Braintree Town 0 Tonbridge Angels 4
On Thursday, Angels boss Alan Dunne addressed his players and staff with a speech that can only be described as Churchillian.
It was a speech from the heart of this most straight-talking of men in which he shared the things which have motivated him since growing up on a North London council estate.
Saying Angels have a ‘no excuse’ culture, he then asked each player in turn what qualities they would bring to the table this season.
The usual suspects were there like ‘passion’, ‘commitment’ and ‘dependability’ – but there were others too like ‘courage’ ‘leadership’ and ‘standards.’
Forty-eight hours on these qualities were displayed in abundance as Dunne’s men kicked off their 2026/27 season with a performance that oozed class and consummate professionalism against a beleagured Braintree. A brace from Jephte Tanga and a goal each from Lamar Reynolds and Frankie Baker put the Essex side to the sword.
Dunne’s pre-match opinion was that the bone-dry, uneven pitch was unsafe and made his feelings known to the officials.
Yet any fear his charges would be thrown off their stride were quickly dispelled.
Dunne gave full debuts to no fewer than eight players in a 4-3-3 shape including new loan signing Hayden Bullas in midfield. With both the newly-named captain and vice-captain, Sam Corne and Jordon Thompson missing, the armband was handed to towering centre-back Lexus Beeden.
An inconsequential first ten minutes passed as both teams grappled to adjust to the savannah-like surface before a beautiful piece of skill from the hosts’ Louie Johnson bamboozled the Angels defence but he dragged his shot wide.
That was as good as it got for Braintree as Angels took the lead on 15. The impressive Harry Gardner carved out a chance and Reynolds pounced to get there just ahead of Town ‘keeper Rylee Mitchell and direct the ball home from six yards (below)
Angels made it two on 35 following a short corner between Bailey Akehurst and Gardner who curled the ball in. Reynolds’ effort struck the bar and rebounded out and with time standing still, Tanga produced a looping header – apparently only the second headed goal of his career – which had Mitchell rooted to the spot and the Angels fans behind the goal dancing with joy for a second time.
Angels finished the half strongly and could have had a third when a pinpoint cross by Gardner had too much weight on it for Tanga to head home. Shortly after, a brilliant break saw Ricky Korboa slide in Tanga whose shot was saved by Mitchell only to fall to the feet of Gardner whose pot shot flashed wide.
The high-energy and tenacious Gardner picked up an unnecessary booking in the first half and at half time was replaced by the mercurial Bunmi Babajide, an ace in the pack always likely to do the unexpected.
And he quickly picked up an assist playing in the onrushing Tanga who finished expertly past Mitchell for his second and Angels third.
Shortly after Reynolds was replaced by Frankie Baker as ruthless Angels continued to press.
It was not until the hour mark when Nathan Harness was really called into action when he dived low to his right to keep out a shot from Reuben Swann.
Babajide, like a Las Vegas magician keeping his audience guessing, then produced some of his trademark trickery to play in an off-balance Jaden Brown who skied his shot.
With three minutes to play, Dunne brought on Brody Cockerill for Korboa and the youngster would supply a sublime assist for Angels’ fourth.
Before that, Harness produced a spectacular save to deny The Iron a consolation which would have been unjust on the excellent Angels back four of Harvey Lintott, Ethan Sutcliffe, Beeden and Akehurst.
As the seven minutes of additional time ebbed away, Angels broke one final time and it was now that Cockerill produced a peach of a ball to play in Baker who still had a lot to do.
The ex-Millwall man shrugged off the attentions of a defender, drew Mitchell, adjusted his body shape and finished coolly (below) for Angels’ fourth and the proverbial icing on the cake as the jubilant Angels fans celebrated in the hot Essex sunshine.
After the game Dunne, while delighted, refused to get carried away or to change his opinion that the pitch was too dangerous to play on. He told Angels Media: “I still don’t think the game should have been on because the safety of the players is paramount. Yes I’m delighted with the four goals and a clean sheet but I’m equally delighted to get through the game without injury.
“I thought the spirit throughout the whole team was there today and I saw evidence of a lot of the things we’ve been working on during pre-season in terms of shape, discipline and game-management. It’s not perfect but we’re still working on it and we’ve got goals in the team and I thought everytime we went forward we looked like we were going to score.
“It’s only one game and I can’t judge things on that but I think the lads executed the game plan really well and if you’d have offered me four goals and a clean sheet before the game, of course I’d have taken it.”
Angels: 4-3-3 Harness; Lintott, Sutcliffe, Beeden (captain), Akehurst; Brown, Bullas, Gardner (Babajide); Tanga (Osew), Reynolds (Baker), Korboa (Cockerill)
Subs not used: McGuire, Thompson, Sulovari
Photographs by: Dave Couldridge
