West Midland regional League
Premier Division
Saturday 20th October 2018
Tividale 6-0 Pershore Town 88

Dominant first half make it a shore thing

After the midweek exploits. Manager Dave King made no bones about the fact that a slip up in this game would completely overshadow the Lye Town win.

Before the game kicked off there was a minutes applause to recognise the 12 months pain free of young Maddie Box Poole who passed away on the 27th October 2017 from the terrible Battens disease.

Although Pershore were sitting at the bottom of the league the recent arrival of ex Malvern Town manager Les Jones meant that this was not going to be the pushover that the form book predicted.

Tividale continued their squad rotation bringing in Ryan Cheshire, Karl Gardner, Matt Hunt, Lee Smith and Dan Smith to the starting line up, in place of Luke Kriskinans, Ben Birch, Freddie Watts, Harvey Walker and Elliott Hartley who started against Lye.

If you want to settle any pre match nerves, there is no better way than to get an early goal and that is what Tividale did after just 8 minutes. Darragh Bustin played the ball into Demetri Brown running from the inside left position and the marksman just steered the ball past keeper Ash Jones.

Pershore’s Ryan Pugh tried a long range effort from the edge of the box on 10 minutes that went the wrong side of Cheshire’s right hand post. Tividale should have been two up on 13 minutes when Dan Bryson failed to get his feet sorted in front of goal after a Brad Welding cross to the back post.

But the miss was soon forgotten about 4 minutes later when after the visitors conceded a free kick just outside their box, Bustin fired into the bottom left hand corner. Two minutes later and it was 3-0. Another free kick conceded by the visitors in almost the same spot after right back Dan Colburn brought down Bustin. This time the wingback smacked it toward the top right corner but the ball came back off the crossbar and as Dan Smith went to collect the rebound he was brought down by the other Pershore full back Chris Watling and Bustin again beat Jones into his bottom left hand corner.

On 23 minutes Pershore had their best move of the half when a break down their right ended with Pugh hitting the side netting. Bustin was denied by a good save from Jones on 29 minutes, the keeper palming the ball away for a corner. On 41 minutes it was 4-0. another Tividale corner and defender Matt Hunt got the final touch steering the ball over the line despite Colburn’s effort to clear it.

Half Time: Tividale 4-0 Pershore Town

After just 2 minutes Bustin was away on goal but was denied by a brilliant tackle by Pershore’s Joe Endacott . On 51 minutes it was Brown’s turn to be denied by Jones and the keeper showed his bravery by first of all blocking a Bustin shot and then getting down amongst Bustin’s flying boots to grab the rebound.

It was now all one way traffic as Tividale pressed and the visitors defended desperately. But in the 69th minute their defences were breached again when Reece Shilvock split the Pershore defence with a great through ball and Brown hammered it between Jones and his near post.

Pershore’s misery was complete when they conceded a second penalty. Bustin rose to head a Hartley cross goal bound only for George Corbett to clear it off the line with a save that his keeper would have been proud of.  Unfortunately all it got Corbett was a straight red and Bustin netted his hatrick from the spot. This time putting it into the bottom right of Jones’s net.

Tividale sub Jake Brigdale almost marked his return to the club with a goal but his shot in the 83rd minute although beating Jones, hit the inside of his post and back out and into play and was cleared by the Pershore defence.

Full Time: Tividale 6-0 Pershore Town

Tividale:-1. Ryan Cheshire, 2. Bradley Welding, 3. Darragh Bustin, 4. Karl Gardner, 5. Dan Bryson, 6. Matt Hunt, 7. Lee Smith (15. Harvey Walker 70), 8. Reece Shilvock (17. Jake Brigdale 75), 9. Dan Smith (12. Elliott Hartley 35), 10. Demetri Brown, 11. Curtis Cocking

Unused Subs:-12. Ben Birch, 16. Freddie Watts