Tonbridge Angels 2-1 Ramsgate - Selling Rook was prudent housekeeping, says Tonbridge chairman

Tuesday 26th January 2010

TONBRIDGE ANGELS 2-1 RAMSGATE
Kent Senior Cup Second Round
Tuesday 26th January 2010
Stephen McCartney reports from Longmead Stadium

TONBRIDGE ANGELS chairman Steve Churcher has given manager Tommy Warrilow assurances that no more players will be sold or released by the end of the season.

The Longmead Stadium club announced this morning that record-signing Carl Rook, who arrived for a reported fee of £10,000 from Warrilow’s former club Horsham in December 2007, has signed for Ryman Premier League leaders Dartford for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Rook arrived following the record-transfer sale of Jon Main to AFC Wimbledon and the two strikers have departed with similar goalscoring records.

Main banged in 69 goals from 89 appearances (five as substitute), whilst Rook netted 64 from 82 appearances (11 as substitute).

Dartford boss Tony Burman, meanwhile, has received backing from his board to bring the striker to Princes Park.

“Tony Burman is pleased to announce that with support obtained from the board and co-chairman Dave Skinner and Bill Archer, an opportunity to sign Carl Rook has become available,” said a Dartford statement.

“Carl was potentially a player that Tony was hoping to look at in the summer months, however, an opportunity has presented itself and Tony feels that we would be silly to ignore this.

“Tony Burman is delighted to have negotiated this exciting signing and is exceptionally pleased that the board of directors gave full backing.”

However, Tonbridge Angels’ chairman has been forced to slash the playing budget again in the past month, with winger Steve Ferguson signing for Bromley on a free-transfer recently.

Mr Churcher, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk tonight, insists such moves are to prevent the club going bust.

“What we’ve got to do is this time of the year we have to look at the budget and make sure the long-term future of the club is secure,” he said.

“Our last league game was Boxing Day. We’ve had a month where we’ve had an awful lot of outgoings. We’ve paid the players all the way through that but we’ve got to balance the books.

“I’d like to think it’s more prudent housekeeping more than anything else and I don’t expect anyone else to leave at this stage.”

Warrilow’s playing budget was reduced during the close season as the club came to terms with the shock resignation of Nick Sullivan and Garry Pass last summer, after the pair transformed the club with improvements both on and off the pitch.

“We’ve kept Tommy in the loop all the way through,” said Mr Churcher. “It’s not an enjoyable thing to do. I would rather much carry on with a much bigger squad but the board and the benefactors have been very generous so far. It’s not a bottomless pit!

“I’m not planning to release any more at this stage. We’ve hoping what we’ve done will be enough to steady the ship and we carry on.

“The supporters have been really good with their donations this season and it helps us to do the first half of the year with more than less an unchanged squad from last year, albeit reduced.

“I just hope they carry on to do that and carry on supporting the club.”

A crowd of just 109 - the club’s lowest crowd of the season - witnessed a disappointing game as Warrilow’s men knocked Ramsgate out of the Kent Senior Cup on a bitterly cold night.

Striker Paul Booth and right-back Liam Baker both scored inside the opening half-an-hour, before Ramsgate substitute Kenny Pratt scored only his third goal of the season early in the second half.

Ramsgate created a couple of early chances through Sam Jones, whose efforts just flashed past the post, before Tonbridge broke the deadlock after eleven minutes.

Akwasi Edusei, wearing Rook’s vacated number ten shirt, turned in the box but was tripped by Jason Dolby, who gave away a soft penalty.

Up stepped Booth to drill his resulting right-footed penalty into the bottom right-hand corner, sending goalkeeper Sam Mott the wrong way, to score his 12th goal of the season.

Ramsgate, who play one division lower than their hosts, twice called goalkeeper Lee Worgan into making smart diving saves to thwart Gary Mickleborough and Andy Hadden, whose 30-yard drive lifted the atmosphere around the sparse stadium.

Left-back, Jon Heath, who was later forced off through injury, delivered a pin-point cross for Booth to head into Mott’s arms, before Tonbridge Angels doubled their lead after 28 minutes.

Youngster Chris Kinnear played an excellent pass for Baker down the right and after seeing Mott stranded off his line he struck a curling, looping cross-come-shot over the keeper and the ball caressed off the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line.

To their credit, the Ramsgate contingent gave their side excellent vocal support, and their side pulled a goal back inside the opening five minutes of the second half.

