West Midland Regional League

Premier Division

Tuesday 29th August 2017

Tividale 3 v 1 Smethwick

Bright start but Wick burns out

Tividale were looking for a response from Saturday’s defeat and their shaky start meant it did not bode well for this game either. But while Smethwick did not cash in on their early chances. Tividale were more clinical and that in the end was the difference between the teams.

Smethwick pinned the home side back from the kick off and after only 8 minute ex Tividale midfielder Shane Grainger found himself free in the Tividale area but his shot was comfortably saved by Ryan Cheshire. Fellow teammate Colin Smith then tried his luck from distance on 12 minutes but his shot sailed wide.

It was 15 minutes before the first Tividale attempt when Tom Hurdman fired over from a Karl Gardner free kick. That itself was only a brief respite as the visitors were soon back on the attack and on 24 minutes Mark Ganderton’s free kick was met by Ben Eberle but his header went straight at Cheshire. On the half hour a Ganderton corner was swung out to the edge of the box and it was met on the volley by David Meese and it looked hands down a goal until Hurdman cleared of the line. The resulting corner was again taken by Ganderton and met again by Meese but this time his shot was charged down.

It took 30 minutes before Tividale finally clear their heads and on 37 minutes they were ahead. A clinical break from Elliott Hartley down the left and the ball came out to Curtis Cocking and his first time shot beat Smethwick keeper Shehroz Naseem. It could have been two on the stroke of half time when a Joe Lawley free kick was cleared only to the edge of the Smethwick area but Cocking could not repeat his earlier feat and put the chance over the bar

Half Time:- Tividale 1 v 0 Smethwick

Tividale forward Tyree Clarke took a knock and had to be replaced by Dan Smith 5 minutes into the second half. One minute later Cocking stormed forward and played a scrumptious ball into the feet of Smith. His first touch of the game was to wrong foot his marker, his second touch was to roll the ball past Naseem from an acute angle and into the back of the net. Four minutes later it was 3-0 when a Tividale corner taken by Lawley was swept home by centre back Dan Wells.

Tividale were now in cruise control and completely dominant but could not add to their tally Their best chance coming from a Hartley corner that was fired the wrong side of the post by Lawley. Smethwick gave themselves a lifeline when against the run of play Smith got on the end of a right wing cross from Pierce Kiembi to sweep the ball home and cut the arrears to two. They then had a golden chance on 70 minutes to cut it to one and really get the home side shaking but an unmarked Gershion Quansah headed wide from a corner.

Tividale then managed the dying minutes and where in control at the end with Smith and fellow sub Nathan Jones using their pace to keep the ball deep into Smethwick territory and also winding down the clock for a vital victory.

The visitors did have one last chance as time ran out, but Cheshire was perfectly placed to deal with a Lezion Cela shot.

Full Time:-Tividale 3 v 1 Smethwick

Tividale:- 1.Ryan Cheshire, 2.Tom Hurdman, 3. Harvey Elliott, 4.Karl Gardner, 5.Daniel Wells, 6. Liam Wilkinson (17. Harvey Walker 73), 7. Curtis Cocking, 8. Chris Bladen (14. Nathan Jones 79), 9. Tyree Clarke (15. Dan Smith 50), 10. Freddie Watts, 11. Joe Lawley

Unused Subs:- 12. Bradley Welding, 16. Chris Hill.