ANGELS' DAY OF DESTINY: IT'S FINALLY HERE!

And so the Day (or should that be weekend) of Destiny (for this season at least) is upon us, writes Mike Green.

 

 

 

For as a thousand of our fellow “Men of Kent” and “Kentish Men” head north to Derbyshire in the hope that Andy Hessenthaler’s Gillingham can upset the odds and sneak into the League Two Play Offs and still have the prize of a place at the “Theatre of Dreams” (Old Trafford to the rest of us) to aim at, we turn our attention to much closer at home as not one but two invading forces head our way this weekend.
 
Tomorrow, a depleted number from Essex will head for Stonebridge Road, totally demoralised after Liam Daish’s Ebbsfleet United thumped the big boys that “are” Chelmsford City in their own back yard on Tuesday night. 

Talk about promotion chances going West after suffering from the Shakes, but the men from the county town on the other end of the Dartford Crossing come with the slimmest of slim promotion dreams still intact after goal from a pair of braces from Michael West and Ricky shakes mean that Chelmsford MUST score FOUR time to make a game of it. 

Not totally impossible, but it’s up to all those being excused the Sunday afternoon with the family to make sure that the impossible doesn’t happen and that Ebbsfleet’s remarkable season, which remember began with Lam Daish rebuilding a side from scratch again, doesn’t end in complete disaster…
 
And so that leaves the rest of Kent’s football fans with one mission left to fulfil…  So forget the shopping trip with the wife – those shouldn’t start till after the Cup Final anyway and that’s not till next week!  Forget doing the garden – the overnight rain makes it too wet anyway! And forget the first club cricket match of the season – you’ve got all summer and can surely miss one game!!!
 
For an invasion of Trawlerboys is heading our way from Suffolk and it’s up to the good footballing folk of our fair county to make sure that they retreat back up the M25 and A13 with their fishy tails between their legs and our very own Angels soar to where by rights they deserve to be after finishing second in the Ryman Premier League – and that is the promised land of Blue Square Bet South, even if it means potential midweek trips to Truro City and Weston Super Mare. 

For Tommy Warrilow and his Tonbridge side there are just 90 minutes between them and promotion to the third level of English football which will mean so very much to the whole of the game that we all know and love in the West of our Great county. 

What Warrilow has achieved at Longmead is nothing short of remarkable, and after the heartbreak of Semi Final defeat and the despair of missing out last year entirely, Tuesday’s epic win over Harrow Borough has taken Warrilow, Alex O’Brien and the rest of the back room staff to within touching distance of their aim. 

The club deserves promotion – in the old days they would have been promoted already by finishing second (incidentally the highest ever League position for the Angels in the clubs history), but unlike some clubs who mutter and complain, Tonbridge have just got on with the job at hand – just as they did mid season when they had to reduce their playing budget; yes there were rumbles but no complaints in public and they all pulled together and went on a run that would guarantee them being we there are today.
 
Make no mistake Lowestoft Town are heading our way full of confidence after finishing in the Play Off places in their first season at this level.  Yes they have tremendous support, and are a good side, but as Tommy Warrilow told this website in the week, “… regardless of who we could have faced on Saturday – whether it had been Bury or Lowestoft – we know that we’re in for a hell of a game as you’re not going to get a pushover now. 
 
“We haven’t lost to Lowestoft this season – we’ve drawn with them twice.  But we’ve nothing to fear – we know that they’re a good side, decent side.  But we’ve got players coming back to fitness.  I respect every side that we play, but it would be wrong of me to “worry” about Lowestoft or Bury or even Harrow as the Play off results have proved yet again this week.  Dulwich went and beat Bognor at Bognor after finishing thirty odd points behind them in the League, it just shows what the Play offs throw up every year… you can’t guarantee anything!”
 
So on the anniversary of one Tommy taking a Kent side to greatness – its eleven years to the Saturday that Deal Town won the FA Vase at Wembley against Chippenham (the actual anniversary was Friday), today is the day for young Warrilow to join the old master Sampson and go down in the annuls of Kent footballing history
 
So forget the shopping, the garden and the first innings of the season – there’s the whole summer to do that!
 
TODAY – YOU THE FOOTBALL FAN OF KENT – ARE NEEDED FOR ONE FINAL PUSH AT LONGMEAD STADIUM – OUR ANGELS ARE ALMOST THERE…  ONE LITTLE HELPING HAND AND THEY WILL BE IN BLUE SQUARE BETSOUTH NEXT SEASON.  SO COME ON JOIN THE “TWELTH MAN” AND SEND TOMMY WARRILOW'S TEAM INTO THE PROMISED LAND…
 
KICK OFF IS AT 3:00PM – PLEASE BE PATIENT, THERE’S BOUND TO BE A QUEUE…
 
AND AS ONE VERY FAMOUS TV CHEF ONCE SAID IN A CENTRE CIRCLE IN NORFOLK – C’MON LETS BE HAVING YOU!!!