Saturday 5 October 2002 - Lamb Ground - kick off 3.00pm Dr Martens Premier Division

Clearly expecting a tough afternoon City altered their formation from the usual 3-5-2 for the first time this season. Andy Minturn's inclusion in place of Dan Cleverley allowing them to line-up 4-5-1. If City hoped to fustrate the home side with this change they only succeeded for eight minutes. Rickards, Sale and Hemmings had already see chances come and go before the former broke the deadlock. A header forward by Sale found the Lambs top scorer looking suspiciously offside but he took full adavantage of this, easily beating Bryant with a low right foot shot. Six minutes later it looked to be all over for City when Tamworth were awarded a penalty. Colley's strong run took him from the halfway line into the City area. As soon as he got there he went down under Williams' challenge and the referee pointed to the spot. However, Hemmings saw his poor kick blocked by Bryant and Cooper blasted the rebound out of the ground. Boosted by this City preceeded to have their best spell of the game. Twice Paul Milsom, now up front alongside Jason Eaton, went close, First his dipping volley from the edge of the box fell agonisingly wide of the far post, then he saw Acton get down well to his shot through a crowded area. This brief period of dominance ended after 26 minutes when McGorry's stunning 25-yard shot flew into the top corner to double the Lambs lead. City now looked like conceding a goal everytime Tamworth attacked and were grateful that halftime arrived without falling further behind.

If they harboured any hopes that the second period would see a change in their fortunes they were to be disappointed as within ten minutes of the restart the game was effectively over. Bryant had already produced a good save from Sale but had no answer to the same players close range finish from Rickards left wing cross after 51 minutes. Four minutes later another long ball forward saw City vainly appealing for offside only for the lack of a linesmans flag to allow Sale's to cross to an unmarked Cooper and he made no mistake from six yards out. Iain Harvey then got involved in some nonsense with Rickards on the halfway line although it was the Tamworth striker who was lucky to only receive a caution. Another excellent stop on 64 minutes by Bryant from McGorry denied Tamworth a fifth as did the referee when he penalised Cooper for a push before he headed home Hemmings' corner. Milsom should have grabbed a consolation with 20 minutes left after Harvey's pass had left him with just Acton to beat from six yards. Summing up City's afternoon he blasted the shot straight at the keeper, Allison blasting the rebound high over the bar. Minturn then showed anything Milsom could miss he could miss better - heading Bennett's corner wide - and Tamworth went straight up the other end and added their fifth through Turner. City finally got on the scoresheet with five minutes left. Another Bennett corner picked out Thorne and, via a combination of Follett and Acton, his header found the net. There was still enough time for Tamworth to add their name to the role of dishouour listed above. Mike Trought had time to clear the ball near the left hand touchline but allowed Rickards to steal possession. With Bryant stranded on the edge his box the Lamb's no.10 sent a speculative shot toward goal and in keeping with his sides afternoon the ball floated into the corner of the net.