Angels delight as one goal downs Crusaders
Hungerford Town are in need of a Christmas miracle after a 1-0 defeat to Tonbridge Angels at a Baltic Bulpit Lane at the weekend.
It was a result and performance that epitomised the Crusaders’ season so far – ample determination and dedication, but a lack of cutting edge and clinicality.
Boss Danny Robinson made two enforced changes to his side from their 3-2 defeat at Braintree as the prolific Dan Roberts, who was unwell, and the suspended Matt Berry-Hargreaves, both watched on from the sidelines.
To the Crusaders' credit the visitors, who beat third placed Ebbsfleet and drew with second placed Havant and Waterloovile last month, found it difficult in the opening exchanges and were almost behind in the 18th minute when the excellent Ryan Jones turned on the edge of the box before his curling shot was acrobatically saved by Tonbridge’s Jonathan Henly.
Thereafter however the Angels gained a foothold in the contest and had their first effort of note 26 minutes in, Jordan Greenidge’s header straight at Bristol Rovers loanee Jed Ward.
Ward, returning to action after a succession of injuries that forced Hungerford to utilise six other goalkeepers in his absence, was in action again soon after when he did well to save from Greenidge before some excellent defending from Curtis Angell kept the Crusaders level.
Moments later and frontman Niko Muir had Hungerford’s best effort of the first half, shooting from distance and forcing former Reading man Henly into an impressive save.
Then with a little over five minutes of the first half remaining Hungerford were behind, a deep in-swinging corner headed home by Devonte Aransibia to hand the visitors a 1-0 half time lead.
Robinson chopped and changed after the break, introducing Louis McGrory and Callum Willmoth either side of the hour and switched from three at the back to 4-2-3-1.
And the Crusaders approach almost paid dividends when the influential Jake Evans went close, his effort once again kept out by the gloves of Henly.
Hungerford continued to press as Evans volleyed wide and Muir’s header was turned past the post before the all-action Jones hit the woodwork with three minutes to go, the Crusaders drawing a blank at home for the sixth time this season.
With the hectic festive schedule fast approaching and Hungerford six points from safety, Robinson insists his players have got what it takes to find the goals and the results to fire them out of trouble.
He said: “I love and cherish each and every one of my players, I take full responsibility for what’s happening at the moment, but I’ve got faith we can get out of this.
“There was nothing in it, we made a mistake defensively at the end of the first half and that’s what cost us, we created chances but couldn’t convert, that’s been the story of our season.
“We were well on top in the second half, we missed Dan Roberts massively, when the chips are down that’s what happens.
“It’s really hard to swallow, I can’t fault the players, we have to go away, chew the fat and come back stronger.
“We’ll absolutely keep going, I’m always going to be confident we can get out of this.”
Hungerford travel to 18th placed Concord Rangers, who beat the Crusaders 1-0 on the opening day of the season, on Saturday before the visit of St Albans on Tuesday, December 13.
