Lambs roast whilst Iron is not hot
Tamworth – 5
S Mols 7’ 47’ D Creaney 29’ C Kinful Ansen (og) 52’ O Lynch 83’
Braintree Town – 1
L Walker 23’
25th April 2026
Tamworth romped to victory over already doomed Braintree Town on the final day of the Enterprise National League season in April, and with it finished their campaign comfortably mid table, twenty points from both the relegation places and the play-off’s.
Scoring early gave the hosts confidence, but they were pegged back when a Lewis Walker screamer flew past home custodian Jas Singh & rebounded off the boards behind the net; the velocity meant it took a few seconds for the visiting supporters to realise they were level.
But once Dan Creaney regained the lead for the Staffordshire outfit, there was only one side who would go on to take all three points, and two quick goals after the break gave The Lambs the cushion to relax and enjoy the remainder, under the warm blue Altair Group Community Stadium skies.
The red & black shirts attacked from the off & broke the deadlock when Luke Fairlamb drove at the Braintree defence, after skipping a couple of half-hearted challenges he slipped a pass into the path of a Stefan Mols run into the arc, he in turn flicked across the area into the far bottom corner.
Luton Town loanee Oli Lynch almost made it two within moments but his effort was blocked out of play by keeper Caleb Kinful Ansen, the visitors tried to ease the pressure whenever the opportunity arose but were consistently stopped in their tracks by raised flags.
Former Buckingham Athletic & Banbury United front man Ben Acquaye forced another good save, but parity was restored at the midway point when the hosts lost possession, and the ball was rolled up to Walker parallel with the centre circle.
He accelerated upfield as part of three white shirts closing in on just a couple of red, but he opted to go alone and reaped the benefits with a thunderbolt, but they were only level for just over five minutes and were most unhappy that the next goal was allowed to stand.
An initial shot from the right was pushed up onto the crossbar but as it bounced down Creaney was on hand to turn it over the line, despite several prolonged protests for a flag, the match official pointed to the centre spot.
The closest to another equaliser came ten minutes before the interval, a free kick palmed away by Singh found Aidan Francis-Clarke whose drive had to be diverted over the top, but any hopes they had were firmly extinguished just moments after the break.
An attempted back pass by Iron skipper Tommy Smith skewed into enough space to heighten Mols predatory instinct, on it in a flash he knocked past the advancing shot stopper and guided into the unguarded net from the angle.
Amir Hadi drove over the bar from eighteen yards out as the team from Essex tried in vain to claw their way into the game, but they fell further adrift when a twice taken corner saw Kinful Ansen go to gather but the ball squirmed from his grip and bounced over the unguarded line.
Matt Dibley-Dias again cleared the target for the away side, at the opposite end substitute Ronan Maher was thwarted and Ben Milnes found waiting gloves with the follow up, Sahid Kamara for Town then couldn’t keep his effort low enough.
Tamworth got a fifth towards the end, after an injury requiring treatment and a plethora of changes, the game restarted with a throw which Fairlamb sent long and Lynch gave chase, getting ahead of his marker he rolled across the face and inside the far post. F/T: 5-1
Competition: Enterprise National League
Venue: Altair Group Community Stadium
Kick-Off: 12.30pm
Surface: Artificial
Programme: Digital
Attendance: 1,005
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Note: 3 pages (255 images)
