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| January
6th 2008
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Erith & Belvedere 0
- 3 Tonbridge Angels
With no competitive
matches since early December, Colin Blewden and Chris Hollyoak’s
under 18’s kicked off the New Year in true style, with an emphatic
and convincing 3-0 victory against struggling Erith & Belvedere
on Sunday.
After
another promising start, the Angels were almost stunned by a fifth-minute
goal from the home side’s first corner, which was quickly disallowed
by the official, as Ally Hamilton had been fouled in the process.
A indication of how the match was to take shape followed, as Chris
Page sent a ball into the path of Josh Biddlecome, whose shot was
palmed over the crossbar for the first of many corners.
The Deres
almost made the scoresheet in the eighth minute, with a hapless
striker hooking over the crossbar from unbelievably close-range,
with Biddlecombe suffering the almost same feat at the other end
from a less embarrassing distance after Elliot (Rambo) Harland’s
run and penetrating cross
from the left flank.
Olly Funnell
was next to try his luck, flashing a warning shot past the target
before a spell of panic-driven midfield encounters midway through
the half. After a move started by Liam Herbert deep in the Angels’
half, in-form midfielder Pagey latched onto Funnell’s clinical pass,
took it into the edge of the eighteen-yard box and calmly slotted
past the advancing goalkeeper.
The incensed
Angels looked to increase the slender lead, with Biddlecombe having
two venomous attempts in as many minutes, the first across the face
of the goal, the second, lashing Nick Hollyoak’s delivery over the
crossbar. Further attempts from Harland failed to bear fruit, before
Pagey struck again, with an almost carbon-copy of his first goal,
this time from Herbert’s pass and the aid of a defender, slightly
redirecting the trajectory of the shot past the reach of the keeper.
With no
further scoring in the first-half, the Angels took a comfortable
two-goal margin
into the interval.
After
the restart, the Deres tried to make amends with two early chances,
the first in the form of a low swirling shot, safely held by Hamilton,
the second being somewhat optimistic, starting its path slightly
wide of target and finishing on another pitch.
After
Harland’s latest attempt, which was forced over purely by the keeper’s
presence, a spate of dubious if not desperates offside decisions
marred what so easily could have been a goal-fest. The spell started
with Biddlecombe having a goal disallowed (possibly for being offside),
then both Harland and Biddlecombe seemingly being ‘flagged down’
at any cost, simply for being hungry strikers, and then Herbert,
probably for moving out of his own half without the linesman’s permission!
The hour-mark
saw yet another Biddlecombe attempt blocked after interplay with
Pagey, with the ball returned to Pagey, who was denied a hat-trick
as his left-footed strike was blocked
and subsequently cleared.
Only a
brief lapse of concentration allowed the home side to have another
crack; this time a timely clearance from Mike Holden kept the chance
of keeping a clean sheet in a league match alive. With no direct
rewards so far from Biddlecombe and Harland’s countless efforts,
it was ironic that Biddlecombe set up the third goal midway through
the half, after a penetrating run and piercing cross picked out
Hollyoak, who struck home cleanly from the edge of the box to open
his account for the season.
With twenty
minutes left, Joe Adams and Jake Miller replaced Harland and Holden
respectively in a dual substitution. A brief spell ensued which
suggested that the match official wasn’t fully on top of his game,
after a flurry of questionable challenges and a minor altercation
between the two sides went practically unnoticed.
A late
surge of attacks inspired by the midfield distribution of Sonny
Miles gave further hope that the scoring hadn’t
dried up, despite Biddlecombe being denied again after his ‘hand
of God’ attempt was over-ruled after netting rather handily after
charging down a poorly cleared back-pass.
Again,
Miles was the provider as Biddlecombe just fired wide what could
have been a sublime scoring opportunity, as he was a few moments
later, keeping the ball in play and centering towards Adams, who
was robbed by the hard-working Deres keeper.
Superb
central defending by Nat Janks and Will Jagger aided Hamilton ’s
first shut out of the league campaign, as demonstrated late in the
game as Jagger and Hamilton combined to deny one final attempt by
the Bexley-based Deres, to the hopeful pleas for a penalty by the
home side.
