Bouncebackability is a word coined in the early noughties by former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie and championed by iconic TV programme Soccer AM to become a word accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary. 

Its meaning is the capacity to recover quickly from a setback. At Hampton, on Tuesday evening, Alan Dunne and his Angels side, showed their bouncebackability as they recovered from Saturday’s disappointment to comprehensively record three vital points.

The delight on the faces of players and supporters as they celebrated as one was clearly evident after a quality performance that brought a smile to the face of Dunney in his post-match interview: “I’m really happy, nice to have a smile on my face. I want us to be humble but still enjoy it. I thought we were good for it, these are difficult games but we had too much for them tonight, too much energy, too much going forward, too much power and there was a lot of good things out there, nice to get three goals and a clean sheet is what I’m all about.”

It was a cold evening at the Beveree with the breath clouds evident from the warm-up as Dunney made five changes from Saturday’s team at Chippenham. Into the starting line-up came Bradley Williams, Matty Warren, Nazir Bakrin, Bailey Akehurst and Alfie Pavey with Marcus Sablier, Bunmi Babajide and Franklin Dom taking places on the bench that only consisted five players.

The evening could not of got off to a better start with the Angels in front after just three minutes with a brilliant team goal, finished with aplomb by Brody Peart, who was to prove a thorn in the side of the hosts all night. Pavey, receiving the ball, drove forward into space down the left before releasing the ball to Peart who fired low past former Angels’ custodian Matt Rowley.

Drawing on the confidence of an early goal, Tonbridge dominated the early proceedings with efforts on goal from Warren, Tom Leahy and Akehurst as Rowley was kept busy whilst Laurie Shala, in the Angels goal, was a virtual spectator.

It was 20-odd minutes in before the home side threatened with Nathan Paul-Lavery playing a pass towards Davide Rodari, but the Hampton striker slipped as he collected the ball and the Angels were able to clear to safety.

The visitors continued to dominate through to the break with chances and, perhaps the only disappointment was that the game had not been put to bed by the half-time whistle.

There was no sign of complacency, however, and after just eight minutes of the second half, the Angels doubled their advantage when Akehurst met Peart’s cross from the right to squeeze the ball in between Rowley and his near post.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side as Harry Thomas, who had received a first half booking, was shown a red card after hacking down substitute Babajide.

With the opposition down to 10 men, Tonbridge had complete control of the game, allowing Dunney to make substitutions, which didn’t remotely alter the direction of the game.

Babajide rounded off a great evening’s work with a tap-in at the far post following Ricky Korboa’s cross from the right.

Alan Dunne drew the analogy: “It was great at the end to see the fans smiling, there will be good days and bad days, but we are in this together. It’s like having a row with your missus, you have a row and then you make up!”