Tonbridge Angels 0-0 St Albans City - We never do nothing easy here, admits Tommy Warrilow

St Albans City’s left-sided midfielder Richard Graham, 33, picked up his first red-card of his career for an alleged elbow at Henry Muggeridge and referee Ashvin Degnarin produced a straight red card after two minutes and 54 seconds.

Despite their numerical advantage, Tonbridge Angels, who went into the game in sixteenth-place in The Skrill (Conference) South found their ninth-placed Calor (Southern) Premier League opponents in resilient form and the two sides must do it again at Clarence Park on Monday night.

“It’s obviously frustrating, but we’re still in the hat and that’s the main thing,” said Warrilow afterwards.

“I felt especially the second half we was applying a lot more pressure. There seemed to be a lot of huffs and puffs and goalmouth scrambles and balls going across it and headed off the line. We didn’t seem to get that break.

“I thought we had enough chances perhaps put one away but we didn’t and all the time you did that you run the risk – like we did against Sudbury in the previous round – of being hit on a sucker punch but today we didn’t and we’re in the hat. 

“Obviously we could do without the game (on Monday) but at the same time the most important thing is to stay in the competition.”

St Albans City faced an uphill struggle after fourth-official Gareth Mays spotted Graham’s alleged elbow at Muggeridge, who had released the ball to Chris Piper on the overlap, as the home side pressed for an early breakthrough.

“Henry’s gone by the lad and he’s elbowed him,” claimed Warrilow, whose side came away from leaders Eastleigh with a shock 2-1 win after having David Ijaha red-carded after 100 seconds.

“I see it, luckily enough the fourth official’s seen it and that’s why he got sent-off!

“It’s like David Ijaha last week. I said straight away it’s a red-card, he’s jabbed him out. The lad’s got caught so it shouldn’t have been no different. It was definitely a red-card.

“Look at last week, we played against ten-men and won, so today we’ve played against ten-men and drawn. The team last week, no disrespect, were a quality outfit.

“Today, I don’t think we got enough second balls when the first one went into the box, around the edges to get shots off.

“For them it’s a great result because they’ve gone down to ten-men but I think the second half we applied a lot more pressure.”

Warrilow added: “We had it the week before so we know what teams do. To be fair to them they kept the two boys up with one floating off so we couldn’t go three at the back.

“I thought we could have stretched the pitch a bit more and got better quality in from wide areas. As the game went on second half we was huffing and puffing a lot more but we had to be careful because as you see at the end you can get done by a sucker punch.”

But it was St Albans City that looked likely to score during the first half as Tonbridge Angels failed to find a way past former Welling United Ben Martin and his central defensive partner Tom Ward.

Martin clipped a free-kick from the edge of the centre circle inside his own half and the ball was flicked on to David Keenleyside, who struck a right-footed half-volley straight at former Bromley goalkeeper Lewis Carey after thirteen minutes.

A total number of thirteen fouls were made (Tonbridge committing seven) during the opening 20 minutes as the first half lacked any tempo or quality.

The home side created their first opening after 21 minutes with a free-kick routine straight from the training ground.

Lee Browning, who started the game in a five-man midfield before partnering Shamir Goodwin up front after Graham saw red, played a clever pass into Sonny Miles inside the box, who flicked the ball into Goodwin’s path, but goalkeeper Paul Bastock read the move and smothered the ball on the edge of the six-yard box.

Carey, who after the game kept his second clean sheet in his third game, kept his eyes on the ball after James Comley drilled a left-footed swerving drive from 25-yards, which the keeper beat away before gathering at the second attempt.

Tonbridge Angels’ best chance arrived in the 32^nd minute when they finally called 43-year-old keeper Bastock into action.

Goodwin’s hooked pass was headed forward by Browning, who burst down the right flank before sliding the ball in behind the St Albans City defence to put Goodwin through on goal.

