I never count my chickens - we have to get there first, says Tonbridge Angels boss Tommy Warrilow

TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow says his side will have to adapt to the weather conditions if they are to beat Bishop’s Stortford in their FA Carlsberg Trophy replay on Tuesday night, writes Stephen McCartney.
The Angels struggled to cope with the windy conditions up in Hertfordshire on Saturday and came away from Woodside Park with a 1-1 draw in the Third Qualifying Round clash.

Reflecting on the game against the Blue Square Bet North strugglers, Warrilow, 47, said:  “Scrappy to be honest, but obviously very, very windy.  I think a majority of teams have gone down that route this weekend with weather conditions and we got involved in a long ball game, whacking balls’ up the pitch and we never got it down.

“First half we done the hard bit.  We were the better side and the second half I thought we’d be a little bit shorter and go on to win the game but they hit us on the counter-attack, which was against the run of play in my opinion and we thoroughly deserved to at least come away with a draw.

“But we got a little too excited and everyone wanted to join in and everyone wanted to score and when you do that it leaves you vulnerable at the back and at the end they had a chance where they could have nicked it at the end, but I’m hoping tomorrow night we’ll be looking to address that and get through to the next round.”

Wet conditions are expected to engulf Tuesday night’s replay at Longmead Stadium and Warrilow wants his side to cope with the conditions to progress through to the First Round.

If they do then the Angels will travel to their former Ryman Premier League rivals Carshalton Athletic on 10 December.

“Thankfully we haven’t had the dreaded snow yet but we have to turn up,” said Warrilow.

“Once we saw a massive, great big wind coming down the pitch on Saturday it sort of changed the way we approached the game so tomorrow night at our place hopefully it won’t be as windy but we’re expecting some conditions like that at this time of the year but not the extremes we had on Saturday but hopefully not as windy!”

Warrrilow urges the club’s 12^th man to get behind their team tomorrow night to ensure they get past Ian Walker’s side.

“They’ve been fantastic the last three games,” praised Warrilow.  “We’ve been to Sutton, Truro and Stortford on Saturday and they’ve been like home games, especially when we went to Truro.  To see the amount of fans that have travelled there to enjoy the weekend.

“I’ve got not one bad comment about the fans, they’ve been fantastic and hopefully we can get a win and go on and get a win at Carshalton if we win tomorrow night.”

But before the club can start planning their trip to Colston Avenue in the next round, Bishop’s Stortford have to be defeated first and Warrilow revealed he will make “one or two changes” for the replay.

“I never count my chickens,” added Warrilow.  “I thought that after last year when we drew (Combined Counties League side) Guildford City in the FA Cup (and lost at home).

“Like I said from day one we just have to make sure we do everything right in our camp and we’ll prepare the right way.

“If we start thinking they’re a league below, we’re going to come unstuck, like a couple of sides did this weekend.

“But we have to get there first!”

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

Tonbridge Angels  v  Bishop’s Stortford
FA Carlsberg Trophy Third Qualifying Round Replay
Tuesday 29^th November 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3JW