Tonbridge Angels F.C.

Yeah

... we've beat, we've beaten Dorking and Tonbridge away.

We've beaten Salisbury and Weston-super-Mare at home, all teams that are in and up there.

Mm.

And he's one of those players that I was talking about, you know, at, at the beginning of the video, you know, just, uh, picked up a little, uh, niggle with an injury at Billericay, didn't he? So these two weeks have come at the right time for him to sort of just get back to that early season form that we saw, that electric pace, especially down at, um, Hampton Richmond, wasn't it, in that game?

Mm.

He was very impressive in that game and getting us up the pitch and taking us forward and, uh, yeah, even the Tonbridge game, you know, he was, he was very, very good in that game, wasn't he? And yeah, so i- he's certainly a player that we, we, we've missed in the last few games, so hopefully he can, yeah, you know, go and be the sort of ghost for Horsham that we're talking about, that Jamie Yila could be for Horsham, so.

That's the plan.

I think just he left Yovel I think, and he came to Trowbridge to play and then he broke his leg.

He had a really bad leg break at, um, Tombridge just as he'd joined the police force, and that, that put his probation back about six months I think.

But that was really when he stopped playing as well.

But yeah, he, Phil was already here when I came, and he was a class act.

We're building a little cup run.

Um, a one-nil win away at Tonbridge Angels.

Um, Matty, I'll come to you first.

As ever, I don't really care about the football.

I wanna hear more about your day.

How was your umpteenth trip to Tonbridge Angels?

Yeah, it was, um, it was the fifth in, uh, two calendar years I think.

Ridic- ridiculous isn't it? And the third in a few months.

Dorking and Farn, Town have 16.

Tunbridge Angels have 14.

Maidenhead, Hemel Hempstead Town and Torquay have 13.

It's sad to see Torquay so far down.

Yes, and it's a chance of silverware if you can get it.

So, yeah, hopefully we'll find out that the draw has been kind to us and not sent us to Tunbridge women away or something ridiculous.

And we'll progress in that cup.

Another cup that the women are competing for is this Sunday.

Paul, I believe you were watching at home on a very legal...

Method of watching, doesn't it? And Kirsty, you were there, weren't you?

Yeah, I had no intention of going to Tunbridge and I got bullied into it at the last minute.

And quite honestly, I wish I hadn't have bothered.

Um, you know, i- into the next round of the qualifying of the FA Cup.

And who doesn't wanna [laughs] ... who, who doesn't want the holy grail of, uh, the first round proper? Uh, which of course, that leads us onto the draw on Monday, which has decided, uh, that we'll be playing Tunbridge Angels, uh, a week on Saturday.

So, um, away at their, at their ground.

Uh, but yes, I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday afternoon.

At that time, and I had a good season with the under 16s at Ebbs Fleet.

Previous to that, I worked at my local club, which was Tunbridge Angels, again, working with 14s to 16s.

operating in the Kent Youth League and I was still a young coach but I had completed my my B licence so let's just fast forward quickly because you know quite rightly you have to earn your time on the turf you have to obviously balance that with going through your coaching pathway and And to be a recognised coach with a bit of status and certainly to access the professional environment, you had to have your B licence.

So I used my time at Tunbridge Angels and EBS Fleet to access, you know, good players, the 11 v 11 game and went into to...

I actually applied for a job.

This will make you probably fall off your seat if you're sitting down, but...

And, you know, we've not been as useless in as much entertainment as what we in the last few years have, what we've got now as such in the way that we play.

And if you'd have said at the beginning of the season that we'd be sitting top by two points going into the FA Cup weekend, well, you'd have been laughed at as I said before, wouldn't you? So, yeah, I mean, I just think it was just, you know, you just know Braintree are like Braintree, aren't they? It's your article title sort of like, you know, even at this time of the season, you know, it's a very boggy, hard pitch on you, isn't it? And coming off the back of them, you know, that high that we had at Tunbridge, You could just see that the players were leggy.

The reactions just weren't as sharp as what they have been.

And Craig did say, again in his interview, he can't mention the referees, but it wasn't the best refereeing performance, was it? There was a lot of...

Hopefully we come out on the right side of it.

We've had a few of those, haven't we? So to Cray Wanderers FA Cup record and their best past performance has been three separate defeats in the final fourth qualifying round.

Those matches against Grey's Athletic in 2005, Canvey Island in 2020, in Tunbridge Angels two seasons ago.

Last season saw them lose a replay against Hamwell Town in the first qualifying round and they won a first qualifying round replay this season against Lewes to book the home tie against the Stones this weekend.