Angels Ladies put in a ruthless display to see off their Kent Reliance Women’s Plate hosts Barming, eventually winning by eleven goals to two.
Having been well beaten on a trip to Barming the previous year, the team were warned not to underestimate their opponents who were only able to start with ten players. This message was clearly received by the Tonbridge players, who set the tone by going two goals up within two minutes.
The opening goal, after 34 seconds, owed much to a perfectly executed cross from Becky Saxby which was converted by a grateful Megan Akehurst. Saxby reaped the rewards a minute later by getting behind the defence and delivering a well-taken finish. It could have been three in three minutes shortly after, but the Barming goalkeeper saved well from Abbie Skilton’s attempt.
The home side settled and competed well with Angels for much of the first half, and pulled one back in the 8th minute when an effort was unfortunately headed back into her own goal by Leanne Foster. With full credit to Barming they made life hard for their opponents for long periods of the first half with Tonbridge really needing another goal to settle the nerves.
This arrived in the 40th minute with Beth Kemp teeing up Becky Janes for a curled finish, and Janes got a second goal on 45 minutes, picking up a loose ball and ramming home a shot into the bottom corner. There was just enough time in first half stoppage time for Skilton to get her name on the scoresheet and give Tonbridge a 5-1 half-time lead.
Tonbridge made three changes at the start of the second half, and another two on the hour, but this didn’t interrupt their flow with Akehurst and Skilton both scoring twice to complete hat-tricks, and by the 63rd minute the score was 9-1. The team thought they had reached double figures on 72 minutes when Akehurst set up Maisie Gibb to score her first ever goal for the club, only to be denied by an offside flag.
With ten minutes remaining a Barming forward was barged off the ball in the penalty box by Foster, with the referee pointing to the spot. The taker reduced the deficit to 9-2 but there was time in the remaining minutes for two more Angels goals, Lauryn Underhill getting the tenth before Becky Janes had the easiest of tap ins to complete her own hat-trick after a great run and pass by Courtney Smith.
The team are away to Anchorians Development next month in the Second Round. On Wednesday the Angels are away to Charlton Athletic in the goodmove.co.uk Women’s Cup First Round before hosting league leaders Long Lane Development in a top of the table clash this coming Sunday.
Team: Edwards, Foster, Syrett, Weston, Lyons, Anastasiou, Saxby, Kemp, Skilton, Akehurst, Janes. Subs: Underhill, Gibb, Smith, Moran, Fothergill.