Last night won't be forgotten, says Tonbridge Angels' assistant manager Barry Moore

TONBRIDGE ANGELS assistant manager Barry Moore says he is looking for a reaction from his beleaguered side against AFC Sudbury on Saturday.

The Angels suffered an embarrassing humiliation at the hands of Billericay Town in The Alan Turvey Trophy (Sponsored by Robert Dyas) Final on the artificial pitch at Carshalton Athletic last night.

The less said about Billericay Town’s 8-3 win the better but a changing room video with Billericay’s owner/manager Glenn Tamplin ordering his highly-paid players to form a circle, close their eyes and sing R Kelly’s The World’s Greatest before screaming his pre-written script at his players was even more embarrassing than Tonbridge’s performance.

A lot has been written about Billericay Town since his arrival at the Essex club – but no one likes arrogance at any level of the non-league game.

The World’s Greatest? You’re sitting in TENTH-PLACE in the Ryman Premier League table, the SEVENTH-TIER of English football, with three games to go for crying out loud!

Back in the real world, thank god Billericay Town is in Essex and not in my coverage area, Tonbridge Angels’ manager Steve McKimm, Moore and the management team must pick up their players’ for the visit of AFC Sudbury.

The Suffolk side are fighting tooth and nail to avoid relegation and arrive at Longmead Stadium sitting second-from-bottom with 44 points and they are four points adrift of safety going into the last three games of the season.

Tonbridge Angels, meanwhile, are seventh, with 68 points, a point behind the play-off zone and “The World’s Greatest” are lagging behind two points behind McKimm’s men.

“Sudbury’s going to be a challenge, they’ll be scrapping,” said Moore.

“Can I erase last night from my memory bank? No, No I can’t. I will erase it until Saturday morning.  I will think about it until Saturday morning and then I will have to erase it then because we’ve got a big game on Saturday.”

The Angels then travel to Folkestone Invicta on Easter Monday.  Neil Cugley’s side are two places and one point above the drop zone.

“Folkestone on Monday in mileage, it’s not local but it’s local in Kent terms. Neil’s side will never give up, Folkestone never will.

“They’ll be workmanlike and they’ll be dangerous.”

Moore wants his players to hurt so much that they claim the nine points to grab a play-off place and in the place of Billericay Town will make it even sweeter!

“I hope so, I really do hope so. If they’re not (hurting) I’ll be extremely disappointed and they’re not the sort of people (players’) we don’t want around the football club.

“If they’re not hurting after that I can’t see what the excuse will be while they aren’t.

“If we win the last three games, last night won’t be forgotten, but we get in the play-offs which we set out to do.  It’s been a challenge for us this year but if we win all three, which we’re capable of doing, with the right mentality and the right focus, if we win those, and we get into the play-offs, it’s anybody’s.”

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

Tonbridge Angels  v  AFC Sudbury
Ryman Premier League
Easter Saturday 15^th April 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Darenth Avenue, Longmead Stadium, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3JF