Wigan Walkers F.C. 60+ Tournament - Wigan Soccerdome - 9th November 2017

“A disappointing and frustrating day, but the attitude and commitment of all the players is to be commended.” Chris Lund, Team Captain

A seven strong squad Chris Lund, Steve Stoker, Mike Roberts, Ray Blackburn, Martin Burrell, Laurence Watkins and Stewart Rosier made the now seemingly weekly trip across the Pennines to compete in this tournament.

Drawn in league A, the opposing teams consisted of Wigan Whites, Preston North end, Crosby and Huddersfield.

With Martin Burrell as substitute, the Wanderers got off to a poor start losing 4-1 to a strong Wigan team who opened the scoring with a fierce shot into the top right hand corner of the net which Steve Stoker had no chance of saving, and this was quickly followed by two further goals caused by poor concentration and errors whilst in possession, giving the ball away. A consolation goal by Ray Blackburn after probably our best move of the match wasn't enough to hide the fact that we were soundly beaten.

Wanderers come out for the second game with a more determined attitude. Stewart Rosier stood down as we took on a skillful Preston North end team. We created plenty of chances but were unable to find the back of the net, and the defence with Steve in goal matched anything that Preston could muster. A deserved 0-0, but could so easily been a win.

The third game against Crosby, ended in a 1-1 draw with Stewart Rosier finding the net from distance to equalise after Crosby had opened the scoring after yet again giving the ball away. This was a game where we probably deserved all three points due to our possession and chances but sadly were unable to push home our advantage.

The last game against Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield was a tightly contested game where we felt we had the best of the chances, but yet again an error saw the ball go straight to a Huddersfield player in the centre of the goal and gave Steve no chance as Huddersfield won the game 1-0. This was a frustrating result as this was our best performance in the four games, but left us with two points and finishing bottom of our league.

We were drawn against Southport in the "wooden Spoon" fixture to determine the bottom place of the tournament. Chris was substitute, and Martin Burrell replaced Steve in goal allowing him a chance for a run out to which he took full advantage scoring the only goal of the game to ensure that we didn't come home bottom of the tournament.

The tournament was eventually won by Birmingham 2-0 against Huddersfield, with Crosby winning “the plate” final 1-0 against Preston North End.

Chris Lund
Team Captain

Updated 11:20 - 1 Sep 2019 by David Holbrow