Tadcaster boss Paul Marshall ‘high-fives’ a supporter after Terry Taylor puts his side 5-0 up against Pickering
Paul Marshall described it as a “perfect day” and it definitely couldn’t have got any better for Tadcaster Albion, writes James Grayson (Twitter: @jamesAgrayson).
Marshall was even high-fiving supporters by the end as his table-topping team romped to a 5-0 win over local rivals Pickering Town on a day they broke their own league record attendance.
Billed as a junior club day, 522 people crammed into Ings Lane and Marshall’s team delivered a performance worthy of being potential league champions.
The win was made even sweeter by the news that Brighouse Town and Barton Town Old Boys had dropped points.
Tadcaster were a class act from start to finish with Matt Sparkes’ first half double paving the path for victory that was completed by Carl Stewart, Calum Ward and Terry Taylor after the break.
The five goals also took Tadcaster over the 100 barrier for the season and Marshall said: “That has to be (the) top (result of the season), without a doubt.
“It went perfectly today. The kids were all here and it showed we are a great community-based club and the crowd, the result and the performance I thought were outstanding.
“We outworked them, out battled and scored some goals. We probably should have won by six or seven goals. It was the best performance of the season.
“Pickering have scored a lot of goals this season and they had just one shot when he looked offside at the end.
“I thought it was the quality of us that stopped them playing. You could see in little parts of the game that they could play, but we never let them settle.
“Ricey, Carl and Calum upfront stopped them from playing. We said stop them playing from play at the back and make them go long so the defence would deal with it.
“It was a perfect day with a record league crowd which is amazing. We all said that we needed to put a show on (because of the crowd) and we did.”
Many were expecting Taddy to face a huge test against Mitch Cook’s side, but the blunt truth is that Pickering simply did not turn up.
The first goal went in and the visitors folded like a pack of cards. By the time Sparkes opened the scoring on 14 minutes, Taddy had already put Pickering under a huge amount of pressure.
Goalkeeper Callum Myers had kept Albion at bay until Sparkes’ header from Ward’s neat cross found the net with a bit of help from the crossbar.
More attacks followed with Myers denying Stewart after the striker had burst through on goal.
Matt Sparkes celebrating his second goal
Matt Sparkes celebrates his second goal
Sparkes had another header saved before he powerfully headed home the resulting corner for goal number two.
Pickering were struggling to create anything and Tony Hackworth looked isolated on his own upfront. Manager Cook tried to inspire a revival at half-time by dropping Hackworth back into midfield and putting Sam Calvert on.
However, any dramatic comeback hopes were extinguished within five minutes of the second half beginning. Stuart Rice carved the Pickering defence apart down the right and crossed the ball towards the back-post where Stewart was waiting and the striker could not miss from five yards out.
More Tadcaster goals were inevitable and on the hour Ward got on the score-sheet. Stewart was the man who unlocked the Pickering defence this time.
Stewart moved into a position to score, but chose to pass unselfishly to Ward and the latter scored with a low finish just inside the penalty area.
The crowd were baying for five and it arrived with five minutes remaining. Pickering’s back four embarrassingly opened up like the red sea and substitute Taylor found the net with an easy finish after driving forward with the ball from midfield.
The job was done and five more performances like that and Tadcaster won’t be far off celebrating winning the title.
Tadcaster Albion: Reid, Barrett, Bissett, Dixon (Taylor 66), Sparkes, Ingram, Thompson (Batley 66), Deverdics, Ward, Stewart (Critchlow 70), Rice. Subs unused: Lawrie, Hope.
Pickering Town: Myers, Hawkes, Batchelor, Andrews, Hackworth, Cook, Coates (Calvert HT), Taylor (Micklewaite 78), Danby, Henderson (Dalton 63), Greening. Subs unused: Giles, Hutchinson.
Referee: W Grunnill (East Yorkshire)
Ref Rating: 8/10
Attendance: 521
Man of the match: Matthew Sparkes (Tadcaster Albion)
Match Photos are HERE