There's more to come from us, insists Tonbridge Angels boss Tommy Warrilow

TONBRIDGE ANGELS boss Tommy Warrilow apologised to supporters following their 4-1 defeat away to Farnborough last weekend.


The Angels went down to Hampshire on a good run of form, but Warrilow admitted his side’s performance was “unacceptable.”

He said: “I’m fully aware how we played at Farnborough.  I’ve told the lads I’m not going to dwell on it. We’ll get us back and get us positive.

“I asked the lads after the game to put their hands up if they thought they had done their job today and not one went up – that answers your question!

“I’ve said in my (programme) notes this week, you’re going to get a poor team performance once or twice a year over the season.  You want to eradicate it.  As individuals you may get away with it when one or two are not performing, but when the whole team doesn’t turn up then obviously the result’s inevitable.

“I can count on one hand the amount of times when it’s happened. That’s why I’m not going to dismiss it or go overboard on it or elaborate on it.

“We’ve drawn seven games out of the last ten. We’ve only lost one. We’ve had a couple of wins in there.

“It is a difficult league. That’s why it’s so, so tight this year, so I know what we’re aiming to do down there and that’s the most important thing is to stay focused on the task ahead.

“It’s our second year in this level. We’re still learning as a club but I don’t want to go overboard about one result.  Whether we win or lose our next game it’s always important to stay focused on the overall picture.”

Tonbridge Angels currently lie in seventeenth-place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table, with a record of two wins and seven draws from their 12 league outings.

They welcome a Bath City side that dropped out of the Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier last season to Longmead Stadium on Saturday and Warrilow wants a positive response from his side.

Bath City have continued to struggle following their relegation last season and are presently in the bottom three, with three wins and two draws from eleven league outings.

“Like every week, there’s no easy games if you look how tight the League is,” said Warrilow.

“Bath are around us as well. We didn’t perform against Farnborough and I apologise for that. I’m putting things into perspective. We’ve only lost one in our last ten games so I’m not going to over-react on it.

“Bath are coming down from the Conference and they’re going to be a difficult obstacle but as long as we can pick ourselves up from Saturday then we’ll be fine.”

Warrilow added: “I treat players’ how I would like to be treated myself. We’ve had a chat with the lads’ about the first 12 games and we know and the boys know there’s more to come from us.

“We had a good chat about it after the game and the most important thing is not to elaborate it and go on and get ourselves back focused on what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Warrilow revealed his side have started better this season than their inaugural campaign in the Conference South when they finished in ninth-place last season.

“Up until last Saturday we were a point better off than from our start last year but it feels like we haven’t started as well as last year with all the draws,” said Warrilow.

“People’s expectations are going to rise because of what we done last year when we over massively achieved with our finish.  My aim this year is to finish higher, like every year down there, than last year and that’s a sign of progression.  If we do that then we’ve progressed again, no matter how our performances have been.

“If we finish higher than ninth, we’ve had a fantastic season. We’ll be pushing all the way and the time it stays as tight as it is, the targets will always be the same. It’s football. It’s just not our club. It’s football. Once you do well people expect the trend to continue.  We want that but it’s easier said than done. 

“I think a lot of teams have strengthened as a whole as a division. There’s no-one who’s going to run away with it. The two sides (Woking and Dartford) that went up last year, I felt were worthy of going up.

“We’ve played a third of the season and no-one’s really stuck out. That’s the yard-stick and that’s the frustrating part. We could have had a few more points on the table, but I’m happy with the start, but not Saturday’s performance at Farnborough.

“I’m happy with the start.  We’re twelve games into it. As much as we’re three points off second from bottom, we’re only five points off a play-off spot, so it’s just a case of just getting our heads down and not getting carried away after every single game.”

Meanwhile, Warrilow revealed Tom Davis is in contention for a place in the squad after battling back from a broken leg that he sustained during the first month of the season.

But Mikel Suarez and Lee Browning have both been ruled-out as a precautionary measure after clashing heads last weekend.

Warrilow has snapped up Aaron Gayle, 25, from their Conference South rivals AFC Hornchurch.

Visit Tonbridge Angels’ website: www.tonbridgeangelsonline.co.uk

Tonbridge Angels  v  Bath City
Blue Square Bet South
Saturday 20^th October 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent  TN10 3JF