Midland Football League

Premier Division

Saturday 29th October 2016

Tividale FC 2-1 Shawbury United FC

Assured Tividale bag the points

In a game that was billed as an early 6 pointer. It was also one that all three results were possible right up until the final whistle. But it was Tividale who came out the victors and maintained their current good run of form.

Tividale started the game the dominant of the two teams with the majority of the possession and had their first chance after just two minutes when a Dan Smith shot was put wide. Two minutes later Lewis McPike played Dan Smith in again but this time he was foiled by Shawbury keeper Nick Ashley who spread his body to block the shot. Ashley was again on hand to deny Tividale on 16 minutes. This time getting down well to turn a Nathan Jones free kick around the post.

Despite the early Tividale pressure, it was Shawbury who had the best chance to break the deadlock on 19 minutes when after some great work by wide man Charlie Knowles his cross was somehow put the wrong side of the post by Keanu Cooper when he looked to have the goal at his mercy. The miss was to not to prove too costly because three minutes later on 22 minutes what looked like a misplaced corner from Ryan Nesbitt fell to Shawbury striker Nathan Hodge whose speculative shot from the edge of the box was going well wide when the ball hit Tividale right back Jacob Wedderburn and looped over Tividale keeper Luke Kriskinans and into the net.

Tividale hit back immediately with a couple of decent chances. First Liam Smith failed to generate enough power in his header from a McPike cross to trouble Ashley and Dan Smith also failed to trouble the keeper with his shot.

The last 15 minutes of the half  saw Shawbury have their best spell of the game when first on 34 minutes Kriskinans did well to block a Hodge shot with his legs. Then his strike partner Cooper also had his shot blocked by Kriskinans and Tividale defender Karl Gardner just got a foot in to deny Cooper as he looked to cash in on the rebound. The half ended with Kriskinans again saving from Hodge when the forward was put though on the stroke of half time.

Half Time :Tividale FC 0-1 Shawbury United FC

Tividale were slow coming out of the blocks for the second period and were fortunate not to fall further behind at the start of the half when Nesbitt fired wide on 46 minutes and then Hodge failed to trouble Kriskinans with a shot. Once Tividale had woken up they waged an onslaught on the Shawbury goal that had it not been for some heroic keeping from Ashley, Tividale could have scored 5 or 6.

First of all from a McPike corner on 54 minutes, Matt Hunt’s header was blocked by Ashley and Dan Smith’s shot from the rebound was deflected wide. From the resulting corner taken by McPike there was no stopping Matt Hunt this time as he stole in and bundled the ball over the line. A minute later Wedderburn stormed down the right wing and his cross was met by Liam Smith but Ashley just managed to get down at full stretch to turn it wide. Then a Nathan Jones run ended with his shot again saved by Ashley. Tividale were now well on top and needed to make full advantage of their pressure and on 74 minutes the breakthrough came. Again it was Jones who had been giving the Shawbury defence a torrid time who drove into the Shawbury area and his resulting low shot seemed to go under Ashley and into the net.

The rest of the game saw both sides with chances to test the two keepers but they all fell short due to the final pass or a poor finish. Tividale did have one close call when Jones tried to chip Ashley but his effort although beating the keeper also just cleared the cross bar. In the end Tividale ran out the winner’s and were rewarded with the three points.

Full Time : Tividale FC 2-1 Shawbury United FC

Tividale FC:-1. Luke Kriskinans, 2. Jacob Wedderburn, 3. Darragh Bustin, 4.Karl Gardner, 5. Matt Hunt, 6. Craig Stevens (15. Shane Grainger 85), 7. Lewis McPike, 8. Liam Smith, 9. Daniel Smith, 10. Joe Bates (14. Jamie Hunt 68), 11. Nathan Jones.

Subs not used:12. Tom Hurdman, 14. Freddie Watts, 16. Matt Preston.