Wright gets it wrong as Sheldon sent off

Tadley Calleva’s unbeaten home record came to an end on a soggy Saturday afternoon following a 2-0 defeat against Combined Counties Premier Division South leaders Abbey Rangers.

Tadley had won all eight of their home games prior to the visit of the league’s front runners, who themselves had won seven of their 15 away games ahead of their trip to Barlows Park.

Ben Dillon and Joe Lawler’s side hadn’t played since January 7 and their 2-1 win over Sheerwater was the only time Tadley had been in action in the last 53 days but the management duo hadn’t been resting on their laurels and welcomed two new signings into their squad, attackers Alex Fragata and Rudy Knott.

A physical Abbey Rangers side had the better of the early exchanges and almost opened the scoring eight minutes in when Charlie Postence fired a shot over stand-in goalkeeper James Andrews’ crossbar.

However Tadley settled well and had chances of their own, Ben Wright’s audacious overhead kick forcing Rangers stopper Sam Gray into the first of a succession of excellent saves.

The visitors took the lead five minutes before the break when a loose ball fell to Daryl Cooper-Smith who lashed the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box to make it 1-0.

Tadley pressed for an equaliser after half time and would’ve had one had it not been for more heroics from Gray in the visitors’ goal as he denied Sheldon Wright and Jamie Johnston in quick succession as the game approached the hour mark.

Rangers doubled their lead against the run of play in the 64th minute when a goal kick from Gray was misjudged by the Tadley back four, allowing the towering figure of Postence to steal in and score past Andrews, doubling the league leaders advantage.

Things went from bad to worse moments later for Tadley when Sheldon Wright was given a straight red card following a coming together with Abbey Rangers full-back Tommy O’Neill.

As Wright disappeared down the tunnel, so too did Tadley’s hopes of extending their unbeaten home record and despite an impressive effort from the 10 men there was no beating Gray, who preserved his clean sheet and condemned the home side to their first defeat at Barlows Park all season.

Tadley remain eighth in the league table and will be hoping to return to winning ways at home on Saturday with the visit of 11th placed Balham.

"First and foremost it's great to have football back, we'd had one game in about six weeks," Ben Dillon, Tadley's joint manager said.

"Abbey Rangers were very physical and very direct, we found them difficult to play against. They're a good side.

"We were very disappointed not to come away with at least a point, I think anyone that watched the game would probably agree we played the better football for large parts of the game.

"They scored from two of their three shots on target and we had eight or nine but we just didn't finish our chances.

"Abbey's goalkeeper was arguably the best I've seen at this level, I think he'd even be one of the best at Step 4.

"It was a difficult one to take but that's football, we're positive and we're hoping we can maybe even push for top five."