Lawler praises ‘ruthless’ Tadley Calleva following 6-1 Sheerwater win

Tadley Calleva manager Joe Lawler was in great spirits following his side’s 6-1 demolition of Sheerwater on Saturday.

Calleva opened the scoring through Alex Miller, who continued his excellent run of form by pouncing on a spill from the goalkeeper.

A scramble in the box shortly after would result in a Sheerwater penalty, which was converted for 1-1.

Tadley were keen to make up for this lapse in discipline and they did so in style.

Within just three minutes Ash Neal met Kieran Rodgers’ cross with a header to restore the lead.

Almost instantly after that, Rodgers was the scorer, as he finished Kieran Farmer’s through ball for 3-1.

The 68th minute would see Tadley turn the screw, as Farmer nodded down a ball in the box to his centre-back partner Brad Neal, who found the net.

Neal’s brother Ash would get his second of the day, as he was there to net the rebound following a Farmer effort which had hit the bar.

Brother Brad also grabbed his second in the 88th minute, turning well in the box and finding the bottom corner for 6-1.

Such a dominant performance pleased manager Joe Lawler, who saw exactly what he wanted from his side.

“We were in control and were dominant for most of the game,” he reflected.

“Unfortunately we conceded through a mistake, which put life into the game.

“But we showed good character and went up the other end to score straight away.

That took the pressure off and we were able to dominate and punish them.”

When Tadley win, they often win big, having scored three goals or more in nine games already this season.

Their goal difference of +12 is the fifth highest in the Combined Counties Premier Division South, with Lawler crediting a number of factors.

“I’d like to say it’s all us, but it’s a number of things,” he explained.

“We have had a focus on being ruthless.

“It’s one of our main objectives in games. At the weekend I wrote it on the board before the game, that I wanted us to be ruthless in all aspects.

“Our goal difference over the last few years shows that we’ve always been very good defensively, but we tended to let a lot of teams off the hook.

“This year we’ve got a real hunger about us to go and put the game to bed.

“Sometimes at 3-1 or 4-1, you can get carried away and start doing things that you don’t normally do, but we were good right to the end.”

Calleva are in FA Vase action at home to Devon based Ivybridge Town on Saturday, with Lawler looking forward to the challenge.

“The beauty of the Vase is that a lot of the time you go in blind,” he said.

“From what we know they’re a very good side and a tough side.

“Looking at the table they’re where we are in their league.

“I’m looking forward to it. We’ll see where we stack up.”