Tamworth
V
Wealdstone
Hungerford Town v Tamworth
Hungerford Town
2-1
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Tamworth
Match Report
On a wet and windy January Saturday afternoon, Andy Peaks’ Tamworth side, accompanied by lots of enthusiastic travelling support, made their way down the M40 and A34 into West Berkshire as they continued their on their Isuzu sponsored FA Trophy adventure.
The Lambs and The Crusaders had never previously met so it was a first time that anyone from Tamworth had been welcomed to Bulpit Lane by the home side, who found themselves at the bottom of the National League South.
However, league position and form generally goes out of the window in a knock out tie with a place in the last 16 (Fifth Round Proper) of the competition awaiting the winner.
The game had to be decided on the day with £5,250 in prize money waiting too, which would swell The Lambs pot that already contained £13,700, should they progress.
With Matt Curley suspended Ben Hart came in at right back and Alex Bradley returned to the starting eleven for Eoin McKeown after the narrow 1-0 reversal at Coalville Town.
There was no rain in sight by the time Tamworth got the game underway, kicking down the slope towards the clubhouse end of the ground and they took the ball to their hosts in the opening exchanges.
Collard was called upon to take one for the team on 7, picking up a booking for a blocking foul on Jones as he tried to advance down the right channel, but Cockerill-Mollett was equal to the freekick heading it away from danger.
But the home side took the lead on 8 when a shot from the left cannoned back off the post and was followed up by Ward who fired home diagonally past Singh and despite shouts for offside, they were immediately waved away by the officials, chatting between them on headsets. (1-0, 8 mins)
A push on Hart set up a freekick on the left for Milnes on 13 and was glancing headed wide of the far post by Collard.
Despite the early pressure, the early goal forced The Lambs to rethink their approach against a hardworking Crusaders side who did their best to get to all the balls first and disrupt the Tamworth flow, so when a freekick was awarded on 21 for a foul on Hart, Finn found Collard and his header was on target but didn’t trouble Ward in the Hungerford goal.
Play stopped around the 24th minute while Dolman received treatment on the field and had to be replaced by Yeomans, making his first appearance of the season.
Calls for a Lambs penalty were waved away on 27 and keeper Ward raced out of his area to clear the ball away from Fairlamb on 28, but he did manage to get a cross away in the next move and Bradley’s header looped back to the keeper.
A half scramble in the Hungerford goalmouth was cleared by the home defence on 33 and nearly turned into an assault on Singh’s penalty area.
A corner on the right was forced on 35 though and Finn sent it long for Creaney to put back into the box however the Crusaders defence cleared their lines.
Hart sent a long throw from the left into the box on 39 only to see it cleared away and a foul on Creaney set up Milnes with a deadball on 41 but Cockerill-Mollett was beaten to his header.
The home side advanced from this and Mussa brought Ward down on the left edge of the area but were unable to forge a shot on target.
Three minutes added time was shown at the end of the first half and Yeomans rose to take the pace off a cross from Ryan Jones before, at the other end Angell tripped Finn as he ran into the box with the ball at his feet and so Creaney stepped up for the penalty and made it all square at the break with The Lambs 200th FA Trophy goal sending Ward the wrong way to the delight of the travelling faithful behind him. (1-1, 45 mins)
HT 1-1
The home side restarted proceedings with Tamworth now kicking up the Bulpit Lane slope and it was the Crusaders who retook the lead on 49 when a cross midfield ball into the box found Jones, on loan from Bristol Rovers, on the left of the area and he rifled it home low into the far bottom corner (2-1, 49 mins)
The Lambs nearly got back level on 52 when Milnes freekick was headed on by Creaney, but Ward was able to pluck it out of the area and deny him his 27th goal of the season.
Hungerford were forced to play a man short when Angell needed treatment off the field before being replaced by Rollinson and The Lambs tried to take advantage but were unable to test Ward, and Milnes was booked for the tackle.
McKeown replaced Bradley on 63 and Deacon replaced Finn on 71 as Tamworth continued to look for openings at the top of the pitch to try and give the vociferous support behind the goal something to help increase the unrelenting volume even more.
A Hart throw from the left was flicked on, on 77 and McKeown headed it down towards goal but it didn’t bounce kindly and Ward cleared.
From a Hungerford attack, Fairlamb made headway out of defence and down the left into the final third on 78, and he found Deacon and a corner resulted which Milnes put into the crowded area, and Ward punched away and a cushioned pass over the top fell for McKweown on 80, but his attempt to lob the outrushing keeper in his stride from 25 yards saw the ball drop into the seats behind the goal.
Tamworth continued to push, and when Deacon was elbowed on the right Jones picked up a yellow card for his efforts. Milnes freekick was half cleared and allowed The Lambs to keep the pressure on, and a header from Collard seemed to have caught Ward unawares but the keeper denied him the equaliser.
In the next move Cockerill-Mollett found the head of Creaney with a cross from the left and his effort went just wide of the far post, and then a through ball went to the feet of Creaney and his shot from the edge of the area was smothered by Ward.
A foul on Milnes after he put the ball through to Deacon denied the latter a goalscoring opportunity, as the referee called play back, and so everyone but Singh went up for Milnes freekick, but McKeown’s header went over the bar.
Four minutes added time was shown and with it a change for the home side and a header high over the bar from Deacon off Fairlamb’s cross.
Substitute Rollinson was denied by Singh when it looked odds on he would finish a move that saw him go head to head with the keeper, and Singh came over the halfway line on 95 to drive a freekick into the area but there was no last gasp glory to take the game to penalties and the final whistle blew.
Hungerford
Ward, McGory, Angell (Rollinson 57), Evans, Roberts, Smith, Ward, Berry-Hargreaves, Tyler (c.), Bailey, Jones
Subs: Ompreon, Muir, Wylie, Gyebi
YC: Evans 45, Roberts 75, Jones 83
Tamworth
Singh, Curley, Cockerill-Mollett, Mussa, Collard (c.), Dolman (Yeomans 25), Finn (Deacon 71), Milnes, Creaney, Bradley (McKeown 63), Fairlamb
Subs: Fallows, George, Clement, Cater
YC: Collard 7, Milnes 59
Referee: Mr. Simpson
Assistants: Mr. Chalkley, Mr. Allsoppp
Att: 524, approx 150 from Tamworth
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