For the third time this season, Tamworth only managed to raise the bare minimum fifteen players for their third league game on Saturday.

The Tamworth coaches had to shuffle the fifteen doughty souls into a formation that could take on the visitors.

Adam Clemons was drafted onto the front row, leaving a gap in the second row. That gap was filled by Joe Edwards for his second foray into the forwards. Cameron Lang was given Full Back duties for the day.

Barkers Butts by contrast had at least five substitutes. It looked like there would be a testing afternoon for the home players

Tamworth kicked off and after the initial settling period Barkers' had a good run up their left hand touch line, the player slipping a tackle before being halted by Cameron Lang.

After nine minutes, Tamworth had a line-out ten metres from the visitors' try line and Adam Clemons drove into the defenders. He went to ground and then Dan McKitton picked up the ball and jumped over prostrate players making a gap through the middle.

He was brought to a halt and the ball was recycled out to Adam Collins who darted forwards with Matt Storer right behind him. Adam grounded the ball and Matt landed on top of him just making sure the ball met the grass.

It was a long way out left and Joe Edwards couldn't quite kick the distance for the conversion.

The Barkers' Butts lads were big and strong but Tamworth were holding their own in the early scrums.

Tamworth were playing well. Barkers' Butts were making a few mistakes and giving away a number of penalties, easing the pressure on the home team.

After a quarter of an hour, the ball came to Harry Cox on the left wing. He ran into a dead end and was holding on for dear life and working his way downwards to ground the ball. A Barkers' Butts player got hold of Harry and lifted his legs, the result: a yellow card and more breathing space for Tamworth. He did land heavily though and there was a nervous moment; Tamworth really couldn't afford to go down to 14 so early on.

Once Harry's injury was dealt with, the Barkers' Butts player was shown his yellow card and maybe Tamworth could catch their breath and take the game to Barkers'.

Tamworth were able to take advantage; a good run from Josh Hart got the ball inside the Barkers' 22. The ball eventually moved right and Cameron Lang had to work hard but managed to force his way through flailing arms to put the ball down way out right.
Sid Wood kicked this time but the ball went wide of the posts.

The Barkers' player's yellow card time had elapsed and he rejoined the game. Tamworth were then put under pressure; Barkers' threw in to a line-out a mere 5 metres from the Tamworth try line. The weight difference between the teams was brought to bear and Barkers' drove over to score on their left side.
The kick was a good one but went narrowly wide.

After the restart, possession was shared for a while and then with five minutes of the half left Owen Clive saw yellow when an off the ball incident saw him leave the field for the mandatory 10 minutes.

Barkers gained the ascendency in the scrums as the game progressed and were pushing Tamworth back when Tamworth fed and were holding the home team back when they fed their own.
This led to Sid Wood having to be very swift at getting the ball through and getting it back to Liam before Barkers' could get their push on.

Tamworth were pinned down in their final 10 metres for what seemed an age. The home fans breathed a sigh of relief when the half time whistle blew.

Score: Tamworth 10, Barkers' Butts 5

The Tamworth coach highlighted the fact that Barker' Butts were a very strong team and all of the Tamworth players needed to be robust and make the tackles to keep the visitors in check.

The second half started and Tamworth avoided any further Barkers' score whilst Owen's yellow card timer ran out. There was a long period of Barkers' pressure permeated by Tamworth getting control of the ball and running it into the visitor's half.
Tamworth's endeavour was rewarded with a penalty within kicking distance. Sid Wood stepped up but the kick skewed wide.

After 15 minutes of the half Tamworth luck ran out when a injury to Billy Smith in his midriff saw him leave the field in some distress. An ambulance was called to make sure he was ok.

This left Tamworth with twenty five minutes to play with just 14 players. Barkers' Butts had been cycling in their substitutes meaning the Tamworth team's fitness would get a thorough examination.
They managed to share possession for a long period. You really couldn't tell that Tamworth were a man down.

The elastic snapped after a quarter of an hour though when Barkers' scored a carbon copy of their first half try. Forcing their way over on their left hand side. The Barkers' fly half kicked well from out wide to bring the score to Tamworth 10, Barkers' Butts 12

Four minutes later and Tamworth appeared to have pulled off a Houdini act when they won a penalty on Barkers' 22 and Sid Wood kicked it straight through the posts: Tamworth 13, Barkers Butts 12.

Tamworth kept coming at Barkers' and it looked as though they would be able to hold out. As the clock ran down Tamworth were on the Barkers' 22 and the ball was turned over. Billy Green was left on the ground nursing a strained shoulder and Josh Hart had taken a boot to the top of his head. This left Tamworth short of numbers and the visitors worked their way up Tamworth's right. Harry cox sprinted from the left wing to intercept the Barkers' full back. He appeared to have made a try saving tackle only for the falling player to pop a pass to his teammate and Barkers' had scored.

The kick fell short and the final whistle blew. Score: Tamworth 13, Barkers' Butts 17

Thoughts go to Billy Smith and we all hope for a quick recovery.

The Tamworth team were magnificent. They weathered a constant storm of pressure from their opponents who were robust and unforgiving in the tackles and rucks. They never gave up and it really did seem like they would win up until the final seconds.
They can take a great deal of heart from the performance and can look forward to turning round the result in January.