An Angels Walking Football squad covering our full 50 to Over 65 age group took part in an invitational Over 50’s tournament at the Black Prince Community Trust in Vauxhall on Saturday. The temperature reached 92°, but it didn’t stop our guys bringing home the trophy despite meeting younger age group teams throughout the tournament.
It didn’t look great 10 seconds into the first game when we went 1-0 behind to Pimlico but the new mix of players soon found their rhythm and game plan and a response from tournament debutant Gary Humphrey brought us level. From then on we looked very strong with Martin Brindley and Andy Goodall giving us a 4-2 win.
Our second game was against Lambeth Walkers who bought an over 40s team to the competition. Clearly fitter and faster than any of the other teams another goal from Gary Humphrey secured a 1-1 draw, the only point Lambeth dropped in the group stages.
We needed to win our final group game to be assured of a semi final spot. We were very quickly 2-0 down to Downham, a team who had beaten us in the semi finals of the Millwall tournament earlier in the season. The Angels were not to be denied and a long period of our trademark possession football finally brought rewards and a 3-2 win with goals coming from Graham Smith, Andy Goodall and Gary Humphrey.
This took us into the semi-final against Paddington, another team who had defeated us at the Millwall tournament. But revenge is sweet and we came away with a 5-0 victory with goals from Karl ‘Grinner’ Day, Martin Brindley, and a Gary Humphrey hat trick.
In the final, we met Chelsea. They are highly respected London Walking Football team with a great record and operating out of Stamford Bridge with the backing of the main club. But we were not to be out done by that and a strong start gave us a 2-0 lead Gary Humphrey and Martin Brindley, the scorers. Just after half time, Chelsea reduced the arrears and started to put on the pressure. A breakaway goal by Graham Smith gave us a 3-1 lead but Chelsea pulled it back to 3-2 within the last five minutes. It was a nerve racking time but a superb pass out of defence by Grinner left Graham Smith to turn his defender and slam the ball into the top corner for his second of the game.
A well deserved victory in a most enjoyable tournament played in a great spirit despite the heat. Special mention for our player of the tournament, Gary Humphrey. He was brought into the team at the last minute to play his first competitive games for the Angels Walking Footballers and pushed into a centre forward role, one he has never played before. His total of five goals isn’t a bad return!
