Adam Baker celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his second goal
Tadcaster Albion went back to the top of the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division table with an easy 4-0 win over Thackley at the i2i Sports Stadium.
Two early Adam Baker goals gave the visitors a long road back and Tadcaster sealed the win with second half strikes from Josh Greening and Gregg Anderson.
Baker’s low drive after just three minutes set-up a relatively straight-forward afternoon for Tadcaster in awful conditions.
Only Thackley’s disallowed goal, for offside, 60 seconds later was the closest that Chris Reape’s men came to causing an upset at Tadcaster for the second season running.
Poor defending then cost the visitors in the tenth minute. Jimmy Beadle’s high bomb flew over Thackley’s back four was the touch that had the alarm bells ringing. Baker entered into a race with goalkeeper Tom Metcalfe and won the battle by lifting the ball over him. The winger then headed it into the empty net from inside the six-yard-box.
Striker Carl Stewart, making his first start since returning from injury, was inches away from adding a third soon after.
Tadcaster boss Billy Miller said the performance was outstanding. Picture: Ian Parker
Adam Baker was superb for Tadcaster
Goalkeeper Tyler D’Cruz realises that he is beaten for the second goal
Baker finishes the move off
Carl Stewart made his first start of the season for Tadcaster
Stewart almost got himself on the score-sheet
Tadcaster midfielder Jason Mycoe is fouled
Conditions were terrible. Picture: Ian Parker
Gregg Anderson scores his first goal since returning to Tadcaster. Picture: Ian Parker
The end of the first half and the start of the second half were similar with Tadcaster created chance after chance.
Josh Greening, minutes after being denied by Metcalfe, effectively walked Tadcaster’s third goal into the net. The attacker shrugged off three Thackley defenders before scoring with a low strike.
Metcalfe denied Nick Black and Beadle to keep the score at 3-0 until Anderson’s header was ruled to have crossed the line.
An excellent afternoon for Tadcaster, a bit of a nightmare for Thackley, whose three-match winning-run came to a shuddering half.
Tadcaster Albion manager Billy Miller: “The performance was absolutely outstanding.
“Their goalkeeper was outstanding and without him we could have registered a few more.
“Jimmy Beadle had two shots saved, Nick Black had two chances, but importantly the lads stuck the task and got the important third goal.
“The fourth goal was always on the cards.”
Tadcaster Albion assistant manager Matt Heath: “I said to someone in the changing room that we were 2-0 up after 20 minutes and their reply was: ‘that’s happened before and we have thrown it away’.
“It is a good point so it shows how well the lads have realised that 2-0 is a bit of a dodgy score-line.
“I said on the pitch that the next goal was really important. We took the tempo out of the game by relaxing and taking our time on throw-ins – all the things that are professional.
“We just had to hit them on the break in the second half because it was them who had to score.”
Thackley manager Chris Reape: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“We started really slowly and we were 2-0 down after ten minutes and you can’t give sides like Tadcaster a two-goal head-start.
“We then created very little. Over the last few weeks we have scored some good goals, but today we didn’t look like scoring.
“We always it would be tricky and we have had a run of games where we have got our confidence back. We just didn’t turn up today.”
Tadcaster Albion: Stevens, Armstrong, Clayton, Heath, Anderson, Mycoe, Baker (Black 71), Ormsby (Thompson 79), Stewart, Beadle (captain), Greening (Barrett 71). Subs unused: Chigmura, Nan.
Thackley: D’Cruz, Bentham, White, McGuire (captain), Snowdon, Hargreaves, Farrell (Innes 71), Whitley, Wood (Littlefair 74), Garrod, Dugdale. Subs unused: Brown, Keen.
Referee: Paul Tomes
Ref Rating: 8/10
Attendance: 274
Man of the match: Adam Baker (Tadcaster Albion)