Kentish Football 
Whoever’s got their shirt on the day is playing in a Cup Final, says Alex O'Brien
Friday 15th April 2011
TONBRIDGE ANGELS’ assistant manager Alex O’Brien says leading goalscorer Frannie Collin will not be risked for the game against Carshalton Athletic at Longmead Stadium tomorrow, writes Stephen McCartney.
The 21-goal former Dover Athletic striker turned his ankle immediately after scoring the Angels’ first goal in their 3-0 win at Hendon last Tuesday night and has been receiving treatment from pyshio’s Melvin Slight and Tina Jenner on a daily basis, but he won’t feature against the Robbins tomorrow.
“We’re assessing his ankle every day really,” O’Brien said at lunchtime today. “Melvin and Tina are looking at him every day and trying to get the swelling down and see how bad it is. He’s got a big bruise on his ankle and it’s very swollen.”
When asked how long the former Chatham Town and Gillingham ace will be on the sidelines, O’Brien admitted he doesn’t know at this present time.
He said: “That’s the thing, we’ve been hit with players’ suffering injuries and we’re still trying to digest the length of how long these players are going to be out.
“Until the swelling goes down, we won’t have an estimation of when he’s going to come back. Yesterday he was putting a little bit of weight on it, which was good, but it’s still very early days.”
It has been a mixed seven days for the Angels as they were held to a 3-3 draw at home to Tooting & Mitcham United last Saturday, but they bounced back at Vale Farm, Wembley, with a 3-0 win over Hendon in midweek.
“We were a little bit disappointed with the Tooting game,” added O’Brien. “We thought that we should have killed them off when we had the chance to.
“But Tooting, give them their due, they came at us and they gave us a hard fought game.
“A point is a little bit disappointing, we felt we should have got more out of the game, but it wasn’t to be.
“But we then went to Hendon on the Tuesday and not being too arrogant, we were back. We got to the ball down and played and passed it well and created and took those opportunities.
“We kept a clean sheet and that’s how we want to play our football - clean sheets are important.”
Tonbridge Angels have kept five clean sheets in their last seven games and O’Brien said, “A lot gets overlooked but Worgs (Lee Worgan), I think, is probably the best goalkeeper - he is the best goalkeeper in the league. You’ve got Ben Judge, who is absolutely phenomenal, who goes about his business. You’ve got Sonny Miles, who has stepped up to the plate and he’s an old fashioned centre half - he loves heading and he can play.
“And then you’ve got Heathy (Jon Heath), John Beales, who has been injured, Danny Walder, who can play left or right - Jake Beecroft.
“Defensively as a side we’re ok, but we just have crazy games like the Tooting one where three goals came from our mistakes, but the third Tooting goal was fantastic. No defenders’ in the world are going to save that!”
O’Brien, who managed Chatham Town for only one season last term, added, “Overall, defensively we’re ok. We’re very lucky to have some of the defenders that we have at the club.”
The Angels are in fourth place in the Ryman Premier League table with 67 points and they now have only have four league games left to play - Carshalton Athletic at home tomorrow; a trip to surprise package Harrow Borough seven days later; at home to Hastings United on Easter Monday, before completing their campaign away to Horsham on 30 April.
Tonbridge resident O‘Brien said: “It’s the time of the season where we need three points. We need to be in that pack because this year, for some reason, it’s really, really tight.
“We dropped two points the other week against Tooting and we slipped down to eighth and we won in the week and went back into the play-off’s.
“You need to get wins now. It’s the time of the season where you need to win games and hopefully go into the play-off’s with these wins behind you.
“With this league it’s who wants it on the day. It’s who wants it first, who takes their chances, who defends for their lives. It’s all about that now. Whoever’s got their shirt on the day is playing in a Cup Final.”
O’Brien urges the Longmead faithful to give their side their usual passionate support from the terraces for the business end of the season.
“They’ve been brilliant. I know Tom’s been quoted in the paper saying how good they are. They’ve been a credit to the club, home and away. The away support at Lowestoft was fantastic and places like Hendon, was brilliant.
“The home support is always there. It’s our job to make sure that they’re cheering and they’ve got something to cheer about. What I have noticed this year is they’re getting behind the team and they want us to do well. It’s a 12th man.”
It’s about time a club of Tonbridge Angels’ stature join the likes of Bromley, Dartford, Dover Athletic, Ebbsfleet United and Welling United in Blue Square Bet South.
O’Brien said: “We’ve got four games to win and then we’ll see where we are. We have to play, hopefully, two huge, massive games. The club has done it (played in the play-off’s), we’ve experienced it before, playing Dover at home and it was a fantastic day and there the sort of days you want as a club.”
Visit Tonbridge Angels’ website: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk
Tonbridge Angels v Carshalton Athletic
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 16th April 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3JW
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd