Tadley's FA Vase dream over
Clinical finishing proved the difference at Barlows Park as a crowd of over 100 saw their side exit the FA Vase at the first round stage for the second time in as many seasons.
Tadley came into the game off the back of a good away win at Balham last time out, and with the return of centre back partnership Brad Neal & Andrew Charsley, the home side were near to full strength.
The game kicked off in under a barrage of wind and rain with a storm brewing on the field as Ramsey of Moneyfields late tackle on Alex Miller saw the midfielder go into the referees book after just 3 seconds of play. It was clear the away side were looking to draw Tadley into a physical game and make it difficult for the home side to engage in the football we’ve seen bring them success over the past few weeks.
Despite the efforts of the away side to break up the play, Tadley could, and arguably should have been ahead within minutes.
The first fifteen minutes however were extremely bright for the hosts, A barrage of chances just minutes into the game should have seen Tadley take an early lead. Efforts from Fragata, French and Thorne forced good saves from the opposition goalkeeper, to the frustration of the home crowd.
Glenn Turnbull, manager of Moneyfields, was clearly not happy inside the visitors dugout & his team had to pick themselves up after withstanding the onslaught of Tadleys attacking prowess. Turnballs side responded and grew into the game, looking to get in behind the full backs of Tadley, albeit with varied success.
One of the times they did manage to through punished Tadley, totally against the run of play. A long back from the back, over the defensive line allowed the visitors to drive in and play the ball across the edge of the box. The ball fell to Steve Ramsey who nonchalantly placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner and past a rooted Craig Atkinson to give the away side a somewhat lucky lead.
Despite taking the lead, Tadley continued to be in the ascendancy. A direct ball over the top released Alex Fragata in a foot race into the box. Just as the forward got his toe on the ball he was bundled over but cries for a penalty from both the Tadley players and supporters were waved away and play continued.
As the half was drawing to a close, Tadley came close again. A long throw into the box was flicked on but narrowly fell the wrong side of the post, hitting the side netting.
Despite four or five excellent chances to breach their opponents, Tadley went into the half a goal behind.
The second half was a much tighter affair, albeit with more goals than the first.
Ten minutes into the second forty-five, Moneyfields had the ball in the back of net for the second time. A defence splitting pass through to Pennery saw the forward place the ball past Atkinson, seemingly to double their lead. However, celebrations were short lived thanks to the raised flag of the assistant referee on the far side.
No more than two minutes later, it was Tadley who who had the chance to level the scores.
Intricate play down the right hand side saw a ball played into the Moneyfields penalty area. A determined run from Jack French allowed him to get a toe to the ball before the defender could respond and he was brought down, resulting in the referee pointing to the spot.
French placed the ball on the spot with confidence and proceeded to wrong foot the goalkeeper, drawing his team level, and on top in the game.
With Barlow’s Park bouyed by the equaliser, they were soon silenced when Pennery went over in the box, seemingly on his own accord. To the despair of all at Tadley, the referee decided he was felled illegally and a penalty was awarded, with Pennery converting to restore the Moneyfields lead.
It was almost an immediate response from the home side as a corner from the left hand side was flicked on and evaded all at the back post. The ball hit the inside of the post and bounced down onto the line, ever so slightly touching the goal line. As a result, no goal was given and play continued.
Tadley continued to throw everything at the game
to force an equaliser, introducing more attacking threat from the bench to the detriment of the midfield three.
The home side kept attacking and forcing further saves from the visiting goalkeeper As they gambled for an equaliser, Moneyfields killed off the game.
A through ball was latched on to by the prolific Callum Laylock who managed to toe poke the ball past the out rushing Atkinson to double their lead and ultimately put the game to bed as a contest.
Tadley were left frustrated at the final whistle after controlling many areas of the game and arguably creating the best goalscoring opportunities. On another, more clinical day for The Romans they could well have found themselves in the hat for the second round of this season’s Isuzu FA Vase.
