Kentish Football 
Hayes & Yeading United 3-2 Tonbridge Angels - I'm not throwing in the towel, says defiant Warrilow
Blue Square Bet South
Sunday 7th April 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Kingfield Stadium
TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow apologised to the travelling fans for witnessing their late capitulation which plunged the club into the relegation zone with five games remaining.
The Kent outfit dropped one place into the bottom three in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table after throwing away a 2-0 lead inside the opening eight minutes to suffer a depressing defeat at Woking’s Kingfield Stadium.
The hosts went into the game on a run of four successive defeats and their embarrassing 7-1 defeat at Staines Town on Thursday night proved to be the final straw for manager Tony O’Driscoll, who resigned and reverted back to his director of football role after the game.
Coaches Delroy Preddie and Tristan Lewis have taken over until the end of the season and they faced a mountain to climb after Frannie Collin and Mark Lovell gave the Angels’ a morale boosting edge.
But instead of continuing with their attacking play, they sat back and allowed Hayes & Yeading United to dictate play in the Surrey sunshine and the home side pulled a goal back with 22 minutes remaining when Sam Corcoran scored from a free-kick, before the alarm bells started to ring when Tom Collins punished a rare mistake from visiting keeper Lee Worgan to equalise within two minutes.
Man-of-the-match, striker Kudus Oyenuga, scored his sixteenth-goal of the season to deservedly claim a precious three points for Hayes & Yeading United with a fine winner with only eight minutes remaining.
Hayes & Yeading’s 12th league win of the season takes them up to fifteenth-place in the table, but the relegation dog-fight looks certain to have many more twists and turns ahead of its climax on 27 April.
Any two of eight clubs can suffer relegation alongside Truro City, with two Kent clubs in the mix.
Mark Goldberg’s Bromley – who welcome Hayes & Yeading United to Hayes Lane next Saturday – lie in fourteenth-place with 45 points and Staines Town, who welcome leaders Welling United to Wheatsheaf Park on Tuesday night, drop down a place on 43 points.
Eastbourne Borough (42) and AFC Hornchurch (41) are also looking over their shoulders above the dreaded line.
Tonbridge Angels (41) and Billericay Town (37) are both in the relegation zone and Warrilow insists he doesn’t want to return to the Ryman Premier League at the end of their second season in Conference South.
The Angels face another must-win game against Staines Town at Longmead Stadium on Saturday, before travelling to fifth-placed Chelmsford and sixth-placed Eastleigh, before finishing their campaign at home to Eastbourne Borough and Truro City.
“I wish I can explain why we just folded in that panic mode but we did,” said Warrilow after his side plunged into the relegation zone for the first time since 8 September 2012.
“It’s a big kick in the teeth for us, but we’ll be in on Tuesday and Thursday and I have to get them back.
“I know the fans have given us great support here today and we’ve let them down and I apologise to them.
“Like I’ve said, at the end of the season let’s get this season out of the way and maintain our Conference South status and then we’ll sit down (with chairman Steve Churcher) and have a chat about next season.”
Tonbridge Angels started the game by taking the game to their stricken opponents and Lee Browning’s hooked pass was flicked on by Lovell to allow right wing-back Henry Muggeridge to whip in a cross to find Collin at the near post. The Angels’ striker was thwarted by a fine tackle by Tom Cadmore but the ball came out to Lovell, who curled his left-footed drive over from 12-yards.
But Tonbridge Angels raced into the lead with only 4 minutes and 57 seconds on the clock, thanks to Collins’ eighteenth-goal of the season.
The striker picked the ball up and cut inside and left goalkeeper Milan Stojsavljevic rooted to the spot as he rolled a left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from 25-yards.
“Good start. Good finish. He’s amongst the goals, so I’m pleased for Frannie,” said Warrilow.
And they doubled their lead only 153 seconds later thanks to Lovell’s tenth-goal of the season.
Muggeridge was released down the right and easily cut inside left-back Adam Everitt inside the box and swept a low cross across the face of goal and Lovell ghosted in unmarked at the far post to tap the ball over the line from two-yards out.
Warrilow added: “The second goal was well worked as well with Henry, so the perfect start and then it all went wrong from then!
“We stopped down what we were doing to start off with. They were hitting us on counter attacks and getting in behind. I felt we dragged our two wing-backs in too much so we had a back five at the end and it was causing problems.
“They’ve got that little triangle in midfield, which we knew about, with the boy (Sam) Cox holding.
“We issued jobs out to Browno, Lovers and David Ijaha with the three in there and to be honest we didn’t cope with it.
“They (Hayes & Yeading) chased everything up top and worked hard. I hadn’t expect us to go in that panic mode and just looked like 11 strangers really at the end of it.”
Hayes & Yeading United’s opening chance arrived in the 12th minute when Luke Williams passed to winger Daniel Wishart, who cut in and blasted his left-footed shot high over Worgan’s crossbar from 16-yards.
