Romulus V Lichfield City (Premier Division)

​Romulus were looking for a statement result yesterday afternoon against league leaders Lichfield City at Coles Lane. It’s been an interesting season for the Roms with Joe Ballinger and George Evans coming in as their new management team a few months ago. They’re building a competitive squad at step five and notably beat 1874 Northwich away earlier in the season.  

Lichfield were one of the form teams in the premier division coming into yesterday with three consecutive wins in the league. It’s been a brilliant festive period for the Staffordshire side with impressive wins against Atherstone Town and Northwich Victoria to lead the division by four points.

Ivor Green is doing a good job as manager and their defence has stepped up over the last month with two clean sheets from their last three matches.    

The atmosphere around Coles Lane was friendly and welcoming prior to kick off with a decent following for both Romulus and Lichfield. The weather conditions were challenging throughout the afternoon with freezing temperatures, especially in the second half.

Thankfully the match was able to go ahead thanks to the 3G set up at Coles Lane with a host of postponements across the MFL earlier in the day.  

Starting line ups

The starting line up for Romulus included Lewis Gwilliams in goal and Jordan Francis captaining the team from right-back. The formation looked like a 4-2-3-1 with Chris Uwabor leading the line up front and being supported by Jeval Thompson-McKenzie and Dan Okojie on the wings.

There was one change from their match against 1874 Northwich last weekend with Joe Clarke coming into the team and playing at centre back alongside Ethan Green.  

Lichfield’s starting line up included James Beeson in goal and Joe Haines captaining the team from left-wing back. The formation looked like a 3-4-3 with Jamie Spiers playing up front and being supported by Jack Edwards and Finlay Barker on the wings.

There were three changes from their match against Northwich Victoria last weekend with Liam Kirton coming back into the team and playing on the right-hand side of a midfield four. 

​First Half

Lichfield started the first half brightly and were looking to make things happen inside the opening fifteen minutes. Callum Griffin cut inside from the right before having a shot go narrowly wide of the left-hand post in the 8th minute.

The visitors had a lot of the ball throughout the first half with Romulus looking to catch them out on the counterattack through the pace of Jeval Thompson-McKenzie and Chris Uwabor up front. The Roms were working hard off the ball to get a foothold in the match as the first half went on.

The best chance for Romulus to take the lead came when Sean Devlin found some space in the box from a well worked throw in before having a shot go wide of the right-hand post.

​Lichfield went down the other end and made it 1-0 a few minutes later when Jack Edwards was on hand to finish off a free-flowing passing move down the left-hand side. Joe Haines made a good run into the final third before beating a few players and squaring it across the box to Jack Edwards for Lichfield’s opener.  

Romulus were pressing for an equaliser in the latter stages of the first half and committing players forward in the final fifteen minutes. Lichfield stepped up to the pressure well with Leighton McMenemy reading the danger at centre back and Joe Haines defending well at left-back.

Lichfield looked a threat going forward throughout the first half with Finlay Barker doing a good job of holding up the play and brining players into the game for the visitors. The wing-back play of both Joe Haines and Liam Kirton also caused some problems for Romulus at the back.

There were some positives for Romulus throughout the first half with McLloyd Oben playing well from holding midfield and offering them composure on the ball to build attacks. He was working hard off the ball and regularly broke up the play to take some of the pressure off Romulus in the first half.          

Leighton McMenemy went down with a bad-looking injury near the end of the first half. It was unfortunate from a Lichfield perspective as he played well at the back throughout the opening 45 minutes. He was replaced by Jordan Clements who came into midfield with Joe Haines dropping deeper and going into a back three alongside Jamie Elkes and Callum Rudd.  

An underrated part of Lichfield’s success this season has been how organised they’ve been off the ball and yesterday was no exception. There was a lot of tracking back to stop Romulus building some momentum in front of goal throughout the first half.

Second Half

The early stages of the second half were scrappy with both sides settling into it inside the opening fifteen minutes.

Romulus had a half chance for an equaliser on the hour mark when substitute Tristan Bennett found some space on the edge of the box before having a shot go wide of the left-hand post.

The Roms were building some momentum to put pressure on the Lichfield goal for a good fifteen-minute spell in the second half. Chris Uwabor was holding up the play well and Maradoche Mirpo offered an attacking threat in the final third.   

The clearest chance for an equaliser came when Maradoche Mirpo was through on goal with just James Beeson to beat. The Lichfield keeper stepped up and made a crucial save to keep it at 1-0 in the 67th minute.

Romulus showed some character in the second half and caused a Lichfield a few problems. The effort and endeavour was there yesterday in tough weather conditions.

Jordan Francis stepped up as captain and had an underrated game from right-back. He defended well and offered an attacking threat for the Roms such as crossing balls into the box.  

It was not quite clicking in the final third for Lichfield in the middle of the second half. Their best chance for a second goal came when Jack Edwards got a shot off that hit the cross bar with fifteen minutes to go.

The visitors made a clever substitution and bought on Jude Taylor up front to stretch the Romulus defence on the break. He made a brilliant run off the shoulder before going through on goal. Lewis Gwilliams stepped up and made a quality save to keep the Roms in the game.  

Romulus were committing players forward in the latter stages of the second half which left them open to the counterattack. They had a dangerous throw in delivered into the box and could not quite connect with it to make it 2-1.

Lichfield won the ball back and scored on the break to make it 2-0 with a few minutes to go when Jude Taylor finished into the bottom right corner.

It was clicking up front for the visitors in the latter stages of the second half and they were creating numerous chances in the final third. Substitute Sonny Sheasby got a shot off that was saved by Lewis Gwilliams.

The quality off the bench made a real difference for Lichfield yesterday with Jordan Clement, Luke Childs, Sonny Sheasby and Jude Taylor impressing and offering quality on the ball.  

Romulus kept going from 2-0 down and Chris Uwabor made a well-timed run into the box before finishing into the bottom right corner to pull a goal back for Romulus with a few minutes to go.

Lichfield responded and scored another late goal in injury time to make it 3-1 late on when Jude Taylor reacted quickest to a shot that came off the crossbar before finishing into the bottom left corner.

Not long after the referee blew for the full-time whistle to make it four consecutive wins for Lichfield. The visitors currently have a four-point lead at the top of the premier division with Brocton beating Studley 2-1 yesterday.             

FT score: Romulus 1-3 Lichfield City

Man of the Match: Jude Taylor (Lichfield City)

Match report written by Rhys Beardmore for the Midland Football League