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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