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Tonbridge Angels 1
- 1 Erith Town
Match
Abandoned
After
two successive cup defeats, Colin Blewden and Chris Hollyoak’s under
18’s frustratingly had their long awaited league match abandoned
after 70 minutes, with both teams drawing 1-1 as the Angels threatened
in impossible playing conditions.
Despite a strong start, with surging attacks down both flanks, the
Angels went a goal down after fifteen minutes after a low wind-assisted
drive beat outstretched Ally Hamilton, after failing to clear the
ball from their half. Striker Josh Biddlecombe came close to levelling,
striking narrowly wide of the target, before Chris Page floated
the ball into towards Olly Funnell before the visiting goalkeeper
intervened in a spate of slowly built-up attacks. Continued pressure
saw Matt Knight have an on-target shot blocked, and Biddlecombe
chip over after being judged offside, when put through after a combination
from Pagey and Sonny Miles.
With increasingly
blustery conditions, Erith took full advantage of the wind with
quick successive attempts on Hamilton ’s goal, only to be thwarted
by the Angels’ own custodian on each occasion.
Perhaps the closest chance of pulling level came when midfielder
Nick Hollyoak took a threatening run down the left flank, weaved
into the box and unleashed a strike into the side-netting, before
Town had two further near misses of their own. As the half came
to a close, a poor decision from the official gave the visitors
the advantage of a late goalkick, after the keeper had clearly put
Knight’s shot behind for a corner.
Worsening weather conditions coincided with the start of the second
half, with Mike Holden forced to make a goalmouth clearance only
two minutes after the restart. With Erith down to ten men after
an injury, and Tonbridge’s advantage of a full compliment of players,
the Blues strengthened accordingly, despite a spell of desperate
play, brought about by the increasing inclement weather that rapidly
became the highlight of the match. After a spate of pressing attacks
on a panic-stricken defence, the Angels eventually got back of level
terms as Biddlecombe’s shot was awkwardly chested down into the
path of Knight, who stabbed home from close range for his sixth
goal of the season.
After seventy difficult minutes and a severe hailstorm, the match
official had seen enough, consulting with both benches before blowing
to bring the match to a premature end as the pitch became dangerous
and unplayable.
Nick Hollyoak was awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ for impressing
throughout the foreshortened match. The Angels travel to Tunbridge
Wells on Sunday 16th for more league action.
Goal Scorers:
Matt Knight
Man of the Match:
Nick Hollyoak |
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Dartford F.C. 3
- 0 Tonbridge Angels
Mid-Season Friendly
With
no matches since early December’s abandoned debacle against Erith
Town, Colin Blewden and Chris Hollyoak’s under 18’s eventually got
in a full ninety minutes, taking a somewhat depleted squad to Dartford’s
celebrated Princes Park complex to meet Andy Weekes’ under 18’s
side, who are currently flying high in the league’s Central Division.
Superb
facilities and all-weather playing surface awaited the Angels, who
had been bolstered with triallist goalkeeper Oliver Stell, Jack
Funnell (from the under 15’s) and Ian Brooke and Mark Eaton from
Julian Leigh’s under 18’s squad for this conveniently arranged mid-season
friendly.
Despite
falling in the middle of the over-indulgent festive season, the
match started at an energetic pace, one that was to continue for
the full ninety minutes, under the watchful eye of match official
Gary Cassiani. The opening ten minutes saw several chances at both
ends, with Ally Hamilton being forced off his line, and threatened
in the air in
the first three minutes, whilst Nick Hollyoak proved to be a threat
at the other end, sending a succession of low probing balls into
Dartford ’s goalmouth.
With the
home side slowly strengthening, skipper Will Jagger and Elliot Harland
made several well calculated challenges, but Dartford took a twelfth
minute lead pouncing on a loose ball and driving it into the net
after Hamilton had parried the first effort, only seconds after
Olly Funnell had tested Dartford’s keeper at the other end. Funnell
continued to figure strongly as the Angels looked to pull level
with two further attempts following, one directed at the keeper
after interplay between Liam Herbert and Josh Biddlecombe, and another
after a shot from Jake Miller’s pinpoint cross was deflected for
a corner.
Another
flurry of attacks by the Darts, again tested the Angels’ defence,
before a player burst past Jagger and fired home to double the lead
midway through the half, as Hamilton struggled to block the invading
striker.
A confident
Angels side continued looking to get on the scoresheet, with Jagger
coming closest as he headed a Hollyoak corner narrowly wide of the
target, and Biddlecombe seeing his shot deflected to the keeper
after Chris Page’s flighted pass. The industrious Matt Knight kept
the Blues’ hopes alive with tormenting runs down the flanks, on
one such occasion picking out unmarked Biddlecombe, who failed to
connect with what should have been a spectacular strike.
A double-substitution
saw Mark Eaton and Joe Adams replace Jake Miller and injured Matt
Knight respectively, as Dartford pressed for a third goal, an effort
that was thwarted by Jagger, blocking the shot and clearing the
ball from the edge of Angels’ eighteen-yard box.
Late in
the half, Adams came close to pulling a goal back, after an intense
encounter with Dartford ’s defence that saw the midfielder evolve
with the ball still in play, and deliver a shot up the goal-line
to the awaiting keeper.
After
the restart, which saw the confident Oliver Stell replace the ever-present
Hamilton in goal, Angels looked the stronger of the two teams, with
early assaults from Harland and Biddlecombe giving the home-side
something to think about. That was until a loss of possession deep
in Tonbridge’s half saw a forceful run down the right flank, and
a penetrating cross that was converted with apparent ease to give
Dartford a comfortable three-goal cushion, just before
the hour-mark.
With intense midfield play from both sides, where Pagey and Brooke
combined on numerous occasions, the match briefly flared up when
Cassiani asked for Dartford ’s Sean Heather to be replaced after
an unsavoury challenge on Hollyoak resulted in a minor altercation
between the two players.
Angels continued to push forward, with Harland striking the crossbar
and firing wide, and Biddlecombe driving just over the target, before
being denied a penalty. With twenty minutes left, Jack Funnell was
brought into the affray to replace Biddlecombe, almost with immediate
effect, as he added pace to the frontline and flicked Jagger’s headed
pass into the Dartford keeper’s arms, before Pagey had a calculated
shot blocked on the edge of the box.
Despite further late attempts from Jack Funnell, a strike from Harland
that was spectacularly saved, and a cross that Pagey and Eaton only
just failed to beat the keeper to, the Angels were unlucky not to
get on the scoresheet in a game that was a lot closer than the 3-0
scoreline suggests.
Chris Page was awarded ‘Man of the Match’ for an impressive performance
in midfield, with Will Jagger and Olly Funnell both in close contention.
A spokesman for the Club commented “It was a good performance today,
but due to lack of matches over the last month, we were sloppy in
certain areas, punished by three mistakes, and were unfortunate
not to convert any of our own chances.” ~
The Angels travel to Erith & Belvedere on Sunday 6th January
for league action.
Man of the Match:
Chris Page
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