Tividale FC

Report

Midland Football League
Premier Division
Tuesday 27th December 2022
Tividale 0-1 Walsall Wood

No stopping the Wood

After our own mid-season break, with it being three weeks without a competitive game and only a friendly against Stourbridge in that time. The visit of the league leaders two days after Christmas was just what we needed to get back into the swing of things.

With the squad now slimmed down to nineteen. Manager Dave King named all the players available to him with Jamie Howe, Louis Ezewele and Jason Wood missing for this clash.

Tividale started well and after 4 minutes a sweeping move involving Jakob Burroughs, Taylor Townsend and Jack Downing saw the latter’s shot come back off the crossbar then a couple of minutes later a Townsend free kick was pushed over the bar by Wood keeper Callum Smith.

On 9 minutes Wood had their first chance. A short corner from Carter Lycett to Jai Verma who laid the ball off to Joey Butlin who fired wide. Then Tividale keeper Peter Hawk got down comfortably from Hayden Purves. On 15 minutes a Townsend free kick deflected off the Wood wall but again it came off the cross bar.

Walsall got their goal on 22 minutes. When Tividale failed to clear their lines from a corner. The ball came out to Verma, and he saw Hawk off his line and clipped the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. Walsall were now in the ascendancy and in the 26th minute the dangerous Verma was in the thick of it again. Finding Butlin with a neat pass. Butlin in turn found Purves but again Hawk was equal to his shot.

Hawk had to turn a snapshot from Butlin around the post on 32 minutes and a couple of minutes later Burroughs fired wide of Smith’s post. Smith failed to hold another Burroughs effort on 41 minutes, but he was able to gather at the second attempt.

Half Time:- Tividale 0-1 Walsall Wood

In a quiet start to the second period the first chance fell to Walsall’s Somel, but he shot wide. Townsend tried his luck with another free kick but this one came back off the wall. Walsall Goal scorer Verma and Tividale’s young right back Jack Fletcher were having a battle royal down Tividale’s right and on 55 minutes Verma cut in from the left, but his shot was blocked.

A Townsend free kick was headed back across the box by Hunt and Burroughs volley looked like it hit Tividale forward Dan Smith.

On 61 minutes Kaden May picked up a loose ball after Tividale failed to clear but Hawk saved his shot. Kevin Hemagou did well in bringing down a Verma cross but was unable to generate the power in his shot to trouble Hawk.

No Tividale player is able to latch onto another Townsend free kick as it flashes across the box and a succession of balls into the box are quite comfortably dealt with by Smith and in the end Tividale just cannot get the equaliser and Walsall Wood go away with the points.

Full Time:- Tividale 0-1 Walsall Wood

Tividale: – 1. Peter Hawk, 2. Jack Fletcher, 3. Kamol Campbell (14.Zac Kourouyianni 60), 4. Jakob Burroughs, 5. David Solademi 6. Matt Hunt, 17. Taylor Townsend, 8. Curtis Cocking, 9. Dan Smith, 10. Malcolm Melvin (14. Matt Funge 60) 11. Jack Downing (16. Ryan Snape 75)

Tividale: – 13. Louis Connor, 15. Joe Burroughs