A Tuff Result to Take

The Season So Far:

Today’s hosts are enjoying a fruitful first season in the Hellenic League after moving over from the Western League prior to this campaign. Currently in 2nd position, 9 points behind leaders Bishops Cleeve but with a game in hand over the Gloucestershire side. Only a few real blips in the last couple of months – losses to 5th place Brimscombe & Thrupp and the aforementioned Mitres, along with a midweek exit from the Wiltshire Premier Shield to local rivals Corsham Town – take the sheen off a strong run of games. There will be strong competition for 2nd position and potential promotion to the Southern League via the play-offs, with only 7 points separating 2nd and 10th place.

At the other end of the table we find Tuffley Rovers. Currently in 17th place (out of 20), they are certainly in a relegation scrap. 20th place Hallen look destined for demotion with just 9 points – 8 from safety. Whoever finishes in 19th will be part of a somewhat convoluted system to work out who else goes down: the 4 second-from-bottom teams at Step 5 (out of 16 leagues) with the worst points per game record will be relegated. Rovers come into this match off the back of a rotten run of form. Other than a decent win over Shrivenham last weekend, you have to go back to late October to find their last 3 points. 11 straight losses in the league won’t fill them with confidence, not least against opponents gunning for promotion. One source of hope for Tuffley may well be their impressive 0-0 draw away to the league leaders Bishops Cleeve back in October, showing that they aren’t a lost cause.

The Visit:

I’m no stranger to Trowbridge Road, with Bradford Town being the easiest team for me to reach who play above County Level. Originally I was going to go to see Radstock Town play today but I must be getting old as it was the cold weather that made me change my plans. So I hopped on the train and headed to Bradford-On-Avon. Trowbridge Road is an easy walk from the station and I arrived with 10 minutes to go until kick off. The visitors from just outside Gloucester were sporting their slightly unusual away kit – vibrant green with pink trim, with Bradford in their usual all-blue.

The opening exchanges were pretty even with a half-chance each in the first 15 minutes or so – Jack Copland in the Tuffley goal spilled a weak shot but the home side were unable to capitalise, then on 10 minutes Ashley Bird’s cross-shot failed to trouble home keeper Jonny Hill. The game came to life shortly after – a dangerous low cross into Copland’s 6 yard box didn’t find a Bradford boot, but as the home team regrouped Rich Dawley was brought down in the area and Steven Brenchley awarded the penalty. Captain Ross Lye dispatched it confidently, but not before there were accusations of the penalty spot being scuffed. The end result was a yellow card to Rovers’ Harvey Greenslade. Tuffley’s troubles doubled just 3 minutes later as the prolific George Box received the ball, went one on one with Copland and finished smartly with the outside of his boot. To compound their woes, Tuffley’s left back Warren Mann talked himself into the sin bin. Just after the 25 minute mark Bradford made it 3-0. Robb Hobbs with a deep corner which was headed in at the back post by Jake Brown. More good attacking play by Box saw him go on a great run and he was able to find the corner to all but kill the game off. Bradford four goals to the good and only half an hour played. It nearly got even worse for the visitors – this time Brown went one on one with Copland but his effort hit the post and went out for a goal kick. With about 6 minutes to go Hill was finally called into action in the Bradford goal but it was a routine save from a Jack Beardsell effort. I missed what seemed to be an inevitable 5th goal – it came on the 40 minute mark and judging by the crowd’s reaction it was a decent one. The scorer was Jake Brown but that’s all I can tell you about it! There was time for Beardsell to have another effort on the home goal but this time his shot could only skim the crossbar.

The first real talking point of the 2nd half was Town’s 6th goal – Ross Lye with a free kick out wide which was met by Box whose header found the back of the net via a defender. According to Full Time the goal was awarded to Box and therefore he had completed his hattrick. Beardsell was inches away from an instant response but couldn’t quite get on the end of a good cross. The 6th goal seemed to spark Tuffley into something of a resurgence – next was Greenslade who went on a good run into the box but could only slice his shot wide of the post. A training ground free kick 2 minutes later found Tuffley’s Joe Shutt but his lobbed effort was just wide. With 20 minutes of the 90 remaining, Town scored number 7. Charlie Walton with all the time in the world to turn and shoot from inside the box, finding the bottom corner well. Rovers had to see out the final 10 minutes with 10 men as Greenslade hobbled off with what looked like an ankle injury, but this numerical disadvantage didn’t stop them scoring a consolation goal in the 3rd minute of injury time. 3 corners in quick succession went the way of the visitors and the 3rd was headed home by their captain Jacob Geddes.

I always enjoy my visits to Trowbridge Road and today was no exception. Part of what I love about non league football is the little chats with home fans, away fans, players and officials – there was plenty of this going round today!