Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Sudbury (Cup)

Sunday saw the visit of Sudbury in the first round of the newly branded Tier 2 Championship which ended in a dramatic penalty shoot out victory.  Tamworth had a stronger line up and benefited from having cover on the bench.  Despite this, as with the previous days game, they fell behind to an early goal.  This time they were able to hit back immediately with Tom Hancox hammering a shot which took a slight deflection and flew into the top corner.  The scoreline was a fair reflection of the two evenly matched teams as chances game at both ends although Sudbury would find another goal to retake the lead.  Town were indebted to James Miles who made a string of important saves included one double save which kept Tamworth in the match at the break.

In the second half Tamworth looked more fluent and Ben Popple stole the show with two goals to give the hosts the lead for the first time.  The first game when he brought down a pass in the D and smashed past the keeper on the rebound after the initial shot was saved.  The second was even better as Popple found a yard of space in a crowded D before crashing a reverse stick shot low into the left hand corner.  This should have been the end of the contest but Sudbury struck on the break in the final stages to send the game to a penalty shoot out.  Ian Wagstaff scored with Miles saving the first Sudbury effort with his feet.  Chris Lomas and Tom Hancox when scored only as did their Sudbury counterparts only for Tom Sperrink to see his flick saved.   Miles then earning his man of the match award over again as he tipped the flick over leaving Ben Acton to score the deciding flick.