Tonbridge Angels 0-2 Eastbourne Borough - It was an opportunity for us to close the gap on the play-offs and the opportunity gets taken away from us, says annoyed Tonbridge Angels boss Jay Saunders

Tonbridge Angels 0 – 2 Eastbourne Borough
Location	Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN10 3JF
Kickoff	14/01/2025 19:45

TONBRIDGE ANGELS  0-2  EASTBOURNE BOROUGH
Vanarama National League South
Tuesday 14 January 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Longmead Stadium

TONBRIDGE ANGELS manager Jay Saunders claims his side haven’t been given an opportunity to win a game of football to close the gap on the play-offs after being reduced to nine-men following some controversial decisions by female referee Emily Heaslip.

Heaslip has officiated five games in the Women’s Super League and has dished out 19 yellows and was in the middle of Saturday’s Vanarama National League South game between Hemel Hempstead Town and Slough Town and handed out a further four yellow cards.

Tonbridge Angels’ holding midfielder, Garrett Kelly, 28, was controversially sent-off after four minutes before a corner could be delivered into the Eastbourne Borough penalty area.

Adam Murray’s side bossed possession for the rest of the game and Tonbridge Angels’ players’ resilience was broken nine minutes before half-time, courtesy of an emphatic strike from left-wing-back Kai Woollard-Innocent, 24.

The second-half was a non-event for the 800 fans inside Longmead Stadium on a chilly Tuesday night in January and Eastbourne Borough scored their second goal through a swept finish from striker John Shamalo following a corner.

Tonbridge Angels were then reduced to nine-men in the 70^th minute when lone striker Gianluca Botti – a recent arrival from Isthmian League Premier Division side Lewes – was sent-off for picking up two yellow cards, the first one for throwing the ball away and his second offence was for a foul on the goalkeeper.

When asked to reflect on the game, Saunders replied: “Frustrating, annoyed, a whole string of emotions really. I think the game was spoilt, whether that’s our own doing or whatever, I need to see the (incidents back) but I thought the game was spoilt.

“It’s hard with 10 men against a full-time team for basically the whole game, so yes, disappointing, frustrating because it was an opportunity for us tonight to close the gap on the play-offs.”

Title-chasing Eastbourne Borough have now extended their unbeaten run to eight league games and have kept clean-sheets in each of their last six outings and have climbed up three places into third-place in the Vanarama National League South table.

Eastbourne Borough kicked-off and played the ball back to Michael Klass who tried to score with a first time right-footed drive from close to the centre-spot  - which flashed past the left-hand post – after only six seconds.

Tonbridge Angels left-winger Sean Shields was about to take the first corner of the game in from the left.

A crowd of players had gathered inside the six-yard box, surrounding goalkeeper Joe Wright and following a melee and an off-the-ball incident involving Kelly and Brayden Johnson, the referee walked over and pulled out a straight red-card and sent off Kelly, who took a while to emerge from the crowd of players and walk off the pitch.

Saunders doesn’t have any in-game match camera footage of the game – like the managers in the Women’s Super League have – so he can only go on his naked eye when asked about the controversial incidents during the game.

“I didn’t see anything! The players didn’t feel there was a lot. It was the usual, when everyone’s on the keeper, it’s argy-bargy.  The referee would normally walk over and cool the situation.

“You normally go on players’ reaction and you didn’t see a lot of their players run round or anything, so it’s a strange one.

“I know it’s an old saying but I need to see it back.

“I’ve said to Garrett in there, ‘I’m not going to stand here and crucify you’ but if you’re in the wrong, it will be dealt with.

“But like I say, you go by players’ reactions. I don’t think there was a hell of a lot but she’s obviously seen something. She seemed to say that ‘head lock’ or something like that.

“Not being funny, you see at all levels of football, grabbing and everything in the box. I don’t see how that’s a straight red but a straight red card for a headlock apparently but there you go, it’s happened.”

Shields finally delivered the corner at the third attempt and centre-half Ronny Nelson flicked his header over the top of the near-post (5:52).

“The game plan goes out of the window, doesn’t it?  We’ve actually been good the last two games here against Weston-super-Mare (winning 1-0) and Chippenham Town (1-1 draw) and played some good football,” said Saunders.

“I really fancied us tonight to really get at them and game plan goes out of the window. The game plan was to take the game to them at home on a Tuesday night and go win a game of football and unfortunately we’ve not been given an opportunity to do that.

