A Win for the Tipton Ten at Studley

Nice touch to give the lino a private beach (and well done Studley for getting the game on)

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 31 December 2011 at The Beehive
Result	Studley 1 Tipton Town 3
Competition	Midland Alliance (Step 5)
Hopping	Second game of the day after the dramatic finish at Bloxwich United earlier – see previous post for details.
This match in one sentence
A day to forget for Studley as they missed a penalty with the scores level and then failed to capitalise when Tipton went down to ten men.
So what?
Studley are 15th and Tipton Town are 6th in the division.
The drama unfolds
Tipton Town had the first chance of the game and Craig Bannister pinged the post while I was still interviewing a cheeseburger.  (It passed.)  Studley’s new keeper Richard Taylor was soon in meaningful action again, saving low to his right as the visitors looked more likely to score.  My scene-setting clip, from 27 minutes, actually starts with the handball decision and the penalty kick that gave Tipton a deserved lead.  Dave Bate is the scorer.  Studley are in blue.  0-1 A super tackle by a Studley forward tracking back was needed to stop a direct run from the Tipton midfield, and then a home centre-back made an acrobatic clearance.  Then, somewhat against the run-of-play, Studley got to the other end and another penalty was awarded for handball.  Here it is (from a distance).  Chris Collins is beaten by Lei Brown.  1-1 The officials were coming under constant pressure and yellow cards were traded after a minor altercation.  The Tipton player was Mitch Plows and his caution was for his retaliation after a bad tackle.  The ref, however, always presented an image of calm control and from a neutral’s perspective I thought he handled the occasion well.  The visiting fans in particular would not agree!  There were no other goals before the interval.  1-1 at half-time There was another big shout by Tipton for a penalty (nailed-on handball, the Black Country fans would say in a nod to their industrial heritage) before the third spot-kick of the game was awarded … to Studley a few minutes later, after 58.  However, keeper Collins did his job in saving from Brown this time, as the clip shows. Tipton then lost Plows to a second yellow card for a tackle within two minutes, so home optimism was renewed, as was visiting disdain for the officials.  Studley did not reckon on a route one goal from Tipton’s impressive Nathan Waite after 67 minutes.  He controlled the ball well and got into a shooting position.  Taylor got a hand to it, but it curled in just inside the post.  1-2 The ten men had just over 20 minutes to survive, and they started to come under pressure.  Shouts of “Don’t give up!” echoed among the home side’s players.  Tipton brought on an extra (and sizeable) defender and re-organised, and I have two more short clips from the closing moments as Studley pressed (and I was wandering round towards the exit, as the positioning shows!). From one attack, a clearance fell to Tipton substitute Leigh Downing just beyond half way and he rode his luck to advance and smack in an insult-to-injury goal as we entered stoppage time.  1-3 Incredibly, there was still time for Studley to hit the bar with the final action of the game.  It was not their day.  Final score 1-3 Acknowledgement to Tipton Town website for assistance in identifying players' names.  Apologies that I have picked up fewer Studley names but I will work on this and will amend the post as details become available.
Man-of-the-Match
The Chris Collins' penalty save was a turning point but Nathan Waite’s goal just earns him this arbitrary honour today.
A snippet from the programme
I shall sulk about the fact that an interesting article about the career of Ossie Ardiles makes no mention of his Wembley promotion play-off win in 1992-3 as manager of West Bromwich Albion that led to the team returning to the second tier, and earned him the chance to manage Tottenham Hotspur.  I’d forgotten that the Falklands conflict had brought about a loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain in 1982-3. It’s a double-header programme (for which the editor apologises, but it’s understandable!) and I will pinch one of the questions from “Chris’s Quiz Time” for your entertainment.  Name the six football league teams with North, South, East or West in their name.  (Answer below!)
Something Random
Hereford & Worcester had the highest per capita concentration of Yapps in the 19th century censuses.  I have managed to trace my own ancestral line to the county, but sadly I cannot yet prove any link to the Yapps who delivered the milk in Studley in the 1950s.
What Next?
As things turned out, an aborted trip to Colwyn Bay on New Year’s Day, but I am still hoping that something or somethings local will survive for Bank Holiday Monday.

Quiz Q answer: Northampton Town, Preston North End, Southampton, Southend United, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham.