Tamworth
V
York City
Alvechurch v Tamworth
Alvechurch
1-3
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Tamworth
Match Report
Matchday 06:
After Saturday’s home defeat to top of the table Coalville Town, Bank Holiday Monday saw The Lambs travel the short distance to Lye Meadow to take on Alvechurch.
The Church side featured three ex-Lambs in Ashley Carter, Jack Concannon and goal keeper Dan Jezeph, himself being trained by form Lambs custodian Darren Acton.
Andy Peaks made one change to the side that fell to The Ravens, with Jordan Clement coming in for Ty Deacon in midfield as the side went in search of a start of another (18 game?) unbeaten run in the sides 19th competitive meeting (W10, D3, L5). The last Lambs victory at the ground had come in February 2020 when Chris Lait came off the bench and bagged a brace in a 2-1 away win which kept Tamworth at the top of the table, shortly before the season was curtailed.
And so Tamworth, in the sky blue Kappa away kit, got the game underway kicking towards end of the pitch with the small covered area of terracing behind Jezeph where the travelling faithful unfurled their flag of support.
After the opening minutes of both sides finding their feet, Abbey threaded a pass down the left for Skeen-Hamilton to take on and his angled strike forced Singh to put it behind for a corner which had to be dealt with, and the move out with Creaney trying an audacious lob of Jezeph from 25 yards which he didn’t manage to get over the keeper.
The Lambs first corner came on 18 after Milnes’ cross had been put behind on the left and Jezeph punched it out from under the bar for another corner on the same side but a foul stopped the play from the kick.
Church forced flagkick of their won on 23, on the left, and Willets headed it unmarked towards goal but Dolman got his head to it, only to drop it onto the boot of the home captain and his volley was not clean enough and went out past the far post.
Curley and Finn combined down the right on 25 to set Finn with a corner which was half cleared, worked back by The Lambs and eventually fell onto the head of Cockerill-Mollett, but he was unable to get any direction on it.
Alvechurch had a good chance on 27 with Abbey curling a pass into the area for Waldron to get his head onto but he headed it down into the grass and Singh was able to smother it without too much worry.
Creaney and Fairlamb exchanged passes down the left wing in the next move and the latter was brought down so Milnes took the kick, it was only half headed out to the edge of the area and Mussa’s half volley bounced once before going past the dive of Jezeph and into the back of the net (0-1, 29 mins)
The Lambs confidence grew following the goal and a flowing move out of defence only ended when Fairlamb was unable to get his foot to the diagonal pass down the left, but Alvechurch responded and a similar move allowed Concannon a strike on the turn on 33 which Singh dropped at his near post to smother again.
Clement was booked for a challenge on Skeen-Hamilton on 35 which set up Taylor with the freekick from 35 yards out and it was played short forcing The Lambs to defend strongly, which they did.
A long ball from the home side seemed to have allowed Waldron a chance on 38 as Singh came out but was beaten to it, however Collard was well positioned to boot the ball away from the header from the Church man which would wasn’t going towards goal, but would have given him a chance of a shot with the keeper stranded.
As the half drew to a close Fairlamb whipped the ball across from the left of the area but there was on one there to meet it, and at the other end Abbey did similarly from a home attack in the final action of the first half.
HT 0-1
The home side restarted proceedings but it was Tamworth wit the first chance, Finn’s header coming off a covering defender for a left sided corner on 48 which was headed away from Cockerill-Mollett for a flagkick on the right and it fell to the same player but the chance was cleared.
Clement was replaced by Bradley on 53 and a whipped in ball from Cockerill-Mollett had to be dealt with by the home defence as Creaney looked to pounce from 6 yards. The corner was put over the bar by Jezeph’s defence for another corner and Creaney met Finn’s deadball with his head but it sailed over the bar.
Then, when a long ball was taken on by Finn with just Jezeph to beat the keeper pulled him down for a stonewall penalty, and Creaney stepped up to the spot and rolled it home for The Lambs second of the afternoon, and his 40th for Tamworth (0-2, 58 mins)
Collard nearly made it three on 61 but just failed to connect with a Finn corner from the right, past the far post, and although Curley did connect with the next it dropped over the corner of bar and post.
Singh was called into action on 70 when a cross come shot deflected off a Lambs defender and ballooned up and headed towards the goal.
Tamworth countered through Finn and Fairlamb and Bradley spotted a gap and fired from the edge of the area but his 74th minute strike rolled harmlessly wide of the mark.
Dolman picked up a booking for preventing the advancing run of Concannon into the final third of the pitch on 74 and The Lambs responded with a passage of forward play that linked the front to back almost seamlessly until the final ball from Bradley was too long.
McKeown replaced Finn with 14 to go but on 78 both Bradley and Taylor were shown straight red cards for an off the ball altercation in front of the dugouts which left a few fans wondering exactly what had happened, but it did mean both sides would play the remainder of the game a man short.
McKeown had a golden opportunity to add a goal to the tally on 80 bursting clean through onto Milnes through ball but Jezeph was equal to the one on one, and then Singh pulled off a fine save from Concannon’s strike at the other end. From the corner on the left Willets threw himself pull length at the ball but it skimmed his head and went out past the far post.
Singh got his hand to the ball in the next home attack, but he wasn’t able to prevent Spiers from prodding home from 12 yards into the bottom left corner and set up a tense final few minutes (1-2, 84 mins)
The Lambs were re-established their lead on 86 though from a corner which Collard headed back into the box and McKeown rifled powerfully home from a few yards out (1-3, 86 mins)
Singh pulled off another superb stop, this time from Concannon’s close range strike on 87 which looked destined for the top right corner, but he launched himself and pushed it away one handed.
In added time Creaney was able to strike low at Jezeph but the home keeper wasn’t going to be beaten a fourth time, and the final whistle blew on three points for The Lambs.
Alvechurch
Jezeph, Burton (Cassidy 71), Sephton, Taylor, Willets (c.), Carter, Abbey, Edge, Waldron (Spiers 62), Concannon, Skeen-Hamilton (Brown 81)
Subs: Phillips, Williams
YC: Edge 59
RC: Taylor 78
Tamworth
Singh, Curley, Cockerill-Mollett, Mussa, Dolman, Collard (c.), Finn (McKeown 76), Milnes, Creaney, Clement (Bradley 53), Fairlamb
Subs: Jones, Hurst, Cater
YC: Clement 35, Dolman 74
RC: Bradley
Referee: Mr. A. Clarke
Att: 374
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