REPORT | Walters On-The-Double As Taddy Return To Winning Ways

With few options to choose from, Taddy’s side pretty much picked itself as Simon Collins named an unchanged team from the one that lost to Sheffield FC in midweek.

Albion have faired much better on the road this season and they got off to a confident start in Leicestershire with Pete Davidson sweeping out to an unmarked Casey Stewart on the left but his first-time effort curled straight into the arms of Charlie Taylor.

Stewart and Joe Lumsden were showing promising signs in the opening stages linking up cleverly on 4 minutes only for the former to just be snuffed out inside the penalty area.

The hosts were then awarded a penalty kick after quarter of an hour as Paddy Miller was adjudged to have pushed Luke Foster. Dynamo danger-man Karl Demidh stepped up but got it horribly wrong blazing wildly over the mark giving Albion a lifeline.

Demidh’s dreadful attempt didn’t seem to deter Loughborough however as Josh Riley played Alex Steadman clean through on goal but was outfoxed by the experienced Taddy skipper Michael Ingham who brilliantly waited until the very last second before saving with his feet.

The giant Northern Irishman was called into action again on 25 minutes when a short back-pass by Ellis Barkworth saw the goalkeeper unsure whether to come out or not, he chose to storm out which turned out to be the correct choice brilliantly smothering the shot.

After a good spell for the home side, Taddy responded well and could have opened the scoring themselves on the half hour mark. Corey Roper struck a perfect raking ball over the top picking out the advancing Joe Lumsden who jinked past his man a couple of times but the eventual shot was again straight at the gleeful Taylor.

This was now the Brewers’ time to turn the screw as another clear-cut opening was squandered. After Lumsden fairly challenged the goalkeeper, Savory poked past the Loughborough number one back to Lumsden but his tame prod goalwards was comfortably cleared off the line by Foster.

Anguish quickly turned to delight though as Taddy did open the scoring on 35 minutes. Defender Jack Walters hadn’t scored for Tadcaster before today but he opened his account from the resulting Casey Stewart corner leaping like a salmon to thunder an unstoppable header into the back of the net.

The travelling Albion faithful were in fine voice at this point however anguish returned in a matter of seconds as Loughborough replied immediately, 18 seconds to be precise. Ryan Robbins used all of his experience to power his way into the box before arrowing hard into the bottom corner drawing the contest all square again.

Dynamo continued to pose a threat from set-pieces with centre-back Luke Foster being the main target but a couple of important headers and blocks saw the two sides go in level at the break.

Taddy began the second half in the ascendency as they looked to regain the lead. Corey Roper was enjoying his afternoon in midfield as another brilliant switch of play out to Casey Stewart created another chance, but the shot deflected over. With Walters buoyed by scoring his first goal of the season, he had the ball in the net again from the resulting corner but a free-kick was given for a foul somewhere in the melee.

With the match three-quarters complete, it got a little bit bitty with referee Mr Myatt going through a spell of awarding a countless amount of soft free-kicks denying either side the chance to gain some momentum. With 25 minutes left on the clock, Taddy looked the more likely side to claim maximum points with the vast majority of play occurring in the Dynamo half. Pete Davidson did well to skip up the by-line before stinging the hands of Taylor and Howarth couldn’t guide his header back on target.

The travelling supporters were doing all they could behind the goal cheering their side on throughout the second half. Joe Lumsden held off his man well and teed up Aiden Savory who had a clear shot at goal from 23 yards out but he dragged his effort wide of the mark.

The pressure was intensifying on the Loughborough back-line as the Brewers went for the jugular. Casey Stewart was impressing down the left with his clever tricks and he did superbly to dance up the by-line before a ball rolled out to the edge of the box dying to be hit and Corey Roper duly obliged hitting a rocket only for a couple of ricochets to take the sting out of the shot.

However the pivotal winning goal arose nine minutes from time when another Casey Stewart corner kick was turned home by left-back Jack Walters, not quite as stylishly as his first but it didn’t matter. You wait all season for your first goal then two come along at once, like London buses.

Remarkably, Walters came incredibly close to sealing his hat-trick in the closing stages when springing higher than everyone else in the box but his header was hooked off the line.

Tadcaster had their goalkeeper to thank in the first half but the second 45 was controlled seeing out a much-needed three points to keep them within touching distance of the play-offs.

Full-Time: Loughborough Dynamo 1-2 Tadcaster Albion

Loughborough: Taylor, Bryant, Gordon, Holmes©️, Foster, Keenan, Demidh, Thorogood, Robbins, Riley, Steadman

Subs: Asamoah, Thornberry, Brown, Young, Pembleton

Tadcaster: Ingham©️, Barkworth, Walters, Roper, Coates, Miller, Howarth (Buckle 85), Davidson, Lumsden, Savory, Stewart

Unused: Mycoe, Burn, Rose