Tamworth
V
FC Halifax Town
Royston Town
3-0
Tamworth
Tamworth kicked of the season with a visit to Garden Walk, the home of The Crows of Royston Town and the last place The Lambs visited in a competitive fixture, back in December 2020 in the FA Trophy.
Sadly, the overall result was the same as the squad left Hertfordshire pointless and without registering a goal against their hosts.
In warm summer weather it was an even first half which saw the home side take the game to The Lambs in the opening exchanges.
A header from Draper was straight at Singh from a corner inside the first minute but Tamworth quickly pushed down the Garden Walk slope and McDonald fired over the target from distance.
McDonald surged through into the box a few minutes later but no penalty was awarded when he fell under pressure and from the resulting corner Ward headed over the bar.
Concannon was looking lively and hungry down the left as Tamworth continue to push on while a Royston corner at the other end was cleared with a hefty boot.
A Beswick freekick on 25 helped Shaw force a corner but pressure from Clement and Ward ultimately came to nothing.
Singh was called into action on the half hour catching a loose ball from a deep freekick while his opposite number, Welch, was relatively untested but was finding his kicks going awry.
A cross from McDonalds was taken off the impending head of Wilder and Clement set up McDonald but his shot was deflected.
Bridges, a continual menace for the home side, sent a right wing cross onto the head of Draper on 37 and it was straight at a grateful Singh.
Ward picked up a booking as a couple of late first half freekicks fell to either side with Beswick placing the ball into the danger area, while Bridges shot straight at Singh once again as both sides supporters agreed a goalless first half was probably the correct outcome.
After the break and with The Lambs now kicking towards the home clubhouse end of the ground the best chance of the game so far came when Ward tripped Draper on the edge of the area and Brighton lifted his deadball over the wall forcing Singh to tip it over the bar at full stretch.
the resulting corner was headed away by Clement and then Ward was called upon to do similarly from another flag kick.
McDonald was unable to continue on 53 bringing Walters into the fray and Thomas picked up a booking for a foul on the Royston left wing.
A couple of corners resulted from the ensuing play and the second of which was fired in low from the right for Mentis, with his back to goal, to kick it into the net through a crowd of players (0-1. 55 mins)
After the restart Walters made headway into the area and appeared to be spectacularly tripped in the area but the referee was having none of it.
A second booking for Ward meant an early departure from the field on 63 and a couple of minutes later it was Royston that doubled their lead when Bridges fired a freekick round the wall which Evans finished on the rebound off the post, from close range (0-2, 64 mins)
the ten men Lambs regrouped but on 67 Singh was called into action again smothering a low shot from Bateman.
Walters was brought down outside the area on 70 earning Bridges a booking and Beswick’s freekick was scrambled away after a good header from Creaney past the far post.
A foul on substitute Taylor saw another Beswick deadball into the box but Cox was offside with his header.
It was all over as a contest on 80 though, as a few minutes after coming on Brown swung his boot at a dropping ball from 20 yards and planted it sweetly past Singh at his near right post (0-3, 80 mins)
And if that wasn’t bad enough for the ten men Lambs, Concannon fed the ball through to Thomas in the box on 84 and he was tripped, setting up Beswick with the penalty kick but Welch chose the right way to dive and parried it out and away from danger to preserve his clean sheet.
Despite a last push from both sides the game ended with three goals and three points for the home side, and Tamworth’s worst opening day league defeat since a 4-1 home defeat by Runcorn in 1980.
Singh, Cox, Wilder (Brown 68), Beswick, Ward, Pendley, McDonald (Walters 57), Thomas, Creaney, Clement (Taylor 61), Concannon
Subs: Soleman, Brogan
YC: Ward 41=63 (sent off), Thomas 54
Welch, Asafu-Adjaye, Brighton, Bridges (Newman 70), Murray, Mentis, Rotimi, Draper (Newton 70), Adams, Bateman, Galliford (Brown 77)
Subs: Towner, Braithwate
YC: Bridges 70
Referee: Mr. M. Fletcher