Match Preview

FA Vase opponents Tividale, who travel to meet Wisbech in an FA Vase first round tie on Saturday, have experienced similar mixed fortunes to the Fenmen over recent years.
The West Midlands side, based in a small town close to Dudley, enjoyed a brief spell in the Northern Premier League but are now back at Step 5 in the Midland League Premier Division.
The season has so far been a real struggle for the side, who are known as Dale. Last Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Highgate United means they have collected just nine points from their first 12 matches and are third from bottom. Top scorer is Ryan Snape with six goals from 14 games.
Last season had started promisingly but a poor spell saw Dale flirting with relegation before a run of six consecutive wins took them to safety.
After the campaign ex-player Stuart How, already part of the management team, was appointed boss for the current season.
Tividale reached this stage of the competition with a 1-0 home win against Step 6 side Shawbury Utd.

Recent History

The 2011/12 season will always be remembered for Tividale’s best run in the FA Vase. Starting in the extra preliminary round, they defeated Nuneaton Griff, Wellington, Westfields, Spalding, Brockton (replay) and Binfield before going out to Peterborough Northern Star in the fifth round (last 16}.
In 2013/14 Tividale swept all aside in their best ever season, winning the Midland Football Alliance title by 12 points, including a record-breaking start of 13 consecutive wins.
This brought promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One South, claiming an eighth-placed finish in their first season at Step 4.
In 2015/16 Tividale were relegated with a return to Step 5 and the newly-formed Midland Football League. The following season saw a young squad relegated to the West Midlands Regional League (Step 6). But they stuck to their youth policy and finished runners-up in 2017/18. However, they were denied promotion due to the points-per-game ruling.
They went one better in 2018/19, winning the league by four points and returning to Step five and the Midland Football League, where they have remained.

Preview kindly written by Adrian Lynn