Tividale FC

Report

Midland Football League
Premier Division
Saturday 15th March 2025
Tividale 1-1 Uttoxeter Town

Stalemate

After all the thrills and spills of the last four games since the Brocton defeat in which we have won three and lost one. It may have been inevitable based on our season so far, that a poor performance was due and this was it. But it was not the greatest of games anyway.

With Callum Lloyd suspended and Ryan Piggott, Gornal Athletic bound. Manager Phil Rann brought in Raheem Akhtar as a direct replacement for Callum at centre half and new signing Callum McKenna was added to the bench in the only changes to the match day squad.

Uttoxeter were much the better side in the opening exchanges as Tividale struggled to get into the game and their first chance came in the 8th minute when from a Jack Hassle free kick Marquis Trowers headed wide. Hassle threatened again on 12 minutes with a goal bound shot that was deflected wide and forward Lewis Dawson had his shot parried and cleared by Tividale keeper Ethan Hawkes on 22 minutes.

Tividale’s first effort on goal came half way through the half, when Alfie Higgs was put through but Uttoxeter keeper Xander Parke did well to come out and block his shot.

The rest of the half can only be summed up as bland as neither team could get control of the game. There was also constant interruptions due to petty free kicks and injuries and the two physios much have spent as much time on the pitch as the players.

The next event of any note came in the 43rd minute when Uttoxeter’s Mo Sidu found Dawson but his shot was blocked by Hawkes.

On the stroke of half time the visitors took a deserved lead when from another pointless free given away by the home side and taken by veteran centre back Eric Graves was headed back from the back post and Dawson turned the ball home.

To compound a poor Tividale half forward Ezekiel Agyemang was sin binned for dissent 3 minutes into added time.

Half Time:- Tividale 0-1 Uttoxeter Town

The second half fare to be honest was not much better and it was 10 minutes in, when Jason Wood fired well over the Uttoxeter crossbar. The visitors should have extended their lead on 58 minutes when a Rob Thorley long throw was not dealt with and the ball landed at the feet of Sidu 8 yards out but he managed to shoot over Hawkes bar.

There was 72 minutes on the clock when Tividale actually spurred into action and it was Higgs again with the shot. This time it was turned away for a corner by Parke. From the resulting corner taken by Jordon Sangha, the ball found its way to Higgs at the back post and he fired the ball into the back of the net at Parke’s near post.

It was a goal that the game needed as you would think that both teams would now go for it. But it never really happened and the game just meandered along.

In the 84th minute Wood did try his luck but again he failed to hit the target, this time firing wide, and a minute later Uttoxeter had their best chance of the half when after a great run by Sidu he found Dawson but the Tividale defence scrambled the ball out for a corner. From the resulting Hassle corner Uttoxeter’s Reuben Kenny headed wide

In the end apart from the first 20 minutes where the visitors dominated it was a scrappy game with two scrappy goals and a point a piece was about the right result. The positive was that a month ago Tividale would have lost this game and would have been well beaten, but it is a different Tividale now.

Full Time:- Tividale 1-1 Uttoxeter Town

Tividale:- 1.Ethan Hawkes, 2. Tom Rann, 3. Sam Bratt-Wyton, 4. Jason Wood, 5. Raheem Akhtar, 6 Matt Holland, 7. Jordon Sangha, 8. Eddie Rann (12. Lewis Derrick 73), 9. Ezekiel Agyemang, 10. Alfie Higgs, 11. Ethan Delaney (16. Nathan Guest

Unused Subs:– 14. Aon Mohammed Abbas, 15. Myles Durham, 17. Callum McKenna