Curzon Ashton  v  Tamworth

Sat 2 Sep - 15:00 National League North

Curzon Ashton

0-1

Tamworth

Match Report

Andy Peaks took his side to the Tameside Stadium to take on early season high fliers Curzon Ashton who had a record of W3 D3 from their opening games, including a home victory over Scunthorpe United.
Peaks’ squad arrived with an strong start to their campaign too, culminating most recently with the 4-0 home victory over Hereford on Bank Holiday Monday and the Lambs boss made no changed to the side that defeated The Bulls, although he would be without Dan Creaney for the next fixture as the striker had accumulated 5 bookings in 6 games to earn himself a 1 match ban.

First half

The Lambs, in their home red kit against the blue of the home side, got the game underway, attacking the non car-park end of the stadium, although the home side started strongly forcing The Lambs to defend and clear their lines, or keeper Singh to gather a hopeful cross or two in the first five minutes.
Tamworth did mount a good attack on 9 though, with Tshikuna threading the ball through to Finn on the right of the box and his shot forced Mason into a mid height save which was cleared almost as quickly as the offside flag was raised on the far side.
Tshikuna and Finn combined again into the right of the box on 13, but again the Nash defence got in the way of their intended path to disrupt the chance.
After a spell of Tamworth pressure, Curzon countered and Mols tried to connect with a left wing cross, with an audacious over head kick from 12 yards, but just failed in his attempt.
The Lambs responded, forcing their first corner of the game which was cleared, and then from a deep freekick after home captain Spencer had handled the ball, another flag kick resulted which Creaney forced another from, on the opposite side but Willet’s glanced header went well wide of the mark and out past the far post.
Spencer was left under no illusion that Willets was covering his every move with a crunching block on 25 and Curzon had their first corner on 28 when Curley nipped the ball off the toes of Storey and although it dropped at the back post and was headed home by Spencer, the referee immediately ruled it out for climbing in the build up.
A long Cullinane-Liburd was pushed away from danger and forced Tamworth to rebuild their attack on 32, which they did but Creaney’s on target header was also straight at Mason.
Cullinane-Liburd found Cockerill-Mollett on the left and then Arlott-John before a tackle put the ball out of the play on 35, but there had to be a short break while Cullinane-Liburd received treatment on the field after getting caught by a boot on his knee.
This have the players chance of a drinks break and a chat with their respective benches before restarting the final 8 minutes of the half, and a low strike from distance from Milnes on 39 forced Mason into a simple low stop.
At the other end Singh pulled off a fine stop to deny Mols low strike and from the corner Poscha picked up a card for a foul, as Singh caught the deadball at the far post.
Storey was then booked as another foul gave The Lambs possession and Willets got his head to an Arlott-John cross on 44 but Mason wasn’t really tested.
Cockerill-Mollett cut out Richards cross to give the Nash a corner on the right, and three minutes added time was shown and Jellis had to be on his mettle to clear the ricocheted ball off the line, but it only went as far as Storey on the left who tried to lob Singh but found the keeper in no mood to be beaten.
Tshikuna made headway in his tricky foot-stuck-to-the-ball style of play but then saw his shot charged down and as he started on a run over the halfway line the whistle blew on a goalless first half.

HT 0-0

The home side restarted proceedings and after a nervous start by both sides, The Lambs probably should have taken the lead on 49 when Creaney was released one on one with Mason by Tshiukuna, but the striker placed his shot at the keeper, and then a similar move presented itself within a minute but this time Tshikuna was robbed as he went to play a similar pass to his front line partner.
Jellis was booked for a hefty knock on Matthews on 51, which saw the Tamworth man get the ball, but the whole stadium heard the challenge too.
After Curley had been booked for timewasting a throw in, the game appeared to be starting to open up somewhat and Finn’s shot on the turn in the left of the area nearly broke the deadlock, but a deflection took it out for a corner on 55 and Cullinane-Liburd got his head to it but it dropped onto the terracing behind the goal.
At the other end, a strike rebounded off Cullinane-Liburd to marksman Hayhurst but he could only direct a powerful drive at Singh who had to think quickly to bat the ball away.
Finn found Creaney with a lofted cross from the right channel on 58, but the header dropped onto the roof of the net but the next attempt did sneak in. Creaney got his head onto the ball and looped it into the area for Cullinane-Liburd to head it goalward and it struck the inside of the right hand post before Mason could get to it and after a quick check with his assistant awarded the goal. (0-1, 60 mins)
Matthews forced Singh to drop and smother a left footed strike from 25 yards on 67 and on 74 Barton became the first person of the afternoon to put the ball out of the ground with a high shot from the left over Singh’s goal and into the scrubland behind the terracing.
Creaney beat the offside trap on 76 to get the ball in space on the left channel and although he got a clean shot away it was with his left foot and dropped over Mahon and curled the wrong way past the far post.
Cockerill-Mollett threw himself at the ball to deny a cross from Richards getting into the box and a ‘head on hands’ corner from Hayhurst to the far post was dealt with, and Peaks made two changes, dropping into a more defensive formation for the final 10 minutes.
Spencer did manage to get a shot away though, on 82 and it forced Singh to parry the ball away from sneaking under the bar and Willet’s quite literally threw himself at the loose ball to deny any sight of goal by the pressing home side, and took a knock to the chest requiring some treatment as the clock ticked down.
Substitute Allen turned his header from a right wing Nash cross over the bar from 12 yards on 87, but play had to be halted again when Arlott-John went down and needed assistance from the Lambs physio, bringing Williams on for him for the remainder of the game.
Seven minutes of added time was sown tat he end of the game as Sinclair was booked for brining Williams down by the corner on the left.
However, the Curzon pushed on and Allen’s shot was put behind for a corner on the right which bounced goalward via a couple of deflections but Singh was able to take it almost on the goalline without too much trouble.
Hayhurst went down after turning in the area and the partisan crowd appealed for a penalty but the referee waved away the shouts, and as the play went over the halfway line, Matthews was booked for a raised arm against Deacon, the two players having tussled for superiority since the Tamworth substitute had come on.
Once the ball had made it’s way back to Singh and been launched upfield the final whistle eventually blew on another massive three points for The Lambs and both sets of players hit the deck in exhaustion, and for Tamworth also relief and celebration, having run themselves into the ground for their respective causes.

Curzon Ashton:
Mason, Poscha, Matthews, Kenyon (Sinclair 70), Spencer (c.), Storey (Allen 77), Hayhurst, Waring, Mols (Mahon 70), Richards, Barton
Subs: Walker, Taylor
YC: Poscha 41, Storey 43, Sinclair 90, Matthews 96

Tamworth:
Singh, Curley, Cockerill-Mollett, Finn, Milnes (c.), Willets, Cullinane-Liburd, Tshikuna (Deacon 81), Jellis, Creaney (Reilly 81), Arlott-John (Williams 88)
Subs: Gascoigne, Jones
YC: Jellis 51, Curley 54

Att: 354

Referee: Oliver Noonan
Assistant Referees: William Vaughan, Joe Cunningham