“As soon as you go 10 men, it’s hard, it’s really hard and everything you planned and all the stuff we do with the players’, goes out of the window.”

Eastbourne Borough played CRAB football (backwards and sideways) throughout the whole game with their three centre-halves Pierce Bird (left), Ollie Kensdale (centre) and Camron Gbadebo (right) clearly having the most touches than their team-mates.

The home side were a resilient 5-4-1 formation with Botti up front on his own and goalkeeper Matthew Rowley was called into making a save with seven minutes and 7 seconds on the clock.

Central midfielder Johnson switched the ball over to Bird, who unleashed a right-footed angle drive from 35-yards through a crowd of players, which forced Rowley to dive to his left to tip the ball around his post for the first of seven Eastbourne Borough corners.

“I expect Matt to save that to be honest,” admitted Saunders.

“I’m really proud of the boys. We’ve had to dig deep and they’ve stuck together. I’m not proud of the sending’s off or whatever but the rest of the boys have worked really hard and I think the supporters’ appreciated that.

“Did we have loads of chances? No! But do you know what, they’ve worked their socks off and I think they limited them to very few chances.

“If you’re looking at Matt, I think that was one of the only saves that he really had to make – the two goals we conceded, I’m really disappointed with.”

Tonbridge Angels offered very little in attack and central midfielder Jeremy Santos played a first-time pass along the deck to release Botti in behind Kensdale only for his right-footed angled drive from 25-yards to flash past the foot of the near-post in the 15^th minute.

Saunders said: “A bit of a snap-shot. I think in hindsight he probably drives on with the ball a little bit more but look, Luca did alright until obviously what happened.

“It’s hard for him. He’s not had a training session with us yet and we’ve had to start him tonight but it’s one of those, he’s obviously seen it and fancied his chances.”

Eastbourne Borough remained patient as they kept possession of the ball and Gbadebo often linked up well with right-wing-back Courtney Clarke.

Gbadebo played the ball inside to Kensdale inside the Tonbridge half, before Michael Klass skipped past his man to stroke a right-footed drive sailing over Rowley’s crossbar from 25-yards.

Eastbourne Borough kept probing and Gbadebo played the ball out to Clarke on the right and Clarke cut inside before feeding Johnson in the middle and his left-footed drive from 25-yards took a deflection and was comfortably gathered by an untroubled Rowley as the 20-year-old took a couple of steps to his right.

Dominant Eastbourne Borough took a deserved lead with 35 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.

Centre-half Kensdale advanced into the final third before playing the ball out to Clarke on the right before playing the ball back to Kensdale, who fizzed a low cross skidding off the artificial pitch to find the unmarked Woollard-Innocent, who cracked an emphatic first-time left-footed drive into the roof of the net from 12-yards.

“I can assure you, it probably wouldn’t have happened if we had 11 men on the pitch but they’ve got that extra man and to be fair on a big pitch like this, you move the ball, you can make it count,” said Saunders.

“It’s hard because you’re shifting across and you’re trying to fill holes when you’re down to 10 men and they’ve put it in and it’s fell to him at the back post and to be fair to the lad, he finished it well.

“It’s hard, it’s difficult. I’ve been there as a player, like when they’ve got the overload sometimes, someone ends up free at times and that’s what happened.”

Central midfielder Klass floated the away side’s second corner in from the right and Kensdale came up from the back to steer his downward header past the near-post.

Tonbridge Angels were unable to keep hold of the ball and didn’t have the quality to hit Eastbourne Borough on the counter-attack and also failed to attempt to tackle the away side as they sprayed the ball around their three centre-halves.

Saunders was asked what his thoughts were going into the break.

“Stick with it! We kind of felt if we can stay in the game for 60-70 minutes, then maybe roll the dice at the end and it was just to be positive and about their talking and doing that side of it.

“You have to remember as well, today, we didn’t have, especially when Garrett went off, we didn’t have a natural holding midfielder. We’ve got players’ out injured and stuff, so it was difficult tonight and I thought the boys came in and I was saying to the lads like Santos, ‘keep doing what you’re doing, you’re doing well’ but unfortunately we came out second half and we’ve conceded from a corner and that made it difficult.”

Klass, wearing an all pink kit, a pair of black gloves and pink/dark red undershirt, stroked a right-footed free-kick across Rowley and bouncing past the far post as the away side missed a chance to score with a 30-yard free-kick after only 241 seconds into the second half.