The home side went desperately close to pulling a goal back, just four minutes later.
Corcoran played the ball forward from the middle of the park and Wishart ran at Tonbridge defender Jon Heath before cutting inside and rolling the ball across to Oyenuga who swept a first-time left-footed drive from 25-yards, which narrowly sailed over the crossbar.
Wishart rode Heath’s sliding challenge yards outside the Tonbridge penalty area before reaching the right by-line and curled a shot across Worgan, which bounced off the foot of the far post and Collins ghosted in to blast over from two-yards – but an offside flag saved his blushes.
Hayes & Yeading United continued dominating and the impressive Oyenuga spun away from his marker before playing in Collins, who drilled his right-footed drive against the top of the right-hand post from 25-yards – after an offside flag was raised.
Warrilow said he was relieved to get his side in at half-time with their two-goal lead intact.
“I’ve just said to the boys in there, you go 2-0 up, fly out of the blocks and then to be honest the last twenty minutes of the first half they dominated and got at us,” said Warrilow.
“We never strung any passes together. We just completely panicked, went into a mode of just switching off. We weren’t picking men up. The boys’ weren’t doing their jobs properly.”
And when asked what he said to his players during the interval, Warrilow replied, “Just to calm down! I said why do we start so well and why do we stop?
“The main thing was to get us in at half-time because I felt they would nick one just before and that would’ve given them a massive lift.”
What was to follow during a poor second half was hard to stomach for the travelling Tonbridge Angels supporters.
Firstly, they lost Lee Browning to a knee injury and Warrilow revealed that will rule the midfielder out for the rest of the season.
“He’s struggling with his knee,” he explained. “That might be his season over now, we’re not 100%. He’s been struggling with that for a while. He’s suspended for a couple of games anyway.”
Hayes & Yeading United forced Worgan into making a fine diving save in the 53rd minute when skipper Sam Cox played the ball to Collins, who took a touch before cracking a right-footed drive from 22-yards, which was destined to fly into the far corner if it wasn’t for the keeper, who dived full-stretch to his left to push behind.
A hint of what was to follow later came from the resulting corner as the Angels defence left Corcoran in acres of space inside the penalty area to plant his header over.
Warrilow admitted his side’s only two second half chances to be defining moments in the game – both of them coming within 74 seconds of each other before the hour mark.
Heath looped a long throw into the box, which was flicked on at the near post by Mikel Suarez and Muggeridge clipped the ball back across goal and an unmarked Lovell stroked his right-footed volley straight at keeper Stojsavljevic, who made a low save to his left, from 10-yards.
“Not papering over the cracks, but I think we had two good chances to kill the game in the second half,” said Warrilow.
“Lovers’ little volley straight at the keeper and Ashley Miller’s through. Just to put one of them away might have changed the perspective of the game but we didn’t.”
However, the turning point came when a mistake from Everitt sent Tonbridge Angels’ substitute Ashley Miller on his way through on goal, but the on-loan attacker lost his composure when he only had the goalkeeper to beat, stroking his right-footed shot agonisingly wide of the far post.
“When Ashley was through I thought he’d might lob the keeper or something,” said Warrilow.
“I think he tried to but it got caught in his studs but he’s a young lad coming in and he’s worked hard for us, but I speak to Gillingham and see what the score is with him.”
Miller, who has also had loan spells with Ramsgate and Hythe Town in Ryman League Division One South, is due back at promoted League Two side Gillingham after today’s game.
It would certainly be useful for the Gills to help out a Kent club in need and extend Miller’s loan spell until the end of the season and not do what League One side Stevenage did this week by bringing defender Anthony Sinclar-Furlonge back after his loan spell expired.
Warrilow said: “I’ll speak to Gillingham. He’s a raw lad so we need some numbers and I’ll see what Gillingham will say. He’s not had a great deal of game time, but he got another 40 minutes today. He got in some good areas.”
A penetrating run from Williams saw him run at the Angels defence and Collin made a strikers tackle, lunging in to bring down the striker 25-yards from goal to earn a booking.
And Corcoran gave his team-mates a lifeline when he curled his right-footed free-kick around the wall and beyond Worgan’s dive to find the bottom far corner of the net.
“But to come out and then conceding the free-kick, the first two goals I think were poor,” bemoaned Warrilow.
“That’s the side Worgs was standing on, the goals gone in and the second one he’s come in to no-man’s land so he made it easy for the lad.
Warrilow admitted his players started to panic and they were staring down the barrel when Hayes & Yeading United equalised
A long ball forward sailed behind the Angels’ two central defenders and Collins poked the ball past the advancing Worgan, who failed to gather the ball and was left in no-man’s land and Collins turned and looped his right-footed shot on the angle into the bottom corner of an empty net.
Worgan made sure that the ball didn’t squirm underneath his body at the near post to save a powerful right-footed drive from Oyenuga from just inside the corner of the penalty area.
