RESULTS/REPORTS

RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS!

FOUR DRAWS, A WIN AND A LOSS

BWFC 5 V 0 HARTSHILL OLD BOYS

CALDICOT +60S TOURNAMENT

BWFC BLUES WIN

SUNDAYS LEAGUE RESULTS

+58’s BWFC Blues 2 v 2 Coleshill – Goal scorers – J Bentien, S Nunnington

+58’s BWFC Whites 3 v 0 Shard End – Goal scorers – R Castle x2, R Dawson

LEAGUE RESULTS

SCORES ON THE DOORS

BWFC WIN AT RUSHALL

BWFC RESULTS

Over 58’s Sunday 12/12/21
BWFC Whites 1 v 2 Boldmere – Goal scorer – Fisher
BWFC Blues 1 v 3 Hartshill – Goal scorer – R. Sutton
Over 50’s Sunday 12/12/21
BWFC 2 v 0 Halfway 82 – Goal scorer – S. Burr x2
Over 63’s Wednesday 15/12/21
BWFC Blues 2 v 0 Rushall Raiders – Goal scorer – C. Macey x2
BWFC Whites 0 v 1 Shard End

GOOD DAY FOR BWFC TEAMS

BWFC over 63’s started the festive season with two league wins last week. Birmingham Blues won 3-2 against Bedworth, with Roy Williams, Clive Macey and Paul Feeney scoring for Blues, while Birmingham Whites won 2-1 against Solihull Moors with Alan Hodson scoring both goals. Great start to the month guys!

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CLOSE CALL FOR BWFC

Wednesday saw BOTH BWFC over 63’s teams take each other on in a head to head league game. BWFC Whites narrowly lost to the Blues in a last minute decider, ending the game 2-1. Goal scorer for the Whites P.Duffin and for the Blues C. Macey and M.Evans.

BHAM LEAGUE RESULTS

SCORES ON THE DOORS

Last Wednesday in the over 63’s Birmingham League BWFC Blues played locals Solihull Moors. The Blues won the game comfortably 3-0 with M. Evans, S. Krystic and S. Dixon scoring. BWFC Whites on the other hand played a friendly against Wyndley Mikes over 50’s and lost 2-0.

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OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

In other news BWFC over 50’s drew 1-1 with Hartshill with A. Cook scoring for Birmingham

BHAM LEAGUE RESULTS

BWFC Whites over 58’s played a league match against Coleshill on Sunday and came away with a 1-1 draw. Goal scorer John Sparkes,
BWFC Blues had no league game so played in a friendly against Boldmere Redsand also came away with a draw, this time 2-2 with Martin Brick and Mark Tranter on the score sheet.

B’HAM LEAGUE RESULTS

The BWFC Blues over 63’s played Hartshill Strollers two days ago and won 2-0 with goals from Mark Evans and Simon Krstic.

BWFC Whites played Burntwood and lost 4-1 with F. Hughes being the goal scorer.

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ENGLAND INTER GENDER MATCHES

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BHAM LEAGUE RESULTS

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NATIONAL CUP ROUND 3

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NATIONAL CUP ROUND 2

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LADIES TOURNAMENT SUCCESS

https://birminghamwalkingfootball.co.uk/ladies-tournament-success

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NATIONALS ENDS IN SUDDEN DEATH PENS

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50+ WINNERS AT DAVENTRY

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DAVENTRY TOURNAMENT

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BWFC +70s V Rushall

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HARTSHILL DRAW 1-1

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NEWSLETTER

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BWFC 58’S V COLESHILL

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LEAGUE TABLES NEWSLETTER

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BWFC V COLESHILL – LEAGUE MATCH

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BWFC V SHARD END – LEAGUE MATCH

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BIRMINGHAM COUNTY WF LEAGUE NEWS

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BWFC +63 LEAGUE MATCH 28/4/21

BWFC played Coleshill in a league match on Wednesday and won 4-2 with Paul F scoring twice and Mark E and Clive M also getting on the score sheet! Well done lads.

OVER 50’S LEAGUE MATCH 25/4/21

BWFC over 50’s took on Wilnecote Strollers on Sunday and won 4-1. The two Steves, Crilly and Burr got 2 goals a piece adding to their score sheet!

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BWFC 58+ v Wolverhampton 58+

Sunday afternoon saw the 58+ team play their 2nd fixture of the season. A skilful and resilient Wolves side were our opponents at Coleshill. The game started at a brisk pace with both teams struggling for clean possession in a crowded midfield. Birmingham gradually began to take a bit of control and really put together some incisive passing moves, one of which played MARK EVANS into a 1 on 1 against the Wolverhampton keeper and the ball being slotted into the back of the net.

A similar breakthrough by Wolves saw previously unemployed Les Dawson make an excellent save low to his right-hand side. DAVE WHATMORE, playing his final game for BWFC before his move to Devon, bustled his way through the defence and slotted home to put the blues up 2-0 just before half-time.

The 2nd half saw plenty of spirit and no lack of skill and effort from both teams before a goal from RICHARD DAWSON in the later stages gave BWFC a 3-0 advantage. Another fine save by Les just before the final whistle ensured the clean sheet  and Dave was substituted with a minute to go getting a round of applause from Birmingham, Wolverhampton and other players and referees as he left the pitch.

Squad: Les Dawson; Peter Giddings; Roger Purchase; Mark Evans; John Sparkes; Roy Williams; Dave Whatmore; Richard Dawson; Clive Macey; Steve Wight (player/Manager); Mike Price (asst. Manager).

Final Score BWFC 58+ 3 V 0 Wolverhampton

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BIRMINGHAM COUNTY LEAGUE RESULTS

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS NEWS LETTER

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50+ BWFC SPURS TOURNAMENT WINNERS!

10/4/21

Early start for BWFC travelling to London playing in the Spurs foundation 5 a side tournament. First game against Watford B, ham became confident 7-1 winners, goals 3 from Mazic and four from Beer. 

Second game against Brentford was more challenging with a will to win, a couple scary moments a brilliant goalkeeping from Underwood settled the nerves. 8-1-win Mazic 4 goals, Beer 3 goals and a good finish from defender Purcell.

As the games were coming thick and fast BWFC, were being level-headed and raking each game as it came, the next challenge was Leyton Orient, a well drilled strong side. The game was very even, then in the 3rd minute Mazic nutmegs a defender a slot home a wonder goal, Beer then contributed by scoring a hattrick! Orient replied with a goal, B, ham then score a further 2 by Mazic and super goal from Beer in the last minute, ending up7-1 winners!

Birmingham head to the semis, with decent weather the spectators were enjoying the games. Next game Watford in the semis, after an earlier encounter were more determined to keep a clean sheet.  However, the dynamo duo Mazic and Beer had other ideas, with some brilliant one two’s Birmingham hit Watford with 3 goals in two minutes by Beer, this opened the game and Mazic continued his goal scoring tally with 2 goals. Underwood again showed why he is such a class act in some fine saves. Birmingham go to the finals against Leyton orient!

Orient took the early lead with Birmingham replying from a great goal scored by Beer. With misunderstanding between the defender Purcell and Underwood Orient score a second, with 20 seconds to go Beer slots a tap in to send the game into penalties. 3 penalties each beer and Mazic scoring theirs and Underwood saving meant Birmingham winners of the tournament!

SQUAD

Heath Underwood

Milan Mazic

Nigel beer

Andy Licietis 

Stuart Purcell 

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BWFC 50+ TAKE ON BOLDMERE

Boldmere V Birmingham 

With covid restrictions lifted, this was the heavy weight game between two top Birmingham sides. Having experienced all seasons in one day, sunshine, snow, hail, we had it all at Rushall Olympic stadium. 

A very cagey start from both sides, however Birmingham took control from the 8th minute and never looked back, with Underwood a safe pair of hands and Sweeney and Harrod controlling the defence, the midfield were strong and winning all tackles Murphy and Ferrarin and Burr supporting the striker Mazic, who always had two defenders marking him made way for burr to net 2 goals, Boldmere replied with one, but Birmingham a much better side on the day. Huge jubilation from Alan Baillie who said, “I’m so thankful being part of this side. They did me proud today“.

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BWFC RETURN TO THE PITCH

Playing their first game of a reorganised season and despite some extremely changeable weather, BWFC ran out comfortable 4-1 winners against Bedworth at Rushall Olympic’s excellent stadium.

Manager Steve White decided to utilise the whole squad for this game, so everyone had the opportunity to get some competitive game time in their legs. Bedworth applied some decent pressure in the early minutes of the game but good defensive work by Martin and Roger along with the rest of the team prevented any dangerous moments for Les in goal. Birmingham quickly seized the initiative though and harried and pressed the Bedworth midfield and defence forcing them back into their defensive third. Goals from DAVE WHATMORE and ROY WILLIAMS midway through the 1st half saw us take a 2-0 lead into the break despite some quality keeping from the Bedworth goalie.
An early 2nd half goal by CLIVE MACEY was added to by another from DAVE WHATMORE 10 minutes later as effort after effort were fired at the Bedworth goal by Richard Dawson, Roy, Dave and Clive especially but some excellent work by the Bedworth goalkeeper and defenders, aided by a number of off target efforts, saw the score remain at 4-0. As we entered the last 5 minutes Bedworth tried playing longer balls down the channels with positive results for them and Les was forced into some fine saves of his own after long spells of inactivity. Bedworth got themselves a consolation goal from the penalty spot in the dying moments of the match, but the game ended with no further scares for the blues.

Squad: Les Dawson, Martin Barber, Roger Purchase, Pete Giddings, Roy Williams, Mark Evans, John Sparks, Dave Whatmore, Clive Macey, Richard Dawson

FINAL SCORE: BWFC 58+ 4v1 Bedworth 58+

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LEAGUE RESULTS DECEMBER

LEAGUE RESULTS

Last weekend BWFC over 50’s won 3-1 against Hartshill while the over 60’s drew 2-2 against Boldmere.

This Sundays results saw both Birmingham teams win! The over 50’s 2-0 against Halfway and the 60’s 3-0 against Shard End, a clean sheet for both teams!

WFA ENGLAND MENS OVER 70’S V GUERNSEY

If you didn’t get to see England’s over 70’s recent win in Guernsey you can watch now on youtube click here to watch

WFA ENGLAND LADIES V GUERNSEY MATCH REPORT 11/19

Guernsey v England – First ever Woman’s Walking Football International

This historic match was played in dreadful weather conditions, but with a superb spirit being shown by both sides.

Unfortunately, due to days of torrential rain, the original venue, the Track, home of Belleview Wanderers, was declared unplayable as a result of being waterlogged on Thursday.  The committee in Guernsey worked a minor miracle and managed to switch the game and all the associated arrangements to the 3G at KGV.

The match was streamed live and encouraging numbers have watched it so far.  Commentary was added courtesy of Brandi Mitchell, our guest from USA women’s Soccer, San Diego.  Following an enthusiastic rendition of the National Anthem, which had been practiced on the coach journey to the game, the match kicked off.

England started very quickly and within the first few minutes Kelly O’Donnell opened the scoring with a crisp shot across the keeper from close range.  England were passing the ball around very well with good movement creating several more chances.  However, they were thwarted on numerous occasions by Emma Queripel, in goal for Guernsey.  Tracey Dudwell, Dee Reade and O’Donnell all had excellent shots well saved.  Dudwell was holding the ball up well and creating chances for others and Reade was pulling the strings in the midfield area and Captain Lorraine Robinson mopped up everything at the back.  Lydia Bleasdale played a lone role up front for Guernsey and was very lively without really being given any chances by the mean England defense. England made constant changes to enable all players to get equal grass time.  This did not affect the shape or flow of the England team as they continued to pass the ball well and make chances.  Mandy Walsh and Anne Fuller both had shots well saved and the pattern of the game with England probing and Guernsey defending superbly.

In the second half, it was pretty much more of the same.  Ali Wayley controlling things at the back with Helen Graham creating chances for O’Donnell.  The impressive Queripel, in the Guernsey goal, was proving a frustrating brick wall until O’Donnell scored her second with a fierce shot to give England some breathing space.  However, this spurred Guernsey into action and Lydia Bleasdale found a way through on the England goal to give Amanda Thompson, whose distribution was excellent all game, her first real test.  She made an excellent first save but the ball span over her and was heading in until she scrambled back to hook the ball away before it crossed the line.  In the final 10 minutes, Dudwell went in goal for England and she had to make a fine double save from Bleasdale.  O’Donnell thought she had completed her hat-trick but it was disallowed for running.

The final whistle brought the historic match to a close – well refereed by Paul Carr and Andy Bisson.  Well contested in dreadful conditions by both teams.  It was a match enjoyed by the enthusiastic crowd and an occasion which will be remembered for the rest of their lives by all involved.  The main aim of matches such as this are to raise the profile of the game – we hope that many people enjoyed watching it and that, as a result, many more will take up the sport.  Those of us who are involved know all about the health and well-being benefits it brings.  The players from both England and Guernsey are all excellent role models and they know how important it is to send out the right messages in order to get more people involved at grass roots level.

Huge thanks to all the Guernsey people for organizing and running a very successful weekend.

IF YOU DIDN’T GET TO WATCH THE MATCH LIVE YOU CAN WATCH ON YOUTUBE HERE;

GREECE V ENGLAND OCT 2019 MATCH REPORTS

GREECE V ENGLAND OVER 50’S

England’s second successive away fixture ended in stalemate as they drew 0-0 with Greece. Numerous chances were created by the visitors but time and time again they were denied by some excellent goalkeeping and some erratic finishing. Both debutant Andy Scrace and Midfielder Paul Kirby were denied from close range and Trevor Hanson had two of his trademark pile drivers both saved and flash just past the upright.

At half time England were well on top as Rob Keating was virtually redundant in goal as the impressive Hanson controlled any threat from the Greek forwards. Pete Henry was starting to pull strings in midfield and had a glorious chance that fell to him with a rebound off the keeper but unfortunately he ballooned over the bar his opportunity to open his England account. Greece’s keeper then had a rush of blood as he played the ball out of the area giving away a penalty, Leeds Titans Nick Morris stepped up but blazed his spot kick high to the keepers right.

England continued to press but Greece’s defence held firm to ensure a 0-0 score line in an International exhibition game as the WFA celebrate their new partnership with the impressive, International Socca Federation.

After the game Manager Paul Murtagh commented,

“It was disappointing to see us miss so many chances, but I was overall pleased with how we played.  I thought we looked nervy, despite our dominance, in the first half with a more assured second half performance.  The only thing missing was a goal, but the new lads would have gleaned valuable experience from the opportunity and further add to the strength in depth of the squad.  Overall I think it was a successful venture, further spreading the word of walking football across the world and hopefully inspiring others to give it a go, wherever they may be”.

GREECE V ENGLAND OVER 60’S

This was a very hard-fought victory in what was an exhibition game to promote Walking Football internationally. Played at the superb Socca World Cuo Stadium in Rethymno, Crete in front of a full house of 3000. The match was also streamed live.

The management team had carried out coaching sessions with the Greek teams on two occasions before the game to ensure their understanding of the rules. The Greek players were technically gifted and surprisingly well organised given they are relatively newcomers to the sport.

England lost their skipper, Spencer Pratten in the first minute. A re occurrence of a torn calf muscle forcing him out of the game to be replaced by Peter Henry, making his Over 60 debut. And within 5 minutes striker Graham Collier pulled his hamstring and he too was out for the remainder of the game being replaced by another debutant, John Cooper. It was therefore a disjointed first half performance. Greece packed their defence and looked to play on the break. Tony Jones marshalled a very tricky ‘back to goal’ centre forward superbly. John Hammonds in goal turned Greece’s first effort on goal onto the post and soon after had to make another fine save turning a fierce save around the post. England grew into the game and their ball retention improved. Another debutant, John McGinnell started to probe and create chances. James Trant had a good effort saved before Cooper hit the post from a narrow angle. Henry had a few efforts blocked as England finished the first half on top.

In the second half, England changed their shape, with Trevor Hanson given the role of marking the lone striker and Tony Jones moved to a defensive midfield role to allow England to push forward more. This change in tactics worked with England now dominating possession. A lovely through ball from McGinnell found Cooper, who finished well through the legs of the oncoming keeper. Trant had several efforts blocked. Jones had two efforts superbly saved by the keeper and both Cooper and Jones were unable to convert one-on-one chances. Both sides were starting to tire on the large pitch and in the heat. Greece pushed forward and Ross was becoming busy in Goal. His poor clearance gave Greece a clear chance, but he atoned for his error with a superb save, quickly followed by triple save, one in particular, low to his left was stunning. Henry replaced Trant and England steadied the ship a little and kept the ball for long periods until the final whistle signalled a narrow victory.

Well played Greece who surprised us. Fantastic organisation by the ISF and Leisure Leagues. A magnificent occasion for all in front of a large and enthusiastic Greek crowd. A great effort by an inexperienced England team, ravaged by injuries. Strong performances from Hammonds, Everton and McGinnell, but MOM was Tony Jones for a strong defensive display in the first half and a great central midfield display in the second.

BWFC ON TOUR IN THE ALGARVE

Earlier this month BWFC was represented by no less than FIVE teams in the Browns over 60’s Walking football Cup tournament in Portugal. Twenty teams took part in the four day event with BWFC Green team taking home the trophy! Congratulations to ALL the players who traveled and represented the club abroad.

BWFC GREEN – 1ST, BWFC YELLOW – 6TH, BWFC BLUE – 8TH, BWFC PURPLE – 18TH, BWFC ORANGE – 20TH

The following report is written by player Theo Theobald.

That was the week that was…

Before the moment slips away completely, I just thought I’d try and capture a few personal reminiscences of our great Algarve adventure and maybe a little of the essence of the trip overall.

When we set off, who’d have thought we would return having topped and tailed the table, with a smattering of other teams in between and to a man (and Sue) I heard nothing but great pride in the cumulative achievement.  Of course winning was great (well done Greens), but we showed that BWFC embraces the greatest spirit in sport, that of taking part.  We’re a club that truly values diversity, above winning at all costs and should take credit for that.

If sheer willpower had played a part in Orange scoring or progressing, the opposition would have stood no chance; you could feel the surge of support on the touchline, well done one and all for that.

As for my own beleaguered team, gentlemen it was a pleasure! I should have expected to bond with fellow itinerant scouser Kevin, but to my great relief we all got on like a house on fire, brim-full of pluck and spunk we were. At seventy something our ‘voice of experience’ was Rick, still displaying the mischief of a 7 year old boy and lulling the opposition into a false sense of security with his mock Private Godfrey impersonation.

Off pitch memories are too numerous to detail here, but I have no doubt the stories will be told and re-told, growing in magnitude and shrinking in truthfulness as time goes by.  The victors were our stars and memorable quotes from the trip include Ken’s ‘I’ve never won anything’, it was genuinely touching.  Which of us will ever forget ‘TwoEurosCassano’ and his T-shirt distribution methodology, which had all the well-thought-outedness of a Brexit plan. Roger’s laconic modesty and Mark’s mild mannered dressing room persona Dr Jekyll, who on stepping over the white line morphed into Mr Hyde, ready to bite the legs of any referee who crossed him!  (Subsequently it turned out that Mr Hyde had an incredible capacity for red wine that Dr Jekyll was left to deal with the following morning).

Other highlights? The boat trip with the 3 stooges, or should that be the 3 boozers, Paul, Roff and Clive, I later heard 2eurosCass regaling people with tales of how ‘they drunk the boat dry!’ who cares if it’s true or not?

Mike and the attempted compensation claim, told and re-told firstly with genuine concern as to his well being, then as a scene from a Charlie Chaplin movie with the poor fella the butt of the joke; is it true that even as he went down he was still reciting Burnley football teams from the 1970s?

A massive amount of laughs and p*** taking, too great in volume to do justice to, but typified by Pete and Martin (BTW has anyone managed to work out which one is which yet?) the thinking men’s Statler & Waldorf, heckling each other and anyone within their orbit.

The people’s comedian Brendan Glyn with an endless stream of awful gags he’s collected from a lifetime’s worth of Christmas Crackers.  He showed he could be genuinely funny though, which makes you wonder why he doesn’t do it more often.  The best line of the holiday was ‘That referee couldn’t get to sleep last night…so he had to start counting Mark’s penalties…’

For all of you, whether name-checked here or not, thanks a million; the last word goes to Sue, our very own testament to girl-power.

Some time over the next 12 months you’ll be driving along and the car radio will start blasting out ‘Sweet Caroline’.  When it does, I defy you not to have a picture in your mind’s eye of Sue’s rendition.  You know that bit when she punches the air in rhythm to the music, it sums up Algarve 2019.  In case you’d forgotten, it goes like this…

So good, so good, so good!

BWFC IN DERBY

OVER 60’S NATIONAL FINALS 22^nd September 2019.

Birmingham Over 60s travelled to Worcester University for their first experience of National Finals Day. Birmingham had beaten Coleshill 2-0, Ellesmere 6-0 and Hartshill 2-0 to reach the finals without conceding a goal.

Birmingham were in a group of four with the top two progressing to semi-finals. A random draw was held prior to the start of the games and Birmingham played their first match against Wakering from Essex and in a tight game, characteristic of the tournament, the final score was 0-0.

The second game was against Norwich who have a good record in tournaments and was again a tight cagey affair with clear cut chances at a minimum and some good saves from both keepers. This game again ended 0-0 and there was all to play for in the final group game.

Merthyr had drawn with Norwich but beaten Wakering so this was in effect a knock out quarter final with Birmingham having to win to progress but Merthyr only needing a draw.

Birmingham created a number of chances but were thwarted by the post or an acrobatic keeper who made some excellent saves. Birmingham in a last throw of the dice replaced defenders with attackers and were rewarded with 5 minutes to go when Mark Evans coolly slotted the ball past the opposition keeper. The defenders went back on and with Birmingham hampered by a Blue Card to Dave Whatmore they were able to hold on to secure a semi- final place.

The semi- final was against Wakefield who had beaten top teams Leggy Mambos and Sheffield on their way to the finals and had topped the other group. For once Birmingham had luck on their side and after a few minutes Wakefield were awarded a penalty when Les marginally stepped out of his area. Les saved the penalty to thwart a strong Wakefield team. Wakefield pressed and were rewarded when a fine strike from the left beat Les to concede Birmingham’s first goal in seven matches in the tournament.

Birmingham began to string some promising moves together and in the second period were rewarded with a well struck equalizer from Steve Dixon. Both sides pressed hard for the winner and the game went into an extra time period with both teams after a “golden goal”. Les performed miracles with some excellent saves to keep Birmingham in the game and take the tie to penalties.

Birmingham did not start well with Dave W hitting the post but then goals were scored by Mark Evans and Steve Dixon. Roy Williams had his penalty saved but a retake was ordered as the keeper had moved off his line. Roy showing cool in a pressurised situation slotted home the retake. A couple of Wakefield players had their penalties saved and the fifth penalty was taken by John McGinnell and was struck home past a despairing Wakefield goalkeeper to send Birmingham into the National Final.

The final was against a strong Blackburn team who had despatched Norwich in the other semi-final. The game started in cagey fashion with chances at a premium until John McGinnell broke free but was frustrated as his shot hit the post and rebounded out. Birmingham just shaded the first half but the decisive moment came when Blackburn brought their free scoring forward on for the second half. He managed to take two chances to put Blackburn 2-0 up and despite some desperate Birmingham attacking, Blackburn stood firm to win the National Final.

An excellent performance from Birmingham with Les Dawson making some top notch saves throughout the tournament. Martin Barber, Roger Purchase and Peter Giddings were solid in defence and the midfield quartet of Roy Williams, Steve Dixon, Mark Evans and captain John McGinnell all performed well and were the equals of their opponents. Dave Whatmore and Clive Macey battled well up front against some tough and mean defences. An excellent squad performance with mention also to Paul Feeney and manager Steve White who also contributed in earlier rounds of the competition.

COUNTY LEAGUE DECIDER 17.9.19

 BWFC v Coleshill Strollers 

For the second season running in the County League Birmingham were beaten in the last match by Coleshill in controversial circumstances.

In the Winter League Birmingham were denied second place as they were beaten by a team openly fielding at least one under age player. In the title decider for the Summer League Birmingham faced a team made up of players from both of their league teams with the scorer of the winner for Coleshill Walkers a few weeks ago also playing for Coleshill Strollers last night.

Birmingham opened the scoring after a couple of minutes when Mark Evans fired a shot into the corner of the net. Unfortunately, the game was then marred by an inexplicable refereeing decision. A Coleshill player shot and hit the bar and rebounded downwards and was then grabbed by Les in goal. Initially the referee did not award a goal as he was nearer the half way line than the goal and was in no position to know if the ball had crossed the line. Under pressure from the home players the referee went to the spectators behind the goal and “accepted the word of a woman behind the goal that the ball had crossed the line”.

Birmingham stunned by this bizarre awarding of a goal went on the attack and Dave Whatmore blasted the ball into the roof of the net to retake the lead. Then in the one moment of sublime skill in a niggly game a Coleshill player bamboozled two Birmingham defenders and slotted home a superb goal.

Birmingham were then out thought and out fought by a determined Coleshill side and the passing became shoddy and hurried with Les saving the team on a number of occasions with some superb saves.

In the second half Birmingham again gave the ball away in midfield and Coleshill exploited the space to take the lead 3-2. Coleshill then became more defensive and were able to resist the increasingly frantic attempts by Birmingham to score. Coleshill cemented their victory with another goal near the end.

As a team Birmingham played poorly and will have to do better in the National Finals. We need to concentrate on next weekend and then after this we will need to reflect as a team.

BIRMINGHAM WFC    –   WFA OVER 65 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

NATIONAL CUP WINNERS – WFA NEWS LINK

Having beaten Cirencester in the Regional Final of the WFA National Cup, Birmingham Over 65’s made the short journey to Worcester University on Sunday to compete in the Final stage of this competition for the first time in their history.

Eight regional finalists were drawn in two groups of four, with Birmingham drawn in what appeared to be the most difficult group from which to proceed.

GROUP B

Eastleigh 2 Birmingham 1

Birmingham really struggled to get into their stride in this match. Eastleigh took the lead after 5 minutes play when they took advantage of a misplaced pass in midfield and moved the ball swiftly through the B’ham defence to score a simple goal. Birmingham managed an equaliser in the second half from Decka Thorp when, after some neat footwork, he found himself one on one with the Eastleigh goalkeeper and he finished with aplomb. Birmingham looked at this point to have steadied the ship, but a weak back pass let in the Eastleigh striker to score his second goal to settle the outcome of the match.

Birmingham 1 Nottingham Bramcote 0

The result against Eastleigh left Birmingham badly needing a win against Nottingham to keep their qualification hopes alive. They approached this match in a far more positive manner and their pass and move game began to show almost immediately against a less skilful Nottingham side. Try as they may the Nottingham midfielders and forwards could not get the better of the Birmingham defence and the result was put beyond doubt when a fine breakaway by Birmingham resulted in Steve Evans finishing high into the net.

Birmingham 2 Abbeymead Rovers 0

Buoyed by the nature of their success in the previous game, Birmingham continued where they left off.  Abbeymead were a better side than Nottingham but this only served to spur Birmingham on to greater things.

Knowing that a win would put them in the semi-final, they outplayed the opposition and created more chances than in previous games and two well taken goals by Dave Whatmore settled the match in Birmingham’s favour.

SEMI FINAL:    Barnet 0   Birmingham 2

Barnet came into this match with nine points having remained unbeaten to top Group A, so Birmingham were expecting a difficult game to qualify for a place in the Final. As it turned out they played their best football of the afternoon. They competed for every ball, covered and worked hard for each other in and out of possession, and the midfield and forwards were always ready to shoot on sight. They were all hungry for that final spot. However, they did not have it all their own way. Barnet were dangerous opponents and Birmingham keeper Keith Phipps had to get down smartly on 3 occasions to keep them out.

Spurred on by Keith’s saves Birmingham put the game to bed when Decka scored a fine individual goal and then completed a double after being put through one on one with the keeper.

FINAL:   Birmingham 0   Wigan Walkers  0         Birmingham Win 3 – 1 on Penalties!!!

As a spectacle the final did not turn out to be the game we were all hoping for.  A very officious referee spoilt it somewhat by not allowing it to flow, blowing his whistle and stopping play at every opportunity.

Consequently, neither side got into any rhythm which was disappointing after the superb display in the semi-final against Barnet.

However, it was not a total bore. In the opening minutes the Wigan central midfield player, unleashed what appeared to be an unstoppable shot towards the Birmingham goal, but in true heroic fashion, goalkeeper Keith” The Cat” took off to his left and turned the ball aside for a corner.

As Birmingham eventually got into their stride the Wigan goalkeeper also had to earn his corn as shots rained in on this goal from all the Birmingham outfield players. Full Time:  0  –  0

Golden Goal extra time came next with neither side managing to force a win and the match was to be decided by penalties.

PENALTIES:           BIRMINGHAM  3     WIGAN  1

Scorers:       Barry Huntington    –    Steve Evans     –     Decka Thorp.

Player Manager John Limbourne commented,

“After the disappointment of losing in the early stages of this competition against Hartshill last year, reaching the Final this year was a great achievement in itself, but to go on and win it makes me so proud to be associated with Birmingham WFC and all of the players involved in this great win. Thanks to everyone for your support.”

County League BWFC  v Coleshill Walkers.

Birmingham’s Over 60’s six match unbeaten run without conceding a goal came to a crashing end with a 1-0 defeat to a dogged Coleshill side. Birmingham dominated the match hitting the frame of the goal a number of times, being thwarted by some excellent keeping and being unable to break down a massed defence.

Coleshill held out to half time with hardly a shot in anger with Paul Feeney being largely untroubled. Unfortunately, the whole team switched off at the kick off to the second half with a quick pass to their central midfielder resulting in a long shot which to everyone’s surprise rocketed into the net.

Birmingham pressurised the Coleshill defence who sat back in depth and with a combination of hard work and luck they kept their lead to the final whistle. All credit to Coleshill for their victory and helping their other team in their quest for the County League title. The title decider is set for September 17^th with Birmingham needing to win the match to secure their first title.

OVER 60’S WIN IN REGIONAL FINAL

BWFC    2   V   0  HARTSHILL on 1/9/19

Birmingham still smarting from their recent League defeat travelled to the Black Country to take on perennial rivals Hartshill for a place in the National Finals Day. In the past three seasons Birmingham had twice exited the tournament on penalties and once to a narrow single goal defeat to today’s opponents.

Birmingham started in confident mood and began passing the ball around well and breaking up any danger from the opposition before they could get anywhere near the goal. The team was rewarded when Dave W found space near the Hartshill goal and slotted the ball away in cool fashion. Pete G and Roger ensured that Les was protected in goal breaking up their attacks and feeding the midfield of John, Roy and Steve. Clive came on up front and kept the pressure on the home defence.

Hartshill were becoming more frustrated as the game went on and were giving free kicks away on a regular basis. Les had a few long shots to contend with but Hartshill were unable to break the Birmingham defence to get any space near the goal. With less than five minutes to go Roger seized on a deflected ball and one on one with the Hartshill keeper hit a strong shot to make it 2-0 and secure the victory.

A professional and accomplished performance from a very strong Birmingham squad and credit to Hartshill who battled to the end and I am sure will be out for revenge on our next meeting.

Thanks to Paul who organised an excellent warm up session pre match and Mark who was an unused substitute. Man of the Match was Roger for an assured performance. Thanks to “Percy “Parfitt for an excellent game as referee.

The team now progress to the National Finals on September 22^nd at Worcester and confidence will be high that Birmingham will be a force to be reckoned with.

OVER 50’S HEARTBREAK AT DISALLOWED PEN

BWFC   0  v  0 Pele’s Pearls Full Time (Pearls win 3-1 on Penalties) on 31/8/19

Birmingham’s Over 50’s failed in their quest to make it a clean sweep in the WFA National Finals, as their 60’s and 65’s will be at Worcester Universities representing the club later this month.

Their regional final against Pele’s Pearls was a fine advert for the sport as it pitted two of the top sides in the country together.

Birmingham started very brightly and created several early chances with both Milan Mazic and Shane Abell both testing the Pearls keeper. Both sides held the ball well and made it very difficult for each other as they did not want to give up possession easily. Whilst most chance created were not clear cut both goalkeepers were called upon to make fine saves. Abell was put in a couple of times by both Dave Norton and Mike Milligan but failed to convert. At half time it was still a stalemate, Norton broke free and once again a fine save denied him. Franco was marshalling Birmingham’s defence superbly as he kept former Birmingham forward Ian Ward very quiet forcing him deeper as the game went on. Even extra time was unable to provide a breakthrough as the two teams traded blows but to no avail.

Penalties ensued and once again proved Birmingham’s Achilles heel. Shane Abell was adjudged to have taken more than one step and his spot kick was disallowed which meant the Pearls progressed to the National Final later this month.

After the game Manager David Castle commented,

“It’s going to take a little time to come to terms with this result we should have sealed it in normal time really, Pele’s are a top side and will take some beating in the final’s but I felt that on the day we should have sneaked the win, this is still a really new side that’s been put together with players still getting to know each other and I am really proud of not only our performance but our attitude and respect for the game. It’s been a rebuilding process here that forever evolving, there are some exceptional players here and I’m sure we are not that far away from repeating previous highs”.

OVER 65’s REACH WFA NATIONAL FINALS.

Birmingham Over 65’s defeated Cirencester by 2 goals to nil in the Regional Final which was played at Brick Kiln Lane on 21st August.

Birmingham started well and the Cirencester goalkeeper had to be at his best to keep out early efforts from Decka Thorp and Dave Whatmore. As the half wore on Birmingham’s superior teamwork and skill started to show. However, during this period of the match, they had goalkeeper Keith Phipps to thank for two smart saves on the only two occasions that Cirencester threatened his goal in the whole of the match.

Half Time Score 0 – 0

After half time Birmingham moved up through the gears, their greater fitness and all round superior general play enabling them to take a deserved lead with a well taken individual goal by Decka Thorp.

Soon after this John Limbourne who had entered the field of play only minutes earlier scored high into the top corner of the net after being set up with a slide rule pass from Keith Laishley after a slick four man move.

This was Birmingham Over 65’s first appearance at this Regional Final stage of this competition and the victory means that they will be competing in the WFA National Cup Finals Day at Worcester University on Sunday 15th September.

Anyone wishing to come along on the day to support the lads in their quest to bring the trophy back to Birmingham the full address of the venue is shown below.

University of Worcester

St Johns Campus

Worcester

WR2 6AJ

WFA NATIONAL CUP COMPETITION 1st ROUND OVER 65’s

Birmingham were drawn at home to play against Burntwood Strollers in the 1st Round of the WFA Over 65’s National Cup.

The match was played at Solihull and Birmingham had a full-strength team to select from. They started well and passed the ball around looking for openings, and mid-way through the 1st half a neat move saw Malcolm Thorp presented with a one on one chance with the goalkeeper that he gladly despatched at the near post.

Birmingham dominated play for the most part but on one occasion, Keith Phipps in the Birmingham goal, had to make a smart save to keep the score at 1 – 0 at half time.

In the second half, personnel and tactical changes suggested by the England over 50’s Manager, Paul Murtagh, enabled Birmingham to get on top and the result was never in doubt when Decka Thorp put Birmingham 2 – 0 up with a penalty, which was awarded for a defender encroaching into his own penalty area. For good measure Decka added a third after a flowing move involving every Birmingham outfield player.

Final score: Birmingham 3 – 0 Burntwood Strollers.

BWFC WHITES IN PEOPLES CUP – NORTHAMPTON

Birmingham Walking Football over 50’s team put in a strong performance in the first round of the People’s Cup but ultimately their dreams were shattered in typical BWFC fashion – losing a penalty shootout in the final after a 1-1 draw.

BWFC Whites travelled to Northampton on Saturday, played in seven 5-a-side matches and put in a sterling performance whilst winning five and drawing one, showing great team spirit and hunger for the game.

The maximum 14 teams, mainly from Northamptonshire, turned up on a warm, sunny February day.

Teams were arranged in 3 groups, 2 of 5 and 1 of 4, with the top 8 ranked clubs progressing to the QF knock out stages.

BWFC started impressively with a 7-0 victory over Moulton Masters Reds, taking early control and never taking their foot off the gas, despite losing midfield dynamo Gary Felton to a nasty-looking quad injury.

The next game saw Bedford catch the BWFC defence cold with an early well-worked free kick. Clever game management by the talented Bedford side saw them hold out for a 1-0 win, in spite of Paul Checkley’s shot hitting the post with the keeper well beaten.

This reverse placed pressure on the brummie outfit as they knew that they probably had to win their 2 remaining group games to stay in the tournament.

Their aim was accomplished with aplomb, defeating Moulton Masters Blacks 5-1 and West End FC 2-0. Both matches allowed BWFC to show their tournament experience, totally dominating the opposition by retaining possession for long periods. There was however a comical moment during the game against Blacks when, at 2-0, a speculative, long range shot from the opposition midfielder went some way over the bar, but the ball rebounded and hit Mike the Cat’s head as he completed his (for the camera) dive and ended up in the top corner of his net. Arguably the goal of the tournament!

Played four, won three meant that BWFC had qualified for the last eight as the fourth ranked team.

A comfortable 3-1 Q-F victory over Cobblers’ second team resulted in a rematch with Bedford in the semi-final. This could easily have been the final as most touchline experts (there were quite a few amongst the crowd) believed that this was a matchup between the tournament’s two strongest teams.

The cagey opening exchanges were soon brought to life by a fantastic move involving all five BWFC players, ending with Checkley stabbing home from 15 yards. Clever ball retention frustrated the opposition for long periods thereafter but the run of games in quick succession, coupled with only one fit replacement being available, inevitably saw the impressive Bedford side claw their way back into the game as Birmingham tired. The equaliser duly arrived and, at 1-1 and Bedford in the ascendancy, most neutrals may have considered BWFC’s days were numbered. However, straight from the restart, Mark ‘Gibbo’ Gibbons engineered some space to unleash an unstoppable left foot drive inside the near post. BWFC had 4 minutes to negotiate and clever, disciplined defending saw the game out without alarm. 2-1 to Birmingham!

Cobblers, naturally backed by considerable and vocal local support, awaited Birmingham in the final. The game saw few chances although BWFC did have most of the ball as expected. However, a clever move by Cobblers ended with a fierce strike by their striker beyond the Cat and into the net. Chasing the game, Birmingham raised their fitness levels beyond expectations and their stellar efforts were duly rewarded when another fine Checkley strike levelled the scores. Cobblers seemed to adopt the Chelsea approach and had settled for penalties while BWFC strove for the elusive winner, without success.

After the final whistle, a short impasse followed whilst the organisers deliberated on whether to have extra time or to go straight to penalties. A sensible decision was ultimately made – both teams looked tired (to be fair it appeared that it was nearly bedtime for some!) and the match went to the dreaded shoot out, three kicks each.

The first penalty was scored and the remaining five were all missed. Alas, the only successful strike came from Cobblers and so Birmingham had come up short in cruel fashion, at the final hurdle.

Although this was a huge disappointment there were numerous positives to take from the day.

Mike Taylor-Lane made some unbelievable saves, often at crucial stages of games, to keep BWFC in front.

Stan Payne was the mainstay of the defence, ever reliable and solid in front of the Cat. He seemed to intimidate opponents by his mere presence.

Paul Harris put in an impressive display in an unfamiliar midfield role, scoring goals and also making important tackles when opponents were about to shoot.

Gibbo enhanced his reputation as a top sharp shooter with his ‘fox just outside the box’ skills rightly earning him the golden boot as top scorer. His winning goal in the semi is testament to his abilities.

Super sub and player manager Rob Castle chipped in with some goals, arguably running Gibbo close in the ‘goals per minutes played’ stats!

Special mention must be made of ‘Player of the Competition’ Paul Checkley’s tireless work rate. He covered more miles than anyone else, tracking back to assist the defence but also getting forward to register goals.

Every squad member scored (even Mike!) and the team played in a wonderful spirit, clearly enjoying the experience. There were compliments from more than one of the teams who have invited Birmingham to return to play in other tournaments in the area.

Peoples Cup 2019 Mens Walking Football

International call ups and work commitments meant that a very inexperienced tournament squad played in the Birmingham regional qualifiers of the FA People’s Cup at Star City on Saturday afternoon, only Captain Paul “Pod” Wilson and Gareth Edwards had appeared in BWFC colours before with Damian Mohan, Milan Mazic, Franco Fararrin and Mark Avrill making their debuts with veteran 78 year old Alan Bailey kitted up in case of injury, only 4 teams entered this year so 3 games of 20 minutes followed with the top team qualifying for the next round, in the 1st game against  the Wolves Foundation the squad got used to each other’s play and once Pod found the bottom corner from a clever free kick routine the team eased to a 3-0 victory.

The 2nd game against The Roof Top Rascals proved to be a very one-sided affair with the Blues running out 11-0 victors, a complete team performance backstopped with a couple of fine saves by Damian Mohan and quality finishing from Mark Avrill and Milan Mazic.

These results meant that we met last year’s National finalists, Pele Pearls, to decide who progressed, needing only a draw to qualify on goal difference the Blues found themselves 1-0 down early on after getting caught cold from the ko. The Pearls fielding a number of ex pro players doubled their lead before Mark Avrill pulled one back following a fine move involving impressive defender Franco Fararrin and Pod, a case of mistaken identity led to Pod been sent off for 2 minutes, and during this time the Pearls scored another 2 goals, the Blues tried everything they knew to get back into it with a number of chances coming their way, the busy Gareth Edwards was particularly unlucky not to score when his fine drive was tipped over, the final 4-1 score line flattered the Pearls but the Blues can hold their heads high.

Manager Ian Gough said,

“I am very proud of the whole squad, the guys haven’t played together before and to have 4 players making their tournament debuts makes the results even more impressive. Pele’s Pearls will go a long way in the tournament again this year so there is no shame in losing to them in the final”.

Goal scorers
Mark Avrill 6
Milan Mazic 6
Paul “Pod” Wilson 3

LADIES WALKING FOOTBALL – PEOPLES CUP 2019

Saturday 23d February 2019

Birmingham WFC Women entered three teams in the new Women’s Walking section of the FA People’s Cup.  Birmingham Blues and Reds both received byes as there were insufficient entries at their venues but Birmingham Whites, entered at Nottingham, needed to play against Lincoln Ladies to secure their place in the Regional semi-finals next month … and they did so in style!

With only one game to play, their encounter against Lincoln was to be a 40-minute match of two 20-minute halves.  The game was played in a cage which meant few breaks in play and the use of substitutions would be crucial in keeping everyone fresh.

 Birmingham started fast with the first goal from Julie coming within the first minute, quickly followed by a hattrick from Jayne to give us a 4-0 lead within the first five minutes.  Two further goals from Julie and Dee preceded the first personnel change after about 10 minutes with Denny replacing Jayne.  Birmingham scored four further unanswered goals from Dee, Tracy (2) and Julie giving us a 10 – 0 lead prior to another substitution of Jayne for Dee with a few minutes left before half time.  Two more goals from Tracy and Jayne resulted in a 12 – 0 half time lead and a welcome few minutes rest.

 The second half saw Lincoln change their goalkeeper but not their fortunes.  A strong throw-out from Alex in our goal sent the ball up to the other end of the pitch. The Lincoln goalkeeper was unable to control the ball and it ended up in their net giving us a bizarre goal and a 13 – 0 lead. Julie then scored again before Lincoln got their first of the day with a shot beating a partially unsighted Alex in the Birmingham goal.  Another substitution saw Dee return to the pitch in place of Tracy and Birmingham added two more goals from Denny. Tracy then replaced Julie in another personnel change and she scored again with Jayne adding another two to increase our lead to 19-1 before Lincoln scored their second goal in the latter stages.  Tracy scored what was to be the last goal of the game before replacing Alex in goal and Julie returned to the pitch in place of Jayne for the last few minutes.

 Result: 20 – 2

Birmingham Whites therefore progress to the Regional Semi-final round in Peterborough where they will come up against the other midland/east entrants including Birmingham Blues!

 Goal scorers: Jayne 6, Tracy 5, Julie 4, Dee 2, Denny 2, Alex/OG 1

BIRMINGHAM OVER 60’S LEAGUE

Birmingham played Bedworth in their next game of the league on Sunday 17th February.

The BWFC over 60’s team won 4 v 3 in a tight match held at Boldmere.

Scorers were Dave Whatmore (2), John McGinnell and Roy Williams. Well done to all who took part!

Please click on the following link for up to date league table;

http://fulltime-league.thefa.com/ProcessPublicSelect.do;jsessionid=B0A7F6D2B16A9B390499E3BC3FCD91A5?psSelectedSeason=862983070&psSelectedDivision=896670560&psSelectedLeague=417163021

ENGLAND OVER 50’S SHADOW SQUAD TRAINING DAY

An excellent training day warm up for England’s Over 50’s shadow squad took place at Solihull Football Centre last Saturday. The newly formed teams from the North West Region managed by Tony Hartley and Birmingham County FA League were worthy opponents as all six games ended in draws. Goals were hard to come by as defences and goalkeepers were in fine form. England’s shadow squad tried various formations and combinations to ensure the best preparation for the forthcoming international at St Georges Park against Wales. Goals from Nick Morris and Neil Carr against the North West were enough for two 1-1 draws and bizarrely all Birmingham CFA games ended as nil – nil.

After the games England’s Assistant Manager David Castle commented,

“This was a great work out for the lads and really good for the big game in two weeks, Dave Scotney and Rob Pass were particularly impressive for me and with the Neil’s upfront (Davey and Carr) we’ve got so many options. Today was all about looking at alternatives and other ways in which we can play. We only get together every other month so it’s important we use the time wisely. Our opponents were tough and well organised which was exactly what we needed.”

ENGLAND FRIENDLY – 4-1 WIN

In preparation for their forthcoming international against Wales at St Georges Park, England took on a Weston Select Team under the guidance of South West regional manager Lach Geddes. A 4 -1 victory for the National side was considered an excellent workout as the Weston Select Team showed their quality. Captain Neil Browne’s deflected shot put England ahead and goals from the impressive Paul Kirby and Neil Evans meant a comfortable 3 – 0 half time lead.

In the second half England played out various scenarios to ensure their preparation was complete. Andy Billingham latched onto an uncharacteristic mis directed Browne pass to give the visitors a worthy goal. Mark Hooper and David Harris also went close as the visitors pressed hard, a Neil Evans goal with 10 mins left confirmed the victory and ensured their unbeaten run continued, as Paul Walton finished with three impressive unselfish assists… After the game Manager Paul Murtagh commented,

“With missing Brads (Darren Bradley) and Milly (Mike Milligan) it gave us a perfect opportunity for a couple of the guys to have some effective game time. I thought Paul Kirby had his best game for England and Trevor Hanson took his opportunity really well to prove how valuable he can be.”

OVER 60’S BCWFL MATCH WIN

Sunday 9th saw the over 60’s play their last Birmingham County Walking Football league match of the year away against Shard End. The team came home triumphant with a well deserved 3-2 WIN (Brendan 1 and Steve Evans 2). Congratulations to all who took part!

HARTSHILL STROLLERS   3    3    0   0   7  0   9      7

BIRMINGHAM WFC             3    3    0   0   9  3   9      6

BEDWORTH UNITED          3    2    0   1   5  2   6      3

COLESHILL STROLLERS    3   1     0   2  3  4    3     -1

SHARD END                           3   0     0   3  2  7    0     -5

BOLDMERE ST M                 3   0     0   3  1  11  0    -10

WESTON SUPER MARE +70’S TOURNAMENT

On Sunday Alan Hanbury took a team of our over 70’s to Weston Super Mare for a competitive tournament against Cirencester, Clevedon, Eastleigh, and the hosts Weston. The team drew two and lost two unfortunately, but this was the first time the guys had played together so not bad considering. Well done and thanks to the team for supporting BWFC.

BIRMINGHAM   0

WESTON           0

CIRENCESTER    1

CLEVEDON        0

BIRMINGHAM   0

EASTLEIGH        3

CIRENCESTER     0

WESTON            0

WESTON            4

CLEVEDON         1

CIRENCESTER    1

EASTLEIGH        0

BIRMINGHAM    0

CIRENCESTER     0

CLEVEDON         1

EASTLEIGH         1

CLEVEDON          2

BIRMINGHAM     0

EASTLEIGH          0

WESTON             0

…………………….P   W  D  L   F  A  Pts

CIRENCSTR   4    2   2   0   2   0   8

WSM                4     1   3   0   4   1   6

EASTLGH       4     1   2   1   4   2   5

CLEVEDON    4     1   1   2   4   6   4

B’HAM             4     0   2   2   0   5   2

BWFC V BEDWORTH 2-0 WIN

On Sunday BWFC took a team of Over 60’s to play in a league match against Bedworth.

BWFC had about 65% possession throughout the game and once they settled down both Barry and John put in great performances for the team.

Bedworth had an early chance in the first half but was superbly saved by Les’ legs! The team rallied and came home with a 2-0 win after an own goal from a Bedworth player and a free kick goal from John McGinnell on his debut.

WEST BROMWICH ALBION WALKING FOOTBALL FESTIVAL

Disability Team

Phil (defence), John (defence), Roger (midfeld), Jim (striker), Billy (goalkeeper), Steve (sub striker), David (sub goalkeeper), Mick (midfielder) and Paul (manager)

Last week BWFC took two teams to West Bromwich Albions indoor training pitch to take part in a walking football festival, a disability team and an over 50’s team. It was the first time BWFC had entered a disability team into any kind of competitive arena and the first time the team had played together!

Other teams had players who were predominantly younger than our team and few with any outward signs of physical disability. Our team went into the games fearing that they were going to get beaten. However, they won all their games and only conceded 1 goal. Superior passing ability, guile, Captain Billy’s ‘geeing up’ from the back, Jim’s goal scoring prowess and ‘years and years’ of experience saw us through in all the games!

Manager Paul Murtagh commented;

“Although disability walking football is a relatively new concept this is an area we at BWFC want to develop and support in line with our clubs inclusion policy. Hopefully this type of festival will encourage others to try this new sport and open the game to as many people as possible.”

Over 50’s Team

In a turbulent day at West Bromwich, Birmingham’s Over 50’s came away with a successful day without conceding a goal. They started with two comprehensive 2-0 wins against Weston and WBA with a brace apiece from David Wright and Martin Evans. This was followed by a tight affair with Hartshill A where the deadlock could not be broken.

Local rivals Aston Villa were next up boasting former European Cup winner Des Bremner in their ranks. Two more from Wright ensured they were dispatched with some ease. Great work in the midfield from Kev Mann, Rod Thompson and John McGinnell provide the prolific Wright with numerous opportunities. Heath Underwood had had little to do in goal but made two excellent saves to deny the Villa forward line.

Their final fixture in the round robin saw them dominate possession as they beat Hartshill B 1-0 with yet another Wright goal. In the semi finals, the two Hartshill teams were to meet and Aston Villa were drawn against the unbeaten and seemingly impregnable Birmingham side. In the first minute David Castle fed Wright to once again slot home with a comprehensive finish. With Bham 1-0 up the game was then interrupted following an altercation between players, after an agreement between both teams and the tournament organiser, it was decided the game was to be decided with a penalty shoot out which Birmingham won.

The final was therefore between Birmingham and Hartshill B who triumphed in a penalty shootout in their semi final against their own A team.

In a day of continual surprises Hartshill’s Manager decided that his team did not want to play the final much to the amazement of both the organisers and Birmingham.

Player Manager David Castle said,

“It was a bit of a strange day. We had a team that had not played together before and we gelled well but for me Martin Evans was the stand out player, I’d never seen him play before and thought he was quality. The incident in the semi final was blown out of all proportion but an amicable resolution was agreed and concluded by all parties concerned. We were all genuinely surprised by Hartshill’s decision not to want to play the final”

OVER 60s SEASON GETS OFF TO A FLYING START!

Last week saw BWFCs over 60’s play their first league game of the season against Boldmere. The first half of the game was fairly evenly matched score wise but Birmingham missed a lot of chances.

The second half was a completely different story with Birmingham turning their second half possession into goals running out 4-1 winners with Dave Whatmore (2), Martin Evans (1) and man of the match by a shade Roy Williams (1) all getting on the score sheet. A great start to the season guys!

NATIONAL FIRST FOR OVER 70’S

Last Sunday BWFC sent a team of over 70’s to Nottingham to play in the first ever over 70’s walking football tournament. Although the team didn’t progress as well as they’d hoped it was an enjoyable experience for all concerned, as well as a learning curve for a possible future tournament in Cirencester in March. This was only the second time the team had played together and big thanks goes out to Bill who didn’t get to play but took up the role of manager. Scores were as follows;

BWFC 1-1 with Sheffield United – Draw

BWFC 0-2 Portsmouth (the eventual winners) – Loss

BWFC 0-0 Eastleigh – Draw

BWFC 0-0 Wales – Won that in a penalty shootout (Goalkeeper Geoffrey Harman saved 3 out of 4 pens)

Players – Geoffrey Harman, Alan Bailey, Dave Adams, Derek Adderley, Jim Murtagh, John Robb, Billy Pears, Roy Atkins, Steve Cash.

OVER 65’S TOURNAMENT SUCCESS

BWFC hosted their first Over 65’s Walking Football Festival at Solihull on Tuesday 9th October. With one team pulling out at fairly short notice, Birmingham, Abbeymead Rovers from Gloucester and Aston Villa were left to compete for the Champions spot. Each team played each other twice, in matches consisting 20 minutes each straight through.

 

B’ham and Abbeymead contested the first match which ended in a spirited 0 – 0 draw. Both sides played some excellent passing football but were unable to break each other down. There were however a couple of chances created by both sides but the two opposing goalkeepers excelled to keep the score at 0 – 0. With only a few minutes left to the end of the match, B’ham were awarded a penalty when a Rovers defender encroached into his own area. Unfortunately for B’ham the Abbeymead goalkeeper got down smartly to his right to keep out Birmingham’s well struck penalty.

 

Match number 2 was contested by Abbeymead and Aston Villa.  Again chances were at premium and the defences and midfields were in charge although both goalkeepers had to make one or two superb saves to avoid defeat for their teams in the early stages of the Tournament.

 

Villa took the field again in Match 3 against Birmingham.  This time Birmingham got off to a more secure start. A change of formation from 3 – 2 – 1  to  2 – 3 – 1 enabled them to take charge of the midfield area and create chances for Dave Whatmore 1 and Decca Thorp 3 to score the goals to give B’ham a comfortable 4 – 0 win.

 

Next up for B’ham were Abbeymead in the reverse fixture. Again this was a closely contested affair. B’ham spurred on by their 4 – 0 win over Aston Villa in their previous match attacked Rovers from the start and pinned them back in their own half for considerable amounts of time. Decca had one shot that was destined for the back of the net magnificently saved by the Rovers goalkeeper and at the other end, Bart O’Shea making his debut in the team, kept B’ham afloat with a tremendous flying save to palm the ball away to safety.  Final score B’ham 0 – 0 Abbeymead.

 

Match 5 was contested between Abbeymead and Aston Villa. This time comfortable 2 – 0 win for Rovers. Villa were not a very mobile team but showed a lot of skill and determination in their play. Their passing was accurate and crisp for the most part but they just lacked the cutting edge up front which may have brought them some success their efforts deserved.

 

Final match was B’ham v Aston Villa.   Needing only a draw to win the competition B’ham went again with the same attacking formation that had served them well in previous matches and this resulted in a comfortable 3 – 0 win with the goals being scored by Dave Whatmore 1 and Decca Thorp 2.

 

Competition Winners:

Birmingham WFC

 

Runners Up:         

 Abbeymead Rovers

 

3rd Place:                    

Aston Villa

 

There were some very good performances by a number of players from all sides that took part, but everyone agreed that special mention should be made of the three goalkeepers.

So well done to all three and in particular Bart who stepped in to replace unavailable Keith Phipps doing a magnificent job of keeping 4 clean sheets. Well done Bart. 

 

The whole competition was played in magnificent spirit and was very well refereed by Doug Carroll from Mansfield.

BWFC LADIES WIN IN NOTTINGHAM – 30/9/18

*REPORT TO FOLLOW*

ENGLAND SLAY WELSH DRAGONS 8/9/18

England’s Over 50’s and 60’s First team and shadow squad completed excellent victories over the newly formed Welsh squads at Jenner Park, the home of Barry Town.

In only the second minute they opened the scoring with a retaken penalty by Herne Bay’s Neil Davey. For long periods England dominated and a string of fine saves from Wales’s keeper and man of the match Gareth Richards kept a Nick Morris pile driver and attempts from Davey and Jefferson Simon from them doubling their lead. Peter Henry was creating numerous chances from midfield with great nervy and tenacity and on the stroke of half time a deflected shot from Paul Derbyshire saw the Leggy Mambo’s defender open his international account. The second half was much the same as Wales had no answer to the slick passing and movement of the well drilled England team. Two fine saves from Heath Underwood in the England goal kept out any threat and then twice Wales were penalised for overzealous challenges. The England side took full advantage with Leeds Titan’s Nick Morris finishing off a fine 5 man move and the impressive Dave Scotney converting another for a 4-0 lead. Captain Simon Sheppard rounded of the scoring with a superb long range effort finding the corner. After the game Coach David Castle commented,

“It was an excellent all round performance today, they lads gelled so well together, there is such a great attitude here with everyone working for each other. It’s great for these guys pressing for inclusion in the first team squad with I guess the Euros in June next year being the real target.”

In the main event, England were unchanged following their impressive 2-0 victory over Italy in Brighton and started with two goals in the first 10 minutes, first a Paul Walton shot from a rebound opened the scoring and then Leggy Mambo’s teammate Neil Evans made it two nil. Darren Bradley was once again controlling the play from deep as he linked superbly with Captain Neil Brown and Dave Norton to supply chances for the forwards. Norton tested the keeper with a number of well hit shots which were well saved by keeper Ed Allan. The Wales team were struggling with the passing and movement and had trouble controlling the rampant English. Employing some rather aggressive tactics the game became a little disjointed as the referee struggled to keep a lid on proceedings. As the away side made several changes their flow was interrupted and Rob Keating was called on to make two excellent saves before half time. Leading two nil at half time Manager Paul Murtagh continued to use his rolling substitutes, Paul Kirby and Ian Ward coming in for some particularly rough treatment from the Welsh defenders. With seven minutes remaining Bradley fed Norton on the left and a smart turn and shot put the game beyond doubt. Ian Ward had an excellent opportunity to make it 4-0 but his shot struck the crossbar, the last few minutes were about England keeping possession and ensuring their winning run continued. Dave Norton was duly named man of the match and afterwards Paul Murtagh commented,

“I thought it was another assured performance from this ‘young’ team.  We picked up from where we left off against Italy with a dominant display of possession walking football.  Subsequently creating a number of good opportunities and scoring from 2 of them early on, really settled the team down.  We tinkered a little bit with the team during the middle period which allowed Wales to come back into it momentarily as they employed a more physical and robust style to try to unsettle us.  I still never really thought the result was ever in doubt and we finished as strongly as we’d started.  Probably should have had more goals to show for our efforts but we gelled again nicely overall and look forward to our next opponents, whoever that maybe.  Confidence is high in the camp with us yet to concede a goal so, whoever the next challenge is, we’re up for it.”

EFL TRUST WOMEN’S WALKING FOOTBALL CUP

Held at St Georges Park on Saturday 4th August

BWFC Women were approached by Birmingham City Community Trust to represent the Blues in the first ever EFL Cup for women. We were invited because one of our members, Sue Hector, was recently involved with Birmingham City Women in organising their 50th birthday celebrations.

The tournament was for over 40s and over 50s teams and, due to holiday commitments, we decided to send just an over 50s team to take part.

We arrived at St Georges Park to find six clubs were entered; Birmingham City, represented by ourselves, Bradford City represented by Rothwell Old Boars over 50s, Lincoln City represented by Lincoln Lady Imps over 40s, Preston North End represented by Preston over 40s and Crawley Town who were represented by Crawley Old Girls over 40s and over 50s. The EFL decided to make the tournament a combined age event with all teams playing each other in a round-robin league format. The top three teams would then play off against each other for the Cup and the bottom three play each other for the Plate, the outcome of each mini-tournament being decided on points and possibly goal difference.

Our first game of the day was against Preston over 40s. BWFC got off to a slow start, taking a few minutes to settle and Kelly O’Donnell in goal was called upon to make a smart save but as time went on, we had more of the play and had a couple of good chances ourselves. However, the allotted 10-minute game finished at 0-0.

Second up were Crawley over 40s and we were one up in a minute with a goal by Sue Moogan. BWFC were dominant throughout with our goalkeeper hardly involved and a second goal from Dee Reade after 7 minutes completed the scoring, the game finishing 2-0 to us.

Our third game was against Bradford and a meeting with Rothwell Old Boars over 50s. We made a change for this game, swapping goalkeeper Kelly with Sally Barber, to allow Kelly to play as an outfield player. What followed was another dominant performance with Sue Moogan scoring 2 minutes in and following up with a further two goals to complete her hat trick and a good 3-0 victory.

Game 4 was against Lincoln over 40s and again, Sally played in goal with Kelly playing as a striker. Sue Moogan scored after 2 mins and Kelly followed up with a second two minutes later. Sue added a third after 7 minutes and a final goal from Kath Broadfield gave BWFC another victory – this time 4-0.

Our final game of this first stage was against Crawley over 50s and we reverted to our original line-up for what we expected to be a tight game. Crawley proved to be stiff opposition – this was a game between two well organised teams with neither giving anything away and it finished a 0-0 draw.

The final table for this part of the day saw Preston finish with 14 points, Birmingham with 11 and Crawley over 50s with 10. These three teams would play each other again for the Cup with Bradford, Lincoln and Crawley over 40s playing for the Plate.

The first game in the Cup competition was Birmingham against Crawley over 50s with an identical outcome to the game in the first part of the competition – a tight 0-0 draw. Immediately, we then played our second game against Preston. This proved to be another close affair with few chances either end but the game was finally decided when Lorraine Robinson scored, giving us a 1-0 victory and a total of 4 points overall. The final game of the day between Crawley and Preston to decide the overall outcome was a tense affair. A 0-0 score would mean we won overall, a Preston victory would mean we won overall, a win of 2-0 or better for Crawley would mean that they won overall and a 1-0 to Crawley would leave us and Crawley all square on points, goal difference and goals scored … and, of course, it finished 1-0 to Crawley!

The final destination of the Cup would rest on a penalty shoot-out between ourselves and Crawley. Dee won the toss and elected for us to go first. Sue Moogan had her shot saved but Crawley’s first penalty was wide so all square after round 1.

Second up for us was Lorraine – who scored to the keeper’s left and Crawley’s second penalty was brilliantly saved by Kelly – advantage Birmingham.

Our final penalty taker was Captain Dee Reade – who scored to the keeper’s right giving us an unassailable 2-0 lead

… and victory! A super day – undefeated and without a single goal being conceded, including in the penalty shoot-out. A brilliant effort from everyone.

BWFC WOMEN RULE!

Birmingham Walking Football Club entered two teams into this year’s Dick Kerr Ladies Cup held at UCLan, Preston on a very hot Sunday 8th July. This was the second year this 6-a-side competition has been held with last year’s being the very first national women’s walking football tournament.

Our Over 40s squad of 7, comprised of Caroline Reid, Truly Griffin, Allison Wayley, Lorraine Robinson, Kelly O’Donnell, Sonya Compton and Alexa Davies, who competed with six other teams in a league format with the top four qualifying for the final playoffs. Birmingham opened with a 5-1 victory against Lancashire Law School and this was followed by a 0-0 draw with Newcastle United (last year’s winners) and a 1-1 draw against Bolton Ambassadors. The morning’s final game saw us run out 7-0 victors against Poolfoot Belles, leaving us in a strong position for a playoff place but with Alexa’s ankle swollen badly. The injury meant she could play no further part and the squad was reduced to a bare 6 with no substitutes for the remaining games and our final two league games after lunch to be played back-to-back. However, Birmingham were victorious in both games – a 3-0 victory against Sheffield United and a feisty 1-0 win against Phoenix. This saw us complete our programme in second place overall on goal difference and with a semi-final against Phoenix, who finished third, as our reward!

Birmingham went on to win this hard-fought semi-final against Phoenix 2-0 which meant a place in the final against Newcastle United who were defending champions. Birmingham’s Kelly O’Donnell scored first but Newcastle came back to equalise minutes later. Newcastle then scored again following a free kick move which allowed their leading goal scorer a long range shot. Caroline was unsighted by defending players and the ball flew into the net giving Newcastle the lead. Birmingham pressed hard for the remainder of the game and Caroline made some incredible saves to prevent Newcastle increasing their lead but it was not to be. Birmingham finished as Runners up.

Our Over 50s squad of 9 – Sue Insall, Dee Reade, Karen Sharman, Sue Moogan, Jan Trigg, Anne Ross, Tracy Dudwell, Sally Barber and Kath Broadfield were up against 3 other teams and played each twice, meaning 6 games in a league format.

Our first game was against Rothwell Old Boars and Birmingham ran out a 6-1 victory (goals from Tracy 3, Sue M, Dee and Sally). In our second match against Rossendale, we conceded two quick goals but found another gear and scored three ourselves without further reply for a hard fought 3-2 victory (goals from Sue M, 3). The final game of the morning session was a 5-0 victory against Preston (goals from Sue M, 3, Tracy, 2).

The afternoon session saw us complete a further three games against the same teams. First up again were Rothwell with Birmingham winning 4-1 (goals from Sue M, 2, Jan and Kath). Next up was the reverse fixture against Rossendale who had proved to be our stiffest opposition in the first round of games. We knew that anything but a loss would leave us in a very strong position and indeed this was the outcome with neither side being able to achieve a break-through and a 0-0 resulting. Final game was against Preston. They had lost their goalkeeper with a serious wrist injury earlier and asked if we would object to a ‘guest’ keeper playing as they had no substitute players. We had no issue with this and even with their young stand-in keeper playing, Birmingham finished with a 6-0 victory (goals from Sue M, 3, Kath, 2 and Dee). This completed the Over 50s competition and Birmingham finished up undefeated with 16 points from a possible 18 and WINNERS!

Over 50’s Manager Sue Thomas said, “Congratulations to EVERYONE who took part, the over 50s for bringing back the very first trophy for the Women’s section and the Over 40s for finishing runners up to a very good Newcastle side, and who played their last four games with no substitutes available virtually back-to-back. You were all brilliant; it was an honour and pleasure to be with you.”

Click on the following link to see the official photos ; https://www.facebook.com/UCLanArena/

County FA Cup competition at Bedworth

Whilst England’s heroes in Russia bask in the winning of penalty shoot outs and banishing hoodoos from the past four Birmingham teams turned out for the County FA Cup competition at Bedworth United in blistering heat as x2 over 50’s teams and x2 60’s teams played a total of 16 games conceding only two goals between them.

Birmingham’s own Achilles heel came back to haunt them as they lost the finals in both age groups on penalties.

In the over 50’s injury and unavailability due to holidays and work had left both the Blues and Whites short of key men that meant two virtually untried teams lined up in the respective groups.

Blues completed three comfortable victories 1-0 2-0 and 3-0 Ian Ward going nap hand and a single goal from Mick Richards. The whites had mixed fortunes with a 1-0 win and a 1-0 loss, but still progressed to the semi final stage, their goal coming from Mark Gibbons, Mike Taylor Lane in goal pulling off some fine saves as they beat Wyndley.

The two teams then met in the semi final, a tight game ensued and only Ian Ward’s penalty putting the Blues through.

The final was always going to be tight, both Hartshill and the Blues hit a post before, the Blues eventually were beaten 3-2 on penalties.

Ward was top scorer on the day with his return of 6 (4 better than any other player.)

Steve White’s sixties managed a passage through to the semi final with a win and two draws and John Limbourne’s team were unfortunate as 3 0-0 draws meant an early exit.

A semi final against league winners Coleshill was won on penalties following the group campaign with 3 tight games with a 1-0 win v Shard End and two x 0-0 draws, Roy Williams striking a great shot past the keeper for the winner

The final against Hartshill was again very tight the seemingly inevitable 0-0 draw was again followed by penalties and once again we were more Henderson than Trippier so another 3-2 defeat followed.

Manager David Castle commented, “It seems unbelievable that both the 50’s and 60’s can go through a tournament and not let in a goal but finish runners up. There were so many people who made their debuts for the club today and they have all done us proud. Perhaps I need to speak to Paul about having a separate session for practicing penalties!”

WFA Over 65’s National Cup Competition. Birmingham WFC  1  Hartshill Strollers 3.

WORCESTER TOURNAMENT WIN FOR BWFC Over 60/65’s – 2/5/18

 

A mixed team of Over 60 and Over 65’s returned to Worcester on Wednesday 2nd May to compete in the University of Worcester Walking Football Tournament.

 

Birmingham were runners up in this competition last year when it was played in sweltering conditions and they returned this year determined to win it this time round. This year the weather was the complete opposite and the matches played in a mixture of sunny, rainy and monsoon conditions which even included a hail storm!!

 

The first match was against newcomers to this competition in the form of a team called Freedom, a bunch of old boys from a local leisure centre who have got together and formed a team and went out to give it their all. Just what Walking Football should be about!

 

The matches were 8 mins per half and, as usual, Birmingham started slowly but soon got into their stride when Dave Whatmore scored his first goal of the day after 4 minutes play. This was followed by a Paul Feeney piledriver into the top corner. More neat play in the second half saw Dave Whatmore add the third and Tom Neale completed the scoring to make the final score 

BWFC 4 Freedom 0 

 

The second match was against Evesham WFC. This opposition were a step up in ability and aggression from the first opponents and Birmingham had to be at their best to contain them in the first few minutes with a couple of efforts on Keith ’The Cat ” Phipps goal flying high and wide. Then Keith showed what a good goalkeeper he has become when he came off his line to smother a one on one effort from Evesham after they had managed to break through the Birmingham defensive line. This would have put Evesham one up so it was a very important save!!  From then on Birmingham stepped up the pace and a neat short passing move found Tom Neale on the edge of the box and the chance was despatched with aplomb.  Final Score: Birmingham 1 Evesham 0

 

Last up in the group stage was the team from the University of Worcester.  Last year in tropical conditions Birmingham ran out 8 – 0 winners, but this year the score line was not so flattering.

Once again Birmingham controlled the game from start to finish and again the passing, movement and covering was first class.  The defence were never troubled due to the protection afforded to them by the midfield of Frank Hughes, Roy Williams and Paul Feeney who hounded Worcester at every opportunity and got forward to create the chance for Dave Whatmore to score his third goal of the competition. Paul Feeney completed the scoring to make the final score Birmingham 2  Worcester 0

 

Birmingham were into the final where they were to meet a very physical and aggressive Evesham side who’s tactics seemed to be to shut out Birmingham’s forward threat by fair means or foul. The first half was all one way traffic with Birmingham dominating the midfield area once again and they were unlucky not to be at least a goal up at half time. The match continued in the same vein in the second half when the referee finally decided to speak to Evesham regarding their overzealous tackling and running. Birmingham stepped up the pace even more at this point and a superb long range effort from Frank Hughes found its way into the corner of the Evesham net to win the game and competition.

Final Score Birmingham 1  Evesham 0

BWFC AT STAFFS WALKING FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT –  29/4/18

BWFC far from disgraced themselves at Keele University Sports Campus last weekend on a bitterly cold spring day. Four group matches in the preliminary round were safely negotiated before their brave run ended in a close-run semi final defeat.

First up for Birmingham was a tricky match against a skillful and mobile Manchester City team who had already commenced their campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Stone.

Birmingham were quite literally caught cold and succumbed to 2-0 setback.

Without panicking Birmingham steadied the ship with consecutive 1-0 victories over Port Vale and Stone. Steve Sale capped a fine performance by striking a crisp half volley beyond the Vale keeper, whilst Mark ‘Gibbo’ Gibbons poked a shot through a crowded central area and past a despairing dive to secure the points against his former team.

These victories set up what was in effect a quarter final ‘must win’ game against Staffs Moorlands. Moorlands sat back and despite excellent link play driven by a dynamic Andy Craddock from midfield, Birmingham were unable to break down resolute defending. However, with the clock ticking down a last gasp through ball reached Sale who, in trying to turn was impeded by his marker. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Gibbons slotted home the ensuing penalty. The relief was palpable as the ref soon blew for full time and Birmingham had secured a semi final berth versus Chesterton.

The last four encounters were an ill tempered ‘hard fought’ affair and was settled late on, ending Birmingham’s brave run with a 1-0 reverse.

This tournament was a genuine all round team effort. Our march through the group stages was built on our defensive dominance due to Ade Whitehead’s tenacious tackling and keeper Derek Hughes’ shot stopping, meaning only three goals were conceded in 5 games. In addition, the team’s hard work was epitomised by Roy Williams’ forays from the right flank. The midfield trio of Craddock, Gibbons and Williams superbly linked with the ever available Sale up front.

This was a solid and pleasing performance by a team who had rarely played together before and showed the strength in depth at the club.

MIXED FORTUNES FOR BIRMINGHAM

Contrasting days for Birmingham’s two representatives in the Birmingham County League Fixtures as The Whites and the Blues both started their campaign.

The Whites made a solid start with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Hartshill with Buttons late equaliser gaining a point, a 1-0 success followed with victory over Suttons Finest with Pod scoring the all important winner. A 0-0 draw against Wyndley and a 1-0 win against Bedworth with Pod once again on the score sheet meant that they remained unbeaten with 8 points from 4 games. Simon Dyer was delighted with the whole all-round team performance, “everyone did their job and chipped in, we’ve hardly ever played together before and acquitted ourselves really well”.

Conversely the Blues got off to a dreadful start as their 4 fixtures only reaped 3 points after 3 losses to Coleshill, Hartshill and Sutton’s Finest, their day improved slightly with a 1-0 win over Wyndley. Skipper David Castle said “I don’t think we have collectively played a group of games like that before, I know the size of the pitches were not conducive to crisp passing as they were so small for 7 a side, but it’s the same for everyone, we just didn’t adapt as we should have”.

BWFC OVER 60’S LEAGUE BEGINS

Birmingham Walking Football Club Over 60s travelled to Dudley on Sunday April 22nd for the inaugural fixtures in the Midlands Walking Football League. BWFC were depleted by four players being involved in the England trials at Solihull, injury and unavailability but managed to field seven players who did credit to the club. The first game should have been against Wyndley but they had dropped out to be replaced by a second team from Coleshill. The games were 15 minutes straight through on quite tight pitches for 7 a side. BWFC started with stand in goalkeeper, Steve Evans who was largely untroubled in this first game. Keith Laishley and John “Gus” Traynor, making his debut for the club marshalled the defence with the midfield trio of Paul Whitehouse, Frank Hughes and Roy Williams passing the ball confidently. Steve White continued in his role as stand in striker, not through personal choice but because there was no alternative. BWFC pressed for the majority of the game but apart from a couple of half chances and one shot the keeper pushed on to the post BWFC were unable to turn their dominance into a victory.

The second opponents were Bedworth who started brightly but became frustrated at being blown up frequently for running. BWFC again had the majority of the play and yet again hit the frame of the goal but were unable to find the net and the second game ended in a stalemate. The two games held on pitch 4 were well refereed by Bernard from our old friends Hartshill and helped the games to be played as they should be.

The third game was against the first Coleshill team and proved a game too far for BWFC. The game was played on another pitch with a different referee who was much more relaxed regarding physical contact and running. The game started cagily with Coleshill having drawn both their games as well but following a skirmish on the edge of the box Roy Williams ended up in the goalkeeping area and the resulting penalty was expertly dispatched. BWFC began to push forward in search of an equalizer but Coleshill took advantage of space left in defence to score a second which did appear that the striker had encroached in the area but the referee waved away the complaints and awarded the goal. BWFC were now looking shellshocked and despite carving out a couple of chances there was no way past the Coleshill keeper. BWFC let in a third and despite a change in goalkeeping personnel Coleshill tucked away a fourth to complete a comfortable win. BWFC ended the game with six as the stand in keeper Steve White decided the best way to stop a thunderbolt shot was with his face and was thankful for the medical attention from Mark from Hartshill.

The next round of games are in May and hopefully we will be able to field a team with a specialist goalkeeper and striker.

BWFC v Shard End 17th April –  Solihull Football Centre – 2-1 WIN

BWFC line up:

Keith Phipps in goal standing in for Geoff Harman who was injured playing for Over 70s prior to the game.

Paul Foster, defence                     

Barry Huntingdon, defence                                         

Roy Williams, left midfield

Steve Evans, right midfield

Paul Feeney, centre midfield

Steve White, striker

Roy Atkins sub

Both teams started the game at a very fast pace and the referee had to remind all players that this was supposed to be “walking football” with minimum contact.

During the first half BWFC had to ride a number of strong challenges from the away team, especially Paul Feeney in midfield. In the first half both teams created a number of scoring opportunities but were unable to beat some tight defending with Paul Foster, Barry and Keith looking assured in defence for BWFC.

The second half continued in the same vein but it was Shard End who opened the scoring taking advantage of some sloppy defending by Birmingham. BWFC renewed their efforts to get back into the game and were rewarded when Steve White in his new role as stand-in striker had kept the Shard End defence busy and his efforts finally paid off when with his back to goal he turned on a sixpence on the edge of the area and slotted the ball home with his left foot into the corner of the Shard End net. (Fortunately for his family and friends no video is available of his goal.)

BWFC began to move the ball around with more precision which kept Shard End pegged back in their own half as they strived for the winner. The referee again warned a number of players about running and for some unknown reason he seemed to single out Roy (Road Runner) Williams in particular. Roy explained to the ref that he had had 3 weetabix for breakfast but the referee was having none of it and Roy was shown a blue card earning him a two-minute breather in the sin bin.

BWFC continued to create some neat passing moves which resulted in several attempts on goal on from Paul Feeney, Steve Evans and Roy Williams but Shard End continued to stand firm.

Eventually Steve Evans received the ball in midfield and advancing on the Shard End defence scored a great goal with a low hard drive.

With a 2-1 lead BWFC decided to shore up their defence by bringing on the very experienced Roy Atkins (on loan from the 70s team) replacing Roy Williams in left midfield who was on his fifth strike and in danger of receiving a red card.

BWFC saw out the game to win 2-1 in a generally sporting game with consistent and fair refereeing. BWFC look forward to the return game but the sides will meet in the newly formed Midlands League in May.

OVER 70’S FIRST EVER COMPETITIVE MATCH

This year BWFC entered FOUR teams into the Peoples Cup, Over 65’s, TWO Over 50’s & for the first time a Ladies team! The 65’s and 50’s were walking football but the ladies team was normal running football in the veteran catagory. We are pleased to announce that ALL FOUR TEAMS got through to the next round!!! Match reports for each location are below.

BWFC OVER 65’S MATCH REPORT – PEOPLES CUP 1ST ROUND – STOKE

Despite the M6 being closed, and traffic being redirected off the motorway, the Birmingham Over 65’s team arrived in Stoke in time for the kick-off in the FA Peoples Cup.

 The squad consisted of:

 Keith Phipps                                                        

Barry Huntington

John Crampton

Malcolm Thorp

Derek Thorp

Frank Hughes

Kevin Burton

 

Despite being informed that it was 5-a-side football, it turned out to be 6-a-side!   Good job we’d invited Kevin Burton along!

 All the matches were to be 10 minutes long (5 minutes each way).   We were on second, against Port Vale Walkers, and thanks to a brace from Barry Huntington, Birmingham 65 got off to a great start – 2-0 and three points on the board.

 Next up were Stoke City FC.   A tight game, with some rough tackling, saw us sneak a 1-0 win, thanks to another goal from Barry Huntington.   Where was Derek Thorp I hear you ask?   Read on!   In our third game we were up against Stoke City FC A team.   Having raced into a 2-0 lead, we must have fallen asleep, because two quick fire goals from Stoke saw them draw level.   However, Decka completed his hat-trick with a fine goal to see Birmingham gain their third straight win.

 

Our last group match was against Holmes Chapel Wanderers, who had also won all their group matches.   So, it was this game that would decide who topped the group.   It has to be said that we were played off the park in the first half.   They played the ball off the boards far better than we did, and by half time we were 3-0 down!   We then lost Barry Huntington with a thigh injury, and now had no substitutes left!   Despite this, we played better in the second half, and prevented Holmes Chapel from adding to their score.   Final score 3-0.   We finished 2^nd in the group, and were in the semi-finals.

 

We were up against Stoke City FC in the first semi, and were determined to do better than a 1-0 win this time.   Derek Thorp, Malcolm Thorp and a bizarre own goal saw Birmingham 65 run out 3-1 winners.   We were into the final!

 

The final, almost inevitably, was against Holmes Chapel.   The whole team played well, coming close to scoring on several occasions, but unfortunately we lost the game by a single goal.  It has to be said keeper Keith Phipps had an amazing tournament and saved some vital goals in important games. We all came away with our heads held high, delighted with our performance against all the youngsters!

OVER 60’s WFU NATIONAL TOURNAMENT REGIONAL STAGE – NUNEATON –  WINNERS 13/8/17

Birmingham Over 60s marched on in the Walking Football National Competition at Nuneaton on Sunday with victories over Coleshill and Leicester to reach the Central region final.

Birmingham played the first game against local rivals Coleshill and in a hard fought match were victors by 1-0. John Crampton scored the only goal in the first half when he found space near the opposition goal and slotted his shot home. Birmingham created a number of good chances particularly in the second half but due to some good saves and some wayward shooting were unable to make the game comfortable. Coleshill battled well to get back into the game but were unable to carve out any clear cut chances and all shots on target were calmly fielded by Les Dawson in goal. A good team performance with players working hard and supporting and encouraging each other. Coleshill then played Leicester an in an uncompromising encounter Leicester emerged victorious 2-0.

Birmingham then played the final match against Leicester with the winner going through to the Regional Final.

The match at times was quite physical but Birmingham settled better than the previous game and began passing the ball well and were rewarded when some excellent trickery by Steve Dixon found space near the goal and scored. Les Dawson was able to deal with any shots that came his way without any panic. Birmingham continued to work hard and not allow Leicester any space or time on the ball and were again successful when the team took advantage of the opposition being a player down because of a “blue” card and Malcolm Thorp was left in space and in typically cool fashion scored the second and decisive goal. Birmingham weathered the storm of the last few minutes with Leicester pressing and coping with a couple of “blue cards” to win the game.

A great team performance with hard work and graft from all the players and everyone will look forward to the next round.

Les Dawson, Barry Huntington, Keith Laishley, John Crampton, Malcolm Thorp, Steve Dixon, Dave Whatmore, Paul Foster, Steve White.

OVER 50’s WFU NATIONAL TOURNAMENT REGIONAL STAGE – NUNEATON –  WINNERS 11/8/17

IMPRESSIVE OVER 50’S PROGRESS TO REGIONAL FINALS

Two thoroughly convincing performances saw Birmingham’s over 50’s progress to the Regional Final of the prestigious WFA Tournament. In the three way round robin they beat Coleshill and Leicester 4-0 and 2-0 respectively. With precise passing and excellent movement they proved far too strong for both opponents. A well work free kick between Dave Norton and Darren Bradley saw Bradley tuck in the opener into the corner of the Coleshill net. Norton then helped himself to a second before debutant Ian Ward’s beautiful dink finish made it three. Andrew Struthers then completed off a superb team goal where every Birmingham outfield player was involved to seal a comfortable victory.

After Leicester beat Coleshill 4-2 (coming from 2-0 down) it meant a winner takes all finale! Birmingham kept their nerve and whilst not appearing to get out of second gear totally controlled the play with Norton first, then a trademark Bradley thunderbolt saw off the East Midlanders.

Once again solid performances from David Castle at the back and Les Dawson in goal kept their opponents at bay , but Birmingham’s organisation and free flowing passing game was a joy to watch. Ian Ward slotted in to their system perfectly and with the Norton, Bradley, Struthers and Wright quartet, Birmingham have a goal threat everywhere.

Dave Norton said after the game, “We won it today as a real team, no individual person won the game, and collectively we were as good today as we’ve ever been. We need to keep learning and working with each other. Our attitude and understanding of what we are trying to achieve is getting so much better, and that’s so important if we want to take all the times where we have been found a little wanting (at finals) days to win a major national tournament.”

OVER 65’s TOURNAMENT RUNNERS UP – ROMFORD 11/8/17

Our Over 65’s Team took part in the Dagenham and Redbridge WFC Tournament in Romford, Essex on Friday 11th August.

Eight teams from Essex and East Anglia took part, and the competition was played on a round robin basis with the League Winners being crowned Champions.

Our first game was against Norwich “A” who were the eventual winners with a 100% record. It was a very close game and we can count ourselves very unlucky not to have won. Decka hit a post with one shot and had a goal disallowed for running by a Norwich defender, the referee having blown up for the offence a second or so before Decka struck the ball !!

The other results were as follows:

BWFC  3  Dagenham  0

BWFC  0  Walton Swifts  0

BWFC  7  Norwich “B”  0

BWFC  6  Southend United  0

BWFC  2  Chelmsford City  1

BWFC  4  Barnet  1

It was a great team effort all round on a hot and sunny day, but special mention must go to Derek Thorp who scored 16 Goals in the competition and Keith Phipps in goal who restricted the opposition teams to only 3 goals in seven matches.

Competition Goalscorers:  Derek Thorp 16    Malcom Thorp  3    Billy McKee  1     John Limbourne  1       OG.   1

BIRMINGHAM GO TOP AS BRADLEY SCORES EIGHT!

 

 

Birmingham’s over 50’s went to the top of the county FA league as Darren Bradley went goal crazy, the former defender turned goal poacher scored 6 in an 8-0 victory over the hapless Shard End, further goals from Simon Dyer and Dave Norton completed the rout as keeper Les Dawson barely touched the ball all game.

 

In their second fixture another comprehensive 6-0 win over Stratford, with a brace from Bradley, singles from Simon Dyer, Andy Struthers, David Castle and a superb goal direct from a corner from Dave Norton. Once again Shay Flaherty ensured keeper Les Dawson had very little to do.

 

Assistant Manager Ian Gough  commented “I thought the performance and the attitude of the lads was superb, the new system worked really well, once we play better opposition it will be the true yardstick of how successful it will be, We are learning so much about each other’s capabilities in these games, which can only help us when it comes to the bigger National Competitions, the only thing missing at this club is a major National trophy, we need to stay focused and I’m sure its achievable “

 

OVER 60/65’s TOURNAMENT – CHELMSFORD 10/7/17 – 3RD PLACE

BWFC headed down south to Essex yesterday for an over 60/65’s tournament, they played 8 games, won 4, drew 2 and lost 2 with only 2 goals getting past keeper Keith Phipps. Well done to all the gents who played!

Results as follows;

BWFC v Shooters 1-0 WIN (Derek Thorpe)

BWFC v Chelmsford Whites 0-0 DRAW

BWFC v Chelmsford Clarets 0-0 DRAW

BWFC v Norwich 1-0 LOSS

BWFC v Southend 2-0 WIN (Malcolm Thorpe & Derek Thorpe)

BWFC v Stevenage 1-0 WIN (Paul Feeney)

BWFC v Beccles 1-0 LOSS

BWFC v Norwich A 2-0 WIN (John Crampton & Derek Thorpe)

OVER 55’S GO ACTIVE GOLD TOURNAMENT – OXFORD 5/7/17 – RUNNERS UP

On Wednesday an over 55’s BWFC team headed to East Hagbourne Pavilion to meet 17 other teams for the Go Active Gold walking football tournament.

Results were as follows;

BWFC v Abbeymead Rovers 2-2 DRAW (Dave Wright 2)

BWFC v Brackley Senior Saints B 2-0 WIN ( Kev Mann 1, Dave Wright 1)

BWFC v Cherwell Strollers 1-2 WIN (Dave Wright )

BWFC v Eastleigh FC 1-1 DRAW (Dave Wright)

BWFC v Wiltshire Combos 2-2 DRAW (Dave Wright 2)

BWFC v Abingdon Almost Athletic 1-0 WIN  (Dave Wright)

BWFC v Chalgrove Caveliers 3-0 WIN ( Dave Wright 3)

BWFC v Southend 2-1 WIN (Roy Atkins, Rod Thompson)

SEMI FINALS;

BWFC v Portsmouth 1-0 WIN (Kev Mann)

FINAL

BWFC v Abbeymead Rovers 4-1 LOSS (Dave Wright)

BWFC LADIES OVER 40’S ATTEND FIRST EVER LADIES WALKING FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – PRESTON DICK KERR CUP

A team of BWFC ladies took part in the inaugural Dick Kerr Ladies Walking Football Tournament in Preston at the weekend. Teams from all over the country took part to celebrate the centenary year of the famous women’s football club. Heading into the unknown BWFC entered into the over 40’s category.

