Results > First team > Report
Sat 6th Apr 2019
League
Sponsored by Simon Mann
TAFC First team 3-0 North Greenford Utd
TAFC goals: Mark Riddick, David O'Connor, Kieran Turner (pen)
League
Sponsored by Simon Mann
TAFC First team 3-0 North Greenford Utd
TAFC goals: Mark Riddick, David O'Connor, Kieran Turner (pen)
TITLE RACE HOTS UP AS FINISHING LINE COMES INTO SIGHT
On the day that Tiger Roll won the Grand National for the second year running another race, that for the Premier Division crown, entered the home straight with the 3 teams who are breathing down our neck all winning to make it one of the tightest finishes for the title for many years.
After last weekends disappointing result and performance at Colney Heath (and how many of those have we had there over the years!) we faced a another potential banana skin against North Greenford United, who we drew 4-4 with at their ground back in January and who the previous Saturday lost only 1-0 at home to Biggleswade FC. Also a look at the match programme showed that only 7 of their squad played in the January game, so they have presumably strengthen their team recently.
However, any fears that the pressure would lead to squeaky posterior time for our players were allayed right from the kick off because we played some lovely football and totally dominated the game from start to finish. The only criticism is that we should have won by a much bigger margin than 3 goals but credit must go to their keeper Frazer Siddall who was outstanding, pulling off a series of stunning saves to keep his side in the game until quite late on.
Ian made 2 changes from last week with Kieran Turner and Connor Sansom replacing James Verney and Patrick Sinfield who dropped to the bench. Before the game Jon Clements was given the Player of the Month award for March for the 2nd month running in recognition of his fine performances which yielded 6 goals from 6 games.
Any concerns about any hang overs from the Colney game were dispelled within 20 seconds of the kick off when we broke at pace down the left through Kieran Turner whose fine cross was just over hit. It was a great start and we didn't let the tempo drop as we dominate most of the game throughout.
We had a wake up call after only 2 minutes when the visitors captain Ben Long launched a massive throw that reached right into our area. It clearly caught us by surprise as we didn't deal with it very well, fortunately Mark Riddick was in the right place (as he so often is because he reads the game so well) to clear the danger.
The main source of danger to us came from these long throws and from set pieces, because they had some big lads, but we managed to nullify these weapons. Apart from these threats our opponents created very little from open play and Connor Sansom didn't have a serious save to make during the game.
Frazer Siddall was called into action in the 9th and 10th minute to prevent Jon Clements from scoring after he had been twice played through on goal. Kieran Turner was causing mayhem down the left wing and the visitors defence couldn't handle him.
Midway through the first half the keeper could do nothing to stop Dave O'Connor from getting to a corner from George Ironton and crashing a shot against the underside of the bar, with the loose ball cleared. Later from another corner Mark Riddick saw his header cleared off the line.
Connor Sansom had to deal with some set pieces, which he did well, and got clattered for his trouble handling an over hit free kick. Jon Clements and Ashton Campbell both found the net only to be denied by the offside flag.
It was then Joe Fitzgerald's turn to get in on the action getting to a lovely cross to the far post from Kieran Turner but his powerful header was beaten away by Siddall with Jon Clements unable to put away the loose ball.
With four minutes to go to half time the ball fell to Ashton Campbell but he was unable to beat Siddall who superbly beat away his shot.
With time up it looked as if we had been unable to make our domination tell but from a corner Mark Riddick produced a downward header that finally broke our opponents resistance. Score 1-0.
All the hard work nearly came to nothing when we conceded a soft free kick and when the ball was played into our area it caused panic until Dave O'Connor cleared our lines. However, we were able to hold onto our slim 1-0 lead going into the break although with the chances created the game should have been over by then. HT Score 1-0.
From the restart we continued where we left off in the first half with Jon Clements sending a header just over from a lovely cross from Kieran Turner. The game then went into scrappy spell and the visitors showed more attacking intent but had still failed to create a genuine goal scoring opportunity.
Despite hogging possession throughout we still only had a slim one goal lead although Clem must have thought he had scored when he sweetly met a nice free kick to the near post from George Ironton only to be denied yet again by an instinctive save by Siddall with his feet. When Mark Riddick sent a free header from a corner wide it seemed as if we would never get the vital second goal but it did finally arrive in the 76th minute.
