On Sunday our walking footballers stepped in at short notice to help out our friends from Canterbury in a training tournament prior to a competition in the Algarve.
It was a very unfamiliar scenario for us. The game was a five-a-side, three touch competition held in the long grass of a rugby pitch and it took us a while to come to terms with the conditions and very different rules from our usual games.
We took players mainly from our Over-60’s squad to this Over-50’s tournament and soon the fitness levels began to show.
We started off against Canterbury Atlantics, the eventual tournament winners, and were unlucky to lose 2-1 as we tried to get used to the new rules as well as pitch conditions. Gordon Ramsey was our scorer.
In our second game against Canterbury Pacific, we looked much better and were unlucky to only come away with a 0-0 draw. The Canterbury goalkeeper performed heroics throughout the game.
In our last two games, we met the top clubs from East Kent. We were holding Bay City Strollers well for three-quarters of the game but an outstanding goal gave them a lead and and loss of footing on the uneven pitch led to a couple of goals right at the end giving the Strollers a flattering 3-0 win in what they described as a very unfair result.
Knowing that we had no chance of success in this tournament we moved onto meet East Kent League champions Woodnesborough. The game started with Gordon Ramsey scoring after a few seconds and from then on we had total control and with another goal from Gordon and one from Steve Rice we ended up 3-0 winners.
Prior to starting the new league season in September, we have one more tournament at our old friends Eastbourne. We’re looking forward to meeting up with them again for another enjoyable day’s competition.
Report from Glyn Hollands