Teenager Gary Lockyer whipped in an excellent low curing free-kick into the Angels goal-mouth and substitute Pratt was on hand at the far post to sweep the ball past Worgan.

Just before the hour-mark, Jones slipped past Butler and found Pratt on the overlap and his low centre bounced off Scott Kinch, but Worgan prevented the midfielder scoring an own goal by grabbing hold of the ball.

Ramsgate almost forced an unwanted extra thirty minutes when Lockyer was released down the inside left channel and from the edge of the box his fierce drive was pushed aside by the diving Worgan, with 22 minutes remaining.

Warrilow, who was speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards, was pleased that his side progressed through to the quarter-finals of a much unloved cup competition.

“Obviously pleased to get a win with all the recent games being called off,” he said.

“I was pleased, especially with the side we had out. It was a good exercise seeing some off the youngsters.

“Ramsgate are always a difficult side to beat as we know. At 2-0 we knew they would go for it.

“Overall, I know a lot of people are going to take this competition seriously but it’s a cup and we just carry on as normal. We’d like to go as far as we can but we know the be all and end all is our league status but at the same time we’d like a little day out at the end of the season.”

Warrilow wishes Rook a successful career at Princes Park.

“What we built here last season, I was looking forward to keeping that together and pushing on but these things happen in football and I’ve said from day one there’s no point in moaning about it. The most important thing is the football club,” he said.

“We knew Dartford were interested, I’ve been speaking to Tony (Burman) about it. He was more interested for next year but the opportunity came to act now and we’ve sorted it all out and we wish Carl all the best.

“I’ve had him a lot longer than the two years that we had him here and I hope he does become a success at Dartford and carries on scoring goals.

“That should be the last of the players going out. We need to get some home games in and try and get some revenue up and then as a board we’ll keep strengthening as the season goes on and see if we can bring in one or two in but we’re down to 13 or 14 players.”

Ramsgate boss Jim Ward, who spoke to www.kentishfootball.co.uk first from the welcomed warmth of the boardroom, was pleased with the performance from his young side.

“I think it was a good exercise for us, there was a lot of young lads playing tonight,” said the Scot.

“We left a lot of the senior players out and I’m well pleased.”

Ward made four changes to the side that were held to a 1-1 draw by Horsham YMCA at the weekend (two more than Warrilow).

Unfortunately the Kent Senior Cup has been devalued by manager’s team selections, but Ward fought his corner.

He said: “I didn’t disrespect the Kent Senior Cup. We came here to play what we could only play tonight. The players that we left out, there were reasons. Warren Schulz was injured, Liam Quinn was working. Will Graham was injured, Simon Pettit. There were seven off them.

“I’m glad it wasn’t a league game tonight but the lads that came in, super, I’m very pleased with them, very pleased!”

Ward was full of praise for the 40 or so travelling Ramsgate supporters that made the trip west.

“They’re great aren’t they! Our supporters are the best in the land! There were 109 people here tonight, there must have been 40 of us.

“Where was everybody else? All the other Kent clubs are struggling but we’re hanging onto our own supporters.

“We’ve not been very successful but we’re on the verge of the play-off’s. We’re not exactly pulling up loads of trees. Our support was great. I’ve got a lot of admiration for them.”

Tonbridge Angels: Lee Worgan, Liam Baker, Jon Heath (Paul Butler 38), Scott Kinch, Liam Harwood, Sonny Miles, Chris Kinnear, Anthony Storey, Paul Booth, Akwasi Edusei (Paul Semekula 63), Jamie Cade.
Sub: Joe Adams.

Goals: Paul Booth 11 (pen), Liam Baker 28

Booked: Paul Semekula 71

Ramsgate: Sam Mott, Ollie Gray, James Gregory, Jason Dolby (Rhys Lawson 46), Grant Bagley, Ben Laslett, Curtis Winnett, Andy Hadden, Gary Mickleborough (Kenny Pratt 46), Gary Lockyer (Danny Twyman 76), Sam Jones.
Subs: Warren Schulz, Brett Mills.

Goal: Kenny Pratt 50

Booked: Gary Lockyer 32, Andy Hadden 37

Attendance: 109
Referee: Mr Andy Mead (Orpington)
Assistants: Mr Simon Finnigan (Maidstone) & Mr Rob Baker (Maidstone)