Match Report versus Southall (19/4/22)

By Danny Dolan

Southall 5 Tadley Calleva 0

Tadley arrived at Southall, who were sitting 2nd in the table, in confident mood after getting a well earned point against 3rd placed Egham Town the previous Saturday. Unfortunately, our confidence was short lived as we were soon put under pressure on what looked like a very difficult pitch. With Southall needing a win to secure promotion, it didn't take long for them to show their attacking intent . On 5 minutes, Lenny Farhall drove forward and struck a first time shot from 20+ yards that crashed of the crossbar with Joel Halliday well beaten. The home side were dominating the early possession ensuring that the Tadley back line were kept busy with quick back to front play. The opening goal soon followed. Lewis Putnam drilled an excellent left footed free kick into the bottom right hand corner after Andrew Charsley was penalised for handling the ball at the edge of the penalty area. Tadley tried hard to respond, but were more than guilty of overplaying and misplacing passes on a very bumpy surface. Southall's second goal came on 25 minutes after a quick counter attack. Lewis Stead broke through the line before cutting inside and crossing for Luke Henneghan to smash the ball into the net to make it 2-0. Surprisingly, after recent performances, Tadley struggled to create any clear cut scoring opportunities with play often breaking down in the final third. Just as it looked like the visitors would go in at the break and re-group for the second half, Southall scored two quick goals to put the result beyond any doubt. The first came on 43 minutes after Stead played a ball over the top for Anthony O'Connor to flick the ball over keeper Halliday for 3-0. On the stroke of half time, the impressive Stead easily broke up another Tadley attack before playing a lovely through ball for the pacey O'Connor who went round Halliday to side foot the ball into an empty net. (HT 4-0)

The second half was probably more of a contest as Tadley were now playing for some personal pride in the hope of taking some positives back up the M3. However, although the away side worked hard, it was not to be as they found it extremely difficult to break down a very well organised Southall defence. On 50 minutes, Tadley made their first substitution with Brett Denham replacing Kalum Cousins. The fifth goal for Southall came after 62 minutes, although it had more than a hint of an offside look to it. Full-back Ryan Hope found O'Connor on the right with a lofted pass and he ran on before slotting the ball past the despairing dive of Halliday for his hat-trick. Tadley made their final two substitutions for the final half hour, Kieran Maylen replaciing Jordan Goater and Jacob Rolfe replacing Callum Cleary. But in all fairness the game had long gone as a contest. The final piece of action came on 89 minutes and only a fantastic double save by young Halliday prevented O'Connor from adding to the score line. All in all, a very disappointing night for Tadley with very little created in front of goal. There's not been many of them in recent weeks, so a game to put to bed, learn from and move on. Congratulations must go to a very good Southall side who were clinical with their chances and fully deserved their victory. (FT 5-0)

Tadley Calleva: Joel Halliday, Aiden Harris, Jordan Goater (sub 62' Kieran Maylen), Andrew Charsley, Brad Neal, Ian Jones, Kalum Cousins (sub 50' Brett Denham), Scott Kinge, Jack French, Ben Wright, Callum Cleary (sub 65' Jacob Rolfe)