Halifax Tango Tamworth

Tamworth 0-2 FC Halifax Town (National League)

I’ve spent a couple of days in Whitby, with the wife and in-laws, we went up to Sandsend and Staithes, before coming home through Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, stopping off at a lovely beach at Fraisthorpe full of dog walkers, heading back home, over the Humber Bridge at Hull towards Nottingham, where I would unload the car, have a brew, then head off again, down the M42 towards Tamworth.

The Lambs took a tonking on Boxing Day in the derby at Solihull, beaten 7-1 by the Moors which nobody saw coming, especially after beating Southend in a much closer encounter ahead of Christmas.

Andy Peaks team sit mid-table but might have one eye on those below them, they take on a Halifax side who are doing ok under Adam Lakeland, knocking on the playoffs door as they always seem to, the Shaymen unbeaten in five league and cup since a 2-1 defeat at Boreham Wood in November. No shame in that, as the Wood are a very good side.

I’m looking for somewhere to park on the Kettlebrook Road, it’s actually free parking inside the club’s car park tonight but I don’t realise that until I’m walking through it. A queue of vehicles lining up towards a single security man at the gate as I walk on through the entrance to a huge waste ground, the famous Tamworth Snowdome lit up directly to my right in the dark, the Lamb ground not so well lit, dimly to my left.

The Venue

From the outside it looks like it’s been put together with anything the club can get its hands on, corrugated iron, various bits of scrap metal, wood, tin, ply, you name it, they’ve used it to build this red painted home that has stood here in some parts since 1934, named after the pub which also stood for many years outside the entrance. Yep, you guessed it, called the Lamb Inn.

I head past the VIP door, to the main reception and entrance, where I’m told tonight, I’ll have to wear a wristband, “Is this a new idea” I ask one girl on the desk. “Yep, although I’m not doing it for you” she replies “I keep getting the stickers caught on peoples arm hairs”.

Strapped up with a red tag over my wrist I’m walking around the back of the main tin stand, it has the feel of a scrap yard as I pass an old scruffy Portakabin labelled as the boardroom which has one old bloke reading a newspaper inside, then I'm around a tight corner, finally appearing pitch side, where I flash my new arm band to a casually dressed fella to get by to where I’m seated.

There’s still an hour to go until kick off, the synthetic pitch slightly sloping shimmers under the partly on floodlights not yet switched fully lit above, a crisp cold one it’s been a mild winter thus far, but you sense the feel that January around the corner is going to be very different. The dark skies wrap around this tiny intimate venue as the Halifax media team chat to each other about some delays to getting their team sheet.

They seem to have taken all the tables with radio and reporters filling the best spots so I’m sat to the side, at the back of the seated stand on half way, all of five or six rows up, opposite the dugouts sit almost as high as the roofed standing area behind, a TV gantry alone positioned centrally like a small shed on top of a roof, to my left, the Halifax fans slowly fill a roofed terrace area which has some big red ‘Vertu’ sponsor banner draped along its top, to my right, if I look around the red post I’m sitting next to, its open ended usually of Tamworth hardcore standing in the cold.

The Game

As I always do, I checked the line-ups from the last game and noticed Tamworth played three at the back and were quite obviously bad at it, so I’m surprised today, when they start with the same shape, all be it with four different faces as Matt Curley, Tom Tonks, Teo Kurtaran and Joe Rye all get the chop.

Halifax are similar in formation, both teams a sort of 3-2-3-2 style (3-5-2 or 5-3-2 it always seems to evolve during the match), it’s defensively structured with Shaun Hobson sitting inside from a makeshift right back position to allow Angelo Capello at left back bomb on, whilst AJ Warburton on the right side plays almost like a wing back, rather than a traditional winger, the two holding midfielders Will Hugill and Cody Johnson start brilliantly, they are the pace setters in the centre, snapping off the ball, driving forward on it, setting Josh Hmami free in his fluid 10 role, supplying two big strikers in Will Harris and Owen Davenport with ammunition.

Halifax have already forced a couple of corners as Hmami swings another from the left, Will Smith starts on the back post, races to the front post and in doing so, nods home around abouts the middle of the goal, 0-1 to the visitors after just five minutes played.

Tamworth are awful, I really don’t think the shape suits them. Right back Kwaku Donkor is a good full back, but he’s not a wing back, left-wing-back Ronan Maher is a good attacking player, he’s definitely not a full back.

