Page 30 - Bath City v Chippenham Town - Saturday 2 January 2021 - VNLS
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Tonbridge Angels the Angel Ground with City’s record particularly poor
Our next opponents are Tonbridge there in the 1950s. But things improved drastically in
Angels whom we are due to visit the following decade with five wins being secured in
seven visits.
in seven days’ time. While today
sees City’s third match of a busy The Tonbridge manager for a spell in the 1970s was
Christmas/New year schedule, our World Cup winner George Cohen but soon after a 6-1
opponents next Saturday will be defeat by City in 1976, the club was liquidated and
playing their first match since 15 December, when they replaced by the newly formed Angels.
were knocked out of the Trophy by Hornchurch. The Appropriately Micky Angel scored the last goal at their
previous week had seen their last league action, with former ground before the move to the present home
a midweek home fixture against Chippenham being at Longmead. But there was no upturn in fortunes and
abandoned due to fog and then losing at league the 40 year stay in the Southern League ended with
leaders St Albans. relegation to the Kent League in 1989.
Since then, they have been at the mercy of the The Angels regained their higher status a few years
pandemic with the Club’s isolation period putting later before crossing to the Isthmian League in 2004
paid to the Christmas fixtures against Maidstone where they remained apart from winning promotion
and Dartford and positive tests in the former’s camp to Conference South in 2010 to cross paths with City
postponing today’s return fixture. once again. Our visit in 2012 was the first for over
City fans will be hoping that the enforced lay-off does 35 years and saw Sean Canham and Chris Allen
not rejuvenate the Angels in the same way that we share the goals in a 4-3 win, but two goals from the
were at Dorking and Hungerford seemed to be last home team in the ten minutes added on at the end,
Monday! almost earned them a draw. The following season’s
That defeat three weeks ago at St Albans left the encounter was less dramatic with an own goal gaining
Angels in 14th position, two places above City, with us a point from a very long midweek trip.
13 points gained from 11 matches. Their mid-table Let’s hope that next week’s match goes ahead to
placing is largely down to their away form as they avoid the team having to travel to Kent for an evening
have only recorded one victory and a draw from their fixture once again! The Angels have been streaming
previous five home matches. their matches and, like ours, have made the online
Tonbridge certainly fared better in the Cup. Their run programme free of charge.
to the first round included a 5-0 thrashing of Taunton
Town before they were similarly put to the sword 7-0 TONBRIDGE ANGELS LOWDOWN:
at home by Bradford City. That match drew a lot of
publicity, due to the generosity of the Yorkshire club’s GROUND: Longmead Stadium
supporters who donated thousands of pounds to a
crowdfunding appeal to compensate the Angels for no COLOURS: Blue and White
spectators being admitted. NICKNAME:
We only met the Angels once last season, drawing The Angels
0-0 with the newly promoted club in August 2019, a MANAGER: Steve McKimm
match which was only memorable for Tyler Harvey’s
bizarre penalty miss and Harvey Smith avoiding 2019/20 FINISH: 15th
a second yellow card when the referee mistakenly
booked Alex Hartridge instead. The away match was
supposed to have been the last trip we faced, but of MARTIN POWELL
course it was never played. In fact many clubs failed
to make the journey to Longmead as matches were
frequently postponed due to waterlogging and, of the
31 matches completed, only 13 were played at home
by the club, which finished in 15th position.
The original Tonbridge club were founded in 1947,
acquiring the Angel Ground (named after a nearby
pub) from Kent County Cricket Club. For the next two
decades they were regular opponents of City in the
Southern League without ever setting it alight and,
like ourselves, experienced several relegations and
promotions after the lower division was created.
There were 19 matches in all between the two clubs at
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