Tunbridge Wells Youth Ridgewaye set out in today’s late kick off to rise back up the table after a 5-0 thumping at the hands of title contenders Cranbrook ended a 5 match unbeaten run in all competitions. Forest Row were the travelling team looking to win at a ground that Ridgewaye haven’t been beaten at since late September. The Green army had not failed to win in the league this season and one of these records had to come to an end.
Ridgewaye clearly tried to get the upper hand before the game by allocating the local version of Auschwitz as a changing facility for the travelling team but the boys in Green were mentally strong enough to deal with this.
Forest Row were immediately put on the back foot after kick-off. The defence soaked up the initial onslaught but it took until about ten minutes into the game for Frow to get into their stride. A couple of chances came Forest Row’s way but were hit off target.
It wasn’t until half way through the first half when the Green Army broke the deadlock after a nice bit of build-up play ending in a pass from Ollie Martin reaching Liam Wright just outside the eighteen yard box. Wright took a standing swing at the ball with his favoured right foot and the Ridgewaye goalkeeper couldn’t keep it out despite getting a touch on the ball. 1-0 Forest Row.
The remainder of the half was well contested with both sides only having half-chances. The closest either team came to changing the score in the first half was when Martin got on the end of a low cross fired the ball over the bar from close range. The Forest Row defence were solid and Dan Wright in goal was on top form when he needed to be.
The teams went into half time with the score still at 1-0 and the bad weather had taken its toll on the pitch. It didn’t suit the Barca style of play that the Green Army have been used to showing off this season and they knew that the second half would be a battle if they didn’t get an early goal.
The second half began much like the first with both teams finding it hard to get out of second gear on the uneven surface. The long balls were proving the most dangerous going forward for Forest Row and the defence were able to intercept the inaccurate through balls from the Ridgewaye midfield for the most part.
Ridgewaye nearly equalised part-way into the second half when a goal-line scramble wasn’t capitalised on by the Ridgewaye centre forward who reacted later than the Forest Row right-back Jonny Dench and the ball was eventually cleared. Just minutes later another attack from the Reds forced a goal-line clearance from Nick Nichols to keep the score in Forest Row’s favour.
With roughly twenty-five minutes remaining, Tom Hawkins won a free kick in the middle of the park which was hit long into the box by Nichols. Hawkins managed to get a touch on the ball which diverted it past the Ridgeway keeper to give the Green Army a two-goal cushion to hold onto for the rest of the game.
The game became rather feisty in the closing stages with Thornley-Gibson getting a stern talking to from the referee regarding a brutal tackle and an unsporting comment about the opposition’s capacity to handle the physicality of the game. Hawkins then received a deserved booking for intentionally tripping another opponent and was lucky to still be on the pitch after his scuffle with the Ridgewaye left-back had been missed by the referee in the first half.
The Green Army held out at 2-0 to the end of the game and remain undefeated in the league, level on points with Cranbrook who also have a one hundred percent record in the League.
This was the narrowest win for Forest Row since the two sides last met on the opening day of the season but proving their worth by beating a tough team on a boggy pitch stands them in good stead for the next game at home to Uckfield, the only team to have conquered the Green Army in the history of the club.
Good work boys,
Conor Thornley-Gibson
