Tadley leave it late to secure dramatic turnaround
Tadley Calleva bounced back from a thumping 5-2 defeat at Colliers Wood on the opening day of their Combined Counties Premier Division South season with a dramatic 3-2 win at home to Farnham Town on Tuesday evening.
Tadley came from 2-0 behind to level the scores thanks to a Ben Wright brace before Sonny Haynes scored a last minute winner to earn the hosts their first three points of the season in the most dramatic of circumstances.
“It was a really good reaction from Saturday, I was delighted with how we responded in the second half,” Ben Dillon, one half of Tadley Calleva’s management duo, said.
“Saturday was disappointing, I know the scoreline sounds bad but it definitely wasn’t a 5-2 game, we were pushing at 3-2 so you’re always vulnerable to conceding another one.
“We wanted to bounce back on Tuesday but we lacked a little bit of belief, going two down was disappointing because it was two set pieces again, we’re working on that.
“Farnham are a good team, I think they’ll be up there this season, but I felt we had the better chances and were the better side.
“I always felt we’d get back into the game, when we scored I felt it was almost inevitable.”
Joint manager Joe Lawler will have to serve a touchline ban after he was sent off following an altercation with the referee following Farnham’s second goal on Tuesday night.
“It was very unlike Joe, the referee made a mistake for the second goal, Craig Atkinson, our goalkeeper, was down with a head injury.
“The referee came over and apologised afterwards, I don’t mind that, we all make mistakes.”
Tadley welcome AFC Croydon Athletic to Barlow’s Park this Saturday (3pm kick off).
Elsewhere, AFC Aldermaston have kicked off their Combined Counties League Division One season with three points from a possible six following a 2-0 win at British Airways FC and a 3-0 home defeat to Berks County FC.
Next, The Atom Men face a trip to Langley FC’s Arbour Park home with the chance to leapfrog their opponents in the league table.
