Nine man Boro beaten at Tamworth

It was always going to be a tricky fixture and so it proved to be as Tamworth beat Boro this afternoon to knock the Hertfordshire side off the top of the Blue Square Premier table. Stevenage didn’t get out of first gear in the opening half and were punished for their sluggish start when Chris Smith poked the ball home from a free-kick. Boro improved, slightly, in the second half, but were dealt a blow when Ronnie Henry was sent off for a late tackle on Jake Sheridan. Things got worse minutes later when Darren Murphy picked up 2 bookings within 5 minutes and received his marching orders. Boro rallied late on, but couldn’t find the equaliser and slumped to their first defeat in 2010.

Graham Westley brought back Darren Murphy into the midfield in place of Mark Roberts, who missed the game through injury. Mitchell Cole and Tim Sills were dropped and replaced by Yemi Odubade and Charlie Griffin. Tamworth fielded former Boro pair Iyseden Christie and Michael Blackwood, while Nick Wright, who was a transfer target for Westley in January, started on the right.

Tamworth started the stronger and had a lot of possession, but didn’t create many chances. Stevenage were looking to use the aerial threat of Beardsley and pace of Odubade, but neither were effective. Boro’s first chance came from a Stacy Long run into the box. He found Yemi with space, but the Nigerian striker shot over the bar. The Lambs continued to try and press Boro back and the physical Christie won a free-kick after being fouled by Bostwick. The ball was swung in and eventually landed at the feet of Chris Smith who poked the ball home from 6 yards. Boro looked lifeless in the first half and Charlie Griffin’s ‘free-kick’ at the end of the half summed up the performance.

Boro returned for the second half with a bit more appetite, but still lacked any quality in the final third. If the ball wasn’t in the air then it was being lost with sloppy passes, mostly from Darren Murphy who had a poor game. I’m not one of Murphy’s biggest fans, but I understand the job he does for the team. However, today he was awful. He was slow in possession and his passing was wayward. If I was the manager I would have taken Murphy off and not Bridges. GW made the change along with Sills, who replaced Beardsley.

The changes were beginning to work. Sills was winning balls in the air that Griffin hadn’t been and you felt that either Cole or Yemi would latch onto one of them and get us back in the game, but just a few minutes after the substitutions had been made, Ronnie Henry was sent off after a late challenge on Jake Sheridan. The Tamworth player certainly made a meal out of it, but it was a late tackle and he was sent off. I didn’t quite understand the reaction from our bench after the tackle. They seemed to make it a bigger incident than it actually was and I’m sure it was the reaction’s of the players and staff that made the referee’s mind up.

Stevenage still attacked after going down to 10 men. Long dropped into a right wing back role, but was supporting Yemi mostly. However, we still couldn’t find a way through a well organised Tamworth defence. Joel Byrom came on for Charlie Griffin, but it made little effect. Then to make things worse Darren Murphy got himself sent off for a poorly timed tackle on Pritchard. Murphy had only just been booked minutes earlier when he made a stupid tackle on Pritchard who wasn’t going anywhere. Boro were now down to just 9 men, but still kept Sills, Odubade and Cole in attack as they sought after an equaliser.

They had chances too. Cole went clear at one point, but his shot was well saved by Alcock. Ashton had a header go wide from a Stacy Long corner, but the closest Boro came was when Sills did superbly to knock the ball back for Cole who’s acrobatic effort just went wide of the far post. Scott Laird had a speculative effort also go wide in the dying seconds. Unfortunately for Boro, it just wasn’t to be and the defeat sees Oxford overtake us at the summit of the Blue Square Premier after they drew today with Kidderminster. Next up for Boro is Mansfield at Broadhall Way on Tuesday night. We need a response.