Bradley Pritchard column

By Bradley Pritchard
Tamworth midfielder

We had three subs on the bench, out of seven available places, and one of whom was the gaffer On the FA Cup defeat by Ilkeston

We've been knocked out of two cups this week, the FA Cup on Saturday and the Birmingham Senior Cup on the Tuesday night.

The game on Saturday [2-0 defeat at Ilkeston] was an immense disappointment. It just seemed to sum up our recent performances. I thought we started the game quite brightly but then the injury to Wrighty (Nick Wright) had a big impact on us. It doesn't help that we have a small squad like I've said before.

We had three subs on the bench, out of seven available places, and one of whom was the gaffer (47-year-old Gary Mills). That said, we didn't play well enough to get anything out of the game, so we just have to take full responsibility for the result.

The game on Tuesday in my opinion was pretty different. Granted it's a tournament that may be taken lightly, but it was another chance for us to alter our fortunes.

In the first half I thought we played some excellent football, and in the second we still had chances to equalise. Unfortunately it was another case of sloppy goals when we've worked hard to create chances.

Training's been hard this week and justifiably so. It's such a cliche, but hard work and reverting to basics is the only way to change

We played a Wolves side who were very talented and had a lot of confidence on the ball, but on the whole though I thought it was a more encouraging experience, and something that I think we could use to re-ignite that spark we may have been missing recently.

Training's been hard this week and justifiably so. It's such a cliche, but hard work and reverting to basics is the only way to change. On the lighter side though, Wallie's jacket potatoes and pasta were accompanied by a selection of cakes and cookies brought in by Blacks (Michael Blackwood).

Every player and member of staff has to bring in some cakes for the others when it's their birthday. After a bit of reminding, Blacks finally brought in his.

Some of us were grateful, but there were a few murmurs from others who were questioning the quality. Apparently custard donuts and milk chocolate chip cookies just won't do. You just can't please everyone I guess.

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Also, I have to make a formal apology, because last week I said Wyldey (Michael Wylde) was given the yellow donkey shirt for training, but it was actually Jake (Jake Sheridan).

I went in to training after my last blog and before I could even greet him, Wyldey was already making his feelings known (it doesn't help that he was in contention to get the yellow at the end of that training session).

After training, a few of us went to the Tamworth College to sign some autographs for the youngsters who were attending a football camp.

It was a pleasant surprise to see some of the kids wearing the team shirts, and know that some of them even knew our names (even if a few of the 12-year-olds were actually taller than myself and Scholesy (Simon Russell)).