Tonbridge Angels 2 Ramsgate 1
Somehow the directors and press box wasn’t the same without the wry comments of the late Steve Churcher who was honoured at today’s FA Cup game.
Yet you could just imagine the words of the great man at the final whistle; “Well, we made hard work of that!”
And Steve’s words would be to the credit of Ramsgate who proved stern opponents for Angels, even when they were reduced to ten men just before the break.
Before the game which saw Angels narrowly defeat the Isthmian Premier Rams, the song ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra resounded around the Yeomans Community Stadium, Longmead as Steve’s children, Laura and Rob, walked to the centre circle where they laid down Steve’s trademark cap and jacket which stayed in place while the stadium joined in a minute’s applause (below).
With apologies to Sinatra, Angels then went about it ‘the hard way’ having to come from behind to earn the slenderest of victories against their lower league opponents.
The opening exchanges were unremarkable apart from an excellent move by Angels on six minutes which saw a slick interchange of passes between Ethan Sutcliffe, Alfie Pavey and Jephte Tanga who pulled the ball back for Ricky Korboa who couldn’t finish.
From the outset, Ramsgate had showed they would be tough opponents and they took a deserved lead on 21 minutes with Alfie Paxman coolly slotting home the penalty after Lexus Beeden had fouled Billy Munday.
The goal seemed to stun the hitherto below-par Angels into life and, on 33, they equalised. Instrumental in the goal was some superb centre-forward play by Frankie Baker who, on the halfway line, controlled a long ball out of defence, turned and hared down the right flank, pursued by Bivesh Gurung.
Controlling the ball brilliantly, Baker crossed to where Tanga was waiting to finish from close range for his sixth goal of the season (below) despite the close attentions of the masked Jacob Bland.
Suddenly it was all Angels and on 35, Alfie Pavey glanced an exquisite free-kick by Sam Corne against the bar.
A minute later, Raphe Brown – excellent up until that point for the visitors – went in late on Tanga and went straight into the book of referee Redmond Egan.
With Angels’ tails up, on 42, Baker went on another productive wide run and this time got the better of Brown who clumsily fouled him in the box leaving Mr Egan no choice but to award a penalty, a second yellow card for Brown and, accordingly, a red.
Ex-Angel Johnny Henly in the Ramsgate goal would have faced a few Bailey Akehurst penalties in his time and whether or not this was in Akehurst’s mind is a moot point. Nevertheless, while he made a firm connection, his penalty crashed against the bar leaving Akehurst – who also missed Angels’ last penalty at Billericay earlier in the season – with his head in his hands.
There was still time in the half for Corne to produce an audacious lob from 40 yards which was going in but needed a goal-line clearance to prevent Angels leading at the break.
In the second half, Rams boss Ady Pennock organised his side superbly and time and again, Angels were frustrated as they failed to break down the banks of nine red shirts in front of them.
The closest Angels came was on 65 when a Sutcliffe cross was for once not dealt with by the Rams’ rearguard but Tanga could not keep his shot down with the goal at his mercy.
And so Alan Dunne rolled the dice bringing on the returning-from-injury Bunmi Babajide for Korboa and Lamar Reynolds for Pavey and not long after Jaden Brown replaced Bullas and it was Brown who produced an excellent cameo performance to inject some extra spirit into the midfield.
Yet the winner, on 82, came courtesy of some more magic from who else but that man Tanga who keeps on producing. Taking the ball in an unhopeful position, he looked like he was going down a blind alley before he swivelled and darted past a couple of challenges to get to the bye-line.
From there he slid the ball back, putting it on a plate for the waiting Babajide who finished past Henly with ease.
Pennock’s men were not finished and in time added on, Callum Jones produced a save from Nathan Harness and shortly after Mr Egan whistled for the last time.
After the game Alan Dunne said: “It wasn’t a Cup classic by any means. We knew Ramsgate would present a tough challenge and we prepped for that. It was a bit of a patchy performance and sometimes it can be a struggle to break down ten men as they went to a 4-4-1 shape. But in Cup football it’s not always about the performance, it’s about the result and the main thing is we are in the hat for the next round.”
And we know Steve Churcher would approve of that.
Angels: 4-4-2 Harness; Sutcliffe, Thompson, Beeden, Akehurst; Corne (cap), Bullas (Brown), Tanga, Korboa (Babajide); Baker, Pavey (Reynolds)
Subs not used: Burford, Lintott, Gardner, McDonald
Match photographs: Dave Couldridge
Cheers Steve. This one’s for you.
