ANGELS’ IN HEAVEN: I HAD A TEAR IN MY EYE AT THE END, ADMITS PROUD LOCAL HERO SONNY MILES

TONBRIDGE ANGELS defender Sonny Miles was very proud to have guided his home town club into the Blue Square Bet South for the very first time in the club’s history yesterday, writes Stephen McCartney.


Miles, 20, who lives and works in the Kent town, knew how much it meant to everybody to beat Harrow Borough and Lowestoft Town in the Ryman Premier League play-off’s this week.

“I’m very, very proud.  I used to come down here and watch the boys when I was much younger,” said Miles after yesterday’s 4-3 thrilling play-off final win over Lowestoft Town.

“I used to come down here and watch Colin Blewden – he’s been a big influence on my career to be fair.  I used to come down and watch him so to get out there and win that it’s just absolutely magical to be fair, absolutely magical.

“I had a little tear in my eye at the end as well.”

Reflecting on the roller-coaster that has been the Angels’ historic promotion win, Miles said, “We always knew we’ll score.  It doesn’t matter who it’s against, we’ll always create chances.   Whether we take them or not is another matter!”

Tonbridge Angels deserved promotion.  Rooted to the bottom in their first three games, manager Tommy Warrilow worked his magic and their second placed finish – eleven points behind Sutton United – is the highest ever finish in the club’s history.

Miles said: “We deserved it.  We’ve been up there.  We like to think we’re the best in the league and even the (first) six starts that we had, which was absolutely terrible and only got four points we could’ve even won it this year but I think we got our just rewards.”

The club made it a day to remember. 

The gates opened at 10:30 in the morning, an outside marquee, bar and food, and live music pumped up the party atmosphere.

It was always going to be the Angels’ day.

Miles added: “I had a little tear in my eye but obviously it’s a great day for the club.  It’s all been set up today for us to win.  Had we lost, living in Tonbridge, I always get people coming up to me saying ‘well done at the weekend, but it’s lovely to win for these people down here.”

Reflecting on the game, the record crowd at Longmead Stadium, was on a roller-coaster of a lifetime.

Miles said: “As soon as we went 2-0 up we knew they can come down here, like the same as it was when we played them down here (in January) and we’ve gone 3-0 up and they scored three.

“They’re a great team. The two boys up front always work hard.  We didn’t get a minutes rest.  When it went three-all I went ‘oh no, here we go again’, but we knew we’re going to create chances.  In the end Lewis Taylor went through and it eventually opened up for him and he tucked it away.”

Lowestoft pumped ball after ball into the Angels box, but the Tonbridge defence held firm.  They weren’t going to surrender their promotion to anyone!

“We scored and we already put Rookie (Carl Rook) up front on his own so we had to weather the storm a little bit,” added Miles.

“They had a lot of room in wide areas as we had three in the middle today so it left a bit of room out wide.  They were whipping balls in and I thought we defended very well, like we have done with 19 clean sheets (in all competitions) this season.”

Miles will be walking around his home town with a massive smile on his face – and he paid tribute to the Barmy Army for their passionate support in the cauldron.

“The fans have been brilliant, they’re always brilliant,” said Miles.

“Being a local lad I used to stand with them boys behind (the goal).  They’ve been absolutely brilliant.  They’ve got us through.  They’ve been our twelfth man definitely.  They’ve been great all year, considering the start we had.  It wasn’t very good so to stick with us and get us through is nice.”

Miles hopes manager Tommy Warrilow keeps him on as fans love a home-grown player progressing through to the first team – and the youngster wants to be a part of the club’s Blue Square Bet South campaign next season.

“I went, last year, from playing in the reserves and chucked in at Sutton away and looking on from that day onwards, when I used to turn up and sit on the bench knowing I weren’t probably going to play, now hopefully playing in the Conference South – if Tom wants to keep me on, which I’d be absolutely delighted to stay.”

Miles paid tribute to Warrilow, his backroom staff of Alex O’Brien and Terry Sedge and the unsung heroes, physio’s Melvin Slight and Tina Jenner.

“People don’t see what goes on behind the scenes.  Tina and Melvin are here at 11 o’clock on a Saturday for us boys to come down and do what we want to do,” said an appreciative Miles.

“Tom’s a great manager to work for, a great manager.  I’ve only known OB (O’Brien) from this year really and he’s a top man.  He likes to get involved with the players.  He’s not away from us, he’s always into us.

“I’ve really enjoyed it this year.”

Miles praised his defensive partner, Ben Judge, whose calmness at the back has built solid foundations since he made his debut in the 7-1 home win over AFC Hornchurch back in October.

“He’s a top bloke.  I’ve never played alongside someone so calm in my life.  I haven’t got a word to describe him to be honest.  He’s brilliant.

“Not just Ben Judge, John Beales, when I was playing with him, unfortunately he got injured and Scott Gooding.

“But I’ve been lucky enough to have good players around me to help me through.  Judge’s getting on a bit now, he won’t like me saying that, so it’s nice to have his cleverness next to you.”

Tonbridge Angels can now look forward to hosting Conference South football at Longmead Stadium next season.

And Miles said: “It’s good for the club, so good.  I can go out in Tonbridge tonight and we can have a little clap from everyone, which we deserve and I’m really, really, really happy.  Being local you see everyone out and about."

Miles added: “Everyone plays in finals and I thought I’d be more nervous.  Luckily enough I’ve got good people around me and I’d be able to keep busy but stepping out there with all these players is just brilliant. I’ve never played anything like it!”

Visit Tonbridge Angels' website: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk

Click on this link for Dave Couldridge's photographs of the big day:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/16074688@N03/sets/72157626668332856/

Visit the fans' forum for You Tube video clips of the match and post-match celebrations: www.tonbridgeafc.co.uk/forum :