Bastock dived to his right to block the shot with his outstretched right arm and Nathan Green couldn’t steer the rebound home from an acute angle and took a whack from his marker.

“We wanted to play Browno in and around Sham and getting him dropping in but he’s an intelligent player Lee.  In the first half he dropped into good areas, which made holes for Sham, which we found on a few occasions.

“I just felt my other two midfielders should have joined in a little bit more to give us some more bodies in the box, but as the second half went on, I was only looking one way, but every now and then they were on an off counter-attack, which we’ve got to be careful off.”

Goodwin impressed up front with some classy touches for Tonbridge Angels and after cutting inside his initial shot was blocked before he stroked a deflected shot into Bastock’s gloves from 25-yards.

Tonbridge Angels started with three former Saints – right-back Piper, central midfielder Ijaha and central defender Gary Elphick.

Ijaha was never going to score against his old club, hooking a right-footed half-volley wide of the left-hand post when left unmarked on the edge of the box after Green’s corner from the right came out to him.

St Albans City striker Mark Nwokeji – who was approach by Warrilow during the summer – latched onto Keenleyside’s forward pass and his right-footed drive was pushed around the post by Carey, who made a fine diving save low to his right.

Seventeen-goal striker John Frendo endured a frustrating afternoon for the visitors’ hitting a speculative left-footed drive high over the bar from 30-yards after he was gifted the ball.

Phillip Appiah swept the ball out to the left and Muggeridge cut inside before curling a right-footed shot around the far post from 30-yards.

But St Albans City almost snatched the lead inside stoppage time.

Ram Marwa’s free-kick was flicked on by Frendo and the ball dropped to Nwokeji, who hooked a shot towards the near post, which was saved smartly by Carey.

“Lewis made a great save bang on half-time,” added Warrilow.  “That was from a long ball, two lads going for the same ball and losing a header and not picking up the runner. We were always aware of that, you can tell they’re a tall side and set-pieces are always going to be a problem for us.”

But Tonbridge Angels put in a flat first half performance much to the frustration of a quiet Longmead Stadium faithful and their boss.

Warrilow said: “I said at half-time, the pitch looks nice from here but you can’t run on the pitch and have too many touches on the ball so again we needed to move the ball a lot quicker.

“I felt we played very tight instead of spreading out and dropping off and making the pitch bigger.  We made it a little bit easier to play against but we were patient. I thought we defended well but the final balls in sometimes in the second half, I thought we could have picked somebody out.”

Warrilow added: “We just said to relax. The atmosphere was a little bit quiet I thought and we sort of had to up it a bit and I thought we did that.

“I think we had enough chances to win it in the second half.”

St Albans City created the opening chance inside seven minutes of the second half.

Comley chipped a right-footed free-kick into the penalty area and Ward out-jumped Sonny Miles but his downward header bounced into Carey’s gloves at the near post.

St Albans City should have done better when a decent opportunity was created just past the hour mark.

Comley swung in a corner from the left and Martin ghosted into the six-yard box to plant his header over the bar.

But Tonbridge Angels started to raise their urgency levels for the final 25 minutes.

They should have broken the stalemate when Goodwin latched onto a ball over the top of the defence but his right-footed drive forced Bastock to dive to his left to turn the ball behind for a corner.

Tonbridge Angels turned defence into attack five minutes later when Comley swung in another corner from the left, which sailed over his team-mates heads and Tonbridge substitute Luke Blewden played the ball out of defence and ran some 30-yards before releasing Ijaha on the outside.

Ijaha made a run towards the Saints’ penalty area before drilling a right-footed drive, which forced Bastock to dive low to his right to make a smart save.

The otherwise quiet Frendo almost hit the home side on the break when he went on a twenty-yard run before stroking his right-footed shot towards goal, which forced Carey to make a smart low save to his left.

Warrilow was pleased that Frendo didn’t add to his impressive tally.

