Tamworth Match Report

[Tin Monkey]

I've had a few problems recently so unfortunately I missed the reports of Woking and Scarborough. Anyway, here's the report for Tamworth incase I can't get it on the official site (understandably not updated to allow me to post it there).

Like Lambs to the Slaughter

It was always going to be a case of ‘after the lord mayor’s show’, but despite not firing on all cylinders, Stanley still managed to be too much for their lowly visitors. On an afternoon when everyone was waiting to see Peter Cavanagh lift the Conference trophy, the small matter of Stanley’s last home non-league game was to be contested. As it emerged Stanley took their tally of wins for the season to 28, as the champion’s band wagon rolled on.

The opening half an hour saw both sides approach to game in a relaxed frame of mind and very few chances were carved out. In many ways it resembled a pre-season friendly and although you could understand Stanley’s reasoning behind this, considering Tamworth’s position it was a little puzzling. On 35 minutes the visitors did force Elliot into a smart save, when Williams drove a low shot in at the near post. Stirred into life by this, Stanley went on the attack and following a cross from Richardson, Boco shot just over the Tamworth bar on 36 minutes. Just two minutes later and Stanley again came close to breaking the deadlock, but this time Welch headed over from a corner.

Just four minutes into the second period an injured Richardson was replaced by Mangan, as Coleman looked to shake up the team and inject some pace. Almost instantly the baby-faced assassin caught a defender napping and stole in on goal, only for Bowles to smother the ball at the final moment. Two minutes later and Stanley came even closer to scoring as Mullin rose to head past Bowles, only for the ball to crash back off the inside of the post.

Tamworth wall of resistance was crumbling and on 63 minutes it finally caved in. Mangan again attacked with skill and pace, squared the ball to Caney who in turn rolled it to Todd and the Burton loanee needed two bites of the cherry before finally smashing the ball home.
Obviously buoyed by the break through Stanley upped the pace and five minutes later doubled their lead. Mangan again drove in to the Tamworth area before cutting the ball back to Craney, who coolly slotted the ball home from the edge of the area.

In the final minutes of the game and following a period where Tamworth did exert some pressure of their own, it looked as though Boco had sawn the game up with another goal, but the Benin international was flagged offside in what must have been a very tight decision.

In the last minute of the game came the only negative point of the day. Elliot could only palm the ball up in the area following a goalmouth scramble and as the ball was headed goalwards it hit Cavanagh on the arm. The referee pointed to the spot and despite protests from both sets of players, Cavanagh saw red and was dismissed. With virtually the last kick of the game Storer smashed the ball past Elliot to make the score 2-1, with the referee blowing the final whistle upon the restart.

The celebrations started immediately and as Stanley were presented with the trophy the strains of ‘We Are The Champions’ drifted over the Interlink Express Stadium, you could almost hear the ghosts of Peel Park joining in the chorus. Football really was coming home!

Ian Simpson

[MikeA]

Great report, Ian (as usual). I was gutted to have to work today but my daughter drove up and joined my brother there. She has some good pics including one of the trophy mid-air on its way from Cav to Coley!

If the opportunity arise to put this on the fishy site before you do, then I'll stick it there for you.

[Jimbo T Hornblower]

Coley mentioned on Gillette Soccer Saturday that they chucked the cup to one another to emulate Liverpool doing the same when they won a trophy - cant remember which one he said now!! Anyway he said he did it with the Unibond trophy too but it was a bit more difficult with the Conference one as it was much heavier

Jimbo T blower

[Tin Monkey]

Originally Posted by MikeA

If the opportunity arise to put this on the fishy site before you do, then I'll stick it there for you.

Thanks Mike. I've been moving around a lot recently, so don't always have the link with me.

[Tin Monkey]

I've posted the report but can't format it. I've tried Firefox and IE, but can't sort it out.

Could someone (Mike or Kipax) have a look at it please?

[MikeA]

Originally Posted by Tin Monkey

I've posted the report but can't format it. I've tried Firefox and IE, but can't sort it out.

Could someone (Mike or Kipax) have a look at it please?

I copied it from here to Word and then to the fishy site and enlarged it a bit and added the team listing that was on the fishy site but not on here. I think it looks a bit better now.

[Tin Monkey]

Thanks Mike. I've no idea what happened to that. I wrote it in Word as normal, then copied it into the template. Then it all went horribly wrong.