Milne And Corner Keep Tad on Track

The assist king Josh Greening set up both goals with perfect free-kick deliveries to which were headed in by defender Andy Milne and Tom Corner for his first for the club.

Tadcaster boss Billy Miller made three changes to the side that played out a goalless draw with Cleethorpes Town last week. Josh Barrett came in at right-back for the injured Jordan Armstrong, Conor Sellars came in for the ill Liam Ormsby and Adam Baker was preferred to Nick Black.

The pitch at Throstle Nest, which is actually home to Evo-Stik side Farsley Celtic, took a hammering on Saturday morning following persistent rain. The surface was extremely bobbly making it difficult to play football on and both goal mouths were incredible boggy.

The first real effort of the afternoon came in the third minute and it included the aforementioned goal mouth. Conor Sellars’ cross from the left-hand side was cleared out to Jason Mycoe who took one touch and went for goal striking from 25 yards which bobbled into the muddy goal mouth but Kyle Trennary managed to palm it out for a corner.

The Brewers did in fact take the lead sixteen minutes later and the goal came from a set-piece. Josh Greening’s floated free-kick from the right-hand touch-line was flicked into the far corner and out of Trennary’s reach via a deflection from Temar Khan.

The home side were passing the ball about neatly with all attacks going through prolific striker Marcus Edwards and they could have actually equalised immediately after going a goal behind. Aran Basi’s lofted free-kick was headed down at the back post to Matthew Mathers whose first flicked effort was thwarted and sharply grasped by Gary Stevens.

For all of Albion Sports’ hard work, they were struggling to test Stevens in the Tadcaster goal as Joe Barden’s tame effort from 30 yards was comfortably picked up by the Taddy stopper.

Sports did think they had levelled the match up shortly after the half hour mark though as Marcus Edwards tapped in a parried Stevens save but was adjudged to have been offside.

With nine minutes to go until half-time, The Brewers doubled their lead and it came from another Josh Greening free-kick. The talented Greening curled in from the opposite side this time to Tom Corner who did brilliantly to slow down his run and guide his header into the top corner from twelve yards out.

Taddy were growing in confidence and were looking more and more dangerous as the half ticked by. The Brewers should have been going into the break three goals to the good. Adam Baker picked the ball up half-way in Sports’ half and it suddenly opened up for the attacker who glided past at least five yellow shirts and into the penalty box but saw his goal bound strike superbly blocked by Khan. The best chance however was probably the rebound as the flying block fell kindly for Tom Corner who side-footed over from thirteen yards out.

The towering figure of Aran Basi found himself constantly battling with Beadle, Corner and co on a number of occasions as the midfielder curled narrowly wide on the stroke of half-time.

Half-Time: Albion Sports 0-2 Tadcaster Albion

Into the second half and it was The Brewers who had the first sighting at goal as Josh Greening had a bouncing ball at his feet with his back to goal but the forward couldn’t generate the power required to trouble Trennary.

With the pitch cut up, bobbly and not in the best condition to say the least, the afternoon saw a lot of niggly fouls but Morgan was perhaps lucky to stay on the field at the start of the second half. The ball cannoned into space which created a 50-50 with Jason Mycoe. Whereas both players went in full blooded, Morgan clearly had both feet off the ground and was out of control however the referee didn’t batter an eyelid.

Speaking of Jason Mycoe, he was putting in another stellar performance in the heart of Taddy’s midfield throwing himself into absolutely every challenge and winning them more often than not. Conor Sellars was another one who gave it his all, literally running himself into the ground for the team working backwards and forwards tirelessly.

Taddy were looking to contain and soak up the pressure of Albion Sports in the second half to protect their two goal lead. The home side were always going to create opportunities though and this they did in the 57th minute as Alex Cusack’s free-kick was cleared out to the young midfielder Joe Barden who volleyed ferociously over from inside the penalty area.

The home side were having the vast majority of the ball in the second half but still struggled to create any clear cut chances as Cusack could only find the side-netting from an acute angle.

Marcus Edwards was the one for Albion Sports who was trying to make things happen, dropping deep to pick up the ball but the 28 goal striker was becoming increasingly frustrated as Taddy were defending terrifically.

Josh Barrett has only just recovered from a back injury but he slotted in comfortably at right-back not putting a foot wrong. Clayton was composed as ever at left-back and the centre-back pairing of Gregg Anderson and Andy Milne were showing their class and experience and not for the first time.

With fifteen minutes to go, it looked as though Taddy were going to pick up a valuable three points and keep the pressure firmly on leaders Handsworth Parramore but Stevens was called into action. Cusack did well to pull back to Lewis Morgan whose slid shot was well saved by Gary Stevens.

Stevens was determined to keep the clean sheet intact as he easily tipped over Mohamed Kaba’s rasping drive from the left-hand side and then held Edwards’ long-range free-kick.

The Brewers didn’t come close to adding to their tally for the afternoon but they didn’t need to as two brilliant deliveries, two superb headers and a lot of heroic defending was enough for Taddy to pick up the three points.

Full-Time: Albion Sports 0-2 Tadcaster Albion

Team: Stevens, Barrett, Clayton, Milne, Anderson, Mycoe, Baker (Black 74), Beadle, Corner (Stewart 62), Greening, Sellars (Conway 83)

Unused: Heath

Attendance: 125