It was fun knocking Tonbridge out, says Hadden

ANDY HADDEN hailed the strike that ensured Ramsgate dumped their bogey side Tonbridge Angels out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy yesterday as his best ever, writes Stephen McCartney.

The 21-year-old unleashed an unstoppable 25-yard screamer to give the Rams a 3-1 lead at Longmead Stadium in the 88^th minute, before Rams goalkeeper Danny Twyman, bizarrely punched the ball into his own net to pull a second goal back for the stunned Angels.

Ramsgate fell behind to a Carl Rook penalty, inside the opening three minutes of the second half, when Jake Eastwood was penalised for handball, following a trademark long throw from Angels central defender, Leon Legge.

But Steffan Ball’s drive levelled the score after 63 minutes. Ramsgate took the lead when striker, Jay May, scored against his former club with eleven minutes left, taking advantage of Legge being off the field after treatment to get to Ball’s free-kick ahead of goalkeeper Lee Worgan to head home.

Hadden’s wonder-strike, however, was enough to put Ramsgate in tomorrow’s second qualifying round draw.

“I’m absolutely over the moon, it’s one of the best ones that I’ve hit ever in a proper game,” a delighted Hadden told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“I’ve hit a couple in training but never as good as that and it made us win in the end, which makes it all much sweeter.”

Hadden, relished his midfield dual against Tonbridge’s Anthony Storey.

“Tonbridge are a really good team and I found it hard to get the ball down, because it’s such a busy team and they’re always on your touch,” he said.

“I think we did very well, we battled hard. The first time they got the ball we went in there hard, trying to get at them and I think we did well today. We bossed it.

“They’re all good players out there, strong players, they all get stuck in. The centre of midfield was a real, good battle with their central midfielder (Storey). He’s strong, likes to get stuck in, basically the same as me and we complimented each other really.”

Ramsgate, currently fifth-from-bottom in the Ryman Premier League, haven’t won a game on home soil, so this away FA Carlsberg Trophy tie against Tonbridge Angels, who have now only lost on three occasions to Ramsgate, was a chance for the Thanet side to relax and enjoy themselves.

“Everyone’s been on a bit of a downer at the moment to be honest with you,” revealed the home-grown star.

“We want to have a bit of fun and I felt like today we’ve had a bit of fun and we can hopefully push on in the league.

“It’s so nice winning, the feeling of winning is better than anything. Well, there’s only one thing better than that and that’s scoring a goal, which I did today.

“But hopefully we can use the energy we had today into the next game - a bit of confidence.”

Ramsgate boss Jim Ward was pleased that his side had ended their barren record over the Angels - and hailed Hadden’s match-winning strike.

He said: “He scored one in pre-season and took the roof of the net off from 30-yards. It was unstoppable and I said ‘that’ll be the last one you get‘.

“He shouldn’t be around the edge of the box, that’s not his domain. He should be in front of our box, but to be fair to him. He’s a Ramsgate lad, he’s through and through.”

Yesterday’s win banked Ramsgate £2,300 in prize money from The Football Association and lifts the gloom hovering above Southwood Stadium.

“Let’s get a game at home and have a bit of fun and try and get the chairman a couple of bob and put a smile back on his face,” added Ward.

“Tommy Warrilow (Tonbridge Angels manager) will argue the fact that we shouldn’t have won today, but I’m sure we should have won.

“But that’s the first time that a close call has gone for us all season. The rub of the green does work, even though the referee tried to make a game of it today.”

The less said about referee, Mr Nigel Lugg the better. The Chipstead official has a reputation for issuing cards to Ryman League players, and booked eight players today - six going to Ramsgate, who will now face a fine.

Visit Ramsgate’s website: www.ramsgate-fc.co.uk