Taddy Leave It Late In Pontefract

Manager Billy Miller made one change to the side that beat Worksop Town 4-1 with Nick Black brought in to the starting eleven and Liam Ormsby dropping to the substitute’s bench.

After Saturday’s huge 4-1 win over Worksop Town on Saturday, Tadcaster Albion had to make sure not to let any complacency slip into their game with a tricky midweek trip to Pontefract Collieries.

With that being said, it was almost the worst possible start for The Brewers who started sluggishly and if it wasn’t for a brilliant save by Gary Stevens, Colls would have taken the lead in the very first minute. The home side got off to a fiery start as forward Brad Kerr struck a sweet volley goal wards from inside the box but Gary Stevens got the faintest of touches to tip it onto the underside of the crossbar and away to safety. This was an early warning sign and a let off for Taddy who needed to wake up quickly as Colls looked to take the game to The Brewers.

Leaders such as Gregg Anderson and Jimmy Beadle looked to rally their troops after a shaky start, but they had their first sighting of goal just four minutes later. Jordan Armstrong clipped in behind to the pacey Adam Baker who drove and delivered to the unmarked Jimmy Beadle but the captain’s header flew comfortably over the mark.

Beadle’s chance was most definitely a half chance, but Taddy had a brilliant chance to take the lead three minutes later. Dan Clayton played a lovely positioned pass in behind to Nick Black who found himself one v one with the goalkeeper in an inside left position, managed to set himself, get the ball under control, look up but then opted not to shoot but to shift the ball square to Josh Greening whose right-footed strike was blocked by Jimmy Beadle of all people.

After the early scare for The Brewers, they started to wake up and get a hold of the game and compete as you have to earn the right to win football matches, where have I heard that before.

Tad were having their best spell of the match so far now and Jimmy Beadle scuppered another decent chance in the 13th minute. Adam Baker’s corner was thrashed back in by Jonathan Greening which dropped to Beadle who controlled, turned and shot but Colls keeper Liam Corbett got down well to his right to stop.

Pontefract were making it extremely difficult for The Brewers to play their fast flowing football but they really should have opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Jonathan Greening turned Aaron Joseph inside and out and inside and out again before crossing low to Nick Black who controlled and struck powerfully on the volley from six yards out which was cleared off the line by Sykes. The ricochet popped up in the air to which Jimmy Beadle headed on target but again Sykes somehow got in the way of the destined goal. From the second goal line block, Beadle missed his kick but had a second bite at the cherry but again it was blocked and the danger was cleared.

It was an even game in terms of possession but apart from the crossbar being rattled in the first minute, it was Taddy who were creating all of the chances as a blue shirt nearly gave The Brewers the lead with Josh Greening’s pull back deflecting off Josh Wright and rolling inches past the upright.

Liam Corbett in the Pontefract goal was slowly starting to frustrate Tad as his saves tally was totting up. This time it was Adam Baker who tested the stopper with a fierce strike from 22 yards but Corbett flew to his left and tipped the rasping shot over the crossbar.

With nearly half an hour gone, Colls were still looking dangerous when driving at The Brewers’ defence and incidentally smashed the woodwork for a second time in the first half. The ball rolled kindly to Steve Palfrey on the edge of the penalty area and the striker did tremendously to strike as sweetly as he did on a 90 degree angle which thundered off the left-hand post leaving Stevens stranded.

Taddy kept plugging away at the experienced Ponte defence but with no joy as Josh Greening’s looping volley was tipped over followed by Nick Black’s curling effort which flew over from range.

With eight minutes to go until half-time, The Brewers carved out their best chance of the match as Josh Greening flicked the ball sideways to Adam Baker whose brilliant touch and ferocious pace allowed him to get beyond Aaron Joseph leaving him one on one with Corbett but again the keeper rushed off his line and thwarted the attacker’s effort with his feet.

The match could have certainly been described as an old school football match, it wasn’t a night for pretty football as conditions and circumstances wouldn’t allow it and with the physicality of the contest, both sides were forced into substitutions after injuries were picked up. Colls substitute Kingsley Wetherald was the man who put in a naughty looking tackle on Matt Heath leaving the experienced defender in a heap in serious pain. Heath was helped off and replaced by Andy Milne, a yellow card was shown to Wetherald, and many in the ground including home fans stated he was lucky to remain on the field after the challenge from behind.

Heath’s replacement Milne was straight into the battlefield and joining Heath and several others in the wars after receiving a nasty kick in the face by that man Weatherald again.

Half-Time: Pontefract Collieries 0-1 Tadcaster Albion

The second half started with no signs of relenting as the tackles kept flying in and tensions began to build.

If you had to give a subject line to sum up both halves; the first half would have been chances and the second half would have been feisty. The chances well and truly dried up in the second 45 with things starting to boil over.

Colls were resorting to long range speculative efforts and they nearly broke the deadlock with just that. Gary Stevens had to be on his toes as Kingsley Wetherald’s fizzing 30 yard strike was superbly tipped over by the Tadcaster number one.

As time rapidly ticked away, Ponte began to sit deeper and soak up the pressure inviting Taddy onto them. This allowed The Brewers to get on top of the home side who were starting to slow things down and think of the draw.

Jonathan Greening and Jason Mycoe were working incredibly hard in the centre of midfield breaking play up and flying into tackles, Mycoe was everywhere and Greening was using his experienced head to keep things simple.

In the 64th minute, The Brewers were appealing for a penalty kick, well the fans behind the goal were as Adam Baker went down after a tangling of legs with Paul Sykes and the referee pointed to the spot, for a goal kick only though.

There was still over twenty minutes left for Taddy to find the back of the net however it was starting to feel like it was going to be just one of those nights as Pontefract were defending heroically as a unit.

Andy Milne was putting his head in where it hurts once again as Jonathan Greening’s free-kick dropped to Milne who controlled with his knee and threw himself towards the ball but Liam Corbett punched away and the defender was adjudged to have fouled the goalkeeper.

Into the final ten minutes and Liam Corbett was the man at the heart of it all once again as he somehow kept The Brewers at bay with an outstanding double save leaving all yellow shirts and Taddy fans bewildered. The visitors played some lovely one touch build-up play which ended up spiralling to Jonathan Greening inside Colls’ box whose low shot was stopped and Adam Baker’s follow up was also brilliantly saved. The danger for Pontefract wasn’t done there as the second save fell back to Baker who smashed into the side netting from close range.

After the amazing double save, it did seem like it wasn’t Taddy’s night and it was going to finish honours even but in the 88th minute The Brewers broke the deadlock, and nearly broke the net in doing so.

Adam Baker was tripped over by full-back Semir Ahmed on the left-hand touchline to give Taddy the opportunity to deliver into the danger area. Jonathan Greening stood over the free-kick and whipped in a cross right on the goalkeeper which was headed out but only to Adam Baker who absolutely leathered the shot on the half volley from eight yards out through a crowd of bodies and into the back of the net.

This was a big goal for Tadcaster, its games like these that could potentially be a banana skin, it may not have been pretty, it may have been ugly but the three points is the most important stat.

Full-Time: Pontefract Collieries 0-1 Tadcaster Albion

Team: Stevens, Armstrong, Clayton (Ormsby 89), Heath (Milne 42), Anderson, Jonathan Greening, Baker, Mycoe, Black, Beadle ©, Josh Greening

Unused Subs: Stewart & Barrett