Kentish Football 
Dover Athletic 0-0 Tonbridge Angels - I just have to find the right mix, admits Dover boss Hayes
Saturday 27th August 2011
DOVER ATHLETIC 0-0 TONBRIDGE ANGELS
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 27th August 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Crabble
DOVER ATHLETIC boss Martin Hayes says he hasn’t worked out his team’s best combination after being held to a goal-less draw by newly promoted Tonbridge Angels at Crabble.
Hayes made five changes to the side that drew Dartford 2-2 at Crabble in midweek – today was the seventeen successive game of utilising squad rotation – and as a result suffered as their side couldn’t break down a resilient Tonbridge Angels side.
Hayes has already gone through 20 players in five games this season – only transfer listed defender Ollie Schulz hasn’t featured.
A crowd of 1,003 expected to see plenty of goals, especially as eight of Dover’s ten goals have come from their new front pairing of Billy Bricknell and George Purcell, whilst Frannie Collin has scored five of Tonbridge Angels’ eleven goals.
“I think it wasn’t the best performance, but I thought based on possession and the game, I thought we had obviously more chances to score but we didn’t take them,” said Hayes afterwards.
“To be honest the longer the game went on, you could see a little bit more frustration was creeping in and we had a bit of an off day today and one of those days we almost lost it at the end.
“We certainly wasn’t creative as much as I would have liked and we weren’t passing it around as much as I would have liked. It caused us a few problems but we still made six, there was some good defending there from their lads’ making blocks and even right at the death, Glen’s hit one and you think it might go in and it’s hit Billy straight in the face in front of goal. It just sort of summed up our afternoon. It was one of major, major frustration really.”
Tonbridge Angels’ manager, Tommy Warrilow, was pleased that his side were resilient, especially as they were defensively a shambles during their 3-2 defeat at Welling United in midweek, when they threw away a 2-0 lead – against the run of play - through Collin’s double.
“Coming away to one of the favourites then we’re going to be pleased with a point,” said Warrilow, who listened to Hayes’ comments.
“I’m pleased with the way we set up. To be fair, I thought we had enough chances to win it as well. They’ve not totally dominated the game, we’ve left them have the ball in the right areas. I thought it was a very good performance on the reflection of how we performed at Welling.
“We spoke about what went wrong at Welling. Obviously we’re learning this year because teams are a lot more organised this year than in the Ryman Premier.
“We had a stonewall penalty turned down in the second half and I’m a little bit disappointed that we’ve not come away with anything, three points, today.”
Tonbridge Angels created the game’s first chance, inside six minutes, as midfielder Anthony Storey, who later went off injured, hooked a half-volley over after the ball came out to him on the edge of the D, following Collin chipped a free-kick into the box.
Just over three minutes later and Dover’s front pairing combined as Bricknell slipped the ball into Purcell’s path, but his left-footed drive from 30-yards arrowed over Lee Worgan’s crossbar.
Worgan didn’t have a save to make during the entire stalemate, although Dover Athletic’s first ever South American, Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz was the busier of the two keepers.
When both sides did create half-chances, their shooting was off the mark.
Tonbridge winger, Jake Beecroft, cut in from the left and slipped the ball to Danny Walder, but his left-footed shot from 35-yards sailed over, and at the other end, following Glen Southam’s corner from the right, Purcell rose highest in a crowded penalty area and looped a header over.
However, Dover Athletic created the first half’s best chance, ten minutes before the end of a first half stalemate.
Southam and James Walker combined down the left and Walker’s shot was blocked and rolled into Bricknell’s path, who sent a left-footed shot on the turn, just over the crossbar from 25-yards.
Dover finally got in behind the Tonbridge defence, Bricknell released right-back Phil Starkey in behind Jon Heath, and after cutting inside he played the ball inside to Bricknell, who swept a low deflected right-footed shot wide of the far post from 12-yards.
Former Dover Athletic marksman, Collin, meanwhile, had the game’s first shot on target, a minute before half-time.
Beecroft was fouled by Starkey on the corner of the penalty area and Collin curled a right-footed free-kick around the wall from 28-yards and the Venezuelan born, former Aldershot Town keeper kept his eye on the ball, initially spilling the ball, but recovered instantly to collect.
Lee Browning, who was covering every blade of grass, sent a right-footed curler into Jaimez-Ruiz gloves from 25-yards, just after the break, before Dover went close.
Matt Johnson played a diagonal ball over the top for Walker down the right flank and the winger cut inside and played the ball inside for Purcell, who drove a left-footed shot just wide of the near post.
The Dover keeper made a comfortable save to thwart Ade Olorunda in the 58th minute after the Tonbridge Angels hardworking target man met Walder’s throw with an acrobatic overhead kick at the near post, which was straight at the keeper.
Tonbridge Angels were enjoying their best spell of the game and Browning was involved in the action again when he spread the ball out wide to Walder on the right and his right-footed cross was met in the box by Browning, who glanced his header wide.
Warrilow felt his side should have been awarded a penalty in the 62nd minute when Browning was sent sprawling to the ground by Dover central defender Ed Harris.
He said: “I’m a little bit more disappointed with the penalty decision – it was a stonewall penalty!
“You could tell when the referee looks at the linesman, what’s he looking at the linesman for? Browno was in, the ball’s held up and he would have got in. A few people have been honest enough to say it was a penalty.”
The Angels were now edging on top and a ball over the top from left-back Jon Heath released Collin, who had beaten the offside trap, but after cutting in, he ballooned a right-footed shot over.
