Tonbridge Angels 3-2 Ramsgate. Main serves up six of the best

Watched by scouts from Premiership strugglers West Ham United, and more closer to home, Adrian Pennock and Phil Handford from Nationwide Conference South club Welling United, the 25-year-old former VCD Athletic and Cray Wanderers striker was Angels’ delight on such a freezing cold night.

From the first whistle the hosts made their intentions known during the first half, putting the Rams on the back foot and they thoroughly deserved a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break, courtesy of two trademark strikes from Main.

But Ramsgate increased their urgency during the second half and Stuart Vahid and Ollie Schulz took their own tallies to four for the season as the Thanet side fought back.

Tonbridge should have opened the scoring after 12 minutes of a dominant first half.

A cross from the left from Scottish winger Fraser Logan was flicked on by Ray Powell and Nick Barnes’ shot from eight-yards was beaten out by Ramsgate’s goalkeeper Paul Wilkerson.

Main and Powell then both dragged shots agonisingly past the foot of the far post from acute angles.

Ramsgate carved open their first chance of a poor first half showing from the Thanet side in the 23^rd minute when Irish goalkeeper Aaron Kerr smothered the ball at Shaun Welford’s feet.

But Tonbridge deservedly took the lead within a minute when Main scored with a trademark finish.

Barnes’ diagonal ball found the shy predator and from an acute angle from eight-yards rolled the ball past the advancing Wilkerson into the bottom far corner.

Ramsgate’s Dean Hill unleashed a long-range left-footed drive which was spilt by Kerr but he managed to smother the ball before Welford could pounce.

Main was presented with another chance when Barnes clipped the ball into his path but his right-footed half-volley from sixteen-yards rolled into the expectant arms of Wilkerson.

But Main doubled his account five minutes before the break, despite there being a hint of offside that lead to his goal.

Alex O’Brien, back in the first team following a bout of illness, played the ball through the Rams’ defence and the assistant on the dug-out side of the ground was several yards behind play.

But no flag materialised and Main latched onto the precise pass and calmly dinked the ball over Wilkerson from ten-yards.

Ramsgate finally tested Kerr as they came out for the second half with all guns blazing in an attempt to salvage something from the game.

Sixteen-goal striker Welford attempted to place the ball into the far corner but was thwarted by a fine save from Kerr, who managed to claw the ball out.

Moments later Lee Minshull dragged his shot across Kerr but agonisingly past the far post.

But the travelling contingent were celebrating in the 63^rd minute when a shot from Michael Yianni from 15-yards was stabbed over the line by Stuart Vahid from close range.

Powell sent Main on his way with a square pass from the half-way line and Main used his pace to burst towards goal.

Although he was forced wide, Main still managed to unleash a shot, which flashed past the far post with Powell inches away from steering the ball home.

Ramsgate were, however, reduced to ten men in the 71^st minute when Wilkerson back-kicked Powell after picking the ball up.

However, it appeared that Powell had initially kicked out at the goalkeeper, but Polegate referee Mr Grant Smith produced a straight red card to the Ramsgate stopper.

Main stepped up the blast the resulting penalty into the top left hand corner, giving stand-in goalkeeper, substitute midfielder, David Cory no chance, to score another well-deserved hat-trick.

Barnes earned himself a booking when he flattened Yianni on the edge of the penalty area on the right hand side with ten minutes remaining.

And that foul proved costly as Ollie Schulz came up field from his defensive duties to glance Hill’s left-footed curling free-kick past Kerr to give Ramsgate hope.

Cory pulled off a fine save when he stretched to tip Main’s shot around the post following a defence splitting pass from central midfielder Robert Kember.

Ramsgate almost snatched a point at the death but Kerr made a fine double save to thwart Yianni and Minshull.

“The big thing or me was the performance tonight,” Tonbridge Angels’ manager Tony Dolby said to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“I thought the first half was some of the best football we’ve played all year. The intensity, the attitude, the application was spot on.

“We made Ramsgate look very, very ordinary and there far from it and we thoroughly deserved the 2-0 lead at half-time.”

He added: “Second half I thought we took our foot off the pedal, didn’t see the game out, didn’t do the things that we asked and I think that’s typical of the inconsistency that we’ve shown over the last few weeks.”

Both managers, however, were puzzled over Wilkerson’s sending off.

Dolby’s take on the incident was: “It looked like he back kicked Ray Powell. Quite simply he caught the ball and I think Ray went passed him and it looked like he sort of Kung-Fu kicked him from behind type of thing.

“It was a bit surreal actually. I didn’t know what the referee was going to do but it looked quite bad from where I was but something and nothing with keepers.”

Ramsgate manager Jim Ward added: “I’m not really sure. I’ve seen his foot there but I didn’t see him make enough contact for him to get sent off but I’m a long way away from there. The referee was right on top of it - don’t know.”

Ward admitted to www.kentishfootball.co.uk that his side “weren’t at the races” during the first half.

He said: “Me, personally it wasn’t good to watch the first half. Second half was allright, first half we weren’t at the races.

“The game was finished at half-time, luckily for Ramsgate a lot of the Tonbridge lads, I felt, they thought the game was finished as well and they lost their tempo in the second half.

“But at the end of the day it was a fair result. Had my goalkeeper not been sent off it might have been different but might’s and maybe’s, buts and if’s don’t win football games.”