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Sport

Tonbridge Angels start their National South campaign at Worthing

By: Luke Cawdell lcawdell@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 04 August 2023

Updated: 09:41, 04 August 2023

Tonbridge Angels will be aiming to bridge the divide between the also-rans and the play-off makers in the National South this season.

An impressive 2022/23 campaign left Jay Saunders’ side sitting ninth in the table, just four points adrift of the top seven, where six teams were left to battle it out for a spot in the National League.

Tonbridge Angels manager Jay Saunders hoping to better a great 2022/23 season Picture: David Couldridge.

Boss Saunders would love to be in the mix this season and is ready for another big challenge as his men kick off the season at Worthing - a side that took fourth position last time around.

He said: “Worthing are a good side, they had a great season last year.

“ I have played against Adam Hinshelwood’s sides for a number of years and they have always been good, especially at home.

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“It will be a good test.

“I love it when a season starts, I don’t mind pre-season, but this is proper football, the tempo of the games are better and we’re ready for it.

“Promotion is the aim but we know it’s a tough league, there’s some big clubs in it.

“Would I take where we finished last year? Yes, it would probably be another exceptional season, but can we bridge that gap to the play-offs?

“It won’t be easy, there are some big clubs in it, but we’ll do all we can.”

Saunders has had to contend with some frustrating injuries during pre-season, with summer recruit Stefan Payne among them, missing from last Saturday’s game against Margate, which the Angels won 1-0.

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A header from Tommie Fagg towards the end of the opening half settled it.

Saunders felt there were areas his side could have done better in that last pre-season outing, including their finishing.

He was also disappointed some of his substitutes didn’t make more of an impact.

He said: “I was quite happy with certain aspects of the first half, we dominated possession, we had a lot of the ball but to be honest we didn’t ask enough questions.

“I thought our end product was poor and that was frustrating for me.

“There were other aspects I was pleased with, some of our build-up first half was very good.

“I thought the game died a bit second half and that’s why we made the changes, hoping it would get a reaction, maybe get a spark, I didn’t think we got that.

“You have to give Margate credit second half, they made the game tougher for us.

“It wasn’t the best of games but it’s a win and a clean sheet.”

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