TIGERS PAY HEAVY PENALTY

Tigers travelled to top of the table Windsor & Eton and after a first 45 minutes spent on the wrong side of the referee's whistle, came back up the M4 with broken hearts. The margin of defeat was worse than the boys deserved but they paid heavily for poor finishing and sloppy passing.
On a large, bumpy and muddy pitch, the first half was fairly even. Tigers had two early chances to open the scoring, leading scorer Gabe Sinclair missing the target as he tried to chip the keeper and Ned Davies forced a good save. Windsor were struggling to get through the Tigers' midfield and on the odd occasions that they did, the Tigers defence was equal to it. But the visitors did begin to lose the referee's favour by putting in unnecessary and illegal challenges. Two in quick succession inside the Windsor half saw Kobe Sabado receive a yellow card in the 17th minute. There were possibly others who were lucky not to join him as the half progressed but when left-back Sadoon Kassab slid in to clear a through ball the referee was quick to point to the penalty spot. No one on the Windsor side appealed as their player tripped over Kassab sometime after the ball was played but the referee was adamant that the defender had gone in "airborne" leaving him no alternative but to point to the spot. The penalty was despatched with aplomb and the home side were 1-0 up inside 20 minutes.
Tigers played some good football, Frazer Pickrell and Jabir Ahmed making life particularly difficult for Windsor in midfield while Alex Carter seemed to be enjoying his new role at the centre of the defence. Up front, Tigers were struggling to get into shooting positions, and George Lee had one of his least influential days in a Hearts shirt.
Things quickly unravelled after half-time. Louis Liddiard replaced Sabado, taking over the right side to enable Sinclair to play a more central role in attack. Within 4 minutes, Windsor doubled their lead with an attack that simply over-ran Tigers. Windsor were regularly rotating four substitutes and Tigers began to struggle to retain possession and momentum. As has been observed so many times this season, Tigers always struggled to win the second ball, on too many occasions simply not challenging at all. Passes appeared to be rather more "hit and hope" than delivered with purpose; Davies was being well-marshalled on the left and there was very little progress on the right. Sabado returned to lead the attack, Sinclair's return to the flank adding a little more jeopardy but there was nothing in the way of goal-threat. Rufus Biggs was constantly under pressure as Windsor focussed their attack on his flank but it was from a set-piece that Windsor put the result beyond doubt as Tigers failed to offer any aerial challenge.
As the game moved into the last quarter, the floodgates seemed ready to open. Windsor appeared to have scored but the ball bounced back into play from a support structure just inside the post. Joe Wallis was called on to make two excellent saves and Windsor's centre-forward headed onto the bar. Eventually they did get the fourth goal and Tigers were well beaten. Windsor exposed Tigers defence in the second half and the midfield battleground heavily tilted in the home team's favour too. On a more groomed surface Tigers may have got a better outcome. To most observers it appeared that the game turned on two early missed opportunities and a poor penalty decision. Fine margins make a huge difference.