TONBRIDGE ANGELS 5-3 TONBRIDGE ANGELS RESERVES
Saturday, 25 July, 1998 3pm

Unfortunately I missed the start of the game thanks to a misunderstanding which forced me to walk all the way to the ground!! The Angels team playing in blue appeared to be the stronger side, and with the possible exception of Andy Boyle, could be the starting line-up against Corby next month. Steve Lovell's son John made his debut at left back, Alan Tutton and Andy Kearns returned and new signing Clint Gooding partnered Lovell Snr up front. Notable absences at the game included the three Matts Broadway, Gubbins and Lemoine, and Wayne Balmer, John Embery and Tim Marshall. Twelve minutes into the game (about the time I arrived) Steve Lovell headed past reserve keeper Luke Hills to make the score 1-0 to the Blues. Apart from a Colin Blewden goal, nothing much else happened for the rest of the first half and the early stages in the second half. Things livened up though when Gooding scored an excellent goal to make it 3-0, quickly followed by goals from Blewden and Lovell to give the apparent first-teamers a comfortable 5-0 lead.
The introduction of Peter McCleod in place of a dreadfully poor Jody Cole breathed new life in to the Reds' attack. Freeman who had also been poor during the game, finally pulled a goal back after numerous attempts to put the ball past Radford had failed. McCleod's speed outran Gibbs (of all people) and a dubiously late dive won a penalty which was duly converted by Dave Bourne. The scoreline was further reduced by McCleod himself to give a 5-3 final result in favour of the Blues.
Several interesting points came from the game, such as McCleod's impressive performance in front of manager Blewden (who isn't exactly McCleod's biggest fan), whether Tutton will partner Gibbs in defence, and why Dave Bourne was playing for the Reserves!!!
The next game is against Crystal Palace Reserves and hopefully will give us a better idea of who Blewden is planning to play in the first league game!

Goals:
Lovell 2, Blewden 2, Gooding
Freeman, Bourne pen, McCleod