He said: “That’s a plus. Frendo is a good player but we know what the front two are all about. I spoke to Mark Nwokeji in the summer but I couldn’t get near him! It’s the worst kept secret that Frendo is on top dollar there but you can see he’s a quality player, but he didn’t score today so defensively I’m very pleased.”

Tonbridge Angels continued to press but they failed to score that elusive goal to avoid Monday night’s replay in Hertfordshire.

Green whipped in a cross from the right but Elphick rose to head across goal and past the far post as the frustration grew.

Tonbridge Angels’ chairman Steve Churcher said he will deduct £300 out of the away club’s share of the gate receipts for vandalism to Hadlow College’s advertising board, which was punched off the perimeter fence by raucous travelling supporters behind Carey’s goal.

Tonbridge Angels’ squandered late chances to win the game – but they lacked the killer punch as they kept St Albans City on the back foot.

Browning’s through ball released Goodwin through on goal but the striker, who has just extended his loan spell from Championship outfit Brighton & Hove Albion, lashed his shot over the top of the near post with only Bastock to beat.

Warrilow is, however, pleased to have a chance of working with the eighteen-year-old striker, who has scored four goals in six games for the Kent club.

“He’s worked hard today. He had a couple of chances, one’s hit a bobble and the other one he’s spooned.

“He worked hard. His pace is frightening, so I know as an ex defender you’re going to drop off a little bit more, which gives the midfield boys like Browno room to exploit but he’s done well for us and he had a good game again today.

“Once somebody gets four goals in five games but we’ve managed to keep him for another month. We’ll get on with that but at the end I’ll be speaking to Sham but he’s contract’s up at Brighton this year and he wants to make sure he’s not forgotten down there.

“He’s very well thought off. I know Brighton have been to every single game, they was here again today and if the lad keeps working hard – he’s showing a different side to his game here, the physical side. I’m sure he’s got a very good future in the game.”

Browning’s free-kick caused mayhem inside the Saints’ penalty area and left-back Jon Heath saw his header cleared off the line and Elphick’s resulting header was caught by Bastock.

Warrilow felt Heath should have broken his goalscoring duck in his 280^th game for the club.

“I thought he could have put a little bit more power on that one! It’s sticking up, he’s got to head that back across with a bit more power on it and the boy’s headed it off the line.  It’s just not to be (his first goal for the club).”

Another defender could have won it for Tonbridge Angels, but Miles rose to plant his header across Bastock, who pulled off a brilliant save, diving full length to his right to claw the ball away.

But St Albans City almost snatched victory at the death but Heath took one for the team, injuring himself making a saving tackle inside the six-yard box to thwart Saints’ substitute James Kaloczi, who was about to pull the trigger at the death.

Warrilow added: “At the end there was a great tackle by Jon Heath and that’s how easy it is to lose games and we get knocked out!”

Tonbridge Angels were held to a 1-1 draw by AFC Sudbury in the last round, before coming back from Suffolk with a 1-0 victory, thank to Ryan Watts’ winner.

The Angels have now stretched their unbeaten run to four games with this draw.

Warrilow said: “I’m not happy, but we’ve not lost again. It’s four games and we’ve just got to be a little bit patient. It’s not the best out there. It’s never, never going to be pretty, pretty football. We’ve just got to play the game the right way, especially in the next month or so when the pitches are going to get heavy.

“We’re disappointed not to do the job today, but at the same time we could have quite easily had gone out at the end there and Heathy’s put a great tackle in. We’re in the hat and that’s the most important thing.”

Both sides will know who they will face in the Second Round in two weeks’ time because the draw will take place at Wembley Stadium just hours before Monday night’s replay.

Warrilow said: “We never do nothing easy here, so if we’re going to do it at least we’re going to know what the outcome is.

“There will be a bit more spice on the game, hopefully, and deal with it on Monday night.

“We’ve just got to go up there, work hard, put a bit of quality in the box. It will be won by us doing our jobs properly.”