Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs North Notts

Tamworth Men’s First XI were beaten 6-3 at home against North Notts in the final game of the season.  An entertaining game got off to an ominous start for Tamworth as they fell 3 goals behind with the visitors firmly on the offensive.  After such a poor opening Tamworth started to feel their way back into the game and their best chances came from a succession of penalty corners which were well saved by the North Notts keeper.  Eventually Tamworth made one of these penalty corners count as Ian Wagstaff stepped past a defender before laying the ball on for a simple finish for Tom Sperrink.  This lifted Town and although North Notts struck again before half time to lead 4-1 this did not feel like the mauling that Tamworth took in the reverse fixture before Christmas.

Following half time the game continued as a high tempo end to end affair with North Notts converting their chances to stretch their lead to 5 goals.  The game was then punctuated by two stoppages as outgoing captain Sperrink and vice captain James Griffin both left the pitch to head injuries.  With the remaining 11 on the pitch Tamworth staged a spirited end to the season as Tom Hancox struck his sixth and seventh goals of the season.  The first came when a penalty corner effort was half cleared only for Hancox to stride back into the D and smash his shot into the corner.  His second came when Ben Robins fired a reverse stick cross in from the left and Hancox deflected in to.

Tamworth finish the season in ninth place with 18 points from their 22 games to ensure another season at this level.  Top scorers were Tom Sperrink with 18, Tom Hancox 7 and Ian Wagstaff 4.  Simon Carey picked up the most man of the match awards with 4 whilst special mentions must go to Andy Parker who was consistently excellent and handled the step up especially well and the youngest member of the squad Cameron Hancox  who along with Dave Langford were ever presents throughout the season.