My piece from this morning's paper
Cotterill replaced Sean O'Driscoll last week as manager of League One strugglers City and was a relieved man after seeing his new team see off the Conference Premier outfit to notch up City's first win in five games. He said:
"It's Tamworth's day and all credit to them as we knew they would make it difficult. Not many teams would've come here and played silky football. We would've liked a clean sheet and perhaps could've scored four before we got our second. It was nice to draw Watford at home in the next round, but that one's way in the distance and we've got plenty of other games to think about before then. I haven't stopped since I joined the club last week and now I'm just looking forward to a decent night's sleep."
Former Arsenal youth prospect Jay Emmanuel-Thomas - known as JET - settled City's nerves six minutes before the break to maintain the club record of never being beaten by non-league opposition in the Cup.
JET picked the ball up 35 yards from goal and dazzled the Tamworth defence with several step-overs before blasting in a long range shot past helpless keeper Cameron Belford for his fifteenth goal of the season.
Skipper Sam Baldock took advantage of a slip from Ben Richards-Everton to chip Belford and seal the win in the 83rd minute with his ninth goal of the season.
Until then, Belford - son of manger Dale and grandson of kit man Buster - had been protected by impressive central defensive Richards-Everton and Duane Courtney as City were restricted to a handful of half-hearted efforts.
Gutsy Tamworth managed a scrappy 91st minute consolation and put City's nerves on edge in injury time when Andy Todd just managed to force the ball over the line following a goalmouth scramble.
City cranked up the pressure in the second period and Baldock missed three chances within eight minutes of the restart while midfielder Scott Wagstaff missed an open goal from 30 yards after Baldock had charged down a Belford clearance.
But the Lambs could have scored in the 54th minute when former Port Vale striker Justin Richards outpaced the defence to race on to a long ball from right back Wayne Thomas, but then dragged his shot wide with only keeper Steve Parish to beat.
Tamworth boss Dale Belford was proud of his players and the former Aston Villa apprentice keeper said:
"I think we gave a real good account of ourselves and showed we can compete against sides from a very good level. Anyone watching that wouldn't have seen much between the two sides. We were probably having our best period when they scored their second - those are the margins. Saying that, we still didn't give up and came back at them again."
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