The Angels continued their amazing run of form with a 3-2 win at high-flying and high-spending Fisher Athletic. The London side boast a non-league ‘Dream Team’ including the likes of Leroy Griffiths, Anthony Riviere and the ex-Angel Hamid Barr, but were outclassed on the day by a Tonbridge side who are currently on top of their game. With the visitors fielding no less than five former Fisher players there was no love lost between the two sides from the start but once the home side had been rattled by Tonbridge’s second goal on 28 minutes there was no way back, and it is the Angels who progress into the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round to face Worcester City away.
It seemed that Tonbridge would take a shock lead early on, when after three minutes both the referee and nearby linesman missed a clear handball in the Fisher penalty box. Reality then set in for the enthusiastic away crowd two minutes later, Barr weaved round a defender on the edge of the area and firing past Jerome John. With the quality of the opposition it would be no surprise to have seen the Angels collapse from here on, but this is a Tonbridge side who have come from 1-0 behind to win on all of their last three matches. In the ninth minute a free-kick was won just outside the Fisher area, set-piece expert Dolby floated his kick to the right where full-back Ray Powell was on hand to take a touch and then drive his shot out of the reach of goalkeeper James Pullen to make it 1-1.
This spurred on the Angels, driven by the irrepressible Dolby, and they pushed for a second goal as errors began to creep into the home side’s game, with the Fisher playmaker Barr in particular beginning to lose control of a simple passes, much to the delight of the visiting fans. Jerome John was at full-stretch to save from Watts, and another former Angel Lenny Piper curled a shot over the bar, before Tonbridge took a surprise 2-1 lead. As ever the Angels were looking extremely dangerous from set-pieces and another free-kick led to the goal. Dolby curled his kick in from some 30 yards, Jay May tried to make contact with the ball and it sailed past the flapping Pullen into the net. It is not certain that May made contact, but he was credited with the goal.
By now the Ryman Premier side were completely rattled and on two occasions the officials had to intervene when minor scuffles threatened to turn into something far bigger. The officials in general had about as poor a game as they were late – their arrival delayed the kick-off by 40 minutes - and barely five minutes of the second half had passed before they were embroiled in controversy again. May rose to meet a cross from the left but appeared to be beaten to the ball by Pullen, as the pair collided the ball dropped into the empty net, and much to Pullen's annoyance the goal was allowed to stand by both the referee and his near-side assistant. 3-1 to the Angels on Fisher's 'home' patch and the vocal away support were in dream land.
Jerome John then pulled off an outstanding save at point-blank range, acrobatically tipping over the bar from the unmarked Watts, before the Tonbridge attack spurned a golden opportunity to further increase their lead. May, causing no end of problems amongst the Fisher defence, headed a cross against the bar before rebound efforts were miscued and blocked by Lee Carey and Leroy Huggins respectively. On 71 minutes Watts headed in an inch-perfect cross to make it 3-2 and cause a nervous final 20 minutes for the Angels. Fisher raised their game but found the Tonbridge defence was unbreakable, Steve Aris, John Beales and Danny Lye throwing themselves behind everything, and the Angels' remarkable FA Cup run continues into the 3rd Qualifying Round.
Report by: Dan Couldridge
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