Tonbridge Angels 1 Enfield Town 3

Match 51/24/2290 - Tuesday, 10th December 2024 - National League South

Tonbridge Angels (1) 1 Fielding
Enfield Town (2) 3 Hutchinson Youngs
Attendance: 798
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,770

If ever there was an illustration that nothing can be taken for granted in this, an elite division, it was encompassed in 90 frustrating minutes for the Angels.

Enfield Town, without a win in eight games and bottom of the table, arrived at the Halcyon Wealth, Longmead Stadium to meet a Tonbridge Angels side that were unbeaten in league matches at home but were to return to north London with three very handy points in their back pocket.

When asked where the performance of his side had come from, Jay Saunders honestly answered: “I’m not sure. I’m not going to stand here and defend anyone but all over the park we weren’t good enough tonight. I think it’s a mentality thing, You turn up, we are playing a team bottom of the league and we are unbeaten at home and I think some of the boys just thought we would roll them over.

“We made them fully aware that Enfield have some good individual players. They’ve played this league and higher, regardless of their league position but too many turned up and expected to go through the motions and we lost too many individual battles. We didn’t do that side of it that you have to do against teams down the bottom which is show fight and desire.”

On a cold, damp evening at Longmead, Jay made one change from the team that saw League action at Weymouth with Sean Shields coming in for Makise Evans, who took a place on the bench.

In contrast to how the game was to materialise, the Angels positively roared out of the traps with a first minute shot from Shields being acrobatically turned over the bar by the Enfield Town goalkeeper, Rhys Forster, and from the resulting corner, Jeremy Santos saw his shot comfortably saved by the visiting custodian.

The first warning shot that the visitors were not here to make up the numbers came on six minutes when ex-Angel loanee, Jake Hutchinson, dragged his shot narrowly wide from close range.

Enfield took the lead on 20 minutes when a cross from the right from Lennon Peake was met with a deft header from Hutchinson that was steered beyond the reach of Matt Rowley to nestle into the corner of the net.

Rowley was then asked to make a brilliant stop, three minutes later, pushing Sam Youngs shot away at full stretch to safety with the help of the post.

Just past the half-hour, Enfield Town doubled their advantage. A left-sided corner was headed on at the near post by Bayley Brown where it was met with a second header from Hutchinson.

A quick response was needed from the Angels, and their supporters got it, when a Shields corner saw Jamie Fielding duck into space to bury a header and give the home side something to take into the second period.

After five minutes of the second half, in which Ethan Sutcliffe put a header over, Saunders made changes with Taylor Maloney being replaced by Ryan Hanson and moments later, Evans came on for Charlie Pegrum.

Santos flashed a cross across the face of goal that begged a touch and, on the hour, Scott Wagstaff was replaced by Mo Dabre. This was quickly followed by a fourth change when Crossley Lema entered the fray for Sutcliffe.

Dabre’s injection of energy gave the Angels fresh impetus and on 74 minutes he was sent clear but one-on-one with Forster, the goalkeeper saved with his legs and, came off best two minutes later when Dabre’s shot was saved at the second attempt.

But, with 10 minutes remaining, Tonbridge succumbed to the sucker punch when a quickly taken throw saw Youngs go clear to finish clinically from a tight angle.

Jay summed up: “Enfield deserved to win, we weren’t good enough. If you look at possession, we had more than them but did we do anything with it? No. We gave them two goals to hang on to and to slow things down which – and fair play to them – they did really well. I can’t stand here and say we deserved to win that game of football because we didn’t do enough and we were nowhere near good enough tonight.”

Gillingham 1 Salford City 0

Match 50/24/2289 - Saturday, 7th December 2024 - League Two

Gillingham (0) 1 Clarke
Salford City (0) 0
Attendance: 5,278
Admission: £20
Mileage: 45/3,732

Tonbridge Angels 2 Herne Bay 1

Match 49/24/2288 - Tuesday, 3rd December 2024 - Kent Senior Cup QF

Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Sutcliffe 25 Robinson 65
Herne Bay (1) 1 Salako 36
Attendance: 278
Admission: £8
Mileage: 38/3,687

Tonbridge Angels progressed to the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup with a narrow win against a stubborn Herne Bay side that stayed in game for its duration.

“It sounds good (to be through the the semi-final), that was the plan at the beginning of the night but I’m not overly impressed with the team performance. It’s difficult when you make seven changes, there’s some lads in there that haven’t played for some time so this competition is important for that, let alone actually trying to win it, it’s good for us to be able to give some of the boys a game. We are through, I thought Herne Bay worked really hard, put us under a lot of pressure and didn’t let us settle and we made hard work of it,” commented Jay Saunders after the match.

The seven changes referred to saw Andrew Norburn make his first senior start between the sticks. Crossley Lema, Ryan Hanson, Trevan Robinson, Deondre Date, Naz Bakrin and Mo Dabre being the starters from Saturday’s side at Weymouth.

