It's time to get serious, insists Dolby - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Tonbridge Angels suffered an embarrassing 4-2 defeat at their Kent League neighbours Tunbridge Wells yesterday, but player-manager Tony Dolby has four pre-season games remaining to fine tune his squad before their Ryman Premier League opener at Hendon in just under three weeks time, writes Stephen McCartney.

Nick Barnes’ penalty, within the opening three minutes at Culverden Stadium gave Tonbridge the lead in their annual Courier Cup clash against their neighbours.

But they squandered a whole host of chances to increase their lead in the first half and when Adrian Hatcher hooked a shot into the top right hand corner, following Tom Fuller’s corner kick, after 53 minutes, this brought the Wells level.

But three goals in a space of nine devastating minutes from Tom Fuller (71), Alex Rich (73) and Chris Stoate (80) left the Angels stunned as Tunbridge Wells won the cup for the first time outright, after Tonbridge clinched the silverware for the past five years.

Jon Main's fine solo goal late on gave shell-shocked Tonbridge a late second.

Dolby, meanwhile, said in an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with www.kentishfootball.co.uk that he was not happy with his side’s second half performance.

“The first half I felt we done ok,” he said after the game. “Other than some bad finishing we would have been three or four up at half-time but it wasn’t to be.

“Then we gave away some really sloppy goals in the second half and that needs to be addressed.”

Summer signing from Gravesend & Northfleet Scott Gooding impressed again for the Angels, playing in the heart of defence instead of right-back as he did for the Fleet, but Dolby admitted left-wing back isn’t Fraser Logan’s “strongest position,” and club captain Steve Aris has missed the club’s opening two pre-season games.

There has, however, been no sign of target man Wade Falana in the club’s opening two warm-up games.

“Like I say, there’s no real excuses,” added Dolby. “Tunbridge Wells played well in the second half and we played poorly.

“We made some changes and like I say it’s all a learning curve in finding out what your strongest eleven is and how you’re going to start on that first game of the season.”

But does Dolby know his favourable starting eleven for their Ryman Premier League opener at Hendon on 19^th August?

“I think I’ve got a fairly good idea but we’ll see that over the next couple of weeks,” he said.

“We’ve got four friendlies left, which we probably have to start seriously thinking about the way that we’re going to start on August 19^th and move forward.

“We will be looking at that in the next few game and making sure we iron out any little differences that we’ve got.”

Tonbridge Angels, meanwhile, welcome Farnborough Town to the Betterview Longmead Stadium on Tuesday night, and Dolby revealed he will whittle down his squad for the game against the Hampshire club.

“We’ve had quite a few training with us bit it’s been in-house,” he said. “Now we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty and on Tuesday night we’ll probably have a squad of around 16-17 and likewise for next Saturday (at home to Chatham Town).

“We’ll start working on tactics and formations, we haven’t done any of that kind of work yet.

“We’ve just done a lot of hard work and as fit as we are, and as good as we look on the training field, it’s not quite the same as game situations.

“I’ve seen enough in the first half today and a lot of the Ashford game to know we’re going to be in very good shape this season.”

Tonbridge Angels’ youth side, meanwhile, defeated their Tunbridge Wells counterparts earlier in the day, courtesy of goals from Ashley Dann and John Hampson.

The Angels side consisted of several under 16 players from Nationwide Conference outfit Gravesend & Northfleet, with Chris Eather coming on late in the Courier Cup clash later in the day.

But former Fleet kids Danny Paynter, Lewis Mingle, Ashley Dann, Carl Lucas all played but Chris Kinnear (junior) (broken metatarsal), and goalkeeper Joe Dawson didn’t play.

And Dolby is willing to give these players an opportunity, but admitted the Ryman Premier League might be too “daunting” for them.

“I’m given them an opportunity,” he revealed. “They had a little feel for it today and in the practise game that we had.

“It would be nice to get some young lads through and be part of what we’re doing but we’ll have to see what the next week holds for them.

“They’re still very young, fresh out of PASE and the Ryman Premier League is quite daunting to someone who hasn’t got much experience so we’ll bide our time and see what happens - there’s nothing concrete.”

With just under three weeks to go before the big kick-off, Dolby said the club will be revealing whose signed on and been released soon.

“There’s still some bits and pieces going on,” he said. “There’s still be some action over the next couple of days I’m sure.

“But as off after this weekend we should be looking at consolidating and making sure it’s more final.

“You can look around the leagues and lots of teams are not anywhere near sorted ad they’ve got players in and trialists here and there.”

Tonbridge Angels v Farborough Town
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 1^st August 2006
Kick Off 7:45pm
At the Betterview Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge

Visit the Tonbridge Angels' website: www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk