Birmingham WFC hosted Manchester City in three age groups and remained unbeaten as their Over 50’s progressed into the next stage of the TRA National Cup.
The Over 65’s got the Brummies off to a great start with a 5-0 thumping of their counterparts with all the goals coming from the impressive Derek Thorpe, Birmingham totally controlled the game and their superior fitness made a huge difference as the game entered the later stages . John Crampton ran the show from midfield as time and again he fed Malcolm Thorpe whose neat footwork continually set up his brother for scoring opportunities. Skipper Barry Huntington marshalled the defence superbly and they were rarely troubled.
The over 60’s was a much tighter affair with defences on top throughout, as the game became a somewhat disjointed affair. A couple of good saves from Rob Corp kept the scores level before a brilliant piece of control and snap shot from Dave Whatmore put Birmingham ahead. It looked a formality that this is how the game would end , but in the final stages a speculative shot from Man City guest 52 year old Dino Dicampo found its way to the net to level the scores at one a piece.
The Over 50’s TRA clash was set to be a best of three 20 minute affairs, with the winner progressing to the next round of the National Competition, a perfect start was achieved by Birmingham as Darren Bradley’s clever thinking from a free kick and a smart turn and shot from David Wright put them ahead after two minutes. In the remaining 18 minutes Birmingham were dominant as Man City keeper Robson made a string of fine saves to deny further goals. His counterpart in the Birmingham goal needing only one fine save to deny the sky blues.
Birmingham now knew that to stay undefeated would mean their safe passage started the second game confidently, a cooly taken Wright penalty put them ahead then a blistering Dave Norton left foot drive doubled their lead, another Norton piledriver was brilliantly saved by Robson but this fell to Andy Struthers to smash home. Birmingham looked in total control until a skirmish involving skipper David Castle and a City forward meant both had to sit out for two minutes. Mark Davis took the opportunity to pull a goal back for City as he was left un-marked to slot home. Another lapse saw the City forward double his tally to make it 3-2. Birmingham then tightened up and almost went 4-2 as Wright once again bamboozled their defence but again Robson saved impressively. Winning both games meant progression for Birmingham and set up a tie against local rivals Hartshill in the next round
