Things Looking Up for Tigers

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 15 April 2014 at Avenue Park
Result	London Tigers 4 Tring Athletic 0
Competition	South Midlands League Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	First of 2014 after a work-enforced break, making #530 on the lifetime list and all current grounds now completed for this division.
Pre-match preparation
Both teams safe from relegation and with no chance of promotion.  Mid-table clash.  Interesting stuff in the programme (other than a full-page warning about the colour of sock tape) - the Tigers' former coach (Giorgi Minashvilli) is now coaching Dynamo Tbilisi in Georgia and there are several former players around the top leagues in Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Libya, Norway and Sweden (not forgetting the Conference South).
This match in one sentence
Tring never recovered from going two goals down in three minutes.
So what?
Tigers are 13th, three points and three places behind Tring.
The drama unfolds
Tigers pounced in the very first minute.  There were protests for offside as Pedro Cotelo and his day-glo yellow boots seemed to have forever to get the ball under control and shoot.  I wasn’t in line, but the lino seemed well-positioned and I see no reason to argue.  1-0 after 1 min Cotelo again had plenty of time to fire in a second at the near post within two minutes.  Shocking start for Tring.  2-0 after 3 mins I took my scene-setter clip with the score at 2-0. The visitors wasted a free header but gradually clawed themselves back into the game. Then a superb weighted pass inside the full-back allowed Cotelo to turn provider as he squared the ball across goal to be turned in by Jabir Laraba.  3-0 after 26 mins A Tring freekick was beaten away by Tigers’ keeper Jamie Adim, and it appeared that Tigers were not going to lose a lead in the style of West Bromwich Albion.  This incident saw the first booking for dissent.  Cotelo also picked one up later on to spoil an otherwise excellent evening.  3-0 at half-time Sadly, the only Mars on offer was the real red planet.  Any neutrals in the sparse crowd would want a strong start to the second half from Tring.  It wasn’t to be – a goalbound attempt was superbly cleared off the line after six minutes of effort, and soon afterwards Tigers added a fourth on the break through Omar El-Bakkali.  4-0 after 54 mins With the result no longer in doubt, I turned my attention skywards and the second clip features the International Space Station (the bright moving dot which passed over west to east on schedule at 9.03pm), the Moon (you’d recognise it anywhere), Mars (a bright dot up and a bit to the right of the Moon) and then, after a swivel, Jupiter (as another bright dot above the trees).  The match then rather petered out, and Tring would be glad to hear the final whistle on a forgettable evening for them.  Final score 4-0 Another win for Tigers in 2013 A better night for Tring back in 2010 Other Hops around the South Midlands Premier
Ground Pix
Match Pix
Huddle Stats
Tigers huddled briefly but effectively, Tring didn’t. Huddlers go top. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Huddlers 13 5 4 4 13 9 19 1.46 Non-Huddlers 22 9 3 10 31 35 30 1.36 Twin Huddlers 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Tigers had a grey-clad keeper who ended up with a clean sheet.  The blue-clad Tring keeper has let in four goals. 2013-14 Summary so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Red 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 8.00 Grey 10 6 2 2 9 5 36 3.60 Green 7 3 0 4 8 2 11 1.57 Yellow 4 1 1 2 8 1 1 0.25 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Pink 5 1 3 1 10 0 -4 -0.80 Radioactive Bile 3 1 0 2 6 0 -3 -1.00 Blue 3 0 1 2 6 0 -5 -1.67
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!