AFC Hornchurch 1-1 Tonbridge Angels - Warrilow's troops so close to the Play Offs

After coming from behind to earn a deserved point against his bogey side, Warrilow now takes his Angels to Wealdstone (on Thursday) and Aveley (on Saturday) knowing that possibly four points will take his side from relegation candidates to Play Off contenders in just 10 weeks!

The transformation of the Angels since their restructuring is nothing short of incredible and what a fitting finale to a sensational second half of the season would a second successive Play Off appearance be for Warrilow’s side.

Against a side that Warrilow had only taken a single point from in four previous games as Angels boss, the manager must have feared the worse after 28 minutes when Michael Spencer took advantage of an outrageous bounce to knee the ball into the Tonbridge net. 

It could have got worse for the Angels just before the break as after a defensive mistake, Spencer was denied his second by keeper Lee Worgan’s right cheek – the ball smacking the keeper full in the face as he raced from his goal line. 

As the Angels stopper recovered after treatment he was immediately called into a fabulous save to deny Tommy Black from the edge of the box, and was relieved when Ronnie Fletchers header from the resulting corner went straight at him.

The Angels did have their own chances – Sonny Miles headed wide from a corner, Sam Long tested home keeper Darren Behcet from the edge of the box, and Lee Minshull dragged a shot wide arriving late on the 18 yard line – but the mood as they left the pitch wasn’t happy!

But after hearing news that both his rivals were behind at the break, Warrilow certainly perked up as Miles reacted quickest to Paul Booth’s delightful touch to fire Tonbridge level on 51 minutes.

Long then again tested Behcet in the home goal – this time the keeper did well to beat out a fierce swinging drive, as the Angels went looking for the win. Substitute Meshach Nugent went closest on 75 minutes and if his half volley from 30 yards had dipped just a bit quicker, Warrilow’s side would have certainly claimed the three points they deserved. 

Fair play to Hornchurch though as their own play-off hopes meant they had to get three points for this game and not even playing an extra forward for the final 10 minutes meant they were able to break the rearguard of miles and Harwood who between them were simply magnificent.

After the game, Warrilow was pleased and annoyed all at the same time when he spoke to www.kentishfootball.co.uk.  

The Angels boss said: “It was an end to end game, but more their end than ours I thought. I don’t know if I’m looking at it through “Blue tinted” glasses or not, but I’m really gutted that we didn’t take three points tonight as I though we deserved it. 

“We dominated most of the game but just didn’t get that bit of luck that we needed.”

It was vital that the Angels didn’t lose the game to stay in contention – a point that the manager spelled out to his players before the game. 

“We stressed to the boys before the game “all three games this week” we don’t lose and that’s the most important thing,” 

Warrilow said: “Coming off tonight and seeing that Wealdstone have drawn (with Dartford) and Aveley have lost (at Billericay) its just crunched it up even more. Putting in a performance like that should give the supporters and the players a lot of belief going into Wealdstone on Thursday night now and we can do it now. We bounced back well after losing on Saturday and now are really in the middle of it.

“I think its helps that all three teams going for the Play Offs have three games this week, but we all had difficult games tonight. It makes it interesting and hopefully maybe Maggsy (John Maggs, the Horsham manager) can do us a favour and take something off Aveley, but if we put in a performance like that I can see us not making it.”

With their next crunch game to come almost immediately, the Angles boss has one main injury concern. “Boothy hobbled off after kicking the guys boot and now has 24 hours, just 24 hours to recover. The plus however,” Warrilow continued, “was the way that Shack (Meshach Nugent) did when he went on bearing in mind that he’s been out for a while and could have scored a wonder goal if his volley was just a bit lower.”

Twelve months ago, the Angles seemed to spend the second half of the season “waiting” for the play-offs‘. This year has been so different, as the manager acknowledged. 

“With the season we’ve had I’d take this all day long – two games to go and we’re playing for the play-off’s! Last season was nice but we had to wait to get there and that may have cost us in the end – it’s still in our hands and if we win our next two we should be in and then the fun starts!”