GMWF 60+ League - Match Day 3 - 3rd November 2017

“Trying to cheer myself up by singing the anthem that Labour used a few years ago — "Things can only get better”” John Myatt, Team Captain

Was it a Halloween curse because the Wanderers’ players didn’t provide enough treats on Tuesday, or a crisis of confidence that we will ever learn how to score in the ‘square goals’?

Either way, today’s trip across the Pennines left the Wanderers squad feeling very disheartened. Bringing back just two points was the worst haul for any of the teams present and it means that we have now lost the top spot that we held going into today’s fixtures.

Despite a strong team travelling across the Pennines for the 3rd round of of the Greater Manchester Walking Football league (Div 3), we again had two draws but sadly suffered our first defeat and failed to score in all three games. Once again in all of our twenty minutes games we created far more chances than our opponents.

Mick Wilde was again between the sticks behind Chris Lund leading the defence alongside Mike Thompson. John Myatt returned from injury, and Ray Blackburn and David Holbrow were the two forwards. Paul Waggett replaced the injured Niall O’Donnell to complete the squad.

We drew our first game against Nash Bees 0-0, with lots of chances created but our efforts became more rushed as we failed to find the net. Little threat from our opponents.

In the second game against Bury Relics the pack was shuffled by Team Captain John Myatt who stood down and brought Paul Waggett on for his first appearance at Heywood. We went behind after about 4 minutes due to some poor marking and then found ourselves chasing the game.

In an effort to try something different John came on and pushed Paul Waggett forward to replace David Holbrow. A second goal was conceded and we were left pondering how we came out of the game with nothing at all.

The final game again resulted in a scoreless draw with Bolton Wanderers 'B' after we had by far the best of the possession and some clear chances to score.

Results
0-0 v Nash Bees
0-2 v Bury Relics
0-0 v Bolton Wanderers

At least we have a chance to put this right at the final match day on the 1st of December.

Both Stephen Stoker and Martin Burrell had travelled over as additional players and very sportingly agreed to play with Maccabi Old Codgers in Division 2 who were again short. Stephen played in goal and Martin in an outfield role.

John Myatt
Team Captain

PS. The updated tables and a report can be found by clicking on this link:

http://manchesterwalkingfootball.uk/manchester-walking-football-november-2017/

Updated 12:21 - 1 Sep 2019 by David Holbrow