We have told the lads that three points is what is expected at Brightlingsea if they want any hope of trying to get near the play-off places by the end of the season, says Tonbridge Angels assistant Barry Moore

TONBRIDGE ANGELS assistant manager Barry Moore says his side must come away from Brightlingsea Regent with all three points tomorrow.

Since coming away from Dorking Wanderers with a 3-2 win on 5 December, Steve McKimm’s side have lost 2-0 at basement side Worthing, held Dulwich Hamlet to a 1-1 draw at Longmead Stadium, beat Harrow Borough 2-1 at home before losing 3-1 at Folkestone Invicta on Boxing Day.

The Angels have slipped down to tenth-place in the Bostik Premier Division table with 34 points from 24 games and are eight points adrift of the play-off zone.

“It was a huge disappointment not to get anything out of the game against Folkestone as they have been on a bad run and we felt we could go there and get a result,” recalled Moore.

“After a solid first half, we seemed to go back to what has happened a lot this year and gave away cheap possession and not move the ball well enough, which cost us any sort of result.

“Losing Nathan Elder early in the game and with Alex Akrofi out we didn’t have a lot of options to change things up top and if you look the top two goalscorers out of any side would be a major miss.”

Tonbridge Angels make the trip into Essex tomorrow to play a Brightlingsea Regent side in fourteenth-place in the table with 28 points.

They went down to a 3-2 home defeat to Needham Market on Boxing Day.

“Tomorrow we travel to Brightlingsea and we have told the lads that three points is what is expected if they want any hope of trying to get near the play-off places by the end of the season,” said Moore.

“Ultimately it’s down to the players on the pitch to make the right decisions. We give them a platform of when to play and when not to but it’s up to them when to do it. We as staff will never go for anything less than a win in every match.”

Leaders Billericay Town host second-placed Dulwich Hamlet tomorrow with both sides sitting on 56 points, although the Essex side do have four games in hand on Gavin Rose’s men.

Billericay Town then come to Tonbridge Angels' Longmead Stadium on Monday afternoon (15:00) and Moore said: “Billericay will hopefully attract a big crowd and we will prepare for the game as soon as Saturday’s game is over.

“Obviously, Billericay have a big squad of very talented players in every position so can afford to rotate from week to week to keep people fresh but sometimes players turn up expecting to win and hopefully we can do us, the fans and the board proud.

“Everyone knows that their manager (Glenn Tamplin) is throwing huge amounts of money at success but for me it’s his money so he can spend it how he wants, so good luck to him.

“But us as opponents have to find a way to get a result instead of people moaning about how much he pays players.”

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

Brightlingsea Regent  v  Tonbridge Angels
Bostik Premier Division
Saturday 30 December 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at North Road, Brightlingsea, Essex CO7 0PL