Tipton Two Lets Them Tiptoe into Round 4

Child labour is still practised in the Black Country

Hopperational details
Wednesday 13 October 2010 at the Tipton Sports Academy, Tipton Town 2 Radcliffe Olympic 0 in an FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round replay.  Match attended in the company of younger brother Martyn, known elsewhere in a self-explanatory way as @BlurredBirding.


This match in one sentence
A comfortable enough win, with a goal in each half for the home side after the visitors missed several decent opportunities in the first 45 minutes.


So what?
Tipton Town of step 5 head off to Sheffield of step 4 in the next round, and Radcliffe Olympic bow out with honour as the side from step 6 to last longest in the competition this season.


Who caught the eye on the pitch?
Tipton’s #9 Jozsef Jakab was calm and composed in the area as he scored the second goal, effectively ending the game as a contest.  However, Martyn and I agreed that their #3 Ross Brown was noticeable for some nice technical touches.  In addition to defensive duties, he was often the outlet for a pass followed by a cross, and his dummy runs from rehearsed corner routines almost led to a first half goal.  No-one really stood out for us on the Radcliffe side on this occasion.


This match had the same effect on my pulse rate as … 
… finding out that Ermintrude from the Magic Roundabout obtained a court injunction this morning to veto my half-time purchase of a beefburger. 


A snippet from the programme

John Hill (Manager, Tipton Town) referring to the previous Saturday’s 3-3 draw between these sides:
“We had previously had Radcliffe watched on two separate occasions so went into the game with a fair bit of knowledge about our opponents.  But the beauty of football is that obviously scouting reports are a vital part of the game but when your opponents turn up and each and every one of them are totally committed to the cause then at times scouting reports can go out the window.”


What I learned today
… if ever I am driving along in the Black Country and I see Martyn approaching in a van from any direction, I should get out of the way immediately and preferably hide behind something solid.


Modus Hopper Random Talking Point
Stadia with running tracks just never seem to have the same atmosphere.  Not a discussion point really, they just don’t.  West Ham fans should be very concerned about any move into an unmodified Olympic venue.