Tamworth
V
Wealdstone
Tamworth v St Ives Town
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Tamworth
3-0
St Ives Town
Match Report
Tamworth made their home pre-sesason debut at the newly rebranded Compare the Build Community Stadium at The Lamb as Andy Peaks side welcomed one of last season’s opponents, St Ives Town as the heavens opened a little to make the pitch damp, but the predicted lightening were nowhere to be seen as kick off approached.
The visitors got the game underway, attacking the Castle End as both sides struggled to take control while also looking to make quick impacts when they had the ball.
Cockerill-Mollett needed treatment for a hefty nose bleed after a clash in the St Ives half on 10, and play continued in the Tamworth half as cotton wool pads were used in aplenty to try and stem the flow.
SI10 made headway into the Lambs box on 14 and went down under pressure but the referee was unwilling to award a penalty for the challenge as The Saints continued to work the ball quickly up field.
It was clear that Cockerill-Mollett would not be able to continue and time soon, so Deacon came on, on 15 and on 18 Meikle was replaced by Hardy, after the former took a knock.
A purposeful move and directed header from Cullinane-Liburd into the box on 20 caused The Saints some problems, and Reilly was upended on the halfway line as The Lambs looked to build in the next passage of play.
After a mix up at the back nearly saw the ball ricochet past the keeper and into the net, Tamworth countered with Williams and Creaney combining.
St Ives were no afraid to attack either and a couple of right sided corners resulted from purposeful attacks, the second of which looked to be going in off the head of SI10 until Reilly’s overhead clearance denied him.
The Lambs survived another attack on 32, this time when SI11 thumped a drive from the edge of the area on target and it took an almost sacrificial dive from Cullinane-Liburd to block the shot which left him winded and some shouts of handball from the visitors.
Tamworth’s 10 swung his boot at the ball dropping in the right of the area on 35 and a decent strike whizzed past the left hand upright, perhaps a little further away than the angle appeared, but still worth a mention.
And then a flowing move out to Finn on the right ended with a pin point cross onto the head of Creaney who made it 1-0 with a powerful directed finished past the keeper (1-0, 36 mins)
A shot on the turn by the same player on 43 rose too quickly, and then in added time Deacon got his head to the ball but it was easy for the keeper.
In the final action of the first half The Lambs trialist keeper was called into action twice when trialist 10 lost the ball and SI11 whipped it into the box. The keeper palmed it away and SI9 picked it up but was denied by the keeper a second time.
HT 1-0
Tamworth got the game back underway but there was quickly a break in play when Trialist 10 was brought down by SI3 who picked up a booking for his efforts as 10 received treatment.
Willets and Cullinane-Liburd dealt with the treat of SI9 on 53, and there was another booking for SI8 on 54 when Deacon was brought down in another challenge that was unnecessary for a pre-season encounter.
Despite The Saints disruptive intentions, The Lambs went two up on 56 when Creaney headed goalward and it came back out into play from the underside of the bar, and then in off the unsuspecting keepr for an own goal from close range (2-0, 56 mins)
And it was nearly 3 on 58, but Trialist 13 screwed his left footed shot, from Creaney’s knock through, over the corner of bar and post.
St Ives made 6 changes on 63, and the Lambs made two more shortly after with Griffin nearly setting up Tr13 on 67 but his run into the box and attempted shot past the visiting keeper rebounded off the latter.
Tamworth’s keeper did similarly to deny SI20 on 70 and a third goal was added on 74 when Tr15 threaded the ball through to Jones to chip past SI1 with nonchalant ease. (3-0, 74 mins)
Deacon nearly added a fourth on 76 with a floated cross come shot which dropped over the bar and a tricky run from Tr15 which left the St Ives defenders severely wanting, forced a corner on the right on 85 which was flicked behind for another and Griffin took the second corner too, but it was cleared.
Another Griffin corner caused problems at the far post on 89, and he tracked back to break up the visitors play when they cleared their lines to a round of applause from the home faithful who were vocally expressing their enjoyment of the match which ended shortly after to a round of applause.
Tamworth:
Tr1 (Hitchman 82), Curley, Cockerill-Mollett (Deacon 15), Meikle (Hardy 18, Dolman HT), Willets (c.), Cullinane-Liburd, Finn (Tr15, 61), Reilly (Griffin 65), Creaney (Jones 65), Tr10 (Hardy 82), Williams (Tr13, HT)
St Ives Town:
Unknown – players referred to as SI[no.]
Referee: Harry Tarrant
Assistant Referee: Ben Cooke
Assistant Referee: Cameron Danks
Att; 383
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