West Midland Regional League

Premier Division

Saturday 13th January 2018

Pegasus Juniors 1-2 Tividale

Juniors make it tough for Tivi

 
For the second game in a week, Tividale made hard work of it in front of goal. But unlike in midweek they did find the net against a resilient home side.

With goalkeeper Ryan Cheshire struck down by illness on the morning of the game, Joe Lawley and Elliott Hartley both unavailable and Chris Bladen and Nathan Jones injured. Manager Dave King had to make a number of changes from the side that went down at Paget Rangers. Tom Hurdman returned having served his one match ban. Liam Smith and Dan Bryson came into defence and young 17 year old keeper Lewis Handley made his league debut in goal just 18 hours after playing in a youth team game.

As was expected due to their league positions, it was the visitors who made the early running, but Pegasus were extremely well organised, worked hard to close down any space and kept Tividale to long range shots. Dan Smith did break through on 20 minutes but he was thwarted by some sharp goalkeeping.

On 32 minutes Handley saw his first piece of action when he had to field a shot that lacked any real power. At the other end Liam Wilkinson saw his shot flash post the home sides right hand post. Then an inch perfect ball from Liam Smith to namesake Dan, set him away but he could only find the side netting.

That was literally the last decent chance Tividale had in the half as the home side saw it out much to comfortably for the visitors liking.

Half-time:-Pegasus Juniors 0-0 Tividale

 
It was Pegasus who had the first chance of the second half, when on 50 minutes a Nick Panniers free kick was half cleared and his follow up shot flashed wide. A minute later and Tividale finally broke the deadlock. Demetri Brown ran onto a ball played inside the Pegasus full back and his neat clip into the box was met by Tyree Clarke at the front post and his deft glancing header went in off the back post. Tividale were nearly 2-0 up two minutes later when Darragh Bustin fired in a thunderbolt that the keeper could only palm away, but straight to Brown who’s pile driver then crashed off the crossbar.

On the hour Pegasus were level. Young Hadley looked as though he was always going to be second best as he raced off his line to thwart the threat of a Pegasus striker latching onto a through ball and the referee had no option but to point to the spot as the keeper just got their too late and brought down the striker. Pegasus’s talisman Panniers made no mistake calmly waiting for Handley to move to his right before stroking the ball straight down the middle of the goal.

The goal brought a lot more urgency to Tividale’s play and though they were now literally camped around the home penalty area, they were unable to break them down. Then with 15 minutes to go, a most remarkable piece of action. The ball looked as though it was bouncing out for a goal kick, when Brown chased it down and as it looked to be crossing the line he fired an overhead kick over the keeper and into the back of the net.

Regardless of whether it was an intentional shot or a cross that deceived the keeper, Brown deserves the benefit of the doubt for chasing down what to everyone else on the ground looked like a lost cause.

The goal saw off Pegasus as a threat and Brown could have added a second with 4 minutes to go when he was put through but he could not keep his shot down.

Full Time:-Pegasus Juniors 1-2 Tividale

Tividale:-1.Lewis Handley, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Darragh Bustin, 4. Daniel Bryson, 5. Freddie Watts, 6.Liam Smith, 7. Joe Colley (14. Curtis Cocking 73), 8. Liam Wilkinson, 9. Tyree Clarke, 10. Dan Smith (16. Harvey Walker 83), 11. Demetri Brown

Unused Subs:-.12. Karl Gardner, 15. Bradley Welding.