Thames Valley WFL Over 70's

The weather was absolutely perfect for a game of football on Thursday 1st October at the National Sports Centre, Bisham Abbey. This is the first League Tournament that our Over 70's have competed in and so far its going pretty well.

Due to holidays, we had a couple of players missing from today's squad but with Alastair Greene turning 70 the week before we were able to add to our already more than capable squad.

Our day started with a game against unknown quantity Bicester, as they didn't turn up for the last round of matches. It was a steady game with us bossing possesion and having plenty of chances, four of which fell to our striker Bernie Biggerstaff. Steve Beament in goal made two first class saves and Alastair Greene, making his debut for the squad hit the post with a lovely side from distance, but it was our captian for the day Mike Wood, who with a quick turn and shot scored the only goal. 1-0 the final score. Next up was Gerrads Cross and again it was a tight affair and a lapse of concentration towards the end of the game saw them take the lead with a shot from a very tight angle. 0-1 the final score.  Almost straight away with no real break we faced top of the league Bracknell Town. These games are always tough and in the last session, they gave us a lesson in how to play walking football.  Spurred on by this rivalry, we took the game to them and Greene once again hit the post and bar. Brian Kemp who was superb in the centre of midlfield also hit the bar from a lovely worked free kick. John Lewis playing out of position at the heart of our defence, kept their prolific goal scorer to zero chances.  However, with the clock ticking down Kemp followed through from his own rebounded shot and scored with a superbly taken shot from a tight angle. 1-0 the final score and revenge was sweet!

Maidenhead Utd were next up and once again we dominated possesion with Maidenhead having only wayward long range shots which didn't trouble Beament.  Midfield were playing some lovely once touch football to feet and on two similar occasions a 'give and go' between Kemp and Wood saw Wood score two well worked goals. Watch out for them on MOTD!

After a lengthy break and a well earned rest, our final game was against Oxford Utd. A game of few chances really with neither side troubling the keepers and so it ended in a not surprising stalemate. 0-0 the final score.

So, all in all another superb solid performance from the lads with three wins, a draw and a loss. This puts us second in the League just 1 point behind Woodley WFC (who we didn't play today) and four points in front of Bracknell Town.

Squad: Steve Beament, John Lewis, Alastair Greene, Brian Kemp, Bernie Biggerstaff, Mike Wood, Andy Smith