Middlesex Over 65's Festival

On Monday morning it was looking like we would have to pull one team out of the final session at Bannister's due to players dropping out. However, with a few phone calls and emails by Tuesday morning we had two reasnobly strong squads of seven players, but no recognised keepers.

The weather was perfect for football with blue skies and a slight wind.  Our Dark Blue squad kicked off the morning's proceedings with a game against RIP Muswell Hill.  We bossed possesion from kick off and created some good chances. However, a stray foot into the box from Andy Smith, gave them a penalty. Fortunately, their striker put it wide of the target to a huge sigh of relief from 'Smudger'.  Mick Stanbridge then opened the scoring, latching onto a loose ball from their defence, and from a tight angle buried the ball into the top corner. We continued to press and from distance Mike Stanbridge scored a second with a wicked swerving shot which the keeper couldn't hold. 2-0 the final score.

Next up was Vintage Watford and again we dominated possesion and another typical Stanbridge 'turn and shot' opened the scoring. Playing some lovely football with confidence, we scored our second goal. A shot from Steve Manly nestled into the bottom corner after a lovely move. 2-0 the final score. Inter RIP Muswell Hill were our next opponents and a well worked free kick opened the scoring from midfield dynamo Steve Manly.  Manly was again on the score sheet, which ended a lovely passage of play, this time with a well placed shot with his left foot!  So far, three clean sheets from keeper John Cahillane with a defence marshalled by Steve Buckey aided by Brian Kemp and Andy Smith.

The final game ironically was against Hive Foundation (Barnet WFC), who we play in the WFA National Cup on Friday 15th May.  These games are always tough, as they have several international players at their disposal. However, it was a blistering shot from Dave Marsh, which the keeper couldn't hold (in fact his hands are still burning) that we opened the scoring, with Mick Stanbridge firing the loose ball into the roof of the net.  Hive Foundation continued to press and eventually found the equaliser with a shot from distance. 1-1 at half time with the game begining to get a bit feisty.

Unfortunately a lapse in concentration finally caught us out and a well taken shot from the edge of the box from one of their internationals, saw them take the lead. 2-1 the final score.  It will be a different game on Friday!!!

So we finished with three wins and an unfortunate loss - not a bad day in the office.

Squad: John Cahillane, Steve Buckey. Steve Manly, Brian Kemp, Andy Smith, Dave Marsh, Mick Stanbridge

Our Pale Blue squad started their day against Inter RIP Muswell Hill and a hard fought game ended 1-1, with a lovely worked free kick taken by Ken Rose for John Lewis to level the score. A very strong Watford side were next up and considering our keeper, Brian Petrie is 84 years young, we did well to keep the score to 3-0 at half time.  Brian made some great saves in the second half and although we left everything on the 4G we couldn't get trough their well drilled defence. 3-0 the final score.

Cedars were next up, and again these games are always hard fought and with the players we had available, we put up a good fight, with Dave Chalkwright, Barry Lustigman, (skippering the side for the first time) and Lisa Willocks competing for every ball. 3-0 to Cedars was a little harsh. Special mention to Tony Marenghi, who stepped up to play for us for the first time - hopefully it won't be the last!

The final game was against Bee Stingers, another team from Barnet and this was another hard fought game with few chances. Again Brian Petrie made some great saves and the game ended in a well earned 0-0 draw.

The lads and Lisa looked absolutely shattered at the end of this game having played four tough teams and coming away with a creditable two draws and two losses. Another decent day in the office.

Squad: Brian Petrie, Ken Rose, John Lewis, Dave Chalkwright, Tony Marenghi, Lisa Willocks, Barry Lustigman.