Tonbridge Angels - Longmead Stadium

Tonbridge Angels FC
Longmead Stadium
Darenth Avenue
Tonbridge
Kent
TN10 3JF

01732 352417
Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 185
Sunday 1st January 2012
Tonbridge Angels 1-1 Bromley
Blue Square South

TONBRIDGE ANGELS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established as Tonbridge in 1947. They added the Angels in 1994 in a nod to their former home of the Angel Ground, formerly the home of Kent County Cricket Club and named after the nearby hotel, 'The Angel'. This was their home up until 1980 when they moved to their current ground. They were elected to the Southern League in 1948 for their first season of competitive football. They never really set the world alight in terms of results and in 1962 they were relegated from the Premier Division to Division 1. They continued to yoyo between the two tiers until 1979 when the league was split into two regional divisions. The experiment would only last a few seasons and Tonbridge would not make the cut for the Premier Division in 1982. Despite a 4th place finish two years later, Tonbridge dropped down to the Kent League in 1989. The form was a lot better here and in 1993, they won the league and promotion to the Southern League. Angels would remain in the second-tier Eastern Division until 2004 when they finished third behind Kings Lynn & Histon. They were promoted to the Isthmian Premier but would only last a single season before relegation. However, they'd bounce back with another third-place finish in Isthmian Division 1 and this time they coped far better with the step up. In 2011, a second-place finish behind Sutton United saw them promoted to the Conference South after they beat Harrow Borough & Lowestoft Town in the playoffs. The 2011/12 season was the best in the club's history as Tonbridge Angels finished 9th in the Conference South.  However, they'd be relegated in 2014 and would spend five seasons in the Isthmian Premier. In 2019, they finished 4th and beat Haringey Borough, Merstham and Met Police in the playoffs to return to step 2, now called the National North.

Tonbridge Angels' best FA Cup run came in 2020, sadly in the midst of a pandemic, so fans were not allowed in. They beat Farnborough, Chichester City and Taunton Town prior to a home defeat against League Two side Bradford City. The following season saw their best FA Trophy run. They beat Canvey Island before dumping out higher-tier Torquay United and Kings Lynn Town. Their run came to an end in the 5th Round as they lost on penalties to eventual winners Bromley. Local cup wins include the Kent League Cup twice, the Kent League Shield in 1994, the Kent Senior Cup twice, the Kent Senior Shield five times, the Kent Floodlit Cup twice, ten George Pioer Trophies, three Metropolitan League and the Supporters Direct Sheild in 2015.  The current record attendance for a competitive match at Longmead is 2,411, which was set on 7th May 2011 in the Isthmian League Premier Division play-Off final against Lowestoft Town although the 1998 friendly against Crystal Palace beat that figure by one fan. The town of Tonbridge is located four miles from Tunbridge Wells and has a population of just under 42,000.

MY VISIT

I decided to go to a game on the first day of 2012 after being given the day off at fairly late notice. I had narrowed the choice of games down to 2 - either Eastleigh v Havant and Waterlooville or Tonbridge Angels v Bromley. I chose the latter due to Tonbridge supposedly having a better club shop and was glad I did, as the Eastleigh game got called off due to a waterlogged pitch - the UK enjoyed a very wet start to the new year! After a heavy night the night before, I awoke the following morning at 10.30am. It was only meant to be a light one, as I had enjoyed the festive spirit of Christmas a little more than was good for my health. The intentions started out well, but soon I got carried away with watching Match of The Day, and having some serious chats with old mates on Facebook, and naturally, a few cans and shots of spirit were included to keep me awake. I'm not the sort of person that gets hangovers, but I felt a bit groggy when I got up, and a nice day in the fresh air was just what I needed. Another good thing was that all the roads were clear, even the dreadful M25, and so I made it in good time, arriving just after 2PM.



