Points are on the board for Tonbridge Angels Ladies in their first season in Division One East, following a resounding 6-0 win over Anchorians at Longmead Stadium.

Tonbridge were in complete control for most of the match but this owed much to a trademark strong start with two goals in the opening six minutes. Last season’s top goalscorer Becky Janes got herself off the mark for 2018/19 in the third minute with a cool finish following a clever ball behind the defence from Courtney Smith. The lead was quickly doubled with Megan Akehurst turning her defender and finishing with ease following a throw from Alex Weston.

The home side continued to show strength in numbers when it comes to cool heads in front of goal, as first Becky Mackley (17 mins) and Lauryn Underhill (31 mins) tucked in chances when one-on-one with visiting goalkeeper Kiara Gallagher. By now though the away team had regrouped and were enjoying their best spell of the match, but a back four of Flo Anastasiou, Sam Burton, Alex Weston and Smith were in strong form and the visitors were kept well out of reach of the Tonbridge goalkeeper Sam Wright.

The second half saw the Angels regain their composure when moving the ball and a swift attacking move on 57 mins released Janes on the left with Underhill in space on the right. With the ball quickly switched to Underhill, the winger rifled a shot into the top corner to make it 5-0.

Mackley doubled her tally on 72 minutes after rounding the goalkeeper, but following a similar chance suffered an injury scare which required the stretcher, and we wish her well for a speedy recovery. The resulting delay took some of the energy out of the final 15 minutes of the match with the objective now being to preserve a home clean sheet.

Manager Dan Couldridge said: “We knew that if we started well it would set the tone for the match and this proved to be the case. I’m also delighted with the clean sheet against a team that we knew were strong going forward.”

Next week the team switch their attentions to the Kent FA Women’s Cup. The visitors to Hadlow College will be Margate with kick off at 2pm.

Team: Wright, Anastasiou, Smith, Moran, Burton, Weston, Underhill, Akehurst, Janes, Mackley, Gibb. Subs: Walker, Jarvis, Syrett.

Images courtesy of Dave Couldridge