We knew we were likely to face a difficult challenge against a Langton Green Team that had come down from the B division and been strengthened with a couple of players from Foresters 2000, even more so without one of the two mainstays of our defence, Tom Ryan, who was out with a knee injury.
The reshuffled defence coped well but we were under the cosh for long periods of the first half. We started to get more into the game more towards the end of the half, but our front two made little impression and our best moves originated down the right wing through the running of Chris Phillips.
We started the second half with a new pairing up front and had the better of the game, virtually camped in the Langton half . One consequence of this was that the Langton Green goalkeeper saw a lot of the ball. Both goalkeepers had been warned by the referee about bouncing the ball. When the Langton keeper transgressed for the third time in the half, the referee lost patience and awarded a free kick to Tonbridge. Ross McCarter rolled the ball back to Ben Spring, who hit a high shot in the net.
The Tonbridge players behaved impeccably throughout the match, even when Langton Green were awarded a very harsh penalty, from which they equalised. Crestfallen, we were unable to pick ourselves up and conceded another goal soon afterwards.
There were some very good performances: Max Turner had a solid game, and Greg Byrne and Chris Newbury battled well in midfield, but Martin Hill and Ollie Leigh were jointly chosen as men-of-the-match.
