Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Nuneaton

Tamworth Men’s First XI stretched their lead at the top of East Midlands Division 1 with an impressive 3-1 away victory against their nearest rivals Nuneaton.  Both sides looked cautious in the opening stages with no quarter being given by either side.  Tamworth were the side who found their rhythm first and started to test the hosts defence with swift breakaway moves.  It was from one of these that Town opened the scoring with Ben Popple charging through the middle he laid the ball off to Tom Hancox who touched past a defender and lashed a reverse stick shot into the roof of the net.  Tamworth continued to push the hosts and the work rate of Ross Carter and Sam Turner provided a threat down the left.  Nuneaton came back strongly and the Tamworth defence stood up well to the home side crashing balls into the D and kept out the handful of penalty corners they were awarded.

After the break Nuneaton maintained the pressure and Dave Langford and Tony Banks were outstanding in maintaining Tamworth’s advantage.  Nuneaton couldn’t maintain the intensity and as Tamworth gaining more possession they began to offer a greater threat.  Eventually Tom Sperrink was released down the right wing and Ryan Brisco was on hand to slap into the corner when the ball was cut back to give Town a two goal lead.  Nuneaton hit back and halved the advantage with a well worked penalty corner routine but as they pushed for an equaliser the game opened up and Tamworth had multiple chances to finish the game.  When they did it came from a collector’s item as Nick Pound’s aerial into the D lead to the hosts conceding a penalty corner which Ian Wagstaff dispatched into the bottom corner.

A huge win from Tamworth which maintains there momentum and extends the advantage to 5 points over second placed Oundle with another local derby against Atherstone to come next Saturday.