Nine-Man Tulips Succumb Eventually At Morpeth Town

The second-half dismissals of Rudy Misambo and James Cullingworth gave the league-leading hosts an advantage they duly took...

For an hour the visiting Tulips, still threatened with the possibility of relegation, stood toe-to-toe with their supposedly imperious table-topping hosts Morpeth Town and up until the 60th minute with the game goalless all looked optimistic for a surprising, potentially vital, share of the spoils.

All that changed when first Rudy Misambo received his marching orders after the accumulation of two yellow cards, followed shorty afterwards by midfielder James Cullingworth (pictured): both dismissals it has to be said were harsh according to Tulips' management and, loyal as Mssrs Easton/Thorogood/Don-Duncan certainly are, one is tempted to trust their always fair and honest assessment.

Goals by Joe Walton (62 mins), hugely unfortunate Tulips' custodian Michael Duggan (70 mins - the ball cannoning back off the bar onto his noggin and into an unguarded net) and the talismanic Sean Taylor (85 mins) gave something of a lopsided sheen to the margin of victory and all reports suggest the Tulips gave a grand account of themselves until the unfortunate reduction of troops.

With no fixture this upcoming weekend (Saturday 9th March), the Tulips will train in readiness for their next fixture, away at Tadcaster Albion on Saturday 16th March (KO: 3.00pm).

Results across the nine other NPL Evo-Stik East Division fixtures taking place this weekend might yet see Matt Easton's charges slip from their current 16th position; such downward mobility is unlikley to affect confidence in the camp as recent performances have been impressive, but it will focus everyone on the task in hand across the remaining eight games of the season as the group prepares to scrap for every point that will (hopefully) yet secure Step Four football at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field in 2019/20...