The second half was a cagey non-event with both sides cancelling each other out with not a lot happening.

“Like I say, it’s difficult. Look, it’s not easy to win games of football at this level with 11 men, when you’re down to 10 men, especially for as long as you are,” added Saunders.

“When you go down to 10 men with 15 minutes left to go or whatever, it’s different but we’re down to 10 men for the whole of the first half from basically kick-off and that’s difficult, that’s difficult.”

Johnson put in a low cross from the left-hand side of the penalty area and Gbadebo found space at the far post to drill his deflected shot over the crossbar before Eastbourne Borough scored from the resulting corner, with 21 minutes and 35 seconds on the clock.

Klass put in their seventh and final corner of the game, in from the left, towards the back post where second striker Shamalo swept his left-leg at the ball and shinned his shot across Rowley to find the bottom far corner from three-yards to score his first goal for Eastbourne Borough on his first start.

“That’s the disappointing thing for me because we defended well and limited them to chances, so to concede from a corner like we did was a blow but it’s happened,” said Saunders.

“The lad’s got away and it’s one of those things. I’m not going to crucify the boys, the ones who are on the pitch because they’ve worked ever so hard.”

Referee Heaslip showed Botti a yellow card in the 65^th minute for what appeared to be throwing the ball over his head – but he was shown his second yellow card (24:30) for a challenge on goalkeeper Wright, who cleared the ball from outside his penalty area, within the channel.

Saunders said: “The first booking, to be honest, he (Botti) goes up for a header with the lad. The lad throws himself on the floor, she gives a foul that never was.

“I think in frustration he’s kind of half-thrown the ball or did whatever he did and gets a booking. It’s not a foul in the first place!

“Can he react better? Probably but he’s been up there by himself for 60 odd minutes chasing the ball about, so it’s probably more out of tiredness than anything and frustration that it’s not a foul.”

When asked to reflect on Botti’s challenge for his red card, Saunders replied: “Do you know what, we’re so far away from it. That was right in the corner by the tunnel and we’re obviously in the dug-out. I can’t see what really happened.

“Again, probably a little bit of tiredness.  We were literally about to bring Luca off to give him a rest, maybe tiredness and he’s done it. I don’t know. I don’t know if it was a tackle or what it was so again, I’ll have to see it back.

“I’m not condoning anyone. We’ve had two red cards but what I will say is that the level of refereeing in general, I thought was poor, stop-starting the game, even when we had 10 men some of the decisions and things, giving a foul and then pointing the wrong way and stuff like that. I thought it was really poor, one of the worst performances I’ve seen.  But it’s happened. I can’t stand here and just blame the ref.

“But you’re playing a full-time team that are in the play-offs. Eastbourne are one of the favourites and you’ve got to do it with 10 men for 90 odd minutes.

“If they’re both really bad red cards then the players will be dealt with accordingly but I just don’t think in 90 odd minutes I didn’t see a bad tackle and god knows how many yellow cards there were (four for Tonbridge, none for Eastbourne Borough) and two reds.”

Saunders switched formation to 4-2-1-1 (with Trevan Piedade-Robinson coming off the bench to operate as the lone striker) and the manager explained why he left Mohammad Dabre and Harry Ottaway on the bench for the entire game.

“Mo Dabre was on the bench but he wasn’t fit enough to come on and then Harry Ottaway has been ill and probably wasn’t right to come on either.”

Saunders reeled off his current injury list as being Liam Vincent (thigh problem, out for probably another six weeks); Taylor Maloney (ankle), Scott Wagstaff (groin) and Ryan Hanson (hamstring).

When asked whether he is looking to bring in fresh blood, Saunders replied: “I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna but we’re in that position where depending where we are with injuries, we might have to look in to midfield because just because we are light in there but we’ll asses how we are on Thursday with injuries and stuff like that and go from there.”

Eastbourne Borough’s substitute right-wing-back David Sesay played the ball to  Dominic Odusanya, who clipped the ball into the penalty area where 14-goal striker George Alexander came to life for the first time in the game, brought the ball under control before his cross/shot clipped the top of the crossbar before dropping over.

“I don’t think you can fault the boys’ effort and that’s what I said to them afterwards, you can’t fault them, but the ones that were on the pitch worked ever so hard,” added Saunders.

