American musician/singer songwriter Phil Trainer (aka Phil Steele) of the late sixties GS band The Lead (RCA) in Japan, later a member of The Clinic, taking bassist Archie Leggett’s place in that British band. Here in this photo at #9 Vicarage Gate, London England W8 in the summer of 1969 where he was working on a very short lived band project called Heartbeat, a group produced by Michael Aldred of “Ready Steady Go” TV fame. They did one demo for Decca records UK but didn’t get a record deal. The band dissolved due to the failure of their manager Elizabeth Gardener to get them a record deal.

It was bank holiday Monday, the weather was, dull, dreary and cold. So much for summer, today was going to seem more like a winter fixture than late summer.

During bank holidays, there are always a number of different events taking place. This bank holiday, the Staffordshire Hoard, discovered last year in the Staffordshire Moorlands was being exhibited at Tamworth Castle, and this brought along with it a massive group of weirdoes dressed up in Anglo-Saxon attire, setting up camp in the Castle Grounds, and wandering around Ankerisde. For the love of humanity I hope they weren’t actually living in those tents they had put up, as they were extremely flimsy, and can’t have been warm, besides, having a group of people camping out in tents outside your towns best landmark is as bad as having a group of gypsies move in to the area. (Oh, wait, who is it that runs the funfair that comes every bank holiday again?)

I personally decided to visit Polesworth market for the first time, me and Emily getting up early so that I could be back in time to take in the game later in the day, but we made it back with time to spare, even with walking back after finding very little that interested us, with the cold, winter like conditions defeating us. Winter back in Nottingham is going to be chilly that’s for sure.

Arriving at the game with a friend (doing my bit to increase the attendance), I was pleased to see that there was a half decent crowd at The Lamb today, albeit thanks to a fair few Telford fans, but compared to the last home game against Darlington, there were definitely more Tamworth fans in attendance too.

There were a fair few changes to the Tamworth team that triumphed over Bath two days previously, Dan Bradley being replaced by Liam McDonald, Kieron St. Aimie and Nabil Shariff swapping places with Iyseden Christie and Kyle Patterson on the bench, and Ashley Cain reclaiming his starting position ahead of Danny Mills on the right.

Like against Bath, the game for large parts of the first half was very even, Telford, with every Tamworth fan’s favourite player Phil Trainer putting a lot of men behind the ball, making it difficult for Tamworth to break The Bucks down. Tamworth on the other hand were defending very poorly for the early stages of the first half, Scott Barrow in particular having an off day at left back, this allowed Telford to get create a number of chances in The Lambs penalty area. Almost straight after the off Telford should have scored, when Andy Brown headed a Greg Mills cross, which beat Jonathan Hedge but went wide of the mark, the home side narrowly avoiding a nightmare start. It almost happened again only a few minutes later when another ball in past Paul Green caused Jonathan Hedge to come and collect the ball, but it ended in a collision that required medical attention from the sidelines. Luckily the Tamworth ‘keeper was okay and play resumed, but not before Telford had another chance that this time went over the bar. Tamworth were struggling to get into the game and were at times allowing Telford to run the game.

Just after the half hour mark though, Tamworth started to get into the game, making a few attacking movement through Ashley Cain and Danny Thomas on the wings. Kieron St. Aimie who had struggled to get into the game and make his mark up until this point finally got into the game, and after a tame effort by Jay Smith and a Francino Francis header, St. Aimie somehow managed to put the ball in the Telford goal through a crowd of bodies in the area, the ball taking a massive deflection, but probably not enough for it to be classed as an own goal, despite what some spectators were saying in The Shed. The goal came after shouts from The Bucks’ supporters appealing for handball in the Tamworth area when Hedge collected the ball after Ashley Cain passed the ball back to him, doing his bit at the back.

Tamw

orth started the more brightly in the second half, creating chances for Cain, who was denied by some quick thinking defending by Ryan Young who took the ball from his feet in the area after Liam McDonald crossed. Smith had another chance that went sailing over the crossbar, and a Nabil Shariff shot was pushed out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Kieron St. Aimie was able to control the ball well and stick the ball past Young for his second goal of the game, not bad considering me and Chris have been on his case since the start of the season. However, Tamworth were not comfortable for very long, as another defensive mistake allowed Nathan Rooney to score from close range, giving The Bucks a chance.  Telford took the game to Tamworth after this, as expected, and they levelled with just over 10 minutes left when a through ball by Phil Trainer lured hedge out of his goal, leaving Alex Meecham to skip past the Tamworth ‘keeper and put the ball in the back of the net, making the last ten minutes a nervous one for the Tamworth. Tamworth’s heads seemed to drop after throwing a two goal lead away, and Telford finished the game similar to how they started, offensive and in control. Luckily, Tamworth were able to hold on and the game ended in a draw, as the referee blew for full time after a long punt up field to Cain by Richard Tait.

Not a disaster at all for Tamworth, most Tamworth fans would have surely taken a draw before kick off against a team who has a strong record at The Lamb. Marcus Law continues to rotate the squad, and I can only hope that he doesn’t end up coming up short as a result. The players generally looked gutted after the result, in particular Francino Francis, so that shows that they do actually want to win and give a damn about the club this year, which is more than can be said for a lot of the players last season. Hayes and Yeading United are next, at their temporary home of Woking’s Kindfield ground, with that huge stand and tinpot shed, the sort of game that Tamworth should really be winning but more often in the past have failed to do so, so hopefully this Sunday Marcus Law will be able to get the job done. Tamworth are still 5th after today’s result, a win would have seen them go 3rd behind Wrexham and Gateshead, but it is essential that the team, fans and board do not get ahead of themselves.

Man of the Match: Kieron St. Aimie – As much as me and Chris have criticised him for the dry start he has had to his Tamworth career, and initially not starting well today, he took his two goals well. We could well end up having to eat our words!

Tamworth Team: Jonathan Hedge, Richard Tait,  Francino Francis, Paul green, Scott Barrow, Ashley Cain, Jay Smith (Dan Bradley 72), Liam McDonald, Danny Thomas (Kyle Patterson 69), Kieron St. Aimie, Nabil Shariff (Danny Mills 85) Subs not used:  Callum Reynolds, Iyseden Christie

AFC Telford United Team: Ryan Young, Will Salmon (Nathan Rooney 63), Sean Newton, Dwayne Samuels (Craig Farrell 73), Stuart Whitehead, Daniel Preston, Richard Davies, Phil Trainer, Ryan Valentine, Andy Brown, Greg Mills (Alex Meechan 58) Subs not used: Sean Evans, Robbie Williams