But the midfield battle is being won which dictates everything else, Hugill and Johnson controlling things with pace and tenacity, authority, desire, you can tell when a team is up for it, they are, Tamworth just aren’t, wounded from the weekend’s loss where they were stunned for seven, young AJ Warburton has been lively down the right for Halifax, he centres a beautiful whipping cross early doors for Will Harris to tap home, 0-2 after 19 minutes, it could be another long night for the Lambs.

The Score

It’s whole hearted as Halifax front foot win the battle and beyond, they get the ball forward at pace, Tamworth are game, just not fully on board with how to break their opponents down, they fight hard as Kennedy Digie heads back most that’s thrown at him aerially, Milnes and Bates aren’t really helped out in midfield though, in attack they are awful, and hardly register a sniff at Sam Johnson before the break.

At half time you feel they’ll make changes but they don’t, leaving it almost 20 minutes until they do, and when they do, they shift to a 4-3-3 and suddenly look more menacing going forward, Beck-Ray Enoru off the bench, instant impact with pace down the left, Ronan Maher switched over to the right side now, running at full backs like he should be, he fires over before Ben Milnes forces a good save by Johnson, suddenly if they score you feel they’ll be well in it. Somehow.

But Halifax ride the storm, they defend well themselves, confident of keeping out their opponents, by the time Tom Tonks comes on they have just a couple of long throw-ins to defend, and only a few minutes to do so, even with six added on, you feel they are always too good slip up from here.

The Stars

Some impressive performances on the night from the away side who came to Tamworth and did what you need to do, early on, set precedent, and ensure you are ready to fight.

Will Hugill did this, on the front foot from the off, setting the pace and shirking nothing in midfield, next to him, Cody Johnson is a footballers footballer throwback, classy and sassy in what he does, mostly doing it simple, chucking himself into a big tackle on the odd occasion if and when needed.

I thought AJ Warburton was very lively down the right, he’s just twenty and back from Marine where he’s been on loan, Angelo Capello on the left is one of the division’s best in his position, Will Harris always a threat up front, whilst Owen Devonport was big and awkward a menace, Josh Hmami having one of his better nights under my watch, no doubt he’s a lovely footballer, when things go well for Halifax, he tends to look very good, and they tend to play better through him than not.

Special mention to the back three, or three of the four who spent most of the evening in their own half. Shaun Hobson on the right side of defence, giving key instruction to Warburton in front of him, Will Smith with a goal, Adam Alimi-Adetoro offering an intimidating presence, huge in size and stature, as a left sided centre half.

For Tamworth, the players I like, didn’t do too well, was that confidence? Was it down to tactics? Kwaku Donkor is a very good right back, but he was taken off midway through the second half having earned himself a silly booking, Ronan Maher did get to play all ninety, but at one stage late on, his fresh air shot nearly led to a Halifax breakaway. Alfie Bates was honest in his midfield role, young Oli Lynch improved hugely as the game went on in attack, but having started so poorly, he didn’t set a bar that was initially very high.

The Verdict

I want to see Tamworth do what they did in the last twenty of this game, and that’s give it a go in their true Tamworth style, down the flanks, putting balls into the box, whether it be with feet or throw, they didn’t do the basics for much of the match, and if they don’t get back to doing the basics quickly, things could become very tricky for them, in the second half of the campaign.

Halifax, seem to be that team that will always be in and around the playoff places, whether they have what it takes for promotion? I’m not sure? They aren’t far off from being a very good side, they aren’t a bad side at all, but missing perhaps an extra ‘X’ factor that gives them the edge? Will Harris will score goals, Josh Hmami will make goals, but will other teams in and around them have exactly that, with slightly better players?

Par for Halifax will be giving themselves a fighters chance by Easter, whilst if Tamworth are ahead of the drop zone by then, they'll be very happy indeed.

The Teams

Tamworth: Jas Singh, Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, Kennedy Digie, Haydn Hollis (Luke Fairlamb 66), Kwaku Donkor (Matt Curley 66), Alfie Bates, Ben Milnes, Ronan Maher, Stefan Mols, Oliver Lynch (Tom Tonks 80), Immanuelson Duku (Beck Ray Enoru 66).

FC Halifax Town: Sam Johnson, Adam Adetoro, Shaun Hobson, Will Smith, AJ Warburton (Thierry Latty-Fairweather 90), Cody Johnson, Will Hugill, Angelo Capello, Josh Hmami (Jay Turner-Cooke 77), Owen Devenport, Will Harris (David Kawa 88).

7:45pm Kick Off. Tuesday 30th December 2025, The Lamb Ground, Tamworth (att 958).