Walsall Senior Cup

First Round

Tuesday 20th September 2016

Tividale FC 0 – 8 Walsall FCFC

Tividale no match for exceptional Walsall

When the former manager of Cheltenham Town, Colchester and both Bristol clubs comes out with the comment “Taking into account the opposition, it was a good evening for us and we played exceptionally well” You know it was a tough night.

Two years ago I witnessed a Nuneaton Town side play what at the time I thought then was the best football we had seen in my time at The Beeches when they beat our MFA league winning side 6-2. But this was, as the legendary John Ward quoted an exceptional performance.

Tividale are on a 6 match losing streak. So coming up against a side that started with five players who have featured in Walsall’s first team squad this season was going to be a real test. To then only have one centre back with any game time available was now taking the task into the impossible range and it then started in the worse way possible when on 3 minutes Josh Ginnelly cut in from the right and his cross was met by striker Ama Bakayoko who fired into the roof of the net after Luke Kriskinans had parried his first shot. Tividale had the chance to bounce back on 9 minutes when striker Charles Wilson forced an error from the Walsall defence but he shot wide when through.

The miss was to prove costly as the visitors doubled their lead 5 minutes later when a Maziar Kouhyar shot deflected off a defender and past Kriskinans. Tividale were still in the game and on 23 minutes Jordan Potter’s free kick just went wide. Then Ginnelly played in Bakayoka but the tall forward fired well over the bar. Walsall did extend the lead just before half time when on 44 minutes Hurdman’s back pass fell well short of Kriskinans and Ginnelly nipped in rounded the stranded keeper and fired home.

Half Time: Tividale FC 0 – 3 Walsall FC

A minute into the second half and Tividale had conceded their fourth goal and again it was a case of Tividale shooting themselves in the foot. This time a speculative effort from midfield player Milan Butterfield is again deflected off a defender trying to clear and again Kriskinans is wrong footed. On 55 minutes it was five, as a Butterfield and Bakayoka one-two completely opened up the home defence and the front man fired home. A minute later on 56 minutes and it was six as Ginnelly finished off a great passing move that involved the impressive midfield duo of Jordan Sangha and Liam Kinsella.

Tividale were then again outdone on 61 minutes when they gave away possession and Sangha for the visitors made them pay. His ball was fed into Bakayoka, who in turn played in Ginnelly who nipped in for his hat trick and Walsall’s seventh. Walsall rounded off the scoring on 72 minutes when Bakayoka beat Kriskinans from the edge of the box to complete his hat trick and made it eight.

Tividale battled away throughout the game but you cannot afford to give away goals against a side that had made you a long way second best anyway.

Full Time: Tividale FC 0 – 8 Walsall FC

Tividale FC:-1. Luke Kriskinans, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Jordan Potter, 4.Craig Stevens, 5. Jacob Wedderburn (12. Matt Preston 72), 6. Shane Grainger, 7. Joe Kenton, 8. Jamie Hunt, 9. Craig Tibbetts (15. Daniel Smith 58), 10. Charles Wilson, 11.Nathan Jones (14. Darragh Bustin 67)

Subs not used: 16. Lewis McPike, 18. Liam Smith.

Click here for video of Walsall’s goals

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