Midland Football League
Premier Division
Saturday 29th January 2022
Hanley Town 0-0 Tividale

Tividale will not Han’ over the points

After the midweek win at bottom of the table Bewdley Town, despite being reduced to 9 men. We now had what was on paper our most difficult trip of the season. A visit to The Payaro Stadium against run away leader’s Hanley Town. A squad with a who’s who of ex professional, who must have clocked up around 2000 league appearances between them including forward’s Chris Dagnall (Barnsley, Hibernian, Rochdale, Tranmere and Crewe amongst others and over 100 goals), Louis Dodds (Port Vale, Shrewsbury, Chesterfield and about 60 goals), defender Ryan Shotton (Birmingham City, Middlesbrough and Derby County) and player/manager Carl Dickinson (Watford, Stoke City and Port Vale). So, there was no doubting the task we faced.

Manager Dave King only made the one change. With Luke Carter returning into the middle of the park after being rested for the Bewdley game replacing the unavailable Jason Wood.

The game itself started evenly and it was Tividale who had the first goal threats. The first after 6 minutes when Curtis Cocking found Darragh Bustin but he never got hold of his shot and home keeper Kieran Harrison fielded the ball comfortably. A couple of minutes later and Ethan Muckley had a chance after some fine work from Cocking and Bustin but he never got the ball under complete control and the ball ran through to Harrison.

Hanley’s first sight of goal came in the 13th minute when centre back Kyle Stubbs fired over. Hanley where now warming to the task and in the 25th minute Ryan Campbell Gordon’s effort hit the post and went wide, this after a great run down the right. On 39 minutes Hanley’s Jake Avery tries to chase down a through ball but he also cannot get it under control and Tividale keeper Peter Hawk is quickly out to claim the ball. A minute later and the Cocking, Bustin, Muckley combination create another opening, but again Muckley cannot get his shot on target.

Half Time: – Hanley Town 0-0 Tividale

Hanley made a change at half time taking off Campbell-Gordon and sending on Aaron Cole in what we think is an injury. The home side produced the first chance of the half on 49 minutes but Avery’s shot was comfortably dealt with by Hawk. Hawk then got down to take a Stubbs free kick from distance in the 52nd minute.

On the hour mark, Dagnall got a shot in that again Hawk was equal to. Then a Brad Welding free kick on 62 minutes that again never caused Harrison any issues. Avery had another great chance on 65 minutes after a Dodds clip to the back post, but again it was straight at Hawk.

Hanley were now exerting all the pressure and Tividale’s defence was now getting stretched. 68 minutes and another Dagnall shot but this time Hawk could only parry it and Welding completed the clearance. Then a deep cross from Charlie Walford caused Tividale concern before again Welding hooked clear.

Tividale did try and relieve some of the pressure off their defence by keeping substitute Dan Smith high up the field so that Hanley’s centre backs could not push on and with 20 minutes to go he broke free of his markers, when he was found after some fine work by Elliott Hartley. but again, he could not work Harrison as he curled his effort wide.

Possibly the chance of the game came in the 80th minute. Avery is through one on one with Hawk, he tries to place the ball past the keeper but Hawk was equal to it and blocked his shot and Matt Hunt completed the clearance. Welding was again on hand in the 88th minute to clear another Hanley effort off the line as the visitors were now standing up to some real pressure. In the end their hard work earned them a point.

There was no doubt who the happier side were at the final whistle as Hanley just could not get that break thorough especially in the second period where they were the dominant side. But Tividale can look back and feel that they deserved the point that they earned. They had chances in a fairly equal first period and they defended superbly throughout most of the second.

Full Time: – Hanley Town 0-0 Tividale

Tividale: – 1. Peter Hawk, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Brad Welding, 4. Luke Carter, 5. Dan Bryson 6. Matt Hunt, 7. Darragh Bustin, 8. Curtis Cocking, 9. Ethan Muckley (14. Lewis McPike 90), 10. Cameron Milne (17. Dan Smith 56), 11. Elliott Hartley

Unused Subs: – 12. Hayden Reeves, 15. Harvey Portman, 16. Joe Burroughs

 

Midland Football League
Premier Division
Tuesday 25th January 2022
Bewdley Town 1-2 Tividale

Tividale take it on the river

With the ex-Worcester Raiders management duo of Chris Corns and his assistant Ryan Rowe now in charge at Bewdley Town. We knew tonight’s opposition was going to be a completely different proposition to the team we beat 4-0 back in August. Backed up by reports that in the two league games since the duo came on board, they fully deserved their point against Racing Club Warwick and were unlucky not to get anything out of their last game against Lye Town.

