Tonbridge Angels 1-0 Kingstonian - My midfield three were outstanding, praises Warrilow

Saturday 27th February 2010

TONBRIDGE ANGELS 1-0 KINGSTONAIN

Ryman Premier League

Saturday 27th February 2010

Mike Green reports from Longmead Stadium

THEIR goal scoring talisman may have departed up the A21 for the Ryman Premier League Champions elect, but in Paul Booth, the Tonbridge Angels still have a high class striker who may yet propel them up the table in the closing weeks of the season as for the second weekend on the trot, second placed Kingstonian return home from Kent pointless.

Seven days ago, it was Cray Wanderers – this week it was the Angels who secured the three points with a piece of pure Booth magic which shone out of a rough tough 90 minutes which Tonbridge just about deserved to edge despite the “efforts” of referee Saily who at times was the unwanted centre of the 429 crowd’s attention.

Carl Rook's departure to Dartford may have been a surprise and left the Angels with a huge hole to fill. But nothing should take anything away from the goal that won the three points and really deserved to win any game.

It came after only 11 minutes. A long ball forward was flicked on by Meshach Nugent for Booth who seemed to be going nowhere until suddenly unleashed a terrific 30 yard drive that arrowed into the bottom right hand corner of Rob Tolfrey’s net giving the Kingstonian keeper no chance whatsoever for his 16th goal of the season and his fourth in his last six games. Dare this reporter say "who’s Carl Rook?"

Speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk after the game, a delighted Tommy Warrilow paid tribute to his goal scorer. “The goal was all what Boothy’s all about,” crowed the Angels boss.

“He’s too long in the tooth to change his game, and you know that if a chance falls to him he’ll put it away. He did it last week at Carshalton and he’s done it again today.

“Unfortunately some of our other chances didn’t fall to him today and if they had of done we’d have won the game much more comfortably.

“That said I though that Shack (Meshach Nugent) ran himself into the ground and was up against an experienced defender in the shape of Francis Duku, and again because he got booked in the first half he had to get a bit careful and he’ll get better as will Jerahl Hughes who I thought today was terrific.”

Warrilow went on, “Delighted to get the points today. It was never going to be an easy game – I thought the pitch held up very well – but I’m delighted with the boy’s efforts.

“I thought it was a bit of a messy game with a lot of appealing and a loss of discipline – we were getting wrapped up in things that we shouldn’t have!

“In the second half we just had to make sure that we didn’t do what we did against Dartford, when we were a goal up at the break and then lost 4-1. We didn’t and so I’m delighted!

“To watch it must have been an edge of your seats ride but we’ve had more than enough chances to kill the game off, and I was worried that it would come back to haunt us. But thankfully today it didn’t!

“I don’t remember Lee Worgan really having a shot to save, and whilst we’ve got away with a couple of sloppy bits of defending particularly in the first half, we’ve won the game and deserved the result.”

It took Booth’s wonder strike to kick start Kingstonian into the game, but when the did breach an Angels back line brilliant marshalled by Marc Cumberbatch and Liam Harwood, the ball fell to the luckless Simon Huckle who left his shooting boots in Surrey.

On 16 minutes the midfielder extended Worgan away to his left with a shot that seemed to be going wide anyway, before just past the half hour he really should have equalised.

Kingstonian broke down the left, and when the ball was played back to Bobby Traynor, the K’s top scorer was denied by a fine Worgan block and with Worgan on the ground and the goal at his mercy, Huckle cleared the bar from ten yards!

As the first half ran out of time, tempers began to fray with tackles becoming more and more niggly, and so it continued at the start of the second half. That said, on 61 minutes Kingstonian should have scored.

After Cumberbatch denied Luke Hickie, a corner wasn’t cleared properly and as it fell to John Fletcher three yards out, the first half central defender substitute skied the ball high over the bar from 3 yards!

Seconds later the ugly side of the game surfaced when Lee Hall was shown a straight red card for an ugly tackle on Minshull, which left the Angles midfielder with stud marks down the back of his right leg.

Minshull himself had been walking a disciplinary tight rope, but Hall’s over the top challenge has no place in football and the visitors found themselves down to ten men as well as being a goal down!

The Tonbridge boss agreed with the dismissal and said, “The sending off was right as you’ve just got to look at the stud marks down the back of Lee’s (Minhulls) leg, but there was far more incidents going on before that that went unpunished and if I’m completely honest I thought the referee was lenient today on many occasions but he got the sending off right.”

Yet as often happens the game became far more open with the dismissal as chances came at both end – Bobby Traynor blazed well wide when well placed when he should have done better whilst at the other end substitute Adam Burchell was denied by a really brave block by keeper Tolfrey after Nugent played him in.

Indeed Burchell’s introduction was a bold move by Warrilow as the Angels went to seal their win by drafting in the extra striker.

Liam Harwood then drilled in a free kick wide from the right, which caused chaos in the box before being cleared, before Minshull was denied when put through by a sensational through ball from Jamie Cade.

Kingstonian now had no real answer and the Angels skipper Anthony Storey hit a 25-yard screamer after a one two with Booth, which was spectacularly turned aside by Tolfrey, before Burchell did find the net only to be beaten by the offside flag.

At the final whistle, Kingstonian’s frustration boiled over again as Luke Hickie was shown a red card by Referee Saily presumably for something that he said to the Enfield official as the two met to supposedly “exchange” pleasantries after the game!

Undoubtedly the Angels win owed a lot to their midfield engine room, as Warrilow paid tribute to his midfield three.

He said: “I thought Stoz (Anthony Storey), Mins, and Kinchy (Scott Kinch) were outstanding and ran themselves into the ground as they do every week. Stoz gets some stick down here but the work rate he puts in every week if brilliant. Lee Minshull will always do his box-to-box stuff, and Kinchy gives us a different gear for us – we brought him in to break things up for us and that’s what he’s done so far!

“I played a lopsided midfield today without any natural left sided winger, which created some places which we exploited in the first half, but with the players that we’ve got we’ll probably have to change systems with the personnel that we’ve got now in the games that we’ve got coming up starting at Margate on Tuesday.”

Tonbridge Angels: Lee Worgan, Phil Starkey, Jon Heath, Lee Minshull, Marc Cumberbatch, Liam Harwood, Scott Kinch, Anthony Storey, Meshach Nugent (Jamie Cade 86), Paul Booth, Jerahl Hughes (Adam Burchell 72).

Subs: Sam Long, Paul Butler, Liam Baker

Goal: Paul Booth 11

Booked: Meshach Nugent 34, Anthony Storey 90

Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Lee Hall, Bashiri Alimi, Max Hustwick (John Fletcher 32), Francis Duku, Simon Huckle, Luke Hickie, Maurice Harkin (Dean Lodge 68), Bobby Traynor, Andrew White (Carl Wilson– Denis 46), Christian Jolley.

Subs: Matt Gray, Craig Bradshaw

Booked: Francis Duku 55

Sent off: Lee Hall 63, Luke Hickie (after final whistle)

Attendance: 429

Referee: Mr Oleksanr Saily (Enfield)

Assistants: Mr Thomas Brookes (Dagenham) & Mr R Kiplkasa (Stock)