There were five changes to the Angels starting line up from last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Binfield with new signing Jaden Crowhurst, Craig Braham-Barrett, Tommie Fagg, another new signing Reuben Soares-Junior and Louis Collins all coming in.

First to show for Angels was Soares-Junior who found himself in a bit of space after 5 minutes but the effort was tame and no problem for Cheshunt keeper Preston Edwards.   It was the hosts who were starting to show some desire with Brandon Lewis warming the gloves of Jonny Henly.

Gradually however Tonbridge’s Lewis Gard was imposing himself on the game with the link up play with Louis Collins causing problems for the Cheshunt defence.  Both those players grazed the Cheshunt woodwork but it was to be the latter who was to make the breakthrough when following a run and cross from Joe Turner the striker turned the ball into the Cheshunt goal. 

Angels continued their dominance with a good spell of clever passing and good running off the ball and on 38 minutes Collins fed Turner but he was denied by Edwards with the rebound unable to be converted. But dominance needs to be invested with goals and that’s what happened on the stroke of half time.  Almost inevitably Gard provided the assist with Reuben Soares applying the finishing touch.

On the restart Angels nearly went three ahead with a rasping shot from the goalscorer Soares but Edwards pulled off a great save.  It could have been a deciding factor in the eventual outcome of the game as immediately following, Cheshunt went down the other end and scored through Rowan Liburd on 48 minutes.  

Suddenly the hosts were very much back in the game and Angels quite simply couldn’t put matters to bed and make the match safe.  Whilst Collins restored the two goal advantage for Tonbridge with his second on 55 minutes, a fumble from Henly on 62 minutes meant Cheshunt were once again breathing down their visitors necks. 

Santos added a fourth for Angels with a delightful shot that had deceptive curve on it on 71 minutes and once again there was daylight between the two sides but to their credit Cheshunt were not prepared to throw in the the towel and believed there was still something for them to strive for. 

An Ariel bombardment was to follow and Angels needed all their concentration to avoid conceding again with in particular another new signing, loanee Jaden Crowhurst making a superb goal line clearance.  It seemed as if they were going to see the game out with no further dramas, but it was not to be. 

On 90 minutes Beckles-Richards scrambled the ball home for Cheshunt and with a few minutes stoppage time, was the draw a possibility?  In the end the visitors saw it out but not before Henly atoned for his earlier mistake by coming up with an instinctive save ensuring that all the points belonged to Tonbridge. 

Afterwards, Angels Boss, Jay Saunders said: “To come here and score four goals, brilliant.  On the flip side we shouldn’t have needed four goals to win the game.”

Picture : Ian Clear.  Louis Collins scores his second of the afternoon.