hearted would have had a certain amount of sympathy for the 20 or so disconsolate Walton and Hersham supporters stood behind the goal as their team was torn apart. But the wider picture is that their club has far bigger problems than heavy defeats on the pitch.
Those supporters, and probably a lot more of them, should have arrived at the Yeomans on a wave of optimism following four promotions in the last five years and a place in National League South for the first time.
But a dispute with their landlords the local council, Elmbridge Borough Council and their stadium operators over the revenue that is generated at the Xcel Sports Hub where none of the match day secondary spend benefits the club leaves them without the resources to compete at step two and the consequence has been a nightmare start to the season with six straight defeats and an already mountainous negative goal difference.
Manager Kevin James, who bore fairly light hearted criticism from those 20 hardy souls, paid the price with his job after this latest defeat.
All of this shouldn’t detract from a scintillating performance from Tonbridge Angels who shredded their hapless opponents with football that was a delight on the eye for the most part.
On a warm Bank Holiday Monday, Alan Dunne gave his skipper, Sam Corne, a first start and for an hour until his substitution he ran the show.
The passage of the game was set in the opening ten minutes when the home side could have been four goals to the good as the Walton defence cleared efforts away from the line and Frankie Baker struck a post after rounding the goalkeeper.
The breakthrough finally came on 19 minutes as Ricky Korboa threaded an exquisite pass to send Jepthe Tanga clear to drive his shot past a despairing Tommy Reid.
The floodgates were opening three minutes later when Lex Beeden, recycling a corner, crossed for Baker to score from close range with a neat touch.
The Angels were swarming all over their visitors at this point and looked like scoring with every attack but had to wait until the 39th minute when Bailey Akehurst’s inswinging corner travelled all the way into the far corner.
Into the second period and the Swans woes continued as a cross from Akehurst was horribly spilt by Reid to allow Lamar Reynolds an easy finish.
The scoreline allowed Corne to take his leave of proceedings, an hour’s work greatly admired and as Dunne rang the changes the momentum slipped away to the point that Walton managed a consolation with a good hit from Matas Skarna.
Tonbridge rounded off proceedings eight minutes from time with a goal that spoke volumes of Walton’s catastrophic defending all afternoon as substitute Alfie Pavey was allowed to stroll unchallenged to head home a corner.
When I visited the Excel Sports Hub back in 2018, the business model wasn’t sustainable for Walton and Hersham then and it certainly isn’t now in the rarified air of the National League, I wish them well but fear for them in equal measure.
Photos: Dave Couldridge
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