West Midland Regional League

Premier Division

Monday 27th August 2018

Tividale 1-2 Black Country Rangers

Rangers reign in the Black Country

Tividale hosted Black Country Rangers in the second part of their Bank Holiday Derby Double and as expected a side with a perfect 4 wins out of 4 against a side that had a perfect 5 out of 5 start to the season. This was going to be an epic encounter and in front of a bumper crowd the two sides did not disappoint.

Tividale boss Dave King brought in Ben Birch and Curtis Cocking, replacing club captain Karl Gardner and the absent Darragh Bustin, just the two changes from the side that started in the win against Cradley Town two days earlier.

The game started at a very high tempo as both sides tried to stamp their authority on the game and it was the home side who had the first effort on goal when Matt Hunt rose to meet a Bradley Welding corner after 7 minutes but his header hit the cross bar and went over.

Black Country’s first chance came after 20 minutes when Lee Smith was penalised for jumping into a tackle. From the resulting free kick Rangers forward Kieran Clarke’s shot hit the wall and floated into the grateful arms of Tividale keeper Ryan Cheshire. On 31 minutes Tividale had a golden chance to take the lead. Brown played in a ball to his strike partner Dan Smith and as he was bringing it under control Rangers defender Lucas Hough nudged him in the back and a penalty was awarded. After despatching the penalty that was awarded to Tividale on Saturday, Brown again stepped up, but this time his shot was saved by Rangers keeper Richard Kennedy who had guessed the right way diving low to his right.

Tividale kept up the pressure and Kennedy was again on hand to turn away a Dan Smith shot. On 40 minutes Tividale conceded a free kick in exactly the same position as the earlier foul and again Clarke stood over it. This time though his shot sailed over the wall past a flat footed Cheshire and into the back of the net.

So after missing a number of decent chances, Tividale fell for a well taken free kick and went into the break a goal down.

Half Time:Tividale 0-1 Black Country Rangers

It was Rangers who started the second half the stronger and from another Clarke free kick Tividale could only clear the ball to about 10 yards from their goal line and Hough tried an overhead kick that went just a yard wide. On 53 minutes there was another major point in the game when Jamel Fuller flew into a tackle on Tom Hurdman that was both uncontrolled and he was shown a straight red card.

The dismissal seemed to have upset Tividale more than it did Rangers as they stayed with their two strikers and carried on taking the game to the hosts and on 63 minutes their endeavour bore fruit. Roland Agbor rolled Liam Wilkinson about 30 yards out raced past Ben Birch and wrong footed Dan Bryson before slipping the ball past Cheshire and into the back of the net.

The goal brought the inevitable Tividale pressure but keeper Kennedy aided by his back four were superb and Tividale never really had a sighting on goal until the 80th minute when from a Brown cross Dan Smith netted at the second attempt after Luke Wilson had made another outstanding block on his initial shot but the defender could do nothing when the rebound fell at Smith’s feet.

Tividale continued to press in an attempt to get an equaliser and substitute Elliott Hartley did get though the Rangers rear guard when he was put through by Wilkinson but he was brilliantly tackled by that man Wilson.

In the end even though Tividale pressed you always felt that Rangers were in control, were dangerous on the break and game managed the final few minutes fairly comfortably.

Full Time:-Tividale 1-2 Black Country Rangers

Tividale:-1. Ryan Cheshire, 2. Tom Hurdman, 3. Bradley Welding, 4. Ben Birch, 5. Dan Bryson (12. Rion Francis-Mills 65),6. Matt Hunt, 7. Lee Smith (17. Elliott Hartley 75), 8. Liam Wilkinson , 9. Dan Smith, 10. Demetri Brown, 11. Curtis Cocking (15. Liam Smith 70)
Unused Subs:-12. Karl Gardner, 16. TJ Munthali