Tamworth
V
FC Halifax Town
Tamworth
4-0
Stourbridge
On the back of the late, late show at Rushall Olympic Tamworth returned to The Lamb to welcome the Glassboys of Stourbridge to The Lamb – the first home game since 7th September – aiming to add another three points to the tally, as the side played catch up on their league fixtures, ahead of the visit of Notts County in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The management trio made a number of changes to the side that ran out at Dales Lane with Isaac Currie, Martin Riley, Jack Concannon and Jordan Clement starting with new signings Bradley Birch and Callum Cockerill-Mollett on the bench.
For the visitors, a number of familiar faces were on show, with the exception of Reece Styche who had played for Gibraltar the previous evening.
Stourbridge kicked things off with Tamworth attacking the Meadow Street end in the first half and a Clement cross found Wilder who in turn found Creaney as The Lambs went in search of an early advantage.
From a Concannon corner on 7 Creaney was just beaten to the ball by his covering defender and the same player forced a close range save from Price for a corner and it was booted away by a Stourbridge defender.
A strong run from Waite down the right signalled his intentions on 12 and a freekick was awarded against the Tamworth man after a foul on O’Hanlon by the clubhouse. A header from Solanke then landed on the roof of the net but Tamworth responded with pressure from a combination of Clement and Concannon.
Concannon then combined with Creaney but the offside denied his effort and a freekick on the left for Stourbridge was countered by The Lambs with Clement and Waite linking but the latter’s shot struck a defender and went back to the keeper.
An attack by the visitors then resulted in a shot which deflected back to Singh.
On 26 Waite and Wilder linked together again on the left and a freekick was awarded for a foul on the Lambs left back which Beswick struck but it was headed behind by Usher-Shipway.
The Lambs then had their best spell of the game with three goals coming in 12 minutes.
Concannon crossed on 28 and was destined for Clements head but Rowe-Turner got their first and diverted it past his own keeper for the opening goal of the game. (1-0, 28 mins)
Concannon then set up Creaney for the second on 33. A ball over the top was taken by the number 7 who took it into the box, squared for the number 9 and he duly slotted it home for his 12th of the season (2-0, 33 mins)
Stourbridge’s Abadaki prodded a good chance wide of Singh’s left hand post on 35 but five minutes later a Creaney cross from the right was expertly backheel flicked by Waite, past Price, into the far corner to make it 3 nil at the break after one minutes added time (3-0, 40 mins)
The Lambs restarted proceedings in the drizzly rain and Currie had to be helped off after going over on his ankle on 48 forcing a first but unplanned substitution.
Pendley was then clattered and the Stourbridge physio had to attend to him while Currie was being carried around the pitch.
Abadaki finished from close range on 58 but his effort was ruled out for offside and at the other end a corner from the left on 62 was headed by Pendley but it went straight back to Price.
Around the 70th minute mark Concannon showed trickery in the box but play was pulled back for a foul in the build up and when he himself went down under a challenge in a similar move a minute later, no penalty was awarded.
There was no mistake on 73 minutes though as Waite received the ball on the edge of the area, turned on the ball and fired into the bottom left corner to seal victory with his second of the game (4-0, 73 mins)
The game continued with a flurry of substitutions and a debut for Birch before two minutes added time was shown and The Lambs faithful celebrated the win which took the side up to fifth in the table with two games in hand.
Singh, Currie (Cox 51), Wilder, Beswick, Pendley, Riley, Concannon, Forde (Taylor 75), Creaney (Birch 75), Clement, Waite
Subs: Tait, Cockerill-Mollett
YC: Creaney 64, Cox 87
Price, Usher-Shipway, O’Hanlon, Solanke, Taylor, Rowe-Turner, Knights, McQuilkin (Moran 77), Barnes-Homer, Gibson (Gyasi HT), Abadaki (Bushaj 68)
Subs: Smith, Hinds
YC: McQuilkin 74
Referee: Mr. Niall Smith
Attendance: 656