Homesick Tadley out of sorts on the road
Tadley Calleva kicked off at the unusual time of 2pm at the weekend but their indifferent form on the road continued with a 2-1 Combined Counties Premier Division South defeat to south-west London outfit Balham, the third successive game they’ve failed to win away from Barlows Park.
There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the opening quarter of an hour but there was drama on the sideline as the linesman went down with an injury.
Fortunately, a spectator quite literally stepped into the linesman’s shoes, swapping footwear with the wounded official and taking on his duties for the rest of the game.
That man, Derek Fordham, didn’t have too much to do in the half an hour before the break as both sides cancelled each other out and headed into half time with the score 0-0.
The game burst into life in the second 45 and it was Balham who drew first blood in fortunate circumstances.
Just 11 minutes after the restart a deep cross floated into the visitors’ box, bounced off Balham’s Andre Cruz Rosa and rolled agonisingly beyond Tadley’s Craig Atkinson to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
And it was almost 2-0 with a little less than 20 minutes to go when Alec Fiddes had the ball in the back of the net for the hosts only for the linesman to come to Tadley’s rescue, flagging for offside to keep the deficit to just one.
And the Tadders found an equaliser five minutes later when marauding full back Alfie Saunders was clattered in the air inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot, allowing Ben Wright to step up and despatch the penalty to level the scores at 1-1 with 13 minutes left on the clock.
Two minutes later however and Balham were in the lead again, Fiddes this time managing to stay onside to tap in the rebound after James Adebayo’s initial shot hit the post to hand the hosts a 2-1 lead.
The visitors were unable to fashion a clear-cut chance in the final 10 minutes and were condemned to a third defeat in four games in league and cup.
And joint manager Ben Dillon admitted it's been a difficult couple of weeks for his side.
He said: "It's been a bit of a tough period to be fair, we've lost a bit of momentum and had a lot of injuries.
"Balham are a good team but I thought we deserved a point, that's football sometimes."
Eighth placed Tadley are back on home turf at the weekend ahead of the visit of near neighbours Alton, the Tadders looking to win for the 10th time in 11 games at Barlow Park.
Meanwhile, Tadley will welcome Premier League side AFC Bournemouth in the third round of the Hampshire Senior Cup, with the date still to be announced.
