Tonbridge Angels vs Truro City FC: Match Report

Photo credit: Matt Friday/Truro City Football Club

Match Report

by Gareth Davies, Longmead Stadium, Saturday

Vanarama National League South

Tonbridge Angels: 2 – Truro City: 1

Truro suffered late heartbreak in Kent as two goals with time ticking down saw Tonbridge Angels defeat Paul Wotton’s side.

In a game of very few chances, Josh Hinds came off the bench to score his first City goal to give the visitors the lead after 66 minutes.

And Truro looked like holding on for a precious three points and second consecutive away triumph until six minutes from time when Jordan Higgs levelled.

Then, deep into stoppage time, Jamie Fielding stabbed home to ensure City left Longmead empty handed.

After Tuesday’s game against Eastbourne Borough was abandoned, City chief Wotton would make just one change from the side which last completed a full 90 minutes, at St Albans seven days previous.

Ryan Kavanagh, fully fit after shaking off a groin problem, replaced Ryan Brett who dropped out of the squad altogether. Adam Porter, who netted the all-important winning goal against St Albans, would once again start on the bench while Hinds, when thrust into the fray on the hour, would face his brother Tariq, who started the match for Jay Saunders’ Angels.

The first half was a tough watch for the majority of the healthy four figure gate in attendance on Non-League Day. A rigid and disciplined defensive shape from City resulted in James Hamon remaining largely untroubled throughout the first 45 minutes.

Home skipper Scott Wagstaff fired over early on while Portsmouth loanee Liam Vincent’s free-kick from distance did exactly the same.

At the other end, City’s best chance fell to Connor Riley-Lowe, but he could only find the arms of home incumbent Jonny Henly.

The second stanza continued in a similar fashion but City broke the deadlock 20 minutes after the turnaround owing to a defensive howler from Higgs.

The midfielder, who joined Tonbridge from Dover last summer, fell whilst in possession under no pressure on the edge of the box. And fortuitously from a City perspective, there was Hinds to tap into an unguarded net.

Truro, away from home and with their noses in front, had been here before as this match appeared to be following a similar pattern to that at St Albans a week ago.

The visitors thought the all-important second goal had come with 10 minutes left, but Hinds’ lobbed effort which found the mark, was pulled back for an earlier offside.

Tonbridge cranked up the pressure as the game wore on but City weathered everything that was thrown their way until the 84^th minute.

A corner into the City box was only half cleared and there was Higgs, who fired past Hamon into the bottom corner to draw the sides level, atoning for his earlier error in the process.

A home goal injected new life into Tonbridge and City were forced to defend wave after wave of attack with Higgs heading narrowly wide and Lewis Gard also coming close.

Into the third of the five additional minutes at the end of the game, substitute Josh Popoola, who joined Tonbridge earlier this month after his release from Stockport County, found his way to the by-line.

His cross into the six-yard box escaped the clutches of several City defenders, leaving Fielding with the easy job of taping home to win his side the game.

Truro City: Hamon, Palmer, Adelsbury, Harrison, Riley-Lowe, Kavanagh (Rooney, 60), Dean, Law, Sullivan (Porter, 51), Harvey, Neal (J Hinds, 60). Subs not used: Melhado, Sanders.

Tonbridge: Henley, Fielding, Gard, Macarthur (Velvick, 66), Higgs, Hinds, Dabre, Sutcliffe, Wagstaff (Popoola, 53), Vincent, Hanson. Subs not used: Parkinson, Edwards, Vowles

Referee: Nathan Oakes

Attendance: 1,033

Match Reaction from Paul Wotton

Boss Paul Wotton says Truro City’s loss to Tonbridge Angels was ‘bitterly disappointing’.

Chasing a second consecutive victory on the road, City went ahead in a game of few chances on 66 minutes when Josh Hinds profited a defensive error to score.

And City looked good for all three points until Jordan Higgs levelled as time ticked down towards the 90-minute mark.

Then, in the third minute of additional time, Jamie Fielding fired home to leave City heartbroken and Tonbridge with a smash and grab victory.

“I don’t want to over emphasise things, but it is bitterly disappointing to concede two goals in the last five minutes to lose a game,” Wotton told BBC Radio Cornwall at full-time.

“I don’t think we played particularly well against Tonbridge but our defensive shape was solid. We scored a lucky goal and I didn’t see them scoring.

“To concede the goals we did was really poor from two mistakes but we have other games to put things right, starting against Dartford before we play 12 games in 25 days.

“We are going to have to dig deep to try and get a result against Dartford and then Friday against Slough by getting over the disappointment quick.

“We had six hours on the bus to get over it and once we got off the bus, attentions turned to the games this week.”