Tamworth Men's Firsts Vs Wednesbury 1

Tamworth Men’s First XI recorded a routine 5-0 win away to Wednesbury, carrying their form from the first half of the season into the first of the reverse fixtures.  Tamworth had a strong side out and dominated from early getting off to the perfect start as Tom Sperrink broke down the right and cut the ball back for the onrushing Ben Popple who placed his shot low into the bottom right corner.  The hosts played deep with numbers behind the ball however this allowed Ian Wagstaff and Ben Acton to move the ball around the back smartly and despite the number of players in front of them they were able to thread their passes into the midfield and forwards.  In contrast to their opponents Town were pressing high up the pitch and were rewarded for this when Tom Hancox skilfully brought down an attempted aerial pass and played in Popple for a simple finish to double Tamworth’s lead.  Hancox then got in on the goalscoring when from a penalty corner he shifted the ball right before drilling into the corner beyond the keeper.  Shortly before the break Hancox-Popple combination struck again for Tamworth’s fourth as Popple completed a first half hat trick with Hancox drawing the keeper with his effort half saved and Popple quickest to react beating the defender to the ball to push into the empty net.

The game followed a similar pattern in the second period with James Griffin in the thick of the action as he balanced driving forward from right back alongside dealing with Wednesbury’s tricky left winger however James Miles in goal was rarely troubled as he recorded his first clean sheet of the season.  The visitors continued to threaten with the home keeper making some good saves and when he was beaten Popple was denied a fourth of the day with a disallowed goal midway through the second half.  Tamworth did eventually add to their tally with a well worked penalty corner routine that saw the ball slipped to Sperrink who laid off to Ryan Brisco to slot in from a tight angle.

With this victory and closest challengers Finchfield only drawing at home to Newtown, Tamworth have now extended their lead over the chasing pack to 10 points in the chase for one of the two promotion slots but still trail leaders Wolverhampton by 5 points.  In the second installment of the ‘derby’ Tamworth First and Second XI will face off next week at Landau Forte.