Sinful defending costs Crusaders in Angels defeat

Hungerford Town conceded four goals on a 4G pitch for the second time in three weeks as the Crusaders suffered a 4-3 defeat to Tonbridge Angels.

Boss Danny Robinson bemoaned another “25 minutes of madness” as the Crusaders surrendered a 1-0 lead after a quarter of an hour and found themselves 4-1 down at the break.

Nevertheless there were a number of positives to take from the second half as substitute Great Evans scored twice before Jake Evans had a shot blocked on the line as Hungerford almost rescued a point.

However a number of results went in favour of the Crusaders in the fight for National League South survival – with Cheshunt the only side in the bottom six to win at the weekend – leaving Robinson’s side still within touching distance of safety.

There was bad news for the visitors before kick-off as striker Dan Roberts suffered another setback on what was scheduled to be his return to the squad when he pulled up in the warm-up but the Crusaders made a fast start and were ahead after 10 minutes when Jerry Gyebi rose highest and powered home a header to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

However Hungerford could only hold on to their lead for five minutes after a ball forward found Lewis Gard and the midfielder released Southend United loanee Jake Wood who danced past Curtis Angell and Gyebi before giving Jed Ward no chance with a composed left-footed finish.

The Crusaders were struggling to deal with Wood and the winger scored his second seven minutes later when another fluent Angels move released teenage full-back Bailey Akehurst and the Gillingham loanee's deep cross picked out Wood, who wasn't tracked by George Smith and then pulled off the back of Angell and headed in at the back post to make it 2-1.

The visitors were unable to halt Tonbridge's relentless pressure and Angels had a third a little over 10 minutes later when Jordan Greenidge outmuscled Matt Berry-Hargreaves and slid in Joe Turner whose quick feet worked space for a shot and he beat Ward with his left foot.

Hungerford were no doubt hoping to make it to the break and regroup but Tonbridge had other ideas and the home side hit a fourth before half time when Berry-Hargreaves sold Ward short with a back pass and Greenidge stole in to score his 15th goal of the season.

The Crusaders continued on the back foot after the break until Robinson made a triple change, introducing Fabio Lopes, Great Evans and Michael Fernandes while the influential Ryan Jones was moved further forward.

And Robinson was soon rewarded when Jones pulled the ball back for Evans and the striker made it 4-2 and then just a minute later Evans benefited from some careless Tonbridge defending to make it 4-3.

It was almost Evans heaven with five minutes left when Great's namesake Jake fired a shot goalwards but Angels skipper Sonny Miles reacted well to clear the ball on the line and ensure the three points remained in Kent.

Danny Robinson felt a lack of leadership cost his side in the chaotic 25 minute spell that saw them surrender a 1-0 lead and head in 4-1 down at the break.

"We let a runner go and they equalised and I had a bad feeling, you could just see something wasn't quite right," he said.

"We seem to have that 25 minutes of madness in us and Tonbridge are a very good side and took full advantage.

"I have to give credit to the lads for how they responded after half time and we were unlucky not to nick a point in the end.

"But we're bitterly disappointed because we lost the game because of that spell in the first half and at this level you just can't have that.

"It's difficult to legislate for it, we set them up to the best of our ability, made sure we'd done our research and the players trained really well in the week

"I think at times when there's difficult moments in games we do lack a little bit of a leader.

"We've lost a lot of the more experienced players, Luke Cairney, Keith Emmerson, Callum Willmoth and I'd put Seags (Ryan Seager) in there too.

"We are a side that never rolls over and we showed that after half time."

Robinson admitted he dished out the infamous hairdryer treatment when his players were four down at Slough three weeks ago but said he took a different approach at the weekend in Kent.

He said: "To be honest at half time I was thinking we couldn't get much worse.

"I have a temper in me and I lost my rag at Slough but we had more of a collective, calming chat.

"It wasn't anything inspiring and I have to praise the players that responded so well and the substitutes that made a difference."

With results around them tending to go in their favour Robinson is confident Hungerford, who are five points from safety, can still beat the drop and provided a positive update on Dan Roberts ahead of the weekend's visit of Bath City.

"Dan will train this week, he felt a twinge but we think he's ok," he said.

"It's a massive game and I think it's going to be an absolute humdinger."