The full-time
whistle eventually blew to end a match that returned quite a modest
scoreline for a team that had eighteen goal-scoring opportunities,
but most importantly yielded three more points
and secured third place in the league.
Olly Funnell
and Sonny Miles unanimously shared the ‘Man of the Match’ accolade
for awesome midfield performances.
Goal
Scorerers: Chris Page - 2
and Nick Hollyoak
Man of
the Match: Olly
Funnell and
Sonny Miles |
| January
27th 2008
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Tonbridge Angels 1
- 1 Phoenix
Colin Blewden
and Chris Hollyoak’s under 18’s dropped two valuable points and
slipped to fifth place in the league after a disappointing 1-1 result
against Phoenix on Sunday, in a match that saw the welcome return
from injury of Luke Blewden after a ten-week absence.
The Angels
again looked the stronger of the two sides after a frantically-paced
start against a nervous Phoenix side, with Sonny Miles and Chris
Page both having early assaults on
the home side’s goal before Josh Biddlecombe turned whilst under
pressure in the penalty to trickle the ball narrowly wide of the
target.
A response
from Phoenix went wide at the other end, before Biddlecombe sent
a low shot into the home keeper, moments before in-form midfielder/striker
Olly Funnell blasted home in a crowded and confused penalty area
to put the Angels ahead and record his fourth goal of the campaign.
Another
searing shot from Funnell went over
the crossbar, with Phoenix following with a carbon-copy effort,
before Ally Hamilton left his line to confront an invading forward,
leaving Mike Holden and Nat Janks behind him to clear the six-yard
box as the ball was fired back in towards the goal.
The Angels
were quick to reply, with a flurry of attempts of their own. The
first, a blistering shot from Nick Hollyoak across the face of goal
after being set up by the industrious Funnell, before both Funnell
and Blewden sent balls over into the neighbouring bowling club,
with Hollyoak delivering his two shots direct to the keeper.
No matter
how hard Angels tried, they still went into the interval only holding
onto the slender lead, despite two further late attempts on goal
from Biddlecombe after productive runs from Hollyoak and Liam Herbert
respectively.
After
the break, the Angels continued to threaten, with Biddlecombe being
ruled offside with only the keeper to beat, and Funnell causing
frequent concern with his
persistence around the perimeter of the eighteen yard box, before
skipper Blewden went down injured, fearing the worse, only ten weeks
after knee surgery.
With Blewden
back on his feet, and the match back in full swing, Phoenix clawed
back onto level terms with twenty minutes left on the clock, as
an opportune wind-assisted lob from the touchline dipped down under
the Angels’ crossbar, leaving Hamilton entangled in his own goal-net,
full of disbelief.
The first
of two substitutions saw Jake Miller enter the affray at the expense
of Pagey, as the Angels looked to recover their slight advantage
and replicate the 2-1 victory that they had inflicted earlier in
the season. Miles had the opportunity from a direct free kick, driving
the ball low and hard through the wall (that the official had set
only seven yards away), only a matter of inches adrift of the target.
Perhaps this was the start of the frustration that led to Miles
seeing yellow, for the fourth time this season?
It was
only Hamilton that impressed during
the last ten fruitless minutes, entertaining as he left the penalty
area to head the ball clear, before hurriedly returning to his line
to capture the next goal-bound effort.
Not even
the added pace of Joe Adams could bring about a well-deserved second
goal in the final ten minutes, as he set about worrying the defence
in the familiar terrier-like style, before the final whistle brought
the game to a close.
Central
defender Will Jagger unanimously took the ‘Man-of-the-match’ accolade
for yet another dependable performance, with Funnell and Hollyoak
in close contention.
The Angels
entertain Sevenoaks Town on Sunday 3rd February.
Goal
Scorerers: Olly
Funnell
Man of
the Match: Will Jagger |
Archived
match reports:
Sept
2007 | Oct 2007 | Nov
2007 | Dec 2007
| Jan 2008 | Feb 2008
| Mar 2008 | Apr
2008 | May 2008 |
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