Midland Football League

Premier Division
Saturday 26th December 2020
Lye Town 3-1 Tividale

Christmas Hangover

Our proud unbeaten record was always going to end in a league of this quality. Yes we was disappointed that it ended against our neighbours. But what really hurt was the manner that it came. Due to a performance that can only be politely put as poor. You can not come up against any team and produce the first half effort that we did without ending up in serious trouble.

Manager Dave King had Adam Garmson back from his 3 game suspension but Jacob Barnes was unavailable and he could not start Liam Wilkinson due to an illness putting him on the bench. Dan Bryson came in for Barnes.

Garmson resumed his partnership with Dan Smith up front, allowing Darragh Bustin to take the Wilkinson position in the middle of the park. The other change from the impressive performance against Khalsa 4 days earlier was Elliott Hartley replacing Brad Welding at left wing back.

Lye were at it from the off and the warning bells should have been loud and clear after just 4 minutes when a Colin Smith shot was deflected wide for a Lye corner. The hosts were ahead 3 minutes later when an attempted Joe Hawkins clearance struck the back of a fellow defender dropped at the feet of Smith and he casually chipped Tividale keeper Adam Harrison.

Tividale’s first effort on goal came on 14 minutes from Bustin. When his free kick was headed clear. Two minutes later and Lye doubled their lead. Some poor defending was punished when a Smith shot beat Harrison but came back off the post. Fellow striker Jordan Harrison was the first to react and smacked home the rebound. Lye were threatening to run away with it and Harrison may feel he should have done better on 23 minutes when he shot wide.

Tividale just could not get started as Lye dominated the midfield and their front three of Smith, Harrison and Sammy Prince were able to run freely at the Tividale defence. The visitors frustration culminated in some petty free kicks.

Smith had another chance in the 43rd minute when he was put through on the Tividale goal but this time Harrison was equal to his shot and pulled off a comfortable save. Tividale did have the final chance of the half when in the 45th minute a Bustin shot was deflected for a corner after he was put through by Hartley

That was the end of the first half action. A half one team was glad was over and the other side wished it could have carried on.

Half Time:- Lye Town 2-0 Tividale

Tividale made a change at half time, bringing on Wilkinson for Lewis McPike. McPike could have felt unlucky as anyone of the 10 outfield players could have been substituted on the first half performance.

The visitors had to raise their game and in the 50th minute they were back in the game. A ball into the Lye penalty area and Lye skipper Joe Colley went crashing into the back of Bustin and there was not a lot of home side complaints as the referee pointed immediately to the spot. Carter placed the ball on the spot and beat Lye keeper Ben Newey and halved the deficit. Garmson then made space for a shot in the 53rd minute but his effort went straight at Newey.

On 63 minutes in a spell of Tividale dominance, the visitors thought they had levelled when Carter headed home a Bustin cross. But the assistant raised his flag immediately and the goal was wiped off.

Tividale were now putting the Lye back line under pressure but never really worked Newey and as shown in the first half they had to be wary of being hit on the counter. And on 77 minutes that was what happened. Lye Sub Brad Lawley found Prince wide on the right and his turn of pace took him past the Tividale defence. He then cut in and beat the onrushing Harrison with an excellent finish.

From thinking they had got the game back to parity to then going back to a 2 goal deficit took the momentum out of Tividale while it settled Lye down and apart from a Garmson free kick that again Newey collected comfortably the game meandered to a close and a well deserved Lye Town win.

Tividale have the chance to get back on track against Gresley Rovers in their next game but whatever happens then, they will still be feeling the disappointment of this Boxing Day derby loss

Full Time:- Lye Town 3-1 Tividale

Tividale: 1. Adam Harrison, 2. Tom Hurdman (15. Will Rawlins 77), 3. Darragh Bustin, 4. Dan Bryson, 5. Joe Hawkins, 6. Matt Hunt (c), 7. Lewis McPike (12. Liam Wilkinson 46), 8. Elliott Hartley (14. Cameron Milne 77), 9. Dan Smith, 10. Adam Garmson, 11. Luke Carter

Unused Subs: 13. Peter Hawk 16. Brad Welding

 

Midland Football League

Premier Division
Tuesday 22nd December 2020
Sporting Khalsa 3-3 Tividale

3 games, 5 penalties, 3 points

And no goals conceded in open play.

