A midweek desertion and the half-term break left us with only ten players against Crowborough Athletic Colts, a team we had beaten fairly comfortably the previous week. With only two defenders available, Ben Spring had to slot into a back three, which weakened our usual goal threat.
Despite being one player down, we dominated possession and territorially for most of the first half and we took the lead in the 18th minute, Ross McCarter breaking down the right and unselfishly setting up Mike Ide, who made no mistake with the finish.
We continued to dominate and spurn chances, but Crowborough seemed to have a stronger side this week and created chances of their own, including one shot which brought a magnificent save from James Faulkner.
We appeared to have doubled the advantage in the last minute of the half when Jamie Wickham found the net with a left-foot shot but the goal was harshly disallowed for an offside in which there didn't appear to be any interference.
The second half continued much as the first half had, with Tonbridge creating lots of chances, but failing to take them. The Crowborough goalkeeper made some good saves, including one to deny Chris Newbury that was almost as good as James Faulkner's first-half save.
Jamie Wickham made lots of shooting chances for himself, most of which had gone agonisingly past the right-hand post, but in the 70th minute he found the net with a fierce rising left-foot shot. Mike Ide scored his second in the 80th minute, latching on to a rebound after the Crowborough goalkeeper had denied Ross McCarter.
Everyone had to work hard because we were a player short and there were some good performances throughout the team: James Faulkner deservedly got his second clean sheet of the season, the forwards were full of running, Ross McCarter making some good runs with the ball and off the ball, and Greg Byrne typically won lots of ball in midfield, but the three-man defence were the stars, and Martin Hill was chosen as man of the match for three great last-ditch tackles. |
