Hopefully lady luck will shine on us a little bit more, says Tonbridge Angels boss Tommy Warrilow

The Angels were seconds away from clinching a morale-boosting three points over fifth-placed Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday night, but the Somerset outfit grabbed a goal at the death.

Warrilow’s men could have climbed up to fifteenth in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South table had Mark Lovell’s flick ten minutes into the second half sealed the win, but Dayle Grubb rifled home a heartbreaking equaliser into the top left-hand corner from just inside the box.

Warrilow watched Hayes & Yeading United suffer an embarrassing 7-1 defeat at Staines Town last night.

Hayes & Yeading United are presently on a downward spiral and their manager Tony O’Driscoll resigned and reverts back to his director of football role after their embarrassing result to their Middlesex rivals, which leaves them in the relegation dog-fight.

Tristan Lewis and Delroy Preddie have agreed to take on the role of joint first-team managers until the end of the season.

Tonbridge Angels have six league games remaining – against four sides around them in the table – and have enough quality in their ranks to maintain their Conference South status.

Warrilow, speaking before his opponents’ managerial change said: “Hayes & Yeading is still a massive game. Eastbourne Borough’s a massive game. Truro is a massive game. Staines is a massive game.

“All we can do is to prepare them and send the boys out and hopefully they follow instructions and mainly work hard because at the moment we’re not playing on the best pitches in the world. Mistakes will happen and hopefully lady luck will shine on us a little bit more.”

Tonbridge Angels finished in ninth-place in their first season as a Conference South club last season, but are suffering from second season syndrome this time around.

“I’ve not even mentioned it (relegation) to the lads, they know we’re in a scrap, said Warrilow.

But the Angels boss wants to be in a position to compete in the financial stakes with their current rivals.

Salisbury City, Eastleigh, Farnborough and Sutton United are full-time outfits whilst other clubs struggle to make ends meet.

“We’re in the Conference South but we’re not a Conference South club yet – that’s the difference.”

Explaining that comment, Warrilow continued, “Just in general, the off-the-pitch things. We need some more sponsorships, crowds are down. People say it’s because we’re in a relegation scrap but if we’re at home to Truro last game of the season to stay in the league there will be a full house again.  They’ll all come out of the woodwork.

“But it’s the highest we’ve been for a while and we’re going to the away games and looking at the facilities and what the other clubs have got. We’re slowly, slowly catching the monkey sort of thing.

“This is our second season. I never took for granted how well we done last year and this year has been a slog and we’ve just have to be a little bit patient. Unfortunately in football that’s now a word that’s used a lot.”

Warrilow added: “I’ve never, never mentioned to the lads or mentioned the relegation word to them because I still believe we’ve got enough in here to push on and we’ve still got a semi-final of a cup (Kent Senior Cup away to Margate or Ebbsfleet United) to look forward to, so I’m hoping we can finish the season on a positive note with a cup final and maintaining our Conference South status.”

When asked what he’s expecting at Kingfield Stadium to face a struggling Hayes & Yeading United side, the Angels boss replied: “Woking’s pitch is always decent so hopefully we can get the ball down a little bit and knock it about.

“I’m just expecting two nervous teams again going out there.  It’s easy to tell them to relax but they’re big games because they’re one of those teams that are on 41 points, just in front of us.

“The most important thing is not to lose the games.  All I’m doing at the moment is trying to stay calm with the lads and just keeping them confident and positive.”

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

Hayes & Yeading United  v  Tonbridge Angels
Blue Square Bet South
Sunday 7^th April 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Kingfield Stadium, Kingfield Road, Woking, Surrey GU22 9AA