Tividale FC

Report

Midland Football League
Premier Division
Saturday 4th March 2023
Tividale 1-1 Shifnal Town

In a result’s-based sport. It is great to get win’s with the playing of attractive football. But playing attractive or not so attractive football and not winning week after week can be heart-breaking. So it is time’s like this that the old adage “grinding out results” comes in handy.

With Jason Wood suspended and Jakob Burroughs moving onto pastures new, manager Dave King tried a change in formation going to a 4-4-2 line up and pushing Louis Ezewele into a holding midfield role. There was also a debut for new midweek signing  Reinaldo Forbes

The first 45 minutes of this game was pretty even with neither side really offering much goalmouth action. It was the 17th minute when a Jez Abbey shot posed no problem for Tividale keeper Louis Connor and with both teams cancelling each other out, Tividale’s first and only real chance of the half came on 31 minutes. A great ball into the Shifnal box by Malcolm Melvin and striker Dan Smith’s header on goal was brilliantly saved by Shifnal stopper Adam Whitehouse.

The rest of the half was not the greatest as both teams found clear cut chances hard to come by.

Half Time:-Tividale 0-0 Shifnal Town

Tividale had a wonderful chance to open the scoring in the first minute of the second period when after some good work from Forbes, he found Smith but again he was denied by Whitehouse, who blocked his shot and palmed it away for a corner and from the resulting Melvin corner Smith headed over the bar.

After that, the game went back into a type of trench warfare as both teams battled away with little if any territorial gain and chances even sparser. Smith volleyed a David Solademi long throw wide on the hour and 4 minutes later Whitehouse failed to hold onto a stinging Harry Lewis free kick but it was cleared by a Shifnal defender.

Shifnal’s Mikey Nelson then tried his luck from distance in the 65th minute but it went well wide. Nelson had another chance 5 minutes later when he shot on the turn but this time he cleared the crossbar. Lewis Jarman shot over the bar on 74 minutes after  being played in by Keanu Cooper. As the game moved into the last 10 minutes Smith again shot over the bar from a Arman Khoshkhoo pass.

With the game heading for a 0-0 draw. Shifnal struck in the 87th minute. A ball into the Tividale area and  Abbey gets a run on his marker and his glancing header is steered past Connor to put the visitors 1-0 up.

The goal so late must have been a sickener for the Tividale lads on the field who had held a side looking to possibly go second in the league for 87 minutes. But fair play to them they were immediately on the attack and in the 88th minute they won a corner. Melvin’s ball in was right on the money as Joe Hawkins beat Whitehouse with a thumping header.

That is how the game ended. Not a classic but on the balance of play a point well deserved and another game that Tividale earned themselves something from the game.

Full Time:-Tividale 1-1 Shifnal Town

Tividale: – 1. Louis Connor, 2. Zac Kourouyianni , 3. David Solademi, 4. Joe Burroughs, 5. Louis Ezewele, 6. Joe Hawkins, 17. Harry Lewis, 8. Malcolm Melvin, 9. Dan Smith 10. Reinaldo Forbes (12. Kamol Campbell 65), 11. Arman Khoshkhoo,

Unused Subs:- 13. Peter Hawk, 14. Alfie Higgs, 15. Ashley Oliver, 16. Callum Powell