The travelling fans were starting to air their frustration from behind Stojsavljevic’s goal as their side continued to sit back.
Miles slid in to thwart Williams, who was about to pull the trigger, the ball deflecting high over the bar and into the empty stand behind Worgan’s goal.
And a corner from Corcoran was punched away from the pressurised Worgan and Williams cracked his right-footed drive just over the bar from similar distance.
With Tonbridge Angels hanging on to dear life, Hayes & Yeading’s winner was well-deserved.
They caught the Angels on the counter attack and pacy substitute John Goddard sprinted forward from the halfway line before passing to Oyenuga and the powerful and pacy striker deserved his goal for his hard work and commitment to the cause, drilling a low right-footed angled drive across Worgan to find the bottom far corner, to condemn the Angles to their sixteenth-league defeat of the season.
Warrilow said of the match-winner, “He was a handful today the boy. He’s put himself about. He’s created his own luck and he was a handful. When you put a shift like that in you get out of games what you got today.
“I’m not trying to make excuses for the way we played today. That’s irrelevant. I’m not happy with the way we played. I’m not happy with our body language and I wasn’t happy with, not so much the attitude but just the way we went about it after such a fantastic start.
“I’m just trying to get my head round why we went like that because you couldn’t have asked for a better start but we did.”
Another penetrating run from Goddard ended with him poking a shot from an acute angle into Worgan’s gloves at the near post.
The Angels failed to test the Hayes & Yeading keeper in the final two minutes when Heath launched another long throw into the box and Gary Elphick’s overhead kick flew harmlessly wide of the near post.
Warrilow said: “They were the better side on the day. Even if we won it I wasn’t happy with the way we played and like I said to the lads you don’t want to start putting panic into them but I thought we just panicked today. I don’t know why because we had a fantastic start.
Warrilow glanced at his mobile to look at the league table – which doesn’t make happy reading - and saw that his club have an almighty fight to avoid playing the likes of Lowestoft Town and Harrow Borough in the Ryman Premier League again next season.
“It’s still in our hands,” he insisted. “I’ve looked at the league, it’s shot them up three points and that’s what a win does but all it does is just piles more pressure on us.
“We’ll probably beat Chelmsford and Eastleigh and lose to the other lot but we’ve played two top sides (Eastleigh and Weston-super-Mare at home) and played well against them and got four points, doing the same thing we’ve done today.
“I’m not happy with it but with five games to go it’s too late to start throwing cups of tea about. We let them know in there in laymans terms that’s nowhere near acceptable and I’ll take any criticism that comes my way but I just want to get this season out of the way now and stay in the Conference (South).
“Today I’ve given (supporters) all the ammunition to have a pop at me so it’s part of the game. You can’t have all good things in life and I’ve had a bad season this year and I’ve got to accept criticism that comes with it.
“Let’s see where we are at the end of the season. I’m a proud man. I don’t need to be told what’s right and wrong. I’ve had five and a half fantastic years here and we’ve gone up, up and up and this year we’ve had a real kick in the nuts and I’ll accept that, but there’s still a long way to go before the towel gets thrown in and at the end of the season we’ll go and have a chat and sit down and see where we go from there.”
Warrilow added: “The thing is, it’s still in our own hands. We’re not relying on other people. It’s down to us. All the time it’s like that you’ve got half a chance, but once it gets out of your hands it’s in the lap of the Gods but we can’t do what we done today.
“I’m just baffled why we just folded. We’ve done well against the decent sides and we’ve not turned up in the ones that we’re supposed to win.”
Hayes & Yeading United: Milan Stojsavljevic, Osei Sankofa, Adam Everitt, Sam Cox, Tom Cadmore, Calum Butcher, Daniel Winshart, Sam Corcoran, Kudus Oyenuga (Brendan Cowell 86), Luke Williams (Josh Ekim 90), Tom Collins (John Goddard 71).
Subs: Adam Everiss, Brandon Hall
Goals: Sam Corcoran 68, Tom Collins 70, Kudus Oyenuga 84
Booked: Kudus Oyenuga 55, Daniel Winshart 75
Tonbridge Angels: Lee Worgan, Henry Muggeridge, Jon Heath, Lee Browning (Ashley Miller 52), Gary Elphick, Sonny Miles, Mark Lovell (Chris Piper 71), David Ijaha, Mikel Suarez, Frannie Collin, Nathan Green.
Subs: Danny Walder, Ollie Schulz, Scott Chalmers-Stevens
Goals: Frannie Collin 5, Mark Lovell 8
Booked: Nathan Green 59, Frannie Collin 66, David Ijaha 72, Ashley Miller 86
Attendance: 235
Referee: Mr Craig Hicks (Sutton, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Matthew Goldsmith (Hastings, East Sussex) & Mr Shaun Farrer (Redhill, Surrey)
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