TONBRIDGE ANGELS defied their mid-table position to overcome Ryman Premier leaders Bognor Regis at the weekend.
Playing with confidence at home, Steve -McKimm’s side was at near full-strength after an injury-plagued early period of the season.
But from the off at Longmead Stadium, Angels took control of the game to produce the -standout performance of their -campaign so far.
They opened the scoring after 13 minutes with a Nick Wheeler cross from the left finding Nathan Elder, who duly dispatched it home with calm assurance.
Angels continued to dominate the visitors, who were unable to find any rhythm, resulting in -Tonbridge enjoying the lion’s share of possession.
Manager McKimm had stressed the importance of playing a strong passing game – which saw the side increasingly grow in confidence.
The lead was doubled after 33 minutes, -Wheeler again doing the honours with an incisive pass to Alex Akrofi, who scored from close range.
Five minutes later, defender Mitchell Nelson latched on to yet another Wheeler delivery from the right wing to head home his side’s third goal.
The ‘Rocks’ started with more intent in the -second half to gain a foothold in what had been an especially one-sided match.
Their persistence paid off in the 70th minute a superb volley by James Fraser from distance leaving Angels’ keeper Anthony Di Bernardo with little chance and made the match – for a while at least – something of a contest.
However, Tonbridge were in no mood to let the win slip from their grasp and Wheeler provided his fourth assist of the day with a perfectly weighted cross to Nathan Elder inside the box, who headed smartly into the bottom right-hand corner.
Angels coach Justin Luchford praised a strong team performance including man of the match Nathan Elder and Nick Wheeler. He said: “This was a good day at the office. We have to get the confidence back, we are four unbeaten now.
“Our confidence showed as the game went on. In the last 10 minutes we were exceptional.”
