On a glorious sunny day at Droitwich Spa, Royal Wootton Bassett Town's Over 50s Veterans team competed in the Oxfordshire-Worcestershire Challenge Cup quarter final.
Bassett's squad of 15 was keen and enthusiastic and this was evident with the pre match warm up consisting of a cup of cocoa and a rich tea biscuit. Instead of it looking like a Wembley Cup Final it was like a scene from 'Last of the Summer Wine'.
On a more serious note though, we all had a good stretch and jogging warm up session ready to compete in our first competitive Over 50s match.
The match started well, however from the off you could tell that Droitwich was a well drilled and organised team with the extra help of being coached by an ex-professional in the shape of Dean Holdsworth. A few 'lucky' goals and Droitwich were 2-0 up. Most of the time Bassett were unfortunately defending, but frustrated their attack time and time again by the consistency of Jeremy Smith controlling the defence extremely well.
Steve Lynch covered every blade of grass on the pitch and constantly won the aerial battle in midfield, challenging and winning every ball in the air, and for this was deservedly awarded Man of The Match. This was not his only award - he also was presented with the 'Pink Pony' prize! A cross came over and Steve was at the far post ready to clear the ball, a big shout came "Steve's Ball" but his galant effort to put the ball wide for a corner suddenly found him red faced with the ball in the net! We all smiled in the true spirit of the game.
Ceri was superb in goal and the result could have a been a lot more if it weren't for his heroics going up and punching clear several attacks in the air. The result ended 5-0 but every player can hold their head up high and know that they gave 110% and be proud of their performance and commitment for the Veterans.
A big thank you for Jacko for managing the team, so onwards and upwards to the semi final of the Memorial Cup in a few weeks' time.
Special thanks for John Simpson, Droitwich Spa's manager, for the post match hospitality and Nick Brown, the Oxfordshire-Worcestershire Veterans League Secretary, for making this fixture possible.
Credit: Martyn Purcell
Last modified on Monday 25th February 2019 at 21:30
