Following a draw that neither side could argue with on Saturday, Tonbridge had another bite of the cherry against their lowly opponents on a freezing evening in front of a very low attendance. The Angels obliged with a more than comfortable win, setting up a 3rd round home clash against Walton and Hersham. With this important result, it meant that the visitors extended their unbeaten record to three on the trot.

The visitors’ intentions were clear right from the word go when young goalkeeper Lee Farrow fumbled a cross, allowing Danny Lye to open the scoring. Tonbridge continued to dominate and had the better of the play and on the quarter of an hour mark, Anthony Hogg was tripped inside the area after some silky skills down the left hand side. Brendan Cass struck the ball firmly, sending the keeper the wrong way, scoring the second goal of the evening. The home sides’ defence were somewhat absent and on the 22nd minute a drilled cross from John Farley was not defended properly allowing Cass to poke home his second of the night. Oxford’s problems worsened when Farrow again fumbled a high looping ball from Andy Larkin and when trying to recover the situation brought down the lively Cass giving away the second penalty of the night. Cass confidently stepped up to the spot, attempting for his second senior hat trick in Tonbridge colours. However, his penalty was drilled straight at the keeper who was able to save with his legs easily. Oxford did get a consolation goal just before half time when a corner was poorly defended. Striker Gareth McClearey was on hand to punish them. Oxford City were getting more and more into the game with Colin Simpson getting more into the match. He fired a shot from 25 yards that was expertly tipped over the crossbar by Jamie Turner in the Tonbridge goal. From the resulting corner the referee booked Simpson for trying to kick the ball out of the goalkeepers hand, with this being Simpson’s second bookable offence he was shown the red card. The score remained 3-1 at the interval.

The second half started with both teams trying to gain the upper hand. However, the visitors were the first to succeed when a long ball over the defence found Brendan Cass who lobbed the ball neatly over the indecisive keeper, completing his hat trick. The home side just couldn’t break down the Angels who looked a class above their opponents. City were unable to keep the ball and were tending to play the long ball game rather than spraying the ball across the park. A brief moment of brilliance came midway through the second period when the dynamic Gareth McClearey made a terrific run down the left flank and delivered a superb cross into the box finding the unmarked Mark Simms to head into the net. Tonbridge continued to have the better of the play. The game finished with the Angels having numerous chances through Luke Piscina, Hogg and Lye. With the result wrapped up, manager Tony Dolby introduced three youngsters, Tom Reeves, Tom Fuller and Matt Hollyoak to the match, giving them some experience. The result will be a confidence booster for the Angels as they prepare for league action once again, at home to Harrow Borough on Saturday.

Report by: Gary Cornwell