The introduction of substitutes Harry Baker and then Barry Cogan put Dover Athletic back on the front foot and they were dangerous down the right flank, but Ben Judge and Ben Andrews were both solid at the heart of the Tonbridge Angels defence.
Warrilow said: “I thought the defending from both sides today, they’ve got blocks in, we’ve got blocks in. It’s two teams that defended very, very well today. Sometimes it’s alright talking about the attacking side of football, but it was a lot of good defending today.”
Cogan was fouled by Andrews and after a quickly taken free-kick, the ball came back out to Harris, but he blasted over from the edge of the box and Bricknell flashed a shot wide of the post.
Collin was a constant threat for Tonbridge and after bringing the ball under control, the former Dover Athletic striker sped past three defenders but sent a right-footed shot from 20-yards sailing over.
Both sides found themselves in good areas often, but this was a game where both defences came out on top.
And both teams could have snatched victory at the death.
Purcell unleashed a fierce left-footed goalbound drive, but Walder threw his body on the line and in the way to make a goal saving block at the near post.
And with almost two minutes of injury time played, Tonbridge Angels almost snatched victory, through Collin.
Jon Main, who came off the bench for the injured Olorunda, released Collin through on goal, although he was forced wide by defender Shane Huke, who slid in to win the ball inside the box, but Collin preserved and won the ball back of the former Rushden & Diamonds’ defender, cut inside and with just one man to beat, a diving Jaimez-Ruiz blocked his left-footed shot with his body and Beecroft’s follow up took a deflection and looped over.
As a result of their second successive draw at Crabble, Dover Athletic are in eighth place in Blue Square Bet South with 8 points out of the 15 available – one place and one point ahead of the Angels, who should have enough quality in their ranks to finish mid-table.
“I think in this league you get the points wherever you can,” said Hayes.
“We haven’t played that bad at home. It’s not like we’ve seen really poor games but it’s a tough league. Sides come here and make it difficult for us so we have to deal with that.
“We seemed a little bit flat today, whether that’s following Tuesday night (a home 2-2 draw with Dartford) where there’s a big atmosphere and a big crowd and there was a lot and it was a tough game, but it’s frustrating.
“You want to win your home games. We have to go to Sutton now (on Monday afternoon). We know we can go away from home and win but it’s that kind of league and then you see that by the results every weekend.”
Hayes explained his rotation policy, which hasn’t gone down well with the Crabble faithful.
“It depends who you play,” he said. “I mean before today out of the four games we have played two of the top five. Some of the sides haven’t played anybody of the top half yet so I think it’s who you play.
“I want to utilise everybody over the six games. I want to keep everybody fit and fresh so I don’t want someone going straight from five pre-season games into six league games in three weeks and we start having loads of injuries so I’m happy in playing any of the lads I’ve got. I haven’t got any weak links so at the moment it’s just choosing to keep everyone nice and fresh.”
When asked whether he knows his best starting eleven, Hayes replied, “No. Honestly, obviously I’m happy with all of them. They all offer something different. I just have got to find the right mix and at the moment I’m finding different combinations to see which one, I think, works the best.
“It’s early days. It’s six games and all of a sudden we’ve got 36 for the rest of the season to try and win so I’m still looking at different personnel to see who works best with others. Obviously there’s a couple who missed some games over pre-season, who I want to fit in for matches, so we’ll see after Sutton things will settle down a little bit.”
Warrilow, 47, however, insisted his side didn’t come to Crabble to sit back and claim a point.
He said: “We’ve come here and more than performed. We just didn’t sit back and played one up and sit back and try and frustrate them. We went with an attacking (4-4-2) formation and we wanted to make sure we were solid at the back.”
When asked which of his players’ deserved the man-of-the-match award, Warrilow said: “I wouldn’t want to pick one. We’ve kept a clean sheet and people have put themselves on the line. I can’t remember Lee Worgan making a save so that sort of sums it up a bit. We’ve defended well, we’ve kept a clean sheet so I wouldn’t like to say who done better. It was a good team performance.”
Warrilow, whose side welcome giants Woking to Longmead Stadium on Monday afternoon, revealed his players were pleased with their efforts today.
“We’re not doing summersaults or punching the air,” he said. “It’s a very, very good point. We’re a bit gutted we didn’t nick it. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t nick all three points. We had some good chances, we’ve got in some good areas as well. The one thing we have got to work on is second balls in the box. We win a lot of first balls, aerial from throws and free-kicks and we’re not cashing in on second balls, so it’s something that we have to work on.”
Dover Athletic: Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz, Phil Starkey, Nathan Ashton, Sam Cutler, Ed Harris, Shane Huke, James Walker (Harry Baker 62) Matt Johnson (Barry Cogan 67), Billy Bricknell, George Purcell, Glen Southam.
Subs: Michael Corcoran, Tom Wynter, Ross Kitteridge.
Booked: Sam Cutler 33
Tonbridge Angels: Lee Worgan, Sonny Miles, Jon Heath, Lee Browning, Ben Judge, Ben Andrews, Jake Beecroft, Anthony Storey (Chris Henry 84), Ade Olorunda (Jon Main 68), Frannie Collin, Danny Walder.
Subs: Tim Olorunda, Scott Kinch, Joe Hagan.
Attendance: 1,003
Referee: Mr Rob Hyde (Shorditch, London)
Assistants: Mr Oliver Rodquez (London E14) & Mr Adrian Oldershaw (Brentwood, Essex)
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