Saturday June 27th saw the Tippinators matched up against, arguably the strongest team in the league, Halifax City United (HCU). The Tipps knew that to have any chance, every player would need their best performance of the season. The team once again came out flat, giving up five points after trading points to start the game. Calling a time out to get the players together for a pep talk paid dividends. The Tipps started a small rally to end the first half 6-3 in favour of Halifax.
Tippinators success continued into the second half as the team pulled to within one point of Halifax. Halifax came back to life scoring back to back, but a run of penalties killed the momentum.
Due to a technical error, the horn blew just as the Tippinators were closing out a point against Halifax with five minutes remaining in the second half. The horn stopped the game, and denied the Tippinators the point.
Tippinators dug deep, battled back, and erased the Halifax City United lead, scoring three unanswered points as time wound down. The team made a strong push with 32 seconds remaining but time expired before a flag hang.
Final score Halifax City United 9, Tippinators 8. The league commissioner apologized profusely for the earlier error; however, the technical error was the deciding factor in the game. This error cost the team a tie and a much needed point in the league standings.
Buoyed by the success against Halifax, the Tippinators went into their Sunday match against a powerful Halifax Mercs team, confident that their team spirit and system of play used successfully against HCU would continue.
Sunday’s match started the same as Saturday. The Tippinators found themselves down 5-1, and killing a major penalty, more than half way through the first half. Another time out, and pep talk, motivated the team to score two unanswered points and kill the penalty before the end of the half.
The team was disheartened that, just before the end of the half the referee deemed bunker rub a hit, and disallowed a point.
Still unhappy about the disallowed point, the Tipps came out in the second half trading points with the Mercs before going on a run or three consecutive scores as time expired.
After a pitched battle, right down to the end, the final score Tippinators 8, Halifax Mercs 8.
Tippinators confidence is high, even though only one point was taken away from the weekend. The team knows their system will work against the best in the league as they prepare for event 3 in July.
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