Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Atherstone

Tamworth Men’s First XI came out on top in the local derby with Atherstone, winning 5-2 at QEMS.  Tamworth came out of the blocks quickest and when Tom Hancox’s shot was saved it dropped for Tom Sperrink to hammer the rebound into the backboard.  Atherstone didn’t wallow and overloaded Tamworth with attacks down the flanks where James Griffin and Ross Carter had to be at their best to repel their efforts.  Tamworth utilised their pace up front on the counter attack with Sam Turner causing problems all game down the left wing.  When the hosts were awarded a penalty corner midway through the half Ian Wagstaff was on hand to plant his flick low beyond the keeper.  Adders hit back late in the half when the ball bounced around in the D and fell for their player to fire home from the right.  Tamworth were then reduced to 10 men as Andy Parker was the unlucky recipient of a yellow card following a series of late challenges by Town players but kept their lead going into the break.

The second half took a similar pattern to the first with Tamworth getting two goals early on to cement their lead.  First Wagstaff converted his flick high to the keeper’s right after his initial shot from a penalty corner was blocked by a foot on the line and then Sperrink converted a penalty corner with a shot from the left into the bottom right corner.  Atherstone came back strongly with their tricky midfield players tightly marked by Wagstaff and Parker but after the visitors pulled a goal back on the breakaway Tamworth found space up front with Tom Grimshaw spurning good chances to score but making amends with a cross from the left for Hancox to tap in and complete the scoring late on.