An eight goal thriller kept the crowd on their feet despite the inclement weather, but a share of the points was probably the right result.
Angels Boss, Steve McKimm, restored Alex Bentley to right back in place of James Folkes, Christ Tiehi was selected as the holding midfield player with Tommie Hession-Harris and D’Sean Theobalds in the centre. Jack Rudoni had been recalled to his parent club AFC Wimbledon because of a midfield shortage at the EFL club.
It was a bright enough start for Tonbridge with Jared Small delivering some tempting crosses from the right and on the other flank Joe Turner cutting inside and unleashing some venomous shots that were narrowly wide or just over.
But the statistic that only matters is goals and that’s what Oxford City grabbed in the space of eight minutes. A misplaced header from the Tonbridge midfield put in Elliot Benyon on the inside right channel and the centre forward unleashed a fierce shot that beat Angels keeper Jonny Henly on his near post on 31 minutes.
It got worse for the Angels on 39 minutes when a corner inexplicably was allowed to drift into the home net to put the visitors two up at the break.
Things took a different turn immediately after the break. A cross from Angels substitute Khale Da Costa was diverted for a corner and it was Tom Derry who got the header in the 48th minute to pull one back for The Angels. Eight minutes later Da Costa was again involved when a blatant push on the winger resulted in a penalty award that was neatly converted by D’Sean Theobalds to put the sides on equal terms.
When Turner for the Angels scored in the 85th minute with a low raking shot it seemed likely it was three points for the home side, but in fact it was only the start of an extraordinary sequence of goals.
City equalised two minutes later through Stefan Brown and then managed to restore their lead on 90th minute through the same player. It was only to last for two minutes as man of the Match Turner grabbed a point for the home side in dramatic fashion following a Da Costa corner and with the entire Angels team in the City penalty area.
Turner may well have deservedly been awarded man of the match but there were other fine performances from the players in blue shirts. Da Costa made quite an impact as a second half substitute, Tom Derry as the starting lone striker battled away and was rewarded with the strike that set the Angels on the road to recovery and the consistently good Theobalds created much of what was good in the heart of the Angels midfield.