Bewdley maybe picturesque in the spring and summer. But on a cold January night, a trip down by the river is not so appealing. Tividale only made the one change from the starting eleven that beat Shifnal Town at the weekend. Cameron Milne coming in midfield for the injured Luke Carter.

The first 15 minutes were possibly the most uneventful opening minutes witnessed for quite a while with both teams pressing and probing with no real end product until Tyler Smith blazed over after latching onto a long clearance from Bewdley keeper Joe Sidaway. Tividale’s first effort came in the 17rh minute when Ethan Muckley fired wide. He had another chance two minutes later when he was through on goal but this time his shot sailed over the bar.

The game was also littered with petty fouls and a fair bit of frustration from both teams as the game failed to flow. Bewdley had a very strong appeal for a penalty after half an hour when ex Tividale player Ryan Grosvenor went down under a challenge but the referee waived the appeals away. Brad Welding then forced Sidaway to tip his dipping free kick over the bar in the 39th minute. From the resulting corner taken by Darragh Bustin, Muckley’s header thundered back off the cross bar. The half ended with Grosvenor getting a first time shot off that whistled past Hawk’s far post. After it had gone wide the Tividale stopper had the look of a man that knew it was going wide. But the rest of us was not so sure.

Half Time: – Bewdley Town 0-0 Tividale 

Tividale went ahead 2 minutes into the second half when Bewdley failed to clear a long Welding throw and Bustin was the first to react swivelling and firing into the bottom corner of Skidmore’s net. There followed a spate of bookings that would have a major impact on the end of the game.

On 55 minutes Hawk was adjudged to have taken the ball outside his area. Kyle Belmonte took the resulting free kick but the Tividale wall did its job and deflected it for a corner. From the resulting corner the ball was cleared out to Bewdley’s full back Rio Bakala but his shot was bravely charged down by Tividale defender Tom Hurdman.

Eight minutes later and the first of those bookings came back to haunt the visitors. Welding on a booking received a second booking when he and Smith tangled at the front post. Referee Callum Johnson felt that Welding was doing the fouling and gave the penalty and showed Welding the second yellow. Belmonte stepped up to take it but Hawk was equal to his spot kick and saved it.

Even with a man short the visitors still looked comfortable switching to a 4-4-1 formation. With 20 minutes to go the 10 men of Tividale extended their lead. The ever-willing Muckley now on his own up front again took on the Bewdley centre backs, he got his shot off, Sidaway failed to hold on to it and Hartley tapped the ball home at the back post. Milne then tried a free kick from 25 yards out in the 76th minute but Sidaway collects comfortably. A minute later and Milne was through again from midfield but this time he tried to chip Sidaway but did not get enough on it and it sailed comfortably into the keeper’s hands.

Tividale were then down to 9 men in the 80th minute. From a Bustin clearance there was another coming together as the ball was cleared. The referee adjudged that Bustin who was filling in for Welding in the left back position had committed a foul in his follow through and handed him also a second yellow. It was now a back’s to the wall scenario as Tividale defended their two-goal lead while Bewdley were camped in the visitor’s half.

In the 83rd minute Bewdley pulled one back. From another free kick on the edge of the Tividale area, and a tired Tividale clearance the ball landed at the feet of Elliott Sumnall and his shot found it’s way through a crowd of bodies beat Hawk and cut the deficit in half. As the ball moved into injury time the home side had one last chance. But again, Hawk was equal to Belmonte’s effort and Tividale saw the game out for a hard-earned win.

Full Time:- Bewdley Town 1-2 Tividale 

Tividale: – 1. Peter Hawk, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Brad Welding, 4. Cameron Milne (14. Lewis McPike 84), 5. Dan Bryson 6. Matt Hunt, 7. Darragh Bustin, 8. Curtis Cocking, 9. Ethan Muckley (16. Joseph Burroughs 90), 10. Jason Wood (12. Hayden Reeve 71), 11. Elliott Hartley

Unused Subs: – 15. Jake Bram, 17. Dan Smith.

Midland Football League
Premier Division
Saturday 22nd January 2022
Tividale 1-0 Shifnal Town

Tividale “Shif” up a gear

After Tuesday night’s toughie against Rushall Olympic. This was going to be another game with not a lot between the two teams and one that the home side knew that they would have to be on top of their game if they were to get anything out of it. The two sides had met at the start of the season in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. A game in which Tividale progressed into the next round with a 2-0 win.

