Tonbridge Angels welcome Kingstonian to the Yeomans Community Stadium on Saturday for the final game of the pre-season schedule.
We would like to thank Kingstonian for stepping in to fill the void in the fixture list that was caused when our original opponents, Biggleswade, had to pull out due to FA Cup commitment.
Whilst we entertained Kingstonian for a pre-season friendly in 2020, we have only met once competitively since 2017 when they departed Kingsmeadow, and in those intervening years, the Surrey side have had a nomadic existence starting with a groundshare at Leatherhead for a season before moving on to Corinthian Casuals. In the summer of 2021, they were back on the move to share at Tooting and Mitcham, where they spent two seasons before last season playing at their present abode at Raynes Park Vale.
The K’s are jointly managed by Dean Thomas and Mitchal Gough, who were appointed from within following the departure of Scott Harris who had led the club to the Isthmian South Central play-offs last season, a season in which Eddie Simon became the league’s leading scorer with 35 goals for Kingstonian.
The club managed to retain the bulk of that squad and during the summer have added midfielders Sean O’Brien (Carshalton Athletic), Jamie Hilton (Binfield) and Joel Brown (Dorking Wanderers); defender Liam Flanighan (Chertsey Town); and striker Moses Emmanuel (Billericay Town).
Pre-season has brought an opening day 4-0 defeat at Bracknell Town followed by a 3-3 draw at Basingstoke Town. A trip to Sheerwater brought a seven goal win and a further three were scored at Roffey. Ashford Town (Middlesex) was used as the venue for a “home” friendly against Guildford City which was won by 5-4. Last Saturday, the K’s travelled to our National League South counterparts Eastbourne Borough, from where they came away with a creditable 2-2 draw. Last time out, on Tuesday evening, they returned home in a Landlords versus Tenants fixture against Raynes Park Vale, which ended with a 3-1 win for the landlords with ex-Angel Trevan Robinson scoring twice for RPV.
The last time we met, here at Longmead for the aforementioned 2020 friendly, finished with a 2-1 win for the Angels courtesy of a final minute goal from Ben Greenhalgh after Kingstonian’s Corie Andrews had equalised Jason Williams’ first half opener.
Craig Nelson teased that Sean Shields might get some minutes on Saturday after coming through a pre-match training session on Tuesday. “It is the plan that he will get minutes on Saturday. We could have pushed him on Tuesday but his health is the important thing, we want him back and firing for the start of the season, so the plan is that if he gets through training on Thursday with no pain to see if we can get him some minutes at the back end of Saturday’s game and then put him through another week of training and if he is fit and ready to go then we can see him feature in the first game against Slough.”
Saturday’s game has the ticket offer of Adults £9, Concessions £7 Youths (12-17) £5 but these must be purchased online HERE before midnight on Friday. Admission on the turnstiles is Adults £12; Concessions £10 and Youths £5.
Gates open at 1 pm with the Sports Bar open from the outset with Biddenden Cider on offer at £4 a pint or two pints for £7.50 and there will be a Happy Hour between 5-6 pm, when all draught beers are £1 off, excluding the cider offer.
The Tea Hut will open at 1 pm serving burgers, hot dogs, butties, hot and cold drinks. Fries Like An Angel and the Pie Shack will not be open on this occasion.
Enjoy the game!