For most of my journey, it completely tipped down with rain, and I was a bit worried that the game may be called off, resulting in a wasted journey for me. But luckily it still went ahead. After going into the ground and paying £12 to get in, plus £2 for a programme, I went straight to the club shop to have a look around. They had a large selection of programmes, but they were sorted in date order rather than alphabetically, so it was hard to find the ones I wanted, especially with that area of the club shop being crowded. So I settled for a copy of a fanzine - Dulwich Hamlet's "Champion Hill Street Blues" which I actually got for free as they didn't have any change (normally it would be 20p) I then went and took some pictures of the ground, before getting some chips and taking a seat in the stand to read my programme. Even before the match kicked off the pitch was pretty wet, and played fine in a pretty uneventful and even first half. The second half became a bit of a farce as the rain continued to pour, making the pitch very hard to play on. At least it was entertaining watching the players trying to cope with the conditions as the pitch got more flooded. Tonbridge must have thought they had won it as Chris Henry scored a 77th-minute goal, a real cracker too. But 4 minutes later Danny Waldren plundered an equaliser with a scrappy goal to make it all square, and that was how it ended. The 2 sides also drew the first game of this duel, 2-2 at Bromley on Saturday. Bromley are now 13 games without a win, by contrast, hosts Tonbridge were enjoying an unbeaten spell.

MY SECOND VISIT

Tuesday 10th Jan 2023 - Friendly
Tonbridge Angels 2-0 Faversham Town

A game at Stapenhill was decided upon around a week in advance once I'd received the Football Traveller. I presented a list to my fellow hoppers and we all agreed that it was the best option. I'd seen them play at Newhall earlier in the season and the club was very active and welcoming on Twitter. It was also one of two grounds I needed to complete the Midland League Division 1. However, it turned out to be in vain due to the good old British weather. I'd come back from Redditch United the previous night and stayed up until 2 am. As a result, I slept until 9 and awoke to incessant rain. The forecast looked poor for most parts of the country and the rain didn't give up until 11. I decided to walk to town and back and it was whilst I was walking down that I decided to do a revisit for the second night in a row. This time it was Tonbridge Angels and their 3G pitch. It was only a friendly but it was only a fiver entry. More importantly, it was a new ground for fellow hopper Colin. I'd spent the afternoon at home before leaving at 5.15. 20 minutes later I was with Colin. There was plenty more rain on the journey with the M25 slow as usual but we were there by 7.20.

The fiver entry was good value, even if it was just a friendly. I headed to the shop to see what they had. The drawstring bag looked a decent buy for £2.50, but sadly they were out of stock. The next stop was the tea bar. There looked to be a decent range of burgers and I went for the biggest. The Sonny Stacker was a half-pound bacon cheeseburger for £5.50. It was pretty nice but not as good as the one I had at Flackwell Heath earlier this season, although that has been the benchmark for football burgers. We took a seat in the stand to shelter from the rain and although there were no announcements on the tannoy, the teams were listed on Twitter. The game was dominated by Tonbridge and they took the lead on seven minutes when Nathan Wood bundled home from close range. On 19 minutes, it was 2-0, a right-hand-sided corner was slotted home from six yards by Joe Turner. Right on half time, the hosts had the chance to make it 3-0, however, the penalty was saved. There were not so many chances in the second half, bar a couple of goalmouth scrambles. Faversham had the ball in the net around fifteen minutes from time, but it was ruled out for offside. As with last night at Redditch, it was not as enjoyable as my first visit, but I was glad to get some new pictures.

THE GROUND

LONGMEAD STADIUM is a smart stadium, which should be good enough to host Blue Square Premier football. Down one side, there is a covered stand holding around 700 seated. This stretches pretty much the whole length of the pitch. Behind each goal are identical terraced areas, which are covered and hold around 250 covered per end. Whilst on the far side - or the side as you come in, it is just open hard standing. This side also hosts the bar which has the normal selection of drinks and Sky TV. The club shop which as mentioned has a good stock of programmes. And the tea bar, which does chips, but annoyingly puts butter in its rolls and burgers. I hate butter, so I am glad I got chips!

The second visit saw little change, bar some cosmetic touches. The tea bar was a lot better but the programmes in the club shop had gone, though it was a lot smarter. The car park was huge though, enough to host a big crowd.

 

2023 PICTURES