MJPL under 12’s
20-12-14
Tividale 2-2 Lye Town

Report by Paul Rock

Before the game the players of Tividale and Lye Town remembered the 1914 truce.

Tividale kicked this one off and went straight on the attack with a strong run, down the right, by Alex Johnson that forced an early corner. Lye cleared the danger and responded immediately with a shot from range that cleared the crossbar. On 4 minutes Shane Willets made a smart save after a good Lye move down the Tividale left. On 7 minutes a 20 yard free kick from Eddie Whatmore was well held by the Lye keeper then just a minute later Reiss Baker had a good strike well saved as Tividale looked to get that all important first goal.
On 16 minutes the deadlock was broken when a Josh Marsden corner, from the left, was powerfully headed home by Ashley Rock; 1-0 Tividale!
Just a minute before half time everyone thought it was 2-0 when a Lye defender headed in an own goal but the flag went up and the goal was chalked off. Whether our player was indeed offside or interfering was debatable but the decision went against us and typically Lye went straight down the other end and got an equaliser with a composed finish right on the half tme whistle.

HT Tividale 1-1 Lye Town

Lye started the second half well and on 32 minutes the ball broke kindly for them down their right and, thankfully, Shane Willets was alert to the danger as he closed down the dtriker to force a corner.
On 36 minutes Lye took the lead, a free kick found a gap in the defence and a Lye player had a simple tap in at the back post; 2-1 Lye!
The goal seemed to wake up Tividale and a fierce free kick on 38 minutes, from Eddie Whatmore, was parried by the keeper into the path of Alex Johnson who couldn’t keep his shot down as it went over the bar. Alex was involved again on 45 minutes when some good work by Jack Mills found him on the edge of the box but his shot went wide.
On 46 minutes Lye missed a good chance to kill the game with a shot just wide and a minute later they were made to pay for that miss when a slick move from Tividale resulted in the equaliser. Alex Johnson broke with the ball in the Lye half and he found Eddie Whatmore out wide, Eddie then composed himself and sent in a great cross to Alex, who had continued his run, and he knocked he ball down for Jack Mills who fired the ball home; 2-2!
Lye had two late half chances to win it but the Tividale defence held strong,and on reflection a draw was a fair result, well done to both teams!

FT Tividale 2-2 Lye Town