St Ives Town  v  Tamworth

Sat 8 Apr - 15:00 Southern League Premier Central

St Ives Town

2-0

Tamworth

Match Report

On Easter Saturday, and with five games remaining for The Lambs, the race for the title seemed to have swung in Coalville Town’s favour following their 3-1 home victory over Rushall Olympic in midweek and so Andy Peaks, took his second placed Lambs side to Westwood Road to face St. Ives, trying to avoid the relegation zone and without a win since the beginning of February, on their own artificial 3G surface.

The Lambs boss made three changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Rushden and Diamonds the previous Saturday with Ben Hart and Lindon Meikle replacing the injured Matt Curley and Ben Milnes while Ty Deacon came in for Jamie Jellis.

The Lambs got the game underway attacking the car park end of the ground and a foul on Mussa 5 yards out of the box on 3 set Hart up with the dead ball and he forced Dadge to push hi goalbound effort it away for a corner on the right. Tamworth kept possession as the home side defended in numbers but had to deal with a quick break on 6, which Hart booted away from danger.
Hart’s whipped in ball from the right on 7 was chipped up and over the keeper by Creaney but Dadge managed to claw it away and as he followed up a defender got it clear of danger too and the resulting ball back in was also met my Creaney but his header went wide of the mark as Leiston took the lead against Barwell putting The Lambs into 3^rd place.
Tamworth kept up the tempo and continued to make headway through the Saints although former Lamb Kaziboni tested Singh with a half volley from 25 yards on 10 as Leiston doubled their advantage.
Kaziboni sent a searching cross into the box on 11 and it took Cockerill-Mollett’s intervention to conceded a corner which Richens headed home with a powerful finished from 6 yards out. (0-1, 12 mins)
Tamworth responded with a corner on 16 which Mussa was unable to get onto the end of and Collard smashed a shot from the left of the area but a deflection took it over the bar as Nuneaton, 5 points behind Tamworth at kick off, took the lead against Kings Langley.
With blue away shirts pushing back the white home ones there was a quick break on 23 which saw Kaziboni get the better of The Lambs defence in the right of the box, but his low shot towards the far post rolled the wrong side of the post to double the home advantage, and then Edwards curled a shot high and wide of the mark.
Kaziboni was involved again on 25 with a floated cross to the far post from the right and it took a block by Collard to deny Edwards far post header making it 2-0.
The pace of the play id not let up from either side and Baker flashed a shot from 25 yards just past the left hand upright with Singh at full stretch on the half hour, and forced a left sided corner on 33 which found the head of Johnson, who powered it down towards the far post, but Singh was able to put it behind for another flagkick which Johnson headed wide of the mark.
A striking opportunity presented itself for McKeown on 38 and he struck a right footed volley from 30 yards towards goal, but it whistle a few feet wide of the right hand post, while at the other end Baker made headway to the by-line before Collard’s presence denied him a clear sight on goal.
Kaziboni was theatrically upended by Collard as he sprinted through on 42 and was booked for the minimal contact which set up Herd on the left corner of the box and The Lambs defence were static when the ball came back in to Edwards who prodded past Singh into the bottom right corner (0-2, 44 mins).
One minute added time was shown at the end of the first half, but Hart needed treatment on the field before it could be played.In the final action of the half, a Creaney but his shot took a deflection for a corner on the left and Creaney’s header dropped over the target by a few feet as the whistle blew.

HT 2-0

Peaks made a change in midfield with Jellis replacing Mussa before the second half got underway and the substitute forced Dadge into a close range parry on 48 which resulted in a corner on the left and Tamworth kept the pressure up with another but neither provided a quick reduction in the scoreline.
On 51, a long throw from the right bounced invitingly for Johnson to try and overhead shot from 12 yards out and it dropped over the crossbar as the home side showed they were not content to leave the scoreline as it was, and The Lambs were not content to just leave it either as Creaney forced another corner on 53 but Hart’s ball dropped onto the roof of the net.
Cockerill-Mollett then picked up a yellow card for bringing Kaziboni down when in full stride advancing down the right wing on 54.
Fairlamb drilled ball into the area and it came back to McKeown who tried again on 58 but Creaney was beaten to the shot as Dadge gathered the loose ball, and a foul on Fairlamb allowed Tamworth to maintain their forward momentum on 59. Hart set himself up on the left corner of the area and right footedly found Collard but Dadge was in the right place to deny his low shot.
Cater replaced Cockerill-Mollett on 62 giving The Lambs a fluid 4-2-4 formation and only Singh was in the Lambs half on 64 as Meikle and McKeown saw the home defence throw themselves at their shots to keep the ball away from Dadge.
More Lambs pressure gave Hart another flagkick on 70 and when the ball was punted back in, Dadge did well to outleap Collard and catch the ball at height.
St Ives enjoyed a forway forwards on 72 with Herd and Johnson combining with Kaziboni and the former’s shot was blocked for a corner which Singh batted away but only as far as Johnson, and he snapshot volley cleared the bar.
Finn replaced Meikle with 12 remaining, and it took a timely challenge on Cater by Fox to nip the ball off his toes for a corner on 80 and McKeown had three bites of the same cherry from 12 yards on 82 but each time he tried, his goalbound shot was denied.
And then on 84 Cater ran through onto a perfectly weighted pass from Jellis but his shot was touched onto the underside of the cross bar and the keeper was able to smother it.
Deacon was booked for pulling the shirt of substitute Cowling in the first of five minutes of added time and the home crowd celebrated a rare victory at the whistle.

St. Ives Town
Dadge, Casey, Herd, Richens (c.), Williams, Fox, Kaziboni (Andoh 85), Hottor (Cowling 88), Edwards, Johnson, Baker (Harris 88)
Subs: Toseland, Shariff
YC: Baker 82

Tamworth
Singh, Hart, Cockerill-Mollett (Cater 62), Mussa (Jellis HT), Collard (c.), Dolman, McKeown, Meikle (Finn 78), Creaney, Deacon, Fairlamb
Subs: Fallows, Willets
YC: Collard 42, Cockerill-Mollett 54, Deacon 90

Referee: Mr. Adrian George
Assistants: Mr. Lofts & Mr. Fuller

Att: 363