It was one of those nights cold enough to see a cloud of steam coming off the players whenever there was a huddle following an injury and the vast majority of the attendance, including a very vocal cluster up from the east Kent coast, seeking the relative warmth of the covered enclosures.

The opening half-hour was pretty much one-way traffic with the Angels dominating. A third minute corner was met with a header from Hanson that was blocked with the follow-up shot going over and minutes later, Date flashed a shot across the face of goal.

On 24 minutes, Robinson was sent clear by Santos, who through the evening was the centre of everything, but he had his angle narrowed by Josh Bexon, the visiting goalkeeper, who deflected the ball away for a corner, the result of which being delivered by Santos to the head of Ethan Sutcliffe who scored from around six yards.

Herne Bay’s first real foray into the Angels’ territory brought a surprise equaliser on 36 minutes when the dangerous strike pair of Kane Haysman and Michael Salako linked well for the latter to finish into the bottom corner. Haysman, three minutes later, forced Norburn into his first save.

The crossbar thwarted the Angels taking a half-time lead when a corner from Santos was worked to the edge of the box from where a driven shot from Hanson rattled the woodwork.

The half-time break saw Scott Wagstaff, who had taken a heavy knock, replaced by Liam Vincent and this almost brought an instant dividend as he flashed one of his trademark crosses into the box that evaded everyone.

On the hour, Vincent’s cross to the far post saw Robinson hook the ball over the bar at the near post, before the striker received a superb crossfield pass from Sutcliffe to cut in from the left and bury his shot into the bottom corner to restore the Angels’ lead.

Chances to put the tie to bed came and went for the home side as Sutcliffe saw a header cleared from the line and Vincent’s shot clear the bar after good build up between Robinson and Lema.

A late free kick for Herne Bay on the edge of the box produced a nervous moment but the shot clear the bar and the game was seen out comfortably.

Dover beat Deal to seal one of the other semi-final positions with games between Bromley and Ebbsfleet, Phoenix Sports versus Welling to secure the other places.

Sheppey United U18 0 Tonbridge Angels U18 4

Match 48/24/2287 - Monday, 2nd December 2024 - Isthmian Youth

Sheppey United U18 (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 4 Penman 12 Famibafobee 28 Larkin 32 (pen) Pritchard 48
Attendance: 40
Admission: £5
Mileage: 54/3,649 cThe Under-18’s cruised back to winning ways on Monday with a comfortable four goal win at Sheppey United.

Dom Welsh said after the game: “It was a dominant performance and we played some outstanding football in large periods that perhaps deserved more goals but the final pass didn’t always land.”

It was also good to see patience rewarded for a player who shone on the night: “A top performance from Rush Broderick, he has waited for his opportunity and absolutely took it tonight.”

When the wind blows off the estuary at Sheppey, it makes for a cold night and the number of “hoods up” bears testimony to the chill wind.

Tonbridge dominated the game from the first whistle to practically the last, although much credit should be given to the Sheppey side that acquitted themselves to a difficult task, especially in the second half.

After early chances for Fiachra Pritchard and Robert Penman, the Angels took the lead after 15 minutes when Broderick set up Penman to score from the edge of the six yard box.

One-way traffic was maintained before, after 28 minutes, Adam Larkin’s cross found Tolu Fabimafobee in space on the right side of the box to finish between the goalkeeper and his near post.

Just past the half-hour, the Angels were awarded a justified, but somewhat fortunate, penalty as a defender stumbled and fell on the ball clearly handling it in the process. Larkin converted from the spot.

Before the break, Noah Millis struck a fierce shot from 20 yards that cannoned down from the underside of the crossbar with the goalkeeper saving from River Ballach.

An early second half goal from Pritchard after good approach play from Fabimafobee and Ballach might have opened the door for an avalanche of goals but Sheppey worked hard to avoid such an occurrence.

The home side had their first real opportunity of the night on 55 minutes when their centre forward, who had grafted tirelessly, saw his shot go narrowly wide and the Angels’ goalkeeper, Josh Hanson, needed to be alert to save from the same attacker.

The Angels had several opportunities to add to their total but their touch in front of goal eluded them through the second period.

Glebe 1 Tunbridge Wells 1

Match 47/24/2286 - Saturday, 30th November 2024 - SCEFL Premier

Glebe (0) 1 Bamber 52
Tunbridge Wells (1) 1 Hudson 45
Attendance: 100
Admission: £8
Mileage: 65/3,595

Welling United 2 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 46/24/2285 - Tuesday, 26th November 2024 - National League South

Welling United (2) 2 Lankshear 11 Redfearn 19
Tonbridge Angels (0) 2 Vincent 60,78 (pen)
Attendance: 503
Admission: Pass
Mileage: 86/3,530

How’s your glass? If it’s half full, then a point from 2-0 down after 20 minutes is a good one. If it’s half empty, then a second half of one-way traffic might well have ended with that elusive first-ever win against Welling at Park View Road.