“We’ve spoken for however long (11 minutes and 44 seconds) and I think you’ve brought up three chances, other than the two goals, I think you’ve brought up Matt’s save, them clipping the crossbar, so as much possession they’ve had, they’ve not really worked Matt. I think you’ve got to give the lads credit for how we defended from the front.”

Sean Shields lost possession on the edge of the Tonbridge Angels penalty area and seven-goal substitute striker Alfie Pavey back-healed the ball inside for Kensdale, who drilled a right-footed shot over the crossbar from 22-yards via a deflection.

The away side continued to play the ball around the back instead of trying to add to their scoreline – often met with cheers from their travelling fans – as Tonbridge Angels lacked the energy to attempt to win the ball back.

As with protocol at this level, the referee was escorted down the players’ tunnel by two stewards, with chants of “sh*t referee,” ringing in her ears from the short-changed home fans after her final whistle.

Torquay United are at the summit of this sixth-tier division, having picked up 50 points from their 25 (of 46 games).

The play-off places contain Maidstone United (48 points from 25 games), Eastbourne Borough (48 points, 13 wins, nine draws and five defeats), Boreham Wood (46 points from 24 games), Dorking Wanderers (46 points from 26 games), Truro City (46 points from 26 games) and Worthing (43 points from 24 games).

Weston-super-Mare are in eighth-place with 41 points from 26 games, Tonbridge Angels remain in ninth with 39 points (10 wins, nine draws and six defeats) and Farnborough are in tenth-place with 37 points from 24 games.

Hampton & Richmond Borough are in eleventh-place with 35 points from 24 games following their 3-2 win away to bottom-six side Welling United in the only other game in the division tonight.

Saunders said: “The players are just gutted because it was a game in hand for us over some teams and it was an opportunity to close the gap on the play-offs and I think if we had won tonight we’d be a point outside the play-offs and three points behind Eastbourne with two games in hand and the opportunity gets taken away from us.

“Is that our own undoing? As I say, if I see it (on video) and it’s down to Garrett then it will be dealt with - because I think for us they’re a little bit disappointed because we fancied our chances tonight but it’s happened.“

Looking ahead to their trip to South-West London on Saturday, Saunders said: “Tough game. Hampton are a good side. Blacky (Lloyd Blackman) is best mates with (Hampton & Richmond Borough manager and former goalkeeper) Alan Julian, they live together so it’s kind of hard because they know it’s a difficult one because they know each other inside out, so we’ve got to prepare right and hopefully he doesn’t give him any of our tactics!

“Look, they’re a good side, a good footballing side. It’s always a tough place to go. The pitch is normally difficult at this time of year.

“I’ve just said to the boys, it’s gone, dust it under the table. We’ve got to prepare now for Thursday, make sure we do the right sort of recovery and everything, see where we are squad wise because we are bare bones at the moment and go from there.

“Like I say, we’ve got to forget tonight. It’s happened, nothing we can do about it. The boys will be alright. We’ll pick them up and we go again Saturday and if we can get a win, as soon as we get a win on the table again and start a little run, than the better.”

Tonbridge Angels: Matthew Rowley, Crossley Lema (Trevan Piedade-Robinson 74), Bailey Akehurst, Jamie Fielding, Ethan Sutcliffe, Ronny Nelson, Sean Shields, Garrett Kelly, Gianluca Botti, Jeremy Santos (Nazir Bakrin 84), Charlie Pegrum.
Subs: Mohammad Dabre, Harry Ottaway

Booked: Crossley Lema 27, Gianluca Botti 65, Jeremy Santos 73, Ronny Nelson 88

Sent Off: Garrett Kelly 4, Gianluca Botti 70

Eastbourne Borough: Joe Wright, Courtney Clarke (David Sesay 77), Kai Woollard-Innocent, Ollie Kensdale, Pierce Bird, Camron Gbadebo, Michael Klass (Jack Clarke 68), Dominic Odusanya, George Alexander, John Shamalo (Alfie Pavey 74), Brayden Johnson.
Subs: Moussa Diarra, Yahya Bamba

Goals: Kai Woollard-Innocent 36, John Shamalo 67

Attendance: 800
Referee: Ms Emily Heaslip
Assistants: Mr Reece Pinchback & Mr David Rowland
Fourth Official: Mr Callum Parke
Observer:  Mr Graeme Ions