Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Berkswell & Balsall Common

Tamworth Men’s First XI grabbed their fifth victory of the season with a 2-1 home win versus Berkswell and Balsall Common.  Facing a side five points ahead of them Tamworth put out a strong team and felt confident about taking points from the game to close the gap to their opponents.  The game started well for the hosts and Tamworth were on the attack in the early stages with J Haywood seeing a first time effort slide past the far post.  As Tamworth struggled to create clear cut chances the tide of the game seemed to turn as Berskwell had more possession and territory and started to get their opportunities through a series of penalty corners.  Fortunately Town weathered the storm and when Tom Hancox released Tom Sperrink he drove at the Berkswell defence before finding enough space at the top of the D to drill a shot low into the corner.  Berkswell came back again but with the Tamworth defence stepped in front superbly with Andy Parker and Dave Langford in particular giving the visiting forwards to no space to operate and Town took their slender lead into the half time break.

After the interval Tamworth continued to be put under pressure but the threat they carried on the break was evident throughout and they were able to cause problems with the directness of Ryan Brisco and Ben Robins.  Tamworth were awarded a handful of penalty corners and after Ian Wagstaff had twice seen shots blocked it was slipped to Sperrink at the third attempt; the initial shot was saved but the rebound fell kindly for Sperrink to flick high into the net to double the lead.  Town continued to look for more goals and Tom Hancox went close with a snapshot from the right.  Tamworth continued to look for a third goal to seal the win but Brisco was sin binned and whilst Town kept the ball better and saw out the period with ten men they condeded with 10 minutes left.  Tamworth keeper Simon Carey put in another man of the match display but when he caught a Berkswell forward a penalty flick was awarded and the Berkswell forward sent Carey the wrong way.  Tamworth regrouped and saw out the final stages to record a valuable three points which takes them 10 points clear of the bottom two and allows them to target finishing in the top 7 places.