A first 20 minutes in which the home side didn’t exactly spring from the traps, more so that the Angels didn’t leave them at all, saw them two goals down that could easily have been three, and possibly game over, had it not been for a goal line clearance.

Jay Saunders said of the slow start: “The first half hour wasn’t good enough. Away from home you need to be solid, you need to be hard to beat. I thought we came here and expected the game to be played at our tempo and our own way but the players have to earn the right away from home, especially when you come to a team that have not been on the best of runs but had a great result at Slough (on Saturday), they were obviously up for it and we weren’t awake One of our supporters shouted “wake up” that hit the nail on the head, we just hadn’t got going.”

On a coldish night, mercifully dry, Saunders elected to go with the side that beat Hemel Hempstead Town at Longmead on Saturday and with the relative short journey to South London, there was a healthy following of Angels supporters in attendance.

An 11th minute attack from the home side saw a dangerous cross from Paul Osew that was deflected away for a corner, from which Alex Lankshear was allowed to climb, unchallenged, at the far post, to head home.

Two minutes later another corner spelt trouble for the Angels as Jack Burchill’s stabbed shot needed Charlie Pegrum to head from the line.

Tonbridge threatened to get back on terms after 15 minutes when a through ball from Sean Shields sent Makise Evans clear but the Welling goalkeeper, Rhys Lovett, was quick off his line to smother with the rebound falling to Mo Dabre, who could only shoot into the side netting.

On 19 minutes, the Angels fell two behind, when a cross from the right from Chiori Johnson was met by Josh Redfearn with a touch that took it beyond Matt Rowley and into the far corner.

A reaction was certainly needed and Tonbridge needed to wake from their slumbers and the first seeds of a recovery were planted when they were denied a clear penalty after 23 minutes when Dabre got in front of his marker to be wrestled to the ground only for the appeals to be waved away.

Jay Saunders made two half-time substitutions with Crossley Lema replacing Ethan Sutcliffe and Taylor Maloney replacing Ryan Hanson with a change of shape that saw them going to a four along the back line. Both Lema and Maloney, ex of the parish of Welling, made an immediate impact with Maloney’s cross from the left finding its way across the face of goal to strike the far post and Lema’s cross that saw an effort from Evans clear the bar.

A sigh of relief was breathed when a good opportunity for Burchill was struck wide before, on the hour, the Angels reduced the deficit as a right-sided free kick from Liam Vincent found the gap between Lovatt and his post.

Evans headed over from an inviting cross before, on 78 minutes, a corner from Shields was headed towards the far post and as Evans tried to get to the loose ball he was bundled to the ground by Garrett Kelly, who saw a second yellow and subsequent red for his efforts.

Vincent stepped up to calmly strike the ball into the bottom corner, giving Lovatt no chance.

With the man advantage and momentum, the Angels searched for the winner and the big chance came in the final minute of regular time when Evans was sent clear by Shields but Lovatt made a really good stop with the follow-up from Pegrum clearing the bar.

Jay Saunders summed up: “It was interesting before the game, there were a few of the subs that were disappointed not to start and I said that the subs are going to be massive tonight and, to be fair, everyone of them that came on, first Taylor and Crossley were excellent, Santos came on and made a difference and Deondre when he came on, so that was a positive out of tonight.”

Tonbridge Angels U18 3 Welling United U18 4

Match 45/24/2284 - Monday, 25th November 2024 - Isthmian Youth

Tonbridge Angels U18 (3) 3 Penman 7 Pritchard 15 Famibafobee 35
Welling United U18 (1) 4 26, 72, 87, 90
Attendance: 33
Admission: Season Ticket
Mileage: 38/3,444

Tonbridge Angels U18 fell victim to an amazing comeback from their visitors, Welling United, who recovered from 3-1 down to take home the points with three second half goals.

Manager Dom Welsh bemoaned “silly mistakes and missed chances at pivotal moments” whilst praising the visitors on their second half performance.

It all looked plain sailing for the Angels after 15 minutes in which they had dominated the game and opened up a two goal lead. Strangely plain sailing as Welling are always one of the better sides in the division.

The opening goal came on seven minutes when a well worked short corner routine caught the visitors flat footed and ended with a shot from Robert Penman finding a heavy deflection on its way into the net. On the quarter hour a cross from the right saw Fiachra Pritchard outpace the defence to fire home.

Welling were shocked into action and after asking a couple of saves from Josh Hanson, they pulled a goal back on 26 minutes when a header was buried from a corner and they were searching hard for an equaliser, including a good save from Hanson, when the Angels restored their lead to two goals after 35 minutes when Tolu Fabimafobee tucked the ball home after a cross found him at the near post.

Welling came from the dressing room with a renewed sense of purpose but successive chances for Callum Fincham and Penman should have taken the game beyond them before, with 18 minutes remaining, they pulled a goal back with a far post header.

Momentum was with Welling and when the ball was scrambled home with four minutes remaining there was a sense of foreboding that there might still be time for a winner and so there was when, in the final minute, a cross into the box was tucked home from close range to seal a stunning comeback.