Taddy Put Five Past Title Rivals Handsworth To Go Back Top Of The League

Manager Billy Miller named an unchanged side to the one that beat Albion Sports like week with Jordan Armstrong the only different name on the bench after returning from injury.

Before delving into the match details, it was great to see the i2i stadium rocking again in the sunshine after all it has been through with the floods this season.

However, it was in fact The Ambers who took an early lead in the Yorkshire sunshine. They had a decent sniff at goal inside the first sixty seconds but the visitors did take the lead in the eleventh minute. Danny Buttle found himself in acres of space on the left-hand side allowing the midfielder to pick his head up and deliver to a completely unmarked Jon Froggatt who volleyed into the back of the net from close range.

As the saying goes, you are most vulnerable when you have just scored and this was the case once again as Taddy bounced straight back. Conor Sellars crossed to the back post where Adam Baker's flick down bounced into the path of Josh Greening who diverted the ball into the back of the net.

Six minutes later and Taddy had completely turned the match on its head and it was the in-sync combination of Baker and Greening yet again. Jason Mycoe won the battle in midfield as per usual and Adam Baker played a perfectly weighted through ball which carved through Parramore's defence setting Josh Greening clear on goal and he made no mistake sliding it calmly beyond Andy Sneath. Interestingly, this was Tadcaster Albion's 100th goal of the season.

The next piece of real noteworthy action came five minutes from the break. Connor Smythe, recently joined The Ambers from Rainworth and he tested Stevens with his left-boot striking straight at the goalkeeper who punched clear which incidentally set up a counter attack.

From this break came the most controversial moment of the match. Adam Baker started the break by driving down the right wing and the attack culminated with Jimmy Beadle flicking over the Ambers' backline to Tom Corner who helped the bouncing ball over Andy Sneath but saw his effort scrambled off the line by Richard Adams. However, when Corner guided it over Sneath, the Handsworth stopper collided with the new Taddy number nine leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot.

Now, the referee had a massive decision to make in terms of what to do next with Sneath, as the Taddy faithful cried 'OFF OFF OFF' from the side the man in the middle agreed and showed Sneath a straight red card.

After winning the spot kick, Tom Corner wanted to take it himself but he was made to wait an age as Handsworth made a change bringing on U19 player Tyler Bates to go in between the sticks.

Corner eventually stepped up and stroked it past the stand-in keeper to give The Brewers a two goal cushion plus a man advantage going into the break.

Half-Time: Tadcaster Albion 3-1 Handsworth Parramore

If Taddy could net an early goal in the start of the second half you would start to worry for Handsworth at 4-1 down but this is exactly what happened. A minute into the second forty five The Brewers put daylight between the two promotion chasers. Conor Sellars' corner was headed away by captain Adams but Jason Mycoe did superbly to guide back up and over the defence to which Tom Corner flicked backwards past the hapless Bates. That's Corner's third goal in just his third appearance for the club after recently arriving from Scarborough Athletic.

As dominant as Taddy were, Handsworth deserve a lot of credit for the way they played, they gave it a good go in the second half and caused the home side some problems.

The Ambers did actually pull a goal back just shy of the hour mark as Simon Harrison bent in a stunning free-kick from 22 yards out which left Gary Stevens with absolutely no chance.

With Handsworth pushing bodies forward because, well why not, this left large gaps in behind for Taddy to exploit and substitute Carl Stewart was the man to find these on a number of occasions. With 68 minutes gone Gregg Anderson played a long ball forward which bounced in the path of Stewart leaving the striker clean through on goal but at a tight angle. Stewart drove goal wards and struck on target but it was a nice height for Bates who managed to keep it out.

Carl Stewart found himself one v one with Bates again two minutes later as long balls in behind were causing The Ambers real trouble however as Stewart drove into the box he poked agonizingly wide squandering another glorious chance to put the game to bed for good.

Taddy were creating plenty of chances to kill the game off with Black and Stewart both seeing their tame efforts stopped by Tyler Bates.

Kieran Wells has 32 goals this season for the Parras and he almost made it 33 so set up a slightly nervy finale but the fiery striker saw his header fly inches over the crossbar.

With two minutes to go the three points were already in the bag for Tadcaster but they did make it a five star afternoon as Josh Greening completed his hat-trick. Jason Mycoe unleashed a rocket from 30 yards which Bates actually stopped well but Greening was on-hand to smash into the roof of the net with his weaker right-foot to cap off a brilliant victory.

The three points saw The Brewers replace Handsworth Parramore at the top of the NCEL Premier Division to go a point clear with a game in hand.

Taddy were sensational throughout against an extremely talented Handsworth side. To come from behind so early shows character, to score as many goals as they did shows quality and to boss the game (albeit against ten men) as they did shows true professionalism.

Full-Time: Tadcaster Albion 5-2 Handsworth Parramore

Team: Stevens, Barrett, Clayton, Milne, Anderson, Mycoe, Baker (Black 53), Beadle (c), Corner (Conway 84), Greening, Sellars (Stewart 53)
Unused: Heath & Armstrong