On loan Mark Tierney made his debut after joining from Oldham in the week. Craig Farrell started up front alongside Andy Preece and Karl Hawley as Magno Vieira was dropped to the bench. There were no early chances but a testing ball through from Simon Grand almost found Farrell who was beaten to the ball by Tamworth keeper Ryan Price. Chris Lumsdon lifted a free kick over the bar on 18 minutes. The midfielder had another effort a minute later which lacked power and was off target. Tierney was seeing a lot of the ball down the left and providing a better balance. Hawley produced a powerful shot from the edge of the box that Price parried and shortly after Turner was booked for a late challenge on Tierney as United tried to put a bit more pressure on. Half-time came with no goals and little in the way of entertainment for the fans at the Lamb Ground. Farrell made a break and was tripped by Adie Smith, bringing a free kick. Preece's strike crashed against the wall. Glennon came out for a high ball and dropped it, but Mark Turner hooked the loose ball well over. Lee Colkin replaced Scott Stamps for the Lambs. Vieira replaced Farrell for the Blues. Tamworth made the breakthrough from a corner on 68 minutes. A corner found the huge figure of Matt Redmile who headed home from an unmarked position. Hawley produced a cross that Grand flicked on and Vieira rushing in at the far post put the ball over when an equaliser beckoned. Vieira and Hawley combined well but Price saved well from close range. Lumsdon shot low through a crowd but Price did well to get down to it. Arnison and manager Paul Simpson came on with 12 minutes left for Preece and Brian Shelley. The veteran player-boss had a shot on 81 minutes from 25 yards out but Price made the save. As injury time began a Simpson corner was pushed out to Lumsdon whose shot was deflected wide and went out for a goal kick. Al's verdict: A disastrous defeat that could really destroy our championship chances. Tamworth, a relatively poor side with no pretensions to playing attractive football, had few real openings but when the big man Redmile was left unmarked he took his chance and our general play was not penetrating enough. New man Tierney was involved a lot but we are looking less and less like a promotion side with each performance. Clearly with a small squad, we can ill afford to be without players of the calibre of Gray, Murphy and Cowan. With any luck they will all be back by next week. After this defeat, and another win for Barnet, we'll need them. |
