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| Tuesday, 20 August, 2002: Dr Martens League. Tonbridge Angels 2-1 St Leonards The Angels secured their first victory of the season at Longmead on Tuesday night, beating St Leonards by two goals to one. Only a combination of one defensive lapse and some bad luck in front of goal prevented the scoreline being much more one sided. Nick Barnes was the main threat for Tonbridge, his pace and flair completely bewildering the St Leonards defence who were totally unable to cope with him. Barnes almost took the lead by himself when he carried the ball around four players before launching a spectacular shot towards goal, equalled by an excellent diving save by the visitors' 17 year old goalkeeper Peter Newstead. The impressive Newstead prevented another Tonbridge attack on 21 minutes, Scott Saunders finding space 25 yards out and swerving a shot which Newstead just got a fingertip to push the ball over the crossbar. He then stopped a low shot from Barnes to further frustrate the Angels. Barnes finally got his reward in the 43rd minute. He received the ball outside the area and sidestepped a couple of challenges before his shot was deflected over Newstead into the net. The man of the match nearly made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time but his powerful long range shot was well saved. Unfortunately old habits at Longmead seem to die hard, and Alan Walker needs to ensure his players wake up at the start of the second half. 60 seconds hadn't even passed since the restart before Tonbridge were picking the ball out of the net, a counter attack resulting in Dave Fisher putting the ball past Danny Harwood. Steve Portway was continuing to be a threat at the other end of the pitch, on 59 minutes a clever shot was only just deflected over by a fortunate goalkeeper. With St Leonards' Gavin Ramsden sent off for a second booking (and probably a fifth 'bookable offence') the job of taking the lead again was made a little easier, but this was countered by some questionable refereeing. The away side were forced into continually hacking down the superior Barnes, and were able to do so thanks to a ridiculous booking awarded to Barnes for diving! Finally Portway got his first competitive goal for Tonbridge, a classy finish as he turned on a long ball and calmly half-volleyed a lob over the goalkeeper on 75 minutes. Substitute Brendon Cass should have doubled the lead in the last minute but by then the result was safe. Man of the match: Nick Barnes. After some indifferent performances last season this has been a remarkable turnaround. Excellent. Report by: Dan |
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