Despite some stubborn defending, the Angels eventually overcame Brightlingsea Regent on their first ever visit to Longmead although arguably they were helped by the sending off of the visitors’ Josh Gould for a second bookable offence.

In the first half both teams failed to establish any real pattern to their play with the result it was a very disjointed affair for spectators to watch. Brightlingsea Regent did get the ball in the net twice and the Angels once but on all occasions the referee had an easy decision to make in disallowing the efforts for a foul on the goalkeeper and two off sides.

Straight from the restart Tonbridge had a great chance to open the scoring with Dan Thompson setting up Tom Beere but a brave block on the line preserved the visitors goal. The Brightlingsea sending off came in the 71st minute and gave the opportunity for more Tonbridge pressure.

A couple of minutes later Thompson’s shot skimmed the bar and there were further chances for Thompson, Chris Kinnear and Beere.

There was a heart stopping moment for Angels supporters in the 73rd minute when Regent substititute Aaron Condon found himself free on the left but contrived to place his header over the bar when it had seemed easier to at least have hit the target.

With the visitors visibly starting to tire eventually the breakthrough for the home side came in the 84th minute with Joe Turner converting Craig Stone’s cross and six minutes later the game was safe for Tonbridge when substitute Andre McCollin fired home from the edge of the area.

Afterwards , Angels Assistant Manager said: “After a poor 1st half from us, we started to move the ball around better and use the width of the pitch properly. Even before the sending off which obviously did have a bearing on events I thought we were starting to get the upper hand.”

Pictures supplied by Wesley Filtness.