AFC Wulfrunians v Tipton Town
A meeting between these two sides is always to be anticipated as both play a game pleasing to the eye. Wulfrunians have had an exceptional first season in the Midland Alliance and have a superior set-up at Castlecroft while Tipton are old hands in this league and are consolidating following a management change in the previous close season.
The idea that you make your possession and pressure pay was never more evident than in the first half with Wulfs dominating play and Town struggling to put anything significant together. Time and again Wulfs were quicker to the second ball and in fairness could and maybe should have been 3 goals to the good way before half-time but they paid the price for not putting chances to bed when Town took the lead on 41 minutes, the scorer having plenty of time and space. Pemberton in the visitors goal played no small part in denying Wulfs their just rewards.
Blowing my own trumpet ; minutes before Town' goal I said to my mate 'Wulfs are going to pay for these missed chances'.
Half-time ; AFC Wulfrunians 0 Tipton Town 1
The second half was almost a complete change. The pace and trickery of Nisbett and Kinch was much more to the fore and it wasn't long before Tipton were three goals to the good. The introduction of Hadley had an almost immediate impact when receiving the ball on the left he cut in, danced around two defenders and put the ball away. A superb goal,he doesn't seem to do ordinary ! For a time it looked like Town may be running away with the game but all credit to Wulfrunians as they got stuck into the visitors and were rewarded with a goal towards the end of the match.
The first half was nothing to write home about but was more than made up for with an exciting full-blooded second half; full-blooded enough for a member of the Wulfrunian management to be sent off. He, along with many home spectators were not happy with some of the decisions given. As a purely neutral observer I didn't see too many wrong decisions but spectators see refereeing decisions through different eyes. Example: Wulfrunian forward racing towards goal harried by a Town defender but staying on his feet. The home crowd screamed for a penalty which was not given. I saw that as the correct decision as the player stayed on his feet until the last possible moment. If he had gone to ground at the first touch by the defender a penalty would probably have been given.
This eventually evolved into a good game and Wulfrunians can justifiably feel hard done by especially when judge on their outstanding first-half performance but they were undone by a fast-improving Tipton side which saw a superb display by their number 3 who hardly put a foot wrong throughout the game(apologies for not knowing his name)
Apologies for the poor photograph quality.
Click on a pic to enlarge
Result AFC Wulfrunians 1 Tipton Town 3
Entrance ; £3(concession)
Programme ; N/a
Drink ; £1
Crowd ; 71
Referee ; Ok
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