Lambs Academy player Vanylson Silva capped his first team debut with a late strike to ensure Tamworth recorded a win over their Premier League 2 opposition in the National League Cup.

Taking a break from Enterprise National League action, The Lambs welcomed Newcastle United’s Premier League 2 side to the HD Rickets Community Stadium for their first National League Cup Group C match.
Lambs boss Andy Peaks shuffled his squad for the match, with games against Middlesbrough, Leeds United and Everton to come with Boreham Wood, Hartlepool United and Solihull Moors completing the line group up.

Newcastle kicked off towards the Castle End, and forced an early corner off Trevan Sanusi’s deflected shot which came to nothing so The Lambs advanced and captain Ben Milnes fired just wide from the edge of the area.
The Lambs were on target and took the lead after 15 minutes though, when Tom McGlinchey cut into the area and beat the keeper from the right of the box with an angled shot into the top left corner (1-0, 15 mins)
And the doubled their lead four minutes later when Jake Hutchinson got the better of the covering defender to prod the ball past George Mair from the edge of the area (2-0, 19 mins)
McGlinchey was next to go closest with half an hour on the referee’s stopwatch, firing a similar attempt to his earlier one but this time it skipped out past the far post, but within sixty seconds the scoreline had increased again.
Great work from Ricky Calder and Nathan Tshikuna released the latter down the left and he planted it towards the near post for Hutchinson to get to before Mair could and he finished it cleanly and purposefully inside the post (3-0, 31 mins)
Another flowing move down the left again on 35 minutes ended with a goalbound Hutchinson volley strike that deflected off the head of a United defender for a corner, and he was inches away from his hat-trick on 42 minutes when he connected first time with a low cross from Tshikuna but drilled the ball just wide.
Just as the board was shown for three minutes added time, the visitors pulled one back courtesy of a fine right footed strike from Trevan Sanusi from 25 yards which flew past Lovett giving him little chance of stopping it (3-1, 45 mins)

HT: 3-1

Tamworth restarted the game but United pulled one back a couple of minutes in when Fraser Harper released Sanusi over the halfway line and substitute Vakhtang Salia slid in to divert it over the goal line. (3-2, 47 mins)
Chances were at a premium from then on but a deep freekick from the Newcastle right on 62 minutes was misjudged by Lovett and Tom Handley had to be quick to clear the dropping half chance as Ferreira closed in for what would have been a simple finish.
Lovett then had to react quickly from a short Calder backpass as two United forwards closed in and in the next move Sean Neave blazed high over the target after doing all the hardwork to set himself up in the area.
At the other end Tshikuna forced Mair into a 67th minute parry away for a corner.
Milnes passed the captains armband to Hollis with 20 or so minutes remaining but The Lambs conceded again on 71 when Salia doubled his tally with an low strike from the right of the area which squeezed under the grasp of Lovett into the far corner (3-3, 71 mins)
But The Lambs regained the lead within 3 minutes when a Teo Kurtaran corner was headed down and on target by Dan Creaney and it took a deflection of Tshikuna to take it over the line (4-3, 73 mins)
Tshikuna went close with another deadball on 77 minutes, and it proved to be his final act as he was replaced by first team debutante Academy player Vanylson Silva.
The Lambs forced three corners in quick succession but were unable to get a strong enough decisive touch as they whipped across the six yard line.
There was time for a fifth and final goal though, as the match entered added time with Silva getting the better of his marker to send a strike into the far right corner past despite the best attempts of Mair to prevent it (5-3, 90 mins)

The Lambs return to league action on Saturday with a trip to The Shay to face AFC Halifax Town, kicking off at 12.30pm.

Tamworth (4-4-2)
Lovett; Handley, Hollis, Parkes, Calder; Milnes (c.), Dyson, Tshikuna (Silva 78), McGlinchey; Creaney, Hutchinson (Wyse 86)
Subs: Rachel, Rye, Jasper, Nyahuhwa
YC: Hollis 24, McGlinchey 69

Newcastle United PL2
Mair, Jonson, Craggs (c.) (Durrant 84), Pivas, Moran, Bailey, Mills (Salia HT), Harper, Neave (Ca 84), Ferreira (Seung Soo 77), Sanusi (Fitzgerald 83)
Subs: Watts, Walpole
YC: Mair 73

Referee: Declan Brown

Attendance: 439

MOM: Chosen by Cotterill fencing and Geoff Chadwick: Ricardo Calder