A short corner routine between George Ironton and Kieran Turner gave our skipper the opportunity to flight a lovely cross to the far post to pick out Dave O'Connor who carefully headed the ball high into the net for our 2nd goal and some breathing space. Score 2-0.
With that weight off our players minds there was an opportunity to improve our goal difference. A quick throw sent Jon Clements away but again Siddall did enough to put Clem off then a superb back heel from Ash set Kieran free in the box but his shot was tipped away by Siddall.
The visitors captain Ben Long then got himself sent off in time added on for a bit of argy bargy which was out of keeping with the game. The visitors seem to lose their cool and gave away a silly penalty when a defender pulled down Dave O'Connor in the area for a penalty. Kieran Turner stepped up and converted the spot kick to give the score line a more realistic feel. FT Score 3-0.
Afterwards Ian Richardson expressed his satisfaction by saying "Absolutely delighted with the performance. Some great football played in a game we dominated for 90 minutes. Now onto Biggleswade FC on Tuesday."
We still remain in pole position with just 4 games to go. However, we have a season defining trip to Biggleswade FC on Tuesday which may well determine who will be crowned champions at the end of the season.
Then on Saturday we travel to Edgware Town for what is sure to be another tough match. However, whatever the results next week the chase for the title is likely to go down to the wire.
Teams:
TA:1 Connor Sansom 2 Joe Fitzgerald (16 Tommy Twelves 63) 3 Brima Johnson 4 Mark Riddick 5 Dave OConnor 6 Carl Mensah 7 Luke Dunstan 8 Jon Clements 9 Ashton Campbell (12 Lee Stobbs 82) 10 Kieran Turner (Capt) 11 George Ironton (14 James Verney 82). Subs not used: 15 Roy Byron 17 Patrick Sinfield.
NGU:1 Frazer Siddall 2 Calum Kelly (21 Darren Ankomah-Brew 55) 3 Dujon Desagurante 4 Andrew Manitou 5 Nicholas Turner 6 Manu Oke-William 7 Casey May (15 Aquan Morgan 69) 8 Ben Long (Capt) 9 Kris Oti 10 Sammy Adams 11 George Harsini (12 Ash Mameed 85). Subs not used: 14 Petrit Krasniqi 16 Cameron Walker
Scorers
TA:Mark Riddick (45), Dave O'Connor (76), Kieran Turner Pen (90+5)
NGU:-
Crowd:65
On the day that Tiger Roll won the Grand National for the second year running another race, that for the Premier Division crown, entered the home straight with the 3 teams who are breathing down our neck all winning to make it one of the tightest finishes for the title for many years.
After last weekends disappointing result and performance at Colney Heath (and how many of those have we had there over the years!) we faced a another potential banana skin against North Greenford United, who we drew 4-4 with at their ground back in January and who the previous Saturday lost only 1-0 at home to Biggleswade FC. Also a look at the match programme showed that only 7 of their squad played in the January game, so they have presumably strengthen their team recently.
However, any fears that the pressure would lead to squeaky posterior time for our players were allayed right from the kick off because we played some lovely football and totally dominated the game from start to finish. The only criticism is that we should have won by a much bigger margin than 3 goals but credit must go to their keeper Frazer Siddall who was outstanding, pulling off a series of stunning saves to keep his side in the game until quite late on.
Ian made 2 changes from last week with Kieran Turner and Connor Sansom replacing James Verney and Patrick Sinfield who dropped to the bench. Before the game Jon Clements was given the Player of the Month award for March for the 2nd month running in recognition of his fine performances which yielded 6 goals from 6 games.
Any concerns about any hang overs from the Colney game were dispelled within 20 seconds of the kick off when we broke at pace down the left through Kieran Turner whose fine cross was just over hit. It was a great start and we didn't let the tempo drop as we dominate most of the game throughout.
We had a wake up call after only 2 minutes when the visitors captain Ben Long launched a massive throw that reached right into our area. It clearly caught us by surprise as we didn't deal with it very well, fortunately Mark Riddick was in the right place (as he so often is because he reads the game so well) to clear the danger.
The main source of danger to us came from these long throws and from set pieces, because they had some big lads, but we managed to nullify these weapons. Apart from these threats our opponents created very little from open play and Connor Sansom didn't have a serious save to make during the game.
