TENBURY United must be sick of the sight of Herefordshire clubs after they crashed 7-0 at Lads Club in their latest West Midlands League Division Two defeat.
Colin Powell’s men were thumped 9-0 at home against Herefordshire villagers Bartestree last month and were counting the cost of that afternoon against Lads Club.
United were without the suspended Mike Foster, Aaron Morris and Gavin Podmore for last Saturday’s trip to Hereford Leisure Centre.
Tenbury are now 12th in the league and host third-from-bottom Ettinghall Park Farm at Palmer’s Meadow this Saturday.
Player-manager Powell praised experienced assistant-boss Graham Caldicott who played the full 90 minutes of last weekend’s drubbing.
Powell said: “It was always going to be hard work at Lads Club – we went with the bare 11 due to suspensions and injuries.
“Me and our assistant-manager Graham Caldicott, who is pushing 52 and was in attack, played the whole 90 minutes.
“A lot of us were just pleased to get through the game. It was always going to be a tough game and I thought we gave a battling performance in the second- half.”
First-half goals from Steve Dixon, Mike Olive (2) and Matt Maturi deservedly put Lads Club 4-0 ahead at the break.
Dixon netted his second goal after the interval, while Kia Cowley and Danny Moon also got on the scoresheet for unbeaten Lads Club.
United goalkeeper Dave Rigby made some brave saves and Tenbury’s players worked hard to frustrate the hosts, particularly after the interval.
Powell said: “I felt we got stronger as the game went on.
“We were winning more second balls in second-half. We kept it down – we wanted to keep it goalless in the second-half but, unfortunately, a few loose goals went in.”
Lads Club player-manager Moon said: “We dropped four points against Tenbury last season so it was nice to just win the game.
“We want to push on to Division One and we have aspirations to get to the Premier Division.”
Meanwhile, West Midlands League historian Steve Carr watched the match and felt he could have seen a new record.
“It was a very one-sided game,” said Carr, who had travelled by train from West Bromwich.
“From memory, the league record score is 18 goals scored by Worcester City in the 1930s.
“Lads Club got seven goals but will probably be disappointed they didn’t get double that number.
“They could have perhaps equalled the league record had they showed more composure in front of goal.”