There were three changes from the team that started the Rushall game, with Peter Hawk, Brad Welding and Ethan Muckley coming in for Louis Connor, Hayden Reeves, and Lewis McPike, respectively.

Tividale started the game well and had the visitors pressed back in the opening exchanges and in the 3rd minute they were close to going ahead when from a Curtis Cocking cross Elliott Hartley was free at the back post and with his form at present you would have been forgiven if you expected the ball to hit the back of the net, but he fired over the bar.

Shifnal’s first real threat came in the 11th minute when a Brandon Tanomjit shot took a deflection but keeper Hawk was still able to palm it away. Then a minute later former Tividale man Matthew Barnes-Homer controlled a ball into him with his back to goal. He turned his marker and got his shot away but again Hawk was equal to it.

A Hawk long clearance on the quarter hour was headed on by Muckley for Hartley who had outpaced the Shifnal defence. But some great work from Shifnal keeper George Scott who was alert enough to race of his line and clear the danger. In doing so he took out Hartley in his area but the referee deemed he had played the ball first and waived away the home side’s appeals.

Hartley was in the action 2 minutes later when he hit a screamer of a half volley from a Welding cross, but Scott brilliantly turned it over the bar. On 22 minutes Hartley could have been celebrating his hat trick, when he ran onto a through ball and steered the ball past Scott but also the wrong side of the keepers far post. On 29 minutes the action was then at the other end. A Sam Griffiths free kick swung into the Tividale area was only partly cleared and when it was put back in Sean Jones headed straight into the arms of Hawk. Bustin then hit a snapshot on 31 minutes from outside the penalty area that Scott kept out.

The industrious Muckley then surged forward on 33 minutes but his shot was well blocked by a Shifnal defender. The rebound came out to Jason Wood and his low drive was deflected wide for a corner. On 35 minutes Matt Jones intercepts a short Tividale pass and drives down the left flank, he finds Callum Graybrook but he fires over the bar.

As the half neared to a close there was no let-up in the goalmouth action and in the 40th minute Muckley with some great hold up play, lays the ball off to Bustin but his shot does not trouble Scott.

Shifnal had the final chance of the half when in the 43rd minute Jack Fishman crossed into the Tividale area but Barnes-Homer could not get his header on target.

Half Time:- Tividale 0-0 Shifnal Town

Shifnal started the second half how they ended the first, on the attack. And after a marauding run, Andre Brown forced Hawk into a smart save after 47 minutes. On 54 minutes Tividale got as close as either side did to breaking the deadlock. A Bustin shot came back off the bar with Scott beaten. Hartley was first to the loose ball, but his shot took a deflection and, in the end, it was comfortable for Scott. A Hartley corner a minute later was met by Tividale skipper Matt Hunt but his header was cleared off the line.

The game was still wide open and in a 15-minute spell although the intensity dropped off and the passing was not finding their targets, the chances kept on coming and most of them to Shifnal. Bustin dragged a shot well wide of the post. At the other end Brown then hit one straight at Hawk. Hawk then gets down well to deny Tanomjit at his near post. Then Graybrook fired over in the 70th minute.

As the game moved into the final 15 minutes. It was looking more likely that one goal could well settle this game as Wood found some room but fired wide. Shifnal then had their own penalty appeal but again it was waived away by referee David Hinton and the appeals also seemed a little half hearted. Brown was again put in on goal in the 81st minute but again Hawk was equal to his shot.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 83rd minute. A Luke Carter free kick into the box is met by substitute Dan Smith. His first-time shot was parried away by Scott. The balls fell nicely for Hartley at the back post and he steers the ball home. The goal seemed to deflate the visitors as the expected bombardment never really came and anything that was hit into the Tividale box was too long and comfortably claimed by Hawk.

In the end Tividale ran down the clock quite comfortably and claimed the three points

Full Time:- Tividale 1-0 Shifnal Town

Tividale: – 1. Peter Hawk, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Brad Welding, 4. Luke Carter, 5. Dan Bryson 6. Matt Hunt, 7. Darragh Bustin, 8. Curtis Cocking, 9. Ethan Muckley (17. Dan Smith 74), 10. Jason Wood 11. Elliott Hartley

Unused Subs: – 12. Cameron Milne, 14. Lewis McPike, 15. Hayden Reeves, 16. Joseph Burroughs.