We've come a long way in a short time, admits Dolby

Tony Dolby admitted his Tonbridge Angels team lost to a good Margate side yesterday, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Thanet side climbed to the summit of the Ryman Premier League table with a 2-1 win at the Betterview Longmead Stadium.

Angels’ prolific hit-man Jon Main scored his 18^th goal of the season to equalise Jay Saunders’ 16^th minute bicycle kick opener before Paul Abbott’s freak goal from 45-yards gave Margate the deserved win ten minutes before the break.

The defeat, their fourth in 15 games, leaves Tonbridge in seventh place in the table - four points adrift of a play-off spot.

“I thought it was a bit of a game of two halves,” Dolby told www.kentishfootball.co.uk yesterday.

“We didn’t really start very well and let Margate in to score a decent first goal and then the second half I thought we came at them, obviously chasing the game, and took it to them a little bit but couldn’t break them down.”

Margate warmed up to their their trip to Tonbridge with a midweek win at Bromley, who were unbeaten at the time.

“I went to watch them on Tuesday night at Bromley,” revealed Dolby. “I knew they’d be strong, well organised, very comfortable on the ball and I thought I’d knew where we could exploit them with our pace, energy and tempo.

“We just didn’t get out of the blocks as fast as I’d like but in saying that, I mean we still caused them problems and still had a couple of chances to equalise.

“But make no mistake about it Margate are a very strong side and we’ve come a long way in a short space of time so I can’t be too disheartened about today’s loss.”

Tonbridge welcome highflying Nationwide Conference outfit Gravesend & Northfleet in the first round of the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday night before travelling to East Thurrock United next Saturday.

Dolby will do a head count before he names his side that will turn out against the Fleet.

“There’s a few lads in the treatment room,” said Dolby. “We’ve been missing three players today, we were missing three last week and got an excellent result at Wimbledon but we will take stock of that over the next 48 hours we’ve got Gravesend down here in a Kent Cup match on Tuesday so hopefully we’ll have a full squad to choose from.

“It depends on the injuries,” he said. “We haven’t got a massive squad so we’ll take stock to see who we’ve got available and see if we can put a stronger team out as we can.”

Dolby, whose been feeling under the weather recently, hinted that fans might see him back in the team on Tuesday night.

Fans have told the 32-year-old manager that they have been missing his precise left-footed set-pieces.

He said: “I haven’t actually been quite well these last couple of weeks so we’ll see. It might be worth me getting out there and doing a bit.”

Despite not looking forward to their trip to Rookery Hill, the home of East Thurrock United, Dolby demands three points in Essex next weekend.

“It’s a winnable game,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy down there. It’s not a very nice place to go to.

“The pitch is not the best but we’ll give it everything we’ve got and hopefully we can bounce straight back.”

Visit Tonbridge Angels' websites: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk & www.tonbridgeafc.co.uk/forum

Visit Gravesend & Northfleet's website:  www.gnfc.co.uk

Tonbridge Angels v Gravesend & Northfleet
John Ullman Kent Senior Cup First Round
Tuesday 28^th November 2006
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Betterview Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3JF