TOMMY'S mangerial debut ended as in defeat as the Nomads were this week on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline.

Both defences controlled the game in the first half; Pedro's shot inches wide of the right hand post was the closest the reds would come to scoring as the first 45 ended 0-0. A far cry from the previous meeting between these sides which had ended 7-5.

The Nomads confidence was dented early on in the second half as Royal took a 2-0 lead, both goals coming as the stiker latched onto long balls. After around?5 minutes, Matt woke from his slumbers. As he ran into the box with the ball he was rugby tackled for a certain pen which Dave cooly dispatched. The two goal deficit was soon restored, though as a Royal player tucked away a volley from a tight angle - again picking up a long ball. The Nomads rallyed and Matt got another goal back, his excellent piece of miscontrol confused his marker and he shot home from inside the box.

I can only assume that sevaral of the Wallasey Royal players are butchers by trade, with most of the Nomads team discovering the local speciality of fine cuts of shin. The ref put three or four Royal names in his book, although it was mystifying that none were punished with a red card. Both Mark's also saw yellow for politely questioning the man in black on this issue.

We had a lot of momentum at 3-2 down and could easily have equalised if it wasn't for some poor finishing. The goalscorers Matt and Dave were each guilty of hitting shots off target during the closing stages and ultimatelty this was the difference between the two sides. Lee didn't have a save to make but Royal took all 3 of their chances.

New manager Tommy was too disapointed to give a post match press conference but would have said "Crap finishing. We need to win these sort of games if we want that Eurpoean place. Extra finishing training tomorrow."