Fleet were left to rue a mad five minutes at the end of the first-half as Tamworth came from behind to lead 3-1, a lead that was ultimately good enough to take all three points despite a close finish after the returning Haydn Hollis put through his own net.

It was one of two own goals of the afternoon after Alex Lankshear had headed past Mark Cousins in the first-half in a game that was initially lit up by a fine George Moncur strike that suggested more to come from the Fleet.

There was one change with Mustapaha Olagunju suspended and he was replaced by Dominic Samuel, with Lewis Page and Callum Harriott named on the bench after absences.

Tamworth boasted long-throw specialist Tom Tonks in their ranks and he had a couple of opportunities to launch that at the Fleet in the opening stages. Arjan Raikhy saw yellow for a hefty challenge on Josh Passley on 10 minutes while Samuel was in the mix with a shot and a header both coming to nothing.

Moncur livened up the proceedings shortly before the half-hour. Taking Samuel’s chest-down in his stride, he battled through the Tamworth line from 45 yards out but appeared to lose his footing before he could get a shot away. It seemed the chance had gone but he corrected himself, kept his balance and powered a shot into the top corner from 25 yards for the opener.

The home fans were waiting for their side to push on but Tamworth posted warning from another Tonks long throw that needed Cousins to be alert to get down ahead of two lurking white shirts.

They did equalise on 38 minutes when Fleet failed to deal with an initial cross from the right. The ball was launched back in from the left and top scorer Dan Creaney ventured across the Fleet defence to glance a header into the bottom corner.

Scarcely had the Fleet digested that setback than Tamworth made it two. It came on 40 minutes, a perfectly weighted through ball from Ben Milnes in the centre-circle landed for Creaney who ran between Lankshear and Franklin Domi to dink a shot over Cousins and over the line.

And two became three on 43 minutes when Tonks’ launched another throw from 35 yards. It gained altitude and with Lankshear climbing above Callum Cockerill-Mollett he inadvertently sent a back-header past a surprised Cousins to make it 3-1 to the visitors.

Fleet were shellshocked but regrouped for the second period and Moncur did ever so well on 57 minutes to get past Hollis and charge across the Tamworth box. He fed Toby Edser whose low left-footed effort skidded along the ground but flew into the arms of Jas Singh.

Domi’s battling run down the left on 68 minutes opened up the Lambs defence again and this time Samuel was on hand with a goalbound effort but luck isn’t something Fleet have had much of this season and the returning striker found his shot blocked on the line by the dive of Cockerill-Mollett.

Tamworth didn’t show much ambition with their two-goal cushion and Fleet went for it in the last 20 minutes with a flurry of substitutions that saw Kwame Thomas, Rakish Bingham and Callum Harriott join Samuel in the hunt for a goal or two back.

And it paid off on 74 minutes when Passley was played in for a run down the right flank. He slipped a pass behind the back line for Moncur to run on to. He cut inside and his shot was turned in by Hollis sliding in at the near post to set up the finish that Tamworth could have done without.

But Fleet just couldn’t get going sufficiently to apply enough pressure although two late free-kicks might have yielded more. Moncur arrowed the first into the goalkeeper’s midriff before Ben Chapman opted to send the second out wide despite Cousins making the run forward into the box.

EUFC: Cousins, Passley (Chapman 86), Stewart, Dallison, Lankshear, Moncur, Edser, Bolger (Manktelow 81), Domi (Thomas 69), Samuel (Bingham 86), Cosgrave (Harriott 69). Subs not used: Page, Carr.
TFC: Singh, Cockerill-Mollett, Crompton, Hollis, Digie, Milnes, McGlinchey (Finn 72), Maher (Enoru 90), Raikhy (Sundire 46), Tonks (Fletcher 49), Creaney. Subs not used: Cullinane-Liburd, Tshikuna, Ponticelli.
Attendance: 1,322
Photos: ©EUFC/Dave Plumb

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