Middlesex Over 65's Festival

The first session of the friendly Over 65's tournament held at Bannister's Sports Centre took place on Tuesday 13th October and as usual it always seems to rain on these occasions and the weather didn't disappoint to start with, although it did turn out ot be a sunny, if not windy session.  As usual we had two squads as this friendly tournament gives new players and those who don't play competitive football, the chance to expereince tournament football. However, it has become increasingly obvious that some teams only come to win at all cost and therefore they send their strongest sqauds which really isn't what this tournament is about in our opinion. Nevertheless, we gave it a good go and left everything on the 4G.

Our Dark Blue squad started with a game without a recognised keeper against RIP WFC. Bryan Coulson making his debut took his turn in goal and only a last minute goal meant a narrow 1-0 defeat. Cedars were next up and another hard fought game saw the game end 0-0, thanks to some great defending from Nigel Walker and Barry Lustigman. John Lewis and Dave Chalkwright in midfield were working well without creating many clear cut chances for debut striker Maurice Wagenfield.

Bumble Bees provided another stiff test especially when Lustigman had to be replaced having been knocked out by a powerful shot to the chin. Lisa Willocks did well and contributed to the team when she came on. However, a speculative shot from distance wrong footed Brian Petrie, taking his turn in goal, meant the game ended in a another narrow 1-0 loss.

The final game was against Watford Vintage and although we had probably the better of the chances the game ended 0-0.

Squad: Barry Lustigman, Maurice Wagenfield, Nigel Walker, John Lewis, Dave Chalkwright, Brian Petrie, Lisa Willocks, Bryan Coulson.

Our Red squad, sporting our new red kit, started the day with a game against initially four man Cedars. They were soon up to a full compliment, just before Mick Stanbridge with his signature 'quick turn and shot' opened the scoring from a tight angle. In the second half a powerful shot from Andy Balshaw was too hot for their keeper to handle and Stanbridge scored our second, reacting quickly to the rebound. 2-0 the final score. London Irish were next up and it was quite a physical game with both sides playing some great football. Steve Buckey in goal was superb making some great saves and keeping us in the game. Had the referee played advantage, instead of too quickly blowing for a foul, we would have won the game as the well worked move saw Stanbridge find the back of the net again, only for it to be disallowed. 0-0 the final score.  Our next game against a very strong Watford side was a good game and the result does not reflect the many chances we had, including Standbridge and Balshaw both hitting the woodwork. Cliff Leat our ever dependable defender marshalled the defence well together with Ken Rose, but with just three shots on target it was enough to give Watford a 3-0 win. Frustrating result, but that's football!  Our final game was against Watford Vintage and we started the game really well. Dave Rose on the right was putting in a shift and a lovely move through the middle, saw Mike Wood score the opener with a powerful left foot shot beating the keeper and breaking the net!  The second half started in a similar vein and the move of the match, which started at the back with a lovely ball from Leat to Balshaw on the left, who found Stanbridge who then slipped the ball to Wood to finish with a neat shot from the edge of the box saw us take a 2-0 lead and we were coasting. The was the problem, our concentration and game management went astray and towards the end of the game, we gave away two sloppy goals to end the game 2-2.

Squad: Steve Buckey, Cliff Leat, Ken Rose, Andy Balshaw, Mike Wood, Mick Stanbridge, Dave Rose, Andy Smith

All in all not a bad performance from both squads considering the opposition and lessons learnt for the next session in November.