Results - 11 & 12 November

Results from the weekend...

MEN'S 1 won 8-3 at home to Panthers (Leicester) 1

Goals: Owen Arthur, Sam Evans (3), Will Feavyour, Alex Hammant, Cian Kirke & Ben Sleeman

Player of the Match: Cian Kirke

MEN'S 2 lost 1-9 away to Northampton Saints 3

Goal: Elliot Roper

Player of the Match: Richard Parr

MEN'S 3 lost 3-4 away to Rugby & East Warwickshire 6

Goals: Josh Osborne & Martyn Wilkinson (2)

Player of the Match: George Smith

The 3s fought hard against Rugby in a very close match but lost 4-3 in the end. Rugby were always ahead but we kept coming back to stay in the game. 

Martyn Wilkinson scored our first goal to make it 2-1 at half time. Martyn scored again along with Josh Osborne in the second half but Rugby also scored 2 to take the win. Even with no subs we finished very strong and came close to pulling it back in the last 15 mins. 

Player of the Match goes to George Smith for covering so much ground and giving everything.

MEN'S 4 lost 0-3 at home to Melton 3

Great performance today! With all starting outfield players aged between 13-15 years old today.

WOMEN'S 1 lost 2-3 at home to Nuneaton 1

Goals: Charlie James (2)

Player of the Match: Vicky Christodoulou

Really good hard fought battle. Shame about the final result but lots of good passing round the pitch, with a couple of goals from shorts.

WOMEN'S 2 drew 1-1 at home to Leicester City 5

Goal: Bronwyn Wood

Player of the Match: Alice Wright Evans

MEN'S O40s lost 8-13 away to Barford Tigers O40s

Goals: Richard Parr (2), Rob Smith (3) & Tom Whitehouse (3)

Dusting off his little black book Rob Smith conjured up a Men’s over 40’s Veteran’s team and this is the tale of their first game.

So, with apple watches set to call ambulances when pulse rates went through the roof, the eleven of us (mind you the old Rob would have got a couple of subs) sallied forth from Harborough to play Barford Tigers in the EH Men’s O40 cup competition. There was a degree of apprehension beforehand and not since Ali Dia pulled on the No 33 shirt for Southampton have as many eyebrows been raised at the announcement that the starting line-up had The Don at left wing.

No matter, the game commenced and seemed to settle into the rhythm of a fight in a Marvel film where both sides kept landing punches with no definitive outcome. I mean the good guy seemed to have the upper hand, but the bad guy wouldn’t go down and kept knocking the hero over from time to time to keep it interesting – we are the bad guys in this poorly thought-out metaphor by the way.

At half time we were down 7-3 and changes had to be made. Dave Littlewood and The Don were pulled back into defence and Richard Parr and myself were pushed forward with the result that we now had some pace up front and at one stage we nearly caught up with the opposition. However, the lack of pace at the back and the fact that they had 5 subs ultimately meant that it was death by rolling subs and Barford Tigers ran out 13-8 winners whilst we mainly ran out of puff.

Creditable mentions should go to Pixie for his 3 goals and Ricko getting 2. Rob Smith also got a brace and rounded it off with a loose shot outside his off-stump to get his hat-trick. He will big it up no doubt but in much the same way the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado – mark my words, his far post waft will cause widespread coastal flooding in the Lower Mekong Basin. It will have global implications and therefore he should be actively discouraged from talking about it – you have been warned.

All in all, a good day all round and as we drove home the potential banana skin of winning the first match had been avoided which means we’re in the plate competition with a greater chance of progressing … but at one stage in the second half it was looking like an upset was on the cards – chuckle.

At the time of writing there was only one DoD nomination (Rob for picking Lee Gaterell) and one MoM nomination, the citation reading ‘MoM to Gary P for being twice the player he used to be.’ I should have stayed retired for longer, imagine how good I’d be then!