The first attempt to settle this FA Trophy tie with our Premier Division opponents ended in stalemate on a bitterly cold day at the Betterview Longmead Stadium. Both sides had chances to win it, but lacked the touch of quality to break the deadlock in a game which was fairly scrappy for the most part.

Boss Tony Dolby was suffering from a heavy cold and named himself to the subs bench. With Luke Piscina still unavailable, Darren Smith and Leroy Huggins filled midfield roles with Ray Powell and Jay May starting up front.

May had an early opening for Tonbridge, but his first shot was blocked and the follow-up comfortably saved by Danny Knowles. Danny Lye wasted the Angels' best chance midway through the first half, screwing his shot wide from six yards after Powell and Smith set up the opening.

The Rocks best chance came soon afterwards when Danny Harris ran clear into the box, but JJ beat out the resulting shot from 12 yards.

The second half continued in much the same vein. The East Thurrock forwards were constantly caught offside, and Tonbridge displayed a frustrating inability to put together a quality move. John Beales saved the Angels with a superb tackle to deny Tony Boot after a mistake by the otherwise rock-solid Lew Watts, then Boot clipped home from close range only to be denied by the familiar offside flag.

The Rocks made a double substitution for the last 15 minutes and looked the better for it, Martin Touhy and John Turnbull looking sharp after coming on. Tuohy's fine cross just eluded the flying Harris with ten minutes left, but the Angels nearly nicked it at the end. Knowles made a fine save from May, and Mick Stanbrook was able to hack the rebound clear just before Huggins could pounce.

Report by: Dan Couldridge