We know what we have to do, says Tonbridge Angels defender Sonny Miles

TONBRIDGE ANGELS defender Sonny Miles has challenged miss-firing strikers to score the goals to maintain the club’s Conference South status.



The Angels MUST WIN their last two league games of the season and pray that other results elsewhere fall in their favour or their three year stay in the Conference South will come to an end this week.

Tonbridge Angels held third-placed Bromley to a 1-1 draw at Longmead Stadium yesterday.

A mistake from goalkeeper Lewis Carey, 20, gifted his former club Bromley a ninth-minute lead, which was gleefully accepted by striker Bradley Goldberg, for his 23^rd goal of the season.

But Alex Teniola equalised in the 22^nd minute when he latched onto Philip Appiah’s through ball to roll his shot into the bottom far corner, to score his third goal for the club.

Carey made amends for his earlier blunder by making a string of fine saves to frustrate Mark Goldberg’s side, who sealed their place in the play-offs with two league games remaining.

Tonbridge Angels WILL be playing Ryman Premier League football in August if they fail to come away from Chelmsford City with all three points on Easter Monday.

The Essex side have gone three games without a win themselves and were defeated 3-1 at Staines Town yesterday. 

Chelmsford City are one place above the drop zone with 43 points, four points clear of the Angels.

Chelmsford have three games left to play, at home to Tonbridge on Monday, at home to Gosport Borough on Wednesday and finishing with a trip to Weston-super-Mare next Saturday.

Maidenhead United are sandwiched between the two on 39 points.  The Magpies host fourth-placed Ebbsfleet United tomorrow, before travelling to sixth-placed Havant & Waterlooville on Wednesday and completing their campaign with a trip to Bishop’s Stortford.

The Magpies have extended their winless run to three games.

Tonbridge, who have drawn their last three games and have now gone five games without a win, must turn their form upside down and beat Chelmsford City and Havant & Waterlooville at Longmead Stadium next Saturday and rely on those two teams above them to lose to avoid relegation.

It is last chance saloon for the Angels and goalscoring has been a worry for manager Tommy Warrilow this season. 

Mark Lovell, 30, tops the charts with ten goals from 31 starts and former Crystal Palace striker Nathaniel Pinney, 23, has been a big disappointment, with only five goals from 21 starts this season.

Miles, 23, who has played for Tonbridge Angels since the age of 11, does not want to see his beloved club suffer relegation.

“Unfortunately at this stage of the season you want three points (against Bromley), but it is what it is. We’re still unbeaten (in three games), it’s just a shame that we can’t turn these draws into wins but it shows we still believe in it.

“We can get out of it, but we’ve got to go to Chelmsford on Monday and get a win!

“We need two wins out of two.  I know Hayes won and Maidenhead lost but we need to pick up two wins and see where it leaves us.”

Chelmsford City aren’t used to looking over their shoulder in a relegation dog-fight, but Miles knows his team-mates must pull off The Great Escape.

“We go there, they’re a big club Chelmsford, there’s more pressure on them to get something against us,” said Miles.

“It’s a play-off final sort of thing but hopefully we go there and get something. We’re showing that we’re still together and we have to push on from there.

“We’re disappointed. We all know the situation we’re in but we went a goal down and we came back. Alex (Teniola) got one straight back near on. It shows that we’re still fighting. We just need to create a few more chances and put a few more in the back of the net.”

When asked whether there is nervous tension around the camp, Miles said: “It’s been strange.  I’ve never been involved in a relegation battle. I don’t know how many others have?

“It’s just the way it is at the moment. Every game’s a FA Cup Final.  You have to go out there and try and win it.”

Tonbridge Angels have never beaten their Kent rivals Bromley in six attempts in Conference South and suffered a 5-1 humiliation at Hayes Lane back in August.

“Earlier on in the season we’d probably had gone on and lost that game so it does show that we’ve come on, but maybe it’s just a little bit too late in the season to do anything about it, but we still believe in ourselves.

“We’re three unbeaten.  We need two wins and see how it pans out at the end.”

Miles is desperate to pop up with his third goal of the season tomorrow to keep the club in the Conference South.

“The fans are brilliant.  I don’t know how it looks from the side, the pitch out there is absolutely horrendous. It’s all over the place.  They probably haven’t seen the prettiest of football of late but all the time I’ve been here they’ve been brilliant.  They always stay on behind and clap me off at the end. Hopefully we can try and stay up for them.”

The game at Chelmsford City can be classed as the club’s biggest game since THAT thrilling 4-3 home win over Lowestoft Town in THAT Ryman Premier League Play-Off Final on 7 May 2011.

Four players still remain from that promotion winning side, Miles, Jon Heath, Danny Walder and Lee Browning.

Tonbridge Angels finished in ninth-place in their first season in the Conference South and finished in sixteenth-place last season, four points clear of the drop zone with 48 points from 42 games.

Miles said: “At the end of last season we weren’t really in it as much as we were always looking down, but it’s hard to describe really. We’ve just got to get on with it.

“We’ve got the potential here to pick up points and it’s frustrating more than anything.

“We’ve been defending really well recently. If you look at Staines, their home record is really good. We went there and got a clean sheet. It was quite comfortable. The same as Maidenhead, another clean sheet.

“I though against Bromley we defended really well.

“We need to turn some chances into goals.  It is a play-off final, same as the game after that.  They’re both absolutely huge games.”

Meanwhile, Phil Emblem, 65, who played 66 times for the club between 1983-85 and was manager for 427 games (1985-1988 and 1990-96), has been appointed as the club’s new commercial manager.

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

Chelmsford City  v  Tonbridge Angels
Skrill South
Easter Monday 21^st April 2014
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Melbourne Stadium, Salerno Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2EH