Manager Tommy Warrilow believes the Tonbridge Angels are in charge of their own destiny after beating Staines Town at the weekend.
Tonbridge Angels climbed out of the Blue Square Bet South relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Staines Town, which saw a much-improved performance from the home team and Frannie Collin scoring the only goal of the game.
Last Sunday, the Angels’ led 2-0 going into the last twenty minutes, but three Hayes & Yeading goals condemned Tonbridge to twentieth place in the table.
Now up to eighteenth, Angels’ manager Tommy Warrilow acknowledge the result, saying “It’s never comfortable at one-nil, as it is a pressurised game. We should have made it more comfortable for ourselves. To be fair, they’ve hit us on a few breaks, but overall we’ve played some good stuff and worked hard. That was important as it was a horrible day, it was never going to be pretty, but we’ve knocked some good moves about and the important thing was to get the three points.”
“I always felt we had enough bodies behind the ball. On Sunday, we went gung-ho, but we had to change it about. We reverted to a back four at the end today, but that was because they were always going to go for it. But maybe we should have cashed in on a couple of our breaks. All the time it’s one-nil, as we found out against Weston-Super-Mare the other night, anything can happen. I thought we deserved the win, and nice to get a clean sheet as well.”
“We’ve found it a frustrating season. We are where we are, but I genuinely don’t think we’ve been that bad. We have had poor performances, but overall, today was a classic example, we should have been out of reach, and there’s been many games where we could have killed teams off and it has come back to haunt us. When you’re down the bottom, it’s easy to pick up on all the negatives. I accept that Sunday wasn’t good enough, and it’s not been a great season overall.”
Warrilow was forced into two changes from Sunday’s team, with Lee Browning joining a lengthening injury list and goalkeeper Lee Worgan being hit by the flu bug that has been affecting the club. He admitted “We’re struggling a bit at the moment. Obviously today I had no Tom Davis or Chris Piper (although both were named on the bench to make up numbers), Browning’s out, and Lee Worgan rang me last night.”
“There’s been a bug going round the camp. I’ve not been the best myself, Olly Schulz has had it, (coach) Terry Sedge has had it, which is why he’s not here today, O’B (Alex O’Brien) has been under the weather, but as soon as you start mentioning things like that, it can become an excuse. I didn’t want to look round and think I’ve got four big players out today because that’s not the message I want to send to the lads. I had my eleven plus a couple of subs to mix it up and they’ve all gone out and been exceptional for me.”
But Worgan’s presence wasn’t missed, as his replacement, Scott Chalmer-Stevens, not only kept a clean sheet, but also pulled off a remarkable reaction save to prevent a possible Staines equaliser; from defender Olly Schulz!
The Tonbridge boss had a great view of the save and added “I don’t think many will realise how good that save was. We were right behind it; an outstanding save. He’s coming off his line, Olly’s toe-poked it, and he’s got down and tipped it round. Absolutely fantastic save, and he’s looked comfortable. He’s experienced, so I had no problems calling on Scott to go straight in.”
It looked as though the Tonbridge injury jinx may have struck again, as skipper Gary Elphick crumpled to the floor with five minutes remaining in the first half, and although he continued, he was a virtual passenger for the rest of the half. Elphick was eventually replaced with fifteen minutes left, and Warrilow couldn’t speak highly enough of the former Brighton defender.
He said “Gary’s warriored on for us. He’s done the right thing, coming off when he felt his hamstring tightening. He’s been out a long time, and we’re asking him to play a lot of football in a short spell. We’ve had a big week, with four games, but hopefully by coming off, he’ll be OK for Monday.”
Looking ahead now, Tonbridge travel to Chelmsford City on Monday night, and Warrilow admitted that “we’ve got Chelmsford and Eastleigh now, two games that probably people won’t expect us to get anything from. But that is when we tend to raise our game for some reason or another this year. My main concern is just fielding a side.
“With the two loanees going back to their clubs, and the injuries, I’m hoping that Tom Davis might be available, maybe even Chris Piper for a twenty minute run. I’ll take anything at the moment.”
Tonbridge’s hopes of guaranteeing their Conference South place for next season may be in their own hands, but it certainly won’t be easy. The Angels have never won away at Chelmsford, but have drawn two of their last three league games away to the Clarets, and were victorious on their last visit to Eastleigh.
Six points from the four remaining games should be enough, but Warrilow added about the relegation battle, “I’ve said it could change; it could even change again next weekend. We’ve got to play Chelmsford and Eastleigh, but we’re in control of our own destiny, which is the best thing; until it’s out of our hands, then you worry. We’ve got to go to Chelmsford on Monday, so we’ll rest up and look to put the same amount of effort in.”