At the beginning of the month Teversal were written off in the relegation battle by most, but Dave Turner and his charges have completed three wins in 7 days to gain the rewards for their recent performances that initially wasn’t getting the points they warranted. This win certainly shown they have now given themselves a fighting chance to get out of the bottom three relegation zone having turned a 12-point deficit to just 3 points with 5 games remaining. It is a massive ask still, but momentum in football can have a massive impact.

This game has played a massive role and both sides started of brightly with the Tevie Boys creating the first opening of note on 5 minutes when Parfitt held up the ball before feeding Hunter out on the right to attack the penalty area before reaching the byline before pulling back to Parfitt whose effort was blocked, loose ball dropped to Macaskill who also saw his effort blocked before being cleared.

AFC was having their fair share of the ball and created an opening when Jak Lightly broke on the left before producing a quality cross to find Owen Stockley who couldn’t match the quality and guided his effort well wide of the far post.

The blustery conditions were a challenge for both sides, but it was the Tevie Boys who looked most likely to opening their account with Burton and Macaskill getting in behind the home defence on a regular basis, and it was rewarded on 31 minutes when Hadley’s precise through ball released Burton who was through on goal, but Hall was quick of his line, with Burton squaring to Bamford to go round the Keeper only for Short to block on the line with Burton on hand to scramble home despite the gallant effort of Gates being in vain as the Tevie Boys celebrated taking the lead.

Normanton went straight back at their visitors and earned a corner that Reynolds swung into the back post where Short headed home, but the effort was disallowed due to an infringement in the process.

The impact of that goal being disallowed was realised five minutes later when the visitors doubled their lead when another well worked move saw Burton released again to produce a clinically finish from tight angle to make it 0-2.

With half time approaching Cory Burton was again given a golden opportunity to complete his hat-trick and put daylight between them and their host, but this time he lacked the clinical finish after sitting the Keeper down before firing wide of the open goal.

As expected, Normanton came out quickly in the second half and were gifted a lifeline on 49 minutes when Will Hunter’s attempted clearance turned out to be a cross that allowed Owen Stockley to finish with aplomb leaving Oli Winfield in the Tevie goal no chance.

Teversal response to the disappointment was to immediately regain their two-goal lead when they went straight up to the other end to make it when Short made a clumsy challenge on Hadley that left the Referee the easiest decision of the afternoon to award a penalty that Bamford stepped up calmly sending Hall the wrong way to make it 1-3 with 50 minutes played.

Teversal was now in control of the game, and it was no surprise when on 63 minutes the score moved over to 1-4, when Josh Parfitt finished with clinical strike that was reward for another solid performance from the striker. Teversal did create numerous other opportunities with the Normanton defence standing firm and denied the visitors a more significant scoreline they possible deserved. However, before the game, the visitors would have taken the opportunity to finish with this result and scoreline.

The outcome of this result is that Teversal now have a 7 point gap on Normanton who do have a game in hand over Teversal.

Teversal: Oli Winfield, Will Hunter, Jack McWilliams, Oli Rouse, Oli Baines, Ryan Ordidge, Kurt Bamford (Rocco Hardy 75), Josh Parfitt (Josh Radford 80), Nathan Hadley (Dillon Gregory 75), Cory Burton (Callum Spencer 80), Ty Macaskill (Fynn Marshall 76). Subs Not Used – All used.

Tevie Bar Player Of The Match – Oli Baines

Next game for Teversal is on Saturday 5th April 2025 when championship chasing Graham Street Prims are the visitors to the Tomlin Personnel Park for a 3:00pm kick off.