Returning Jordan Greenidge was named on the bench but an injury to Lewis Gard in the warmup promoted him to the eleven in his first game back for the Angels. Ben Swift was back, his short spell out forced by concussion protocol. The XI: Henly, Hinds, Fielding, Swift, Lyons-Foster, Meade, Wagstaff (c), Higgs, Turner, Greenidge, Akanbi.

The Angels certainly had the better start of the two sides. Ibby Akanbi fired the first warning shot, Joe Turner also with an effort which was defected wide. Jonny Henly wasn’t challenged in the first 10 minutes and the only Slough attack fizzled out without much worry for Tonbridge.

The most hopeful moment in the early stages came courtesy of a mistake by Slough defender Joe Dandy which Jordan Greenidge pounced on. The striker chopped the ball past another defender who’d got back but had no luck converting the shot which was saved comfortably.

Despite positive signs from the Angels, the opening goal came for Slough. The circumstances confusing and frustrating. Captain Wagstaff had gone down in the box amongst the chaos of a scrambled Slough attack, and as he fell, most playing and watching expected the game to either be stopped by the referee or the ball to be put out of play. However, Scott Davies took his chance from range when Tonbridge switched off and snatched the lead for Slough.

The feeling of unfairness and robbery increased the intensity of the Angels players and less than ten minutes later, the response came in the shape of a Jamie Fielding header at the back post. It bounced down and goalwards. The Slough defender attempted to clear it but he only smashed it into the roof of his own net. 

At the break, the two sides were level.

Chances for Angels were coming thick and fast at the start of the second half. A hairy moment for the home keeper on 51 minutes saw the fans behind the goal with something to shout about and just a moment later they could cheer as Akanbi turned in a ball that’d been parried off the line by the goalkeeper who was falling backwards trying to save a close-range header. 

Slough’s George Alexander attempted an acrobatic effort to draw the home side level, but Henly caught confidently.

Kodi Lyons-Foster added a third to the tally from a corner increasing the lead with a tap-in tucked away.

A number of subs were made in the final half an hour, Soares-Junior came on and within two minutes and at the second time of asking scored. Ruben was put through and took it around the opposition keeper, taking time to finish with a good connection despite the retreating defenders. Two minutes later, almost identically Soares-Junior was played in once more, he tried again to take it around the number one but was fouled by the falling keeper winning a penalty. Unfortunately, the keeper compensated his error saving the penalty with his feet.

Joe Boachie was introduced as well as Nathan Wood who with his first touch scored the Angels fifth and final goal of the fixture. With seven additional minutes put on the board, the game was slowing down but a lack of concentration in the closing moments saw Alexander score from a corner to give the remaining Slough fans in the ground something to smile at.

Jay Saunders commented after the game “We took a lot of criticism this week, but to give the response we did today, I am really pleased.”