Frazer Siddall was called into action in the 9th and 10th minute to prevent Jon Clements from scoring after he had been twice played through on goal. Kieran Turner was causing mayhem down the left wing and the visitors defence couldn't handle him.
Midway through the first half the keeper could do nothing to stop Dave O'Connor from getting to a corner from George Ironton and crashing a shot against the underside of the bar, with the loose ball cleared. Later from another corner Mark Riddick saw his header cleared off the line.
Connor Sansom had to deal with some set pieces, which he did well, and got clattered for his trouble handling an over hit free kick. Jon Clements and Ashton Campbell both found the net only to be denied by the offside flag.
It was then Joe Fitzgerald's turn to get in on the action getting to a lovely cross to the far post from Kieran Turner but his powerful header was beaten away by Siddall with Jon Clements unable to put away the loose ball.
With four minutes to go to half time the ball fell to Ashton Campbell but he was unable to beat Siddall who superbly beat away his shot.
With time up it looked as if we had been unable to make our domination tell but from a corner Mark Riddick produced a downward header that finally broke our opponents resistance. Score 1-0.
All the hard work nearly came to nothing when we conceded a soft free kick and when the ball was played into our area it caused panic until Dave O'Connor cleared our lines. However, we were able to hold onto our slim 1-0 lead going into the break although with the chances created the game should have been over by then. HT Score 1-0.
From the restart we continued where we left off in the first half with Jon Clements sending a header just over from a lovely cross from Kieran Turner. The game then went into scrappy spell and the visitors showed more attacking intent but had still failed to create a genuine goal scoring opportunity.
Despite hogging possession throughout we still only had a slim one goal lead although Clem must have thought he had scored when he sweetly met a nice free kick to the near post from George Ironton only to be denied yet again by an instinctive save by Siddall with his feet. When Mark Riddick sent a free header from a corner wide it seemed as if we would never get the vital second goal but it did finally arrive in the 76th minute.
A short corner routine between George Ironton and Kieran Turner gave our skipper the opportunity to flight a lovely cross to the far post to pick out Dave O'Connor who carefully headed the ball high into the net for our 2nd goal and some breathing space. Score 2-0.
With that weight off our players minds there was an opportunity to improve our goal difference. A quick throw sent Jon Clements away but again Siddall did enough to put Clem off then a superb back heel from Ash set Kieran free in the box but his shot was tipped away by Siddall.
The visitors captain Ben Long then got himself sent off in time added on for a bit of argy bargy which was out of keeping with the game. The visitors seem to lose their cool and gave away a silly penalty when a defender pulled down Dave O'Connor in the area for a penalty. Kieran Turner stepped up and converted the spot kick to give the score line a more realistic feel. FT Score 3-0.
Afterwards Ian Richardson expressed his satisfaction by saying "Absolutely delighted with the performance. Some great football played in a game we dominated for 90 minutes. Now onto Biggleswade FC on Tuesday."
We still remain in pole position with just 4 games to go. However, we have a season defining trip to Biggleswade FC on Tuesday which may well determine who will be crowned champions at the end of the season.
Then on Saturday we travel to Edgware Town for what is sure to be another tough match. However, whatever the results next week the chase for the title is likely to go down to the wire.
Teams:
TA:1 Connor Sansom 2 Joe Fitzgerald (16 Tommy Twelves 63) 3 Brima Johnson 4 Mark Riddick 5 Dave OConnor 6 Carl Mensah 7 Luke Dunstan 8 Jon Clements 9 Ashton Campbell (12 Lee Stobbs 82) 10 Kieran Turner (Capt) 11 George Ironton (14 James Verney 82). Subs not used: 15 Roy Byron 17 Patrick Sinfield.
NGU:1 Frazer Siddall 2 Calum Kelly (21 Darren Ankomah-Brew 55) 3 Dujon Desagurante 4 Andrew Manitou 5 Nicholas Turner 6 Manu Oke-William 7 Casey May (15 Aquan Morgan 69) 8 Ben Long (Capt) 9 Kris Oti 10 Sammy Adams 11 George Harsini (12 Ash Mameed 85). Subs not used: 14 Petrit Krasniqi 16 Cameron Walker
Scorers
TA:Mark Riddick (45), Dave O'Connor (76), Kieran Turner Pen (90+5)
NGU:-
Crowd:65
