Click here to listen to Glenn's post-match interview.

City will have to compete against difficult opposition in every game this season according to Manager Glenn Pennyfather, who reiterated the strength evident right the way through the Blue Square South after watching his side squander a two-goal interval lead and lose out on two points to an injury time equaliser against Tonbridge Angels.

 

The Clarets had raced into a healthy position when David Rainford put his team one-up from the penalty spot on 8 minutes and Ricky Modeste produced a classy finish three minutes later. But the home side collapsed after the break and invited Tonbridge to push for a leveller after substitute Chris Henry got one back with just over a quarter of an hour left. The visitors accepted and pressed in the closing stages, with Frannie Collin tapping home a late second.

 

Pennyfather claimed his side became nervous but also paid tribute to the stature of the Kent visitors, claiming: “Tonight has proved this league is a tough league and there are no easy games. We can’t underestimate anybody and I don’t think we underestimated Tonbridge tonight. This is a side that has gone away and won 4-0 at Maidenhead and they’ve drawn at Dover the other week when apparently they should have won, so they’re no mugs.”

 

City have the chance to respond quickly when they face Boreham Wood at home this weekend and Glenn has three points in his sights. He added: “We’ve got to take the positives out of everything and it’s another point and another game unbeaten and I know everybody is frustrated. We want to put that right as soon as possible and we’ve got the perfect opportunity Saturday.”

 

There were two changes to the side which beat Weston-super-Mare at the weekend, Kezie Ibe being rewarded for his goal in Somerset with a starting place ahead of fellow striker Cliff Akurang. On the left flank, Ricky Modeste was added in place of Greg Morgan. And, true to recent form, the Clarets were straight on the offensive, Kenny Clark heading a corner wide and Ibe shooting just past the post from an angle ten yards out when tightly marked.

 

They were soon in front, however, when Ibe again got into the box before being wrestled to the ground by Sonny Miles. Rainford assumed his usual spot kick duties and rammed the ball low to goalkeeper Lee Worgan’s left into the bottom corner. Angels responded with a decent volley over from Lewis Taylor above the centre of the goal while Sam Corcoran also tried his luck.

 

But Modeste built on Chelmsford’s promising start with a second. Receiving the ball near the halfway line he advanced at speed down the left wing before dribbling inside and unleashing a low shot home across Worgan. Pennyfather’s team had started with immense energy, closing down quickly and passing with vigour, although there was a stoppage of several minutes when Tonbridge’s Lee Browning required treatment for an injury which would eventually see him replaced.

 

Mid-way through the half the visitors’ Collin angled a lob with the outside of his boot which looked to have left Clarets ‘keeper Carl Pentney stranded yet he was able to somehow scramble back and claw it away. This triggered another trio of City chances, Ibe seeing a shot blocked during a ground battle in the goalmouth, Warren Whitely advancing and whistling just over the crossbar and Aiden Palmer seeing his dipping free kick drop narrowly over.

 

Some robust challenges from both teams on 33 minutes culminated in an opening for Angels in the 33rd minute but, when Ade Olorunda fired at goal from the edge of the box, Pentney was equal to it to dive and prod the ball wide. The chances kept coming before the break, Max Cornhill heading over from a corner for City while Taylor followed suit at the other end, seemingly conspiring to rob a team mate of a tap-in from under the crossbar.

 

It was always going to be difficult for the second half to live-up to the first for entertainment though there was an air that Tonbridge were building a way back into the game for a sustained period. Collin struck a free kick wide and there was a pinball moment in the Clarets’ area around the hour mark. Tommy Warrilow’s visitors were testing Chelmsford’s resolve with a series of corners and other dead balls and it was no surprise when they scored.

 

Worgan had just made sure a looping Cornhill header cleared the bar but the introduction of Henry from the Angels bench was crucial. Within a few minutes he breached the back line, turned a challenge and raced through on goal, tucking low past Pentney. Chelmsford’s spirits were lifted by the return of Anthony Cook from the bench and he almost netted a dream goal with an angled 83rd-minute flick across goal which nearly crept into the bottom corner.

 

Yet Tonbridge were looking the more likely to score, Glenn recalling: “I felt they would come out a little bit stronger second half because we dominated the first, had gone 2-0 up and looked like we could have added to our tally. We conceded a goal out of nothing and it made us very edgy. We looked nervous and suddenly started getting deeper and deeper and were spinning clearances up in the air, giving away silly free kicks and mistiming headers until they forced an equaliser.”

 

Five bookings from the 86th minute onwards were suggestive of a desperation from both sides to emerge with their desired result. Another Henry strike was deflected and squirmed wide and Miles also struck off-target, as did Cornhill for City, before the leveller arrived a minute into stoppage time. The ball ricocheted around the home goalmouth, with both sides furiously attempting to force it one way or the other until Collin finished from close range to claim a deserved point.

 

City:

 

1 Carl Pentney

2 Ben Nunn

3 Aiden Palmer

4 Mark Haines

5 Kenny Clark

6 David Rainford (C)

7 Warren Whitely

8 Sam Corcoran

9 Kezie Ibe

10 Max Cornhill

11 Ricky Modeste

 

12 Cliff Akurang

14 Joe Benjamin

15 Jermaine Brown (On for Corcoran, 63)

16 Anthony Cook (On for Whitely, 81)

17 Justin Miller (On for Nunn, 80)

 

Tonbridge Angels: Lee Worgan, Jake Beecroft, Jon Heath, Scott Kinch (C) (Chris Henry, 72), Ben Judge, Sonny Miles, Lewis Taylor (Ben Andrews, 80), Anthony Storey, Ade Olorunda, Frannie Collin, Lee Browning (Robbie Kember, 36). Unused Substitutes: Danny Walder, Jon Main.

 

Bookings: City: Rainford (61, dissent), Ibe (72, unsporting behaviour), Modeste (90+5, foul), Cook (90+6, foul). Tonbridge: Taylor (29, dissent), Olorunda (86, dissent), Andrews (87, dissent), Henry (88, dissent).

 

Referee: Jake Hillier (New Barnet).

 

Assistant Referees: Darren Stobbart (Bury St Edmunds) and Euan Goodman (Ipswich).

 

Attendance: 938.

 

City Man of the Match: Kezie Ibe.