West Midland Regional League

Premier Division

Thursday 10th May 2018

Ellesmere Rangers 4-6 Tividale

Ellesmere Extravaganza

Tividale had the long run to Ellesmere Rangers for their last game of the season and played their part in a 10 goal thriller. The home side came into this game with the chance of moving into the top 5 while Tividale had already got second place tied up but after the Bank Holiday defeat against Stone Old Alleynians they needed to end their league season on a high.

With the usual lack of personnel for a Thursday game and an eye on Saturday’s semi final against Black Country Rangers. Tividale boss Dave King called up dual registration defender Chris Hill and Lewis Handley, Rio McFarlane and Tom Trevis from the youth team.

It was the visitors that did the early running and the game was only 3 minutes old when Tyree Clarke headed over a Bustin Corner. On 7 minutes Tividale nearly conceded when they tried to play the Ellesmere forward line off side and although Mikie Nelson beat it he put his shot wide. Then midfielder Matt Hodgson was unfortunate to see his shot turned round the post by young Tividale keeper Handley on 12 minutes.

It was Tividale that went in front after 17 minutes when after giving away a free kick on the edge of their box they left enough room on the side of their wall for Darragh Bustin to exploit and he did, beating Rangers keeper Liam Cains at his near post. A minute later and Tividale were 2-0 up, from a Harvey Walker cross field ball Bustin rolled the ball into the feet of Clarke and his shot arrowed past Cains and into the back of the net.

Ellesmere were kept  on the hunt for a goal that would keep them in the game and on 21 minutes a Judd Ellis shot was well held by keeper Lewis Handley. Whilst Ellesmere pressed they was open to concede themselves and on 35 minutes they did. A poor clearance by Cains and Clarke was first onto it and calmly returned the ball back into the Ellesmere net via in-between Cains legs.
Two minutes later and the home side did pull one back to make it 3-1. Young Handley misjudged an Ellis cross into the box and the ball sailed over the young keeper head and into the net. Tividale restored their 3 goal advantage on 40 minutes when some poor defending by Ellesmere allowed Clarke to nip the ball away and cash in on his hat trick.

Half-Time:-Ellesmere Rangers 1 -4 Tividale

A minute into the second half and Tividale had a great chance to extend their lead when Bladen tried to chip Cains but he failed to get enough height on the ball and the keeper had a comfortable catch. Ranger’s made the most of the let off and on 47 minutes they reduced the arrears when Hodgson was given too much space and time to find Anwar Olugbon on the edge of the Tividale area and his shot beat Handley at his near post.

Amazingly Ranger’s gave Tividale back their three goal advantage almost immediately when another defensive error left Clarke bearing down on their goal and he again made no mistake to make it 5-2. Tividale’s Liam Smith then saw his header saved by Cains on 52 minutes and on 64 minutes Cains did well to save a Bradley Welding shot before turning over a Harvey Walker pile driver on 67 minutes.

A minute later after Cains had saved them from a 4 goal deficit the home side cut the gap to two when Handley made a hash of a clearance and allowed Olugbon to cash in and slide the ball into an empty net.

Ellesmere were now the ascendency and Handley did well to turn over a Hodgson free kick. But he stood no chance on 72 minutes when Hodgson received the ball on the edge of the Tividale box after a short corner and thrashed the ball into the back of the net to make it 5-4. It was now game on as the home side began to over run the visitors in midfield and Handley denied them the equaliser when he saved a Molineux shot on 85 minutes.

Tividale finally put the game to bed on 87 minutes when substitute Demetri Brown headed on a Handley goal kick that actually wrong footed the Ellesmere defence allowing Brown to run onto the loose ball himself and put the ball past Cains to make the final score 6-4 to the visitors.

Full-Time:-Ellesmere Rangers 4-6 Tividale

Tividale:-1.Lewis Handley, 2. Chris Hill (15. Tom Trevis 80), 3. Liam Smith, 4. Ben Birch, 5. Freddie Watts, 6. TJ Munthali(14. Rio McFarlane 62), 7. Darragh Bustin, 8. Harvey Walker, 9. Chris Bladen, 10. Tyree Clarke (16. Demetri Brown 70), 11. Bradley Welding

Unused Subs:-12.Karl Gardner,