Cullompton Rangers 0, Tipton St John 1

Div 1

Tipton went into this game on the back of some poor performances and results in recent weeks but returned to playing well as a team and put in a much more satisfactory performance against a good Rangers side, writes Richard Williams.

Both teams matched each other in the first 20 minutes without creating a clear chance but Tipton’s teamwork paid off on 21 minutes when they put together a fine move out of defence and ended up wide left with Jody Freeman who played a fine ball inside to Ash Small on the edge of the area.

He controlled the ball well before shooting low into the bottom far corner of the net to give Tipton the lead.

Cullompton had their first clear chance on 33 minutes when the ball fell to their striker in the area. He turned well and hit a fine shot which hit the post and rebounded back into play. They had another chance four minutes into added on time at the end of the half when they were given a soft free kick on the left from which one of their players headed just wide.

The second half continued in a similar vein with Tipton playing some fine football without creating any clear cut chances and with both teams cancelling each other out.

There was an astonishing 12 minutes of added on time at the end of the game but, in spite of this, Cullompton were unable to create a clear chance against a fine Tipton defence and the game ended in a deserved victory for Tipton.

There were joint Men of the Match for Tipton, the honour being shared by centre back James Gosney for a dominant defensive effort and left back Kevin Sexton for a great effort both in defence and attacking along the left wing.