After the disappointment on Saturday of dropping 2 points in injury time to a penalty for the second successive game. This ending was quite the opposite.

For some mad reason the squad and staff had decided to have their Covid Christmas Party in the changing room after the game. To have it away at the league leaders could have been better planned. But it was what it was

With a full squad available apart from the suspended Adam Garmson Manager Dave King rotated his squad from Saturday. In came Jacob Barnes, Brad Welding and Liam Wilkinson replacing Dan Bryson, Elliott Hartley and Cameron Milne who were all on the bench.

Tividale got off to a flyer and should have been ahead with their first attack after just 2 minutes but Darragh Bustin’s attempted chip did not get the required elevation to beat Khalsa keeper Sam Arnold and he was able to reach up for it.

Although Khalsa threatened they did not work Tividale keeper Adam Harrison and on 5 minutes the visitors took the lead. After some great work from Bustin he slid the ball through to Dan Smith who slotted home between Arnold and his near post.

As expected Khalsa came roaring back and 4 minutes later striker Ethan Jones flashed an effort wide of Harrison’s post. On14 minutes Jones’s strike partner Gurjit Singh was foiled by a great Barnes tackle. Khalsa carried on dominating possession but were always wary of Smith and Bustin’s pace on the counter.

Jones went even closer on the half hour when he worked himself a shooting chance but his shot took a deflection onto the cross bar and over. Tividale had another golden chance on 37 minutes when a Bustin free kick was met by Joe Hawkins but he swept his shot just wide.

A minute later and the host’s were level. Barnes in going for a challenge in the penalty area caught Jones and though most thought the forward had gone down easily Barnes admitted he had slipped and caught him. Gibraltar international Jake Gosling stepped up, placed the ball on the spot and smashed it past Harrison to level the scores.

The game continued in it’s end to end fashion after the equaliser with Smith heading a Lewis McPike corner wide for the visitors in the 41st minute. On 44 minutes Jones again worked a shooting chance for himself but shot straight at Harrison and then McPike ended the half with a good effort from a Bustin cross but he hit it straight at Arnold

Half Time:- Sporting Khalsa 1-1 Tividale

Tividale made the worse possible start to the second half when after 48 minutes Welding was adjudged to have fouled Gosling on the edge of the area. Again there was minimal if any contact and there were claims that the initial challenge happened outside the area. All this was in vain as Gosling again beat Harrison with the spot kick.

Both teams made a spate of substitutions around the 65 minute mark and Harrison had to produce a smart save to deny Khalsa substitute Liam Armstrong and a couple of minutes later a Bustin free kick failed to trouble Arnold.

The home side nearly extended their lead on 72 minutes when Sean Williams headed just wide a Lewis Worsey free kick. Tividale then levelled the score on 80 minutes when they were gifted a goal. The normally reliable Arnold decides to take one touch to many and McPike pick’s his pocket and from an acute angle side foots in the equaliser.

Armstrong then hit another effort down Harrisons throat on 81 minutes as the home side pressed for the winner. Then 3 minutes after pulling themselves level. Harrison comes out for a ball played into the Tividale box. He races out to gather the ball before the onrushing Khalsa striker. The Khalsa striker goes down and Mr Howe points to the spot for a third time. Which Gosling dispatched as efficiently as the previous two. Armstrong had another great chance in the 87th minute to put the game to bed but again Harrison denied him.

With the game deep into injury time Khalsa cleared the ball towards the half way line. Elliott Hartley launched himself and beat to Khalsa players to the ball. He then released Bustin down the left with a well weighted pass. Bustin then fired in a cross with the outside of his right boot and he found McPike at the back post and he slammed the ball home to earn the visitors a point.

Win. Lose or draw they would have still had the party. But the result definitely upped the volume a notch or two.

Full Time:- Sporting Khalsa 3-3 Tividale

Tividale: 1. Adam Harrison, 2. Tom Hurdman (12. Will Rawlins 67), 3. Darragh Bustin, 4. Jacob Barnes, 5. Joe Hawkins, 6. Matt Hunt (c), 7. Lewis McPike, 8. Liam Wilkinson, 9. Dan Smith, 10. Luke Carter (16. Cameron Milne 67), 11. Brad Welding (15. Elliott Hartley 60)

Unused Subs: 14. Dan Bryson, 17. Sam Bryan