Olembé was passed fit, but Power was not. I brought Atkinson into the centre of midfield to replace him. I also opted to drop Koroma back to the bench, with Russell coming in to play an advanced right wing role and Shuker moving into attack. Atkinson's defensive emphasis should balance out the slightly more offensive formation.
We had an early chance through an over-the-top pass for Shuker, who raced away towards goal before being dragged down inside the box, but the striker was offside.
The first goal came in the 13th minute. Russell crossed from deep on the right wing, after finding himself in acres of space, and Barnes-Homer met the ball with a brilliant diving header that sailed past the Tamworth keeper.
I looked on with worry when Marques picked up a knock on 24 minutes. We'd suffer without our talisman.
Russell continued to impress, with energetic running on the right flank and shots on goal on either side of the half hour mark. He then got dragged down by Tamworth defender Sam Oji in the middle of the penalty area. Tamworth just couldn't handle him. Nutter slotted the penalty away with the utmost of composure, while Oji walked for a professional foul in a goal scoring opportunity.
Olembé received a cross-field pass from Russell in the 50th minute, then cut inside and fired in a low strike that Hedge saved well. We appeared to be in absolute control.
I took a tired-looking Olembé off for Nicolau on 56 minutes. With a two-goal lead and Russell running the show, I had no fears that resting our star midfielder would leave us vulnerable.
Patterson broke free of our defence in the 65th minute, forcing quick reactions from Anyon to keep Tamworth goalless.
I replaced Shuker with Koroma on 66 minutes. Koroma then missed a gilt-edged chance to increase the lead. He dribbled around his man, then weakly struck the ball straight into the keeper when he had ample time to place his shot. Russell pounced on the rebound, but his shot went wide.
Bore made way for Park in the 69th minute. I was looking to the next match.
Unfortunately, I acted too soon. Christophe collided with McKoy in the 83rd minute, and had to be stretchered off the pitch. With no remaining substitutes, we were left a man down (although thankfully not one less than Tamworth, who of course were already playing with ten men).
Paul Green nearly embarrassed us in the 87th minute when a deep cross got carried goal-bound by the wind. Anyon was alert enough to save any potential blushes, though, scrambling to make a save.
Russell held the ball up brilliantly before threading the needle to release Barnes-Homer in the 90th minute, but the striker could not match his teammate's magic.
He received a well-deserved man of the match award for two assists and one of the best performances I've seen from any player. The win put us into second place on goal difference, although Wrexham below us and Mansfield above us each have a game in hand.
Christophe looks to be okay. The physio's given him the all-clear, so he should be fine to start our next match a week from now.
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