I know what's on the Maidstone United game, says Tonbridge Angels boss Tommy Warrilow

TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow says he wants to claim the local bragging rights against Maidstone United.



The Angels make the short trip to James Whatman Way on Tuesday night to face the Ryman League Division One South leaders in the Kent Senior Cup (Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com) Second Round.

Both Kent clubs sealed their passage into the FA Carlsberg Trophy First Round at the weekend, with the Stones beating Ryman Premier League highflyers Whitehawk 3-2 at home and the Angels beating Evo-Stik Southern Premier League side Hitchin Town 2-1 at Longmead Stadium.

Warrilow, who was marking his fifth anniversary in charge at Longmead Stadium, admitted he wasn’t pleased with his side’s first half performance, despite scoring through George Purcell and Chris Piper.

Central defender Ben Judge picked up two yellow cards and was sent-off early in the second half, before Hitchin Town lost Louis Lee for a straight red-card for pushing over Tom Davis inside the final eight minutes.

The Angels will travel to either Shortwood United or Merthyr Town in the First Round on Saturday, 24 November, whilst Maidstone United welcome Blue Square Bet (Conference) South leaders Salisbury City.

The Tonbridge Angels boss is looking forward to the game against bitter-rivals Maidstone United.

“They’ve got Conference South players in their side,” said Warrilow.  “Obviously a lot of my boys are over there and I think it’s going to be a difficult game.

“It’s a great draw for us. Maidstone away. Brilliant!  We know it’s going to be on. It saves our pitch from getting churned up and we’ll be going there to win a game of football.

“I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be a great night up there.”

When asked whether he is going to rotate his squad for the game against Jay Saunders’ side, Warrilow said: “I’ll probably see how my phone goes tomorrow with knocks and niggles.

“I’ve got a good squad now so if I do make changes people think it’s a weakened side, we’ll that’s what we’ve got to run with in this Conference South league.

“We’re picking a side to win a game of football as I’m sure Jay will.  Common sense has got to prevail but I know what’s on the game.

“The fans’ want the bragging rights. We’ve got the bragging rights pre-season and no-one said nothing about it!  That’s the thing! We went down there and won in pre-season and nothing was said so you can’t win all the time!

“It’s a game of football we want to win, every single game we play.”

Warrilow says he wants to guide the club to the Kent Senior Cup Final.

He said: “Any Cup, it’s a day out for the fans and the Kent Senior Cup Final is one of them.

“Everyone says they’re not that bothered about it until you get to the latter stages and then you realise there’s a little Cup Final around the corner and that’s what we’ll be looking to try and do because we always want to keep the season alive and if we’ve got a Cup Final at the end of it that would be great for the fans.”

The Angels, who have won three games on the bounce, are presently in eleventh-place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table, with 19 points from 15 games.

They welcome relegated side Hayes & Yeading United to Longmead Stadium next Saturday.

The west London outfit play their home games at Woking’s Kingfield Stadium and are a couple of places above the Kent outfit.

“I’m getting a report on them this week,” revealed Warrilow.

“I know they like to play football so I expect the same every week.  If I’ve got all the lads’ fit and raring to go we can’t do what we did in the first half against Hitchin.  No disrespect to Hitchin, at our Conference South level we’ll get punished so we’ve got to make sure we eliminate that.

“Second half we had so many chances to get shots off, instead of passing and we’ve got to get that out of that habit.

“Hayes & Yeading are a similar side (to Hitchin) who like to play.  Hopefully it’s a big crowd, hopefully it’s on the back of a win at Maidstone and everyone’s nice and noisy when we get back to our bread and butter.”

Visit Tonbridge Angels’ website: www.tonbridgeangelsonline.co.uk  

Maidstone United  v  Tonbridge Angels
Kent Senior Cup (Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com) Second Round
Tuesday 13^th November 2012
Kick Off 7:45pm
At The Gallagher Stadium, James Whatman Way, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LQ