Our Kent Youth League teams faced an altogether tougher set of challenges on Sunday than they have in recent weeks but emerged with three wins and one defeat. Two of our teams, the Under-14’s and the Under-16’s travelled to previously unbeaten opponents and returned home with three valuable points apiece after outstanding performances.

The Under-14’s came away from Phoenix Sports with a 2-1 win and as Ollie Stell reports produced an “unbelievable performance’: 

“Tonbridge Angels U14’s travelled to Phoenix Sports, to be met by a beautiful, well-kept grass pitch which allowed our team to play their style of football. The home side started the faster with the Angels having to defend the opening 10 minutes. We had just started to build into the game when an extremely dubious penalty was given for handball, the ball quite clearly coming off the player’s chest but we had a lot of confidence in our goalkeeper, Vinnie Bourne, who produced the goods to save the penalty and keep the scores level. 

“This kicked the Angels into gear and bringing on Jack Barratt gave us our breakthrough. Barrett played a superb through ball to Iden Newman who broke the line and calmly slotted into the bottom corner to get his first goal of the season. Time passed with a lot of Angels dominance, winning the game in midfield and constantly putting pressure on the Phoenix backline. A half that seemed endless resulted in Jack Murray breaking through and squaring the ball to Barratt who smashed in his fifth goal of the season. 

“The second half followed suit and if not for a good performance from the Phoenix goalkeeper and some luck, Angels should have had the game wrapped up. 

“A flurry of free kicks in the last 15 minutes for the home side resulted in the home side grabbing a consolation goal when a melee in the box allowed the ball to be poked home. 

“We managed the game to its conclusion, defending superbly and not giving the Phoenix forward line much in the way of opportunities. Our win continued our streak of away wins with an unbelievable performance from the whole squad who dug deep when the boys felt unfairly judged throughout the game. A big shoutout to Javier Donohue, our captain, with a cracking performance at centre back. Supporter’s Player of the Match went to Vinnie Bourne and Player of the Match went to Carter Deacon in central midfield for a dominant performance both on and off the ball.

Our second victory on the road came from the Under-16’s who defied the thoughts of the KYL pundits with an impressive performance and result at Bromley as Adam Barden reflects:

“The U16’s travelled to an unbeaten Bromley side and arrived focused on the job in hand as we sought to dominate the game from the kick-off. This was rewarded in the second minute with a touch of brilliance from Zak Willis, who gave us an early lead. 

“We continued to dominate the ball and were well worth our second goal in the 12th minute from Archie Long and a third in the 27th minute after a brilliant ball out from our goalkeeper Alfie McGuire led to a second goal for Willis with a great finish.

“We started to looked tired at this point which allowed Bromley to get back into the game just before the break reducing the deficit to 3-1. 

“In the second half we regained our focus and continued to dominate, but were unable to create too much in front of goal with Bromley’s offside trap catching us out a number of times, however just before the end, a brilliant run by Walter Whittington took him round the goalkeeper before being brought down to earn us a penalty that was converted into the bottom right corner by John Fuller. 

"A fantastic performance, with a load of positives but still plenty to work on, as we focus onto next week when we play another unbeaten side in Chiselhurst Glebe.”

Opening the day’s proceedings at the Yeomans Community Stadium were the Under-15’s who were meeting Bearsted in a cup competition for the second successive week. The visitors produced a sterner challenge than last week, but as James Ward reports, his side were still too strong.

“Another strong performance from the Under-14’s as we faced Bearsted for the second week running. After a comfortable win last time out, I challenged the lads to maintain their professionalism and work as hard, if not harder, than they had the previous week.

“Bearsted made some adjustments following the heavy defeat, tightening things up centrally, but overall didn’t change too much and continued to play very direct.

"It was great to see Harry Rice grab a brace, and, once again, we saw goals coming from midfield, something that’s becoming a real strength of team. A Man of the Match performance from Jacob Quanstrom, who once again showed what a talent he is.

“A solid 6–1 win sees us safely into the hat for the next round, which will be a trip to Cray Valley PM, who beat Bredhurst on penalties.”

Our only Sunday defeat was suffered by the Under-13’s who found a physical Snodland Town just a little too strong, as Olly Pantrey reports:

“The U13’s faced a physical Snodland Town side in a challenging Kent Youth League fixture this weekend.

“Despite warnings about the long-ball threat, the young Angels struggled to adapt defensively and were too often caught chasing back. In possession, the team worked towards the match challenge to beat the first man regularly but poor scanning and rushed decisions left them vulnerable to transition and inevitably conceding two early goals.

“A stronger second-half effort showed glimpses of fight and was rewarded with a deserved goal, but frequent technical errors and a drift into ‘kick and rush’ football meant the game slipped away by the end to finish with a 3-1 defeat. We will continue to encourage the importance of accountability and maintaining the team’s passing identity, regardless of result, ahead of the return game next week.”

A reminder that our Under-18's are in FA Youth Cup action at Hollands and Blair on Thursday, with a 8pm kick-off.