Romans and Angels can’t be separated

City picked up their first point of the 24/25 season on the road this afternoon with a goalless draw against Tonbridge Angels. Until a late spell for the home side, City had shaded the encounter but lacked a cutting edge up front, and a draw was the fair result.

An early low cross from Jordan Alves almost gave Ewan Clark a tap-in at the back post only for a defender to get a vital interception, then a ball over the top looked to have freed Reuben Davies but he lost his footing and the danger was cleared. These were rare threats from City and, with the Angels producing even less as an attacking force, the game was doing little to entertain the watching crowd. The half ended with a heavy rain shower sweeping across the Longmead Stadium and Latrell Humphrey-Ewers blasting a shot high over the bar, which was a fitting conclusion.

The pattern of the game changed little into the second with City enjoying the majority of possession but failing to turn this into decent openings. On 64 minutes Davies managed to block an attempted clearance by keeper Steward but he could only lift his shot over the bar from a narrow angle. In the space of four minutes Vincent and Clarke saw shots well gathered by Harvey Wiles-Richards and this signalled a change in the balance of the game as Tonbridge began to control the middle of the park. However, too often their final pass or cross was poor and this was summed up in the final minute when Lema found himself in acres of space down the left but his centre flashed across the face of goal to ensure there was no late drama.