A disappointing performance and result against Ridgewaye. We're used to Ridgewaye winning by the odd goal, as they did twice last season, but more disappointing was the lack of fight in the second half. Ridgewaye were almost always first to the ball. It may have been the weather or the late afternoon kickoff, but many Tonbridge players performed way below their ability level.
We started brightly enough when Chris Newbury went one on one with the Ridgewaye keeper in the first minute. Ridgewaye created more of the chances after that. We badly missed Greg Byrne and no one seemed able to win the ball in midfield. Nevertheless we took the lead after 18 minutes when Mike Ide beat the goalkeeper to the ball and his dangerous cross back across the goalmouth was turned in by a Ridgewaye defender. We put a lot of pressure on after this but the second goal wouldn't come. In the 28th minute Jamie Hards could only parry a fierce shot, but although he seemed to have regained possession the ball was worked free to a Ridgewaye striker for a simple goal. 1-1 at half time.
Although we created some good chances Ridgewaye had the better of the second half, particularly after Tom Ryan had to be replaced because of a recurring knee injury. Ridgewaye scored what proved to be the winning goal after Ollie Leigh misjudged a cross and the Ridgewaye number nine made no mistake. Chris Newbury kept battling to try to get us back in the game and hit the side netting with the last kick of the match. He was pipped for man-of-the-match by Jamie Hards who made a series of great saves to keep us in the match. |