Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Leicester Westleigh

Tamworth Men's First XI recorded a 3-2 win at home to Leicester Westleigh on the opening day of the season.  Tamworth did it the hard way as they twice came from behind but new captain Tom Hancox will be delighted with the spirit his side showed.

Town had started the game on top moving the ball around at pace and the first serious chance fell to Hancox who fired his shot from a penalty corner against the post.  Unfortunately it was the visitors who broke the deadlock as Westleigh struck on the break.  Town continued knocking on the door and equalised soon after when a break down the right saw Hancox react sharply to turn the ball home from Tom Sperrink's cross.  The game went in all square at the break although it could have been even better as Sperrink had a goal correctly disallowed after good work Ryan Brisco.

Following the restart Westleigh kept out a period of Tamworth pressure before taking the wind out of Tamworth sails by scoring from a penalty corner.  This buoyed the visitors and Westleigh took charge of the match with Ben Acheson and man of the match Dave Langford kept busy, especially when the hosts were reduced to ten men with Brisco yellow carded and Sperrink missing an open goal from a couple of yards out.

Restored to the full eleven Tamworth finally rediscovered their rhythm.  Sperrink made amends for his miss with a shot on the turn and the turnaround was completed when Ian Wagstaff's penalty corner shot squeezed into the far corner.

Much improvement needed from Tamworth to achieve their promotion target but encouragement can be taken especially with the performances from Langford and league debutant Sam Turner.