TIGERS TEN TOPPLED

Tigers suffered yet another frustrating defeat, again down to a lack of players rather than the opponents' superiority. With Louis Liddiard dropping out half an hour before kick-off, Tigers faced Trophy Finalists Wargrave with just 11 players, and Rufus Biggs already struggling with illness. As the latter only survived until half-time, and Wolves had a regular rotation of two substitutes, ten-man Tigers did their very best under difficult circumstances.
Wargrave play a mature brand of football, moving the ball around a back four with confidence and a number of very confident finishers. They established a lead in the 7th minute with a solid finish having over-run the Tigers' midfield. Tigers played their way back into contention with an excellent piece of persistence from Kobe Sabado earning him a goal. Tigers should have taken the lead when an effort from Ned Davies was pushed out by the keeper and Gabe Sinclair turned home the rebound, only for the linesman to race his flag for offside. It was a seminal moment as, from the resultant free-kick, Wargrave went straight up the other end to re-establish the lead.
Tigers battled away, particularly through Alex Carter and George Lee who re-established Tigers foothold in midfield. As half-time approached, Sabado looked up to see the Wolves keeper off his line and floated home the equaliser from 25 yards out.
Biggs, who had battled hard at right back, was withdrawn at half-time and Sinclair dropped back to try to match the pace of the Wolves wide men. It generated a great battle until the Wolves flyer was withdrawn with some 15 minutes remaining.
It was difficult to see that Wolves had a player advantage. Frazer Pickrell was breaking up the visitors' midfield as Alex Rustomji and Sadoon Kassab grew in confidence. The Wolves keeper was caused into action several times as Davies, Lee and Sabado posed problems. Joe Wallis pulled off an excellent save when the visitors' striker broke through but he dropped the ball on the next attack on 56 minutes and Wolves took the lead. Six minutes later a mix up at the centre of the defence allowed a Wargrave midfielder to run onto the ball and a finish that would have graced any match put this one beyond doubt.
Tigers continued to battle hard and Toby Chilvers managed his defence very well to make sure Tigers didn't implode. Sabado continued to trouble the Wolves goal and Pickrell saw his effort go narrowly wide. Lee and Davies continued to work hard but Wolves were exploiting the overload of numbers. Whilst they weren't creating many goalscoring opportunities, Wargrave were finding space to play out from the back and through midfield. Eventually a fifth goal arrived which somewhat flattered the Berkshire side. Tigers may have been out but they weren't down. Star man Kobe Sabado created space to feed George Lee and the team's top scorer added to his tally.
It was a disappointing result for Tigers who would have expected to do much better with a full compliment. Wargrave Wolves will have their sights on a third place finish and a Trophy final victory. Tigers have two more opportunities to confirm an 8th place finish.