The first two games were pitched against two good teams, Blackpool (Non Runners) and Liverpool (Liverpool Feds A). Giving a good account of themselves BWFC lost both games 2-0 a piece with Caroline Reid being outstanding in goal in both games. It wasn’t long before their nerves disappeared and BWFC found their groove and registered a 1-0 win against Football United courtesy of a Sue Moogan corker.

Needing to win their last game to qualify for the shield semi final, the team played No Balls from Preston and brushed aside a 4-0 win with Alexa (2), Truley & Sonya getting on the score sheet.  The win secured the ladies a 3^rd place finish in their group and took them into the semi final for the shield. It was here they played Liverpool Feds B team.

After completely dominating the game playing some lovely football the ladies found themselves 1-0 down after a long range shot found itself in the back of the Birmingham net. Birmingham continued to press with Liverpool content to sit back and protect their lead. A string of fine saves from the Liverpool Keeper (awarded Goal keeper of the tournament) kept the Merseysiders in it. Birmingham considered themselves unfortunate after the referee erroneously called time early while Birmingham were pressing. BWFC ladies played some lovely stuff throughout the tournament considering the team hadn’t played any competitive matches before.

BWFC Chairman Paul Murtagh said, “Our girls should be immensely proud and consider themselves pioneers in ladies walking football.”

SQUAD – Sue Thomas, Alexa Davies , Truley Griffin, Jo-Ann Williams, Kathy Broadfield, Sonya Compton, Caroline Reid, Sue Moogan, Zoe Murtagh

BWFC (over 60’s) attend Worcester Uni Tournament – WIN

Birmingham over 60s travelled to Worcester University for a three team tournament in what turned out to be sweltering, tropical conditions.

The games were 9 a side for 35 minutes which became a real test in the conditions. Birmingham started against Hindlip who were very mobile and strong but the defence kept them at bay for the first half and an excellent piece of goal poaching by John Limbourne grabbed the lead following an error in the Hindlip defence. John nearly added another goal on the stroke of half time but were thwarted by a good save from the keeper.

Hindlip started the second half in determined fashion and their pressure brought about a couple of errors in the Birmingham defence which they took advantage of to take the lead 2-1. Birmingham pressed for the leveller but were unable to carve out any further chances. Hindlip sealed the victory with an unstoppable shot from a free kick to win 3-1. A hard working performance from all the team was made more credible when we realised that this was Hindlip’s Over 50s team.

Hindlip then defeated Worcester to win the mini tournament and Birmingham played Worcester University to decide runner up spot. Birmingham won 8-0 with four from Dave Whatmore. Thanks to the team particularly the debutants Tony L and Steve who performed with credit and Brendan for his advice and time keeping.

Birmingham over 50’s Walking Football League

Birmingham’s Over 50’s made a solid if not spectacular start to the newly formed Birmingham FA league, ten local teams will fight it out over 4 separate mini tournament days over the next three months to be crowned Champions. Birmingham first fixture produced a 5-1 victory over Bedworth as Dave Norton’s early strike set them on their way. An Andy Struthers free kick and further goals from Darren Bradley, Ian Gough and Norton meant a comfortable victory with Bedworth scoring a late consolation in the last minute. The Blues second opponents were Hartshill, who once again decided that to sit back and defend a 0-0 was their best option of gaining anything from the game. Birmingham bombarded the Hartshill keeper who performed miracles in goal, with at times sublime goalkeeping. Bradley, Norton and David Castle all went close but to their credit the Hartshill tactics worked, after 20 minutes of continual pressure they held out for a credible draw.

After the game skipper Castle commented, four points is a decent start for us, I don’t think we could have done much more, their keeper was incredible, we have to give Hartshill credit, they have a game plan and stick to it, and it’s up to us to break them down. We know this league will be tight there were lots of draws today we just need to be a little bit more clinical.

A better day!

Our first game of the day was against local team, Monte Mentals. They fielded probably their strongest team and we again went behind in the first half although our overall display was much improved from yesterday. We steadied the ship in the second half but still lost out by 3 – 0. Next up for BWFC were today’s invited team, Porta Bellows. A strong start from BWFC combined with strict application of the rules by the ref resulted in a well deserved victory with goals from Steve Hughes and two, including a penalty, from John Limbourne who played the game hampered by a hamstring injury which he aggravated in the first game. 

Other results meant that the last game of the morning against Coleshill would decide the outcome of the day’s proceedings. BWFC went ahead with a brilliant goal from Billy McKee and Ken Scott made it 2-0 with a fine individual effort. Coleshill pulled one back before Chris Baker scored to make the final result 3-1 to BWFC. However, it wasn’t quite enough and we lost out for the day’s trophy to Monte Mentals on goal difference.

MM = Monte Mentals

PB = Porta Bellows

COL = Coleshill

 

Full results:

MM 3 – 0 BWFC

PB 3 – 1 COL

MM 2 – 3 COL

PB 0 – 3 BWFC

MM 3 – 2 PB*

BWFC 3 – 1 COL

 

(*Both sides involved in the match between Monte Mentals and Porta Bellows were convinced it finished as a 2-2 draw which would’ve meant we only needed a win in our last game. However, the ref of that game was convinced it finished 3-2 to Monte Mentals and, as the ref, his decision was final! This meant we needed to beat Coleshill by a four goal margin to finish ahead on goal difference so our 3-1 win wasn’t quite enough). 

BWFC OVER 60’S IN ALICANTE – DAY 1

Day 1

(Matches played using new FA rules – direct free kicks and no pass-backs unless ball played by another player).

We arrived at the ground expecting to be playing the first game of the day against Coleshill. However, they were late arriving so the fixtures were switched and we played our first game against local side Monte Mentals. MM got off to a flying start and bwfc were 3 down within a five minute blistering start from the local team. The second half was much better from bwfc and a goal from John Limbourne pegged MM back briefly but they scored again to finish the game 4-1 winners.

Second game for bwfc followed immediate against the now arrived coleshill. Again, bwfc conceded two quick goals until they steadied the ship with a solid performance second half. However with no more goals, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat. Our final game of the day was against Moraira, the eventual winners of the day’s tournament. Bwfc went 2 down in the first half but fought back to 2-2 after two excellent goals from John Limbourne. The first of these a brilliant free kick curled left footed into the top corner. The second was from a first time finish from a corner played at pace across the box. However Moraira scored two more goals in the second half to see out victory. We may have lost the game but credit to bwfc for stopping the Moraira midfielders who had scored freely in their other games.  They scored 6 in each of their other matches!

Full results:

Bwfc 1 – Monte Mentals 4

Coleshill 2 – bwfc 0

Coleshill 4 – moraira 6

Bwfc 2 – moraira 4

Monte mentals 1 – coleshill 1

Moraira 6 – Monte mentals 1

ENGLAND WIN THE WORLD CUP!

https://youtu.be/H0sL7BLJlz0

Now there’s a term you thought you’d never hear again, for a while at least!

BWFC were invited to enter a team to represent England in the International Super Vets 5 a side world cup football tournament held in Swansea 12th May 2017. Games were scheduled against teams representing Scotland, Wales and Canada. The Over 65’s Walking football category was a first for the tournament organizers who have been organizing international tournaments all over the world since 2009. First up for England was Scotland, and England got off to a dream start when Derek Thorp slotted home to put the three lions 1 up after being superbly set up by his brother Malcolm. However, a few minutes later a mix up in the England defence allowed Scotland back in to level at 1-1. England struggled to find the fluency they showed in recent warm up games and Scotland (fielding BWFC midfielder Frank Hughes) were deserving of their point, Final score 1-1. Next up, England v Wales Vets, again Derek Thorp produced a fine strike to put England in the driving seat early on to go 1-0 up against the experienced Welsh. An even contest throughout with the Welsh causing problems for the English defence making good use of the aerial ball and the ability of the goalkeeper to advance out of his area. In one such instance the Welsh were lucky to have their goalkeeper on the pitch after deliberately handling a goal bound shot on the half way line!! Fortunately it didn’t prove costly for England and they ran out deserved winners, Final score 1-0. England v Wales (YMA O HUD), the People’s Cup finalists of 2015 proved to be no match for England 2 more from D.Thorp, 1 from M.Thorp and a deserved goal for John Crampton really cemented England as the team to beat at the tournament. The scoreline could have been by a greater margin after striking the woodwork twice and missing a penalty. Goals were now precious as England were only ahead of the impressive Scots by goals scored in the tournament table, Final score 4-0. England v Canada, getting their early tournament nerves well out of the way now the England team started to find their groove and brushed aside Canada with 2 further goals from D Thorp and a sublime back healed finish from M Thorp. Keith Phipps, who had never played in goal before the tournament warm up games, was proving to be a real find with a string of fine saves all afternoon. With Del Whitmore and Barry Huntington marshalling the defence superbly England looked secure at the back. John Crampton and Dave Burgess showed their versatility by doing the job asked of them in both Midfield and defence and John Limborne proved he can play in more than one position and was unlucky to hit the post with a fine strike late on. Final score 3-0. Final game for England were the host team representing Wales (Swansea City). It wasn’t long before any nerves we’re calmed when England were awarded a penalty after M.Thorp was clumsily brought down in the area, Derek stepped up only to have his spot kick saved but the impressive Barry Huntington was first to react to hammer home the rebound. A deserved goal for Barry who had been superb all tournament who had gone close several times. A hat trick from goal machine Derek Thorp put the contest beyond doubt and the team played the ball around like Brazil, in glorious sunshine, Final score 4-0. Scotland now needed to score 8 goals in their last match against Wales to overturn the English and a 0-0 draw confirmed England as ‘over 65’s 5 a side world champions’.

Goal scorers, D.Thorp 8, M.Thorp 2, J.Crampton 1, Barry Huntington 1.

Manager Paul Murtagh commented

‘After the recent disappointments suffered by the over 50’s, this victory was even sweeter, I’m over the moon. I felt our preparation was good, the team adapted well to different rules and overcame some quality opposition. Every man played their part and did everything I asked of them. They can all be very proud of themselves and have proved they are a force to be reckoned with in the over 65’s category.”

copy and paste for results info   http://faculty.educ.ubc.ca/hubball/worldcup16/tournament2016.html

CHESTERTON TOURNAMENT – OVER 50’S 7/5/17 (SEMI-FINALISTS)

DEJA VU FOR UNBEATEN BLUES

Birmingham’s over 50’s went out at the semi final stage on penalties for the second weekend on the bounce, after coming through the group stages comfortably with victories over Stone and Stoke City 1-0 and 3-0 respectively and a 1-1 draw against the impressive Sheffield United outfit where their only goal conceded being a penalty.

Dave Norton with 3 and Dave Wright with 2 had combined impressively whilst Andy Struthers creativity was proving a problem for the opposition. Birmingham had looked solid at the back with Kev Reid and Ian Gough being marshalled by Dave Castle, leaving Les Dawson with little to do.

A quarter final ensued against home Chesterton, a superb Dave Wright goal settled it as he stroked home a fine Struthers pass. A place in the final was up for grabs against rivals Sheffield United and Birmingham started well, Dave Norton latched onto a rebound to hit his shot into the top corner, the unbelievable two uncharacteristic errors in defensive saw their opponents take a surprise lead. As Birmingham pressed deep into their opponents half Andy Struthers smashed an unstoppable shot to take the tie into penalties. Thoughts must have gone to last weeks Peoples Cup exit and once again Birmingham went out 3-2 on penalties.

After the game Captain Dave Castle commented “ we acquitted ourselves really well today, I really can’t believe what’s happened again, we should never really have gone to penalties, once again we have left a tournament unbeaten but without the trophy. We need to take our concentration levels up a notch, the last two weeks we have switched off and its cost us dear.”

BWFC IN PEOPLES CUP FINALS – Birmingham 30/4/17 (semi finalists)

BWFC (OVER 65’s) v COLESHILL 1-0 WIN

Birmingham triumphed in the second game of the over 65’s element of the Ray Usher Memorial Cup. John Limbourne player/Manager scored the only goal in the game, set up superbly by Barry Huntington. Birmingham lead the series having played two won two.

STEVE BRAGG TOURNAMENT

Birmingham over 50’s sent a representative team to a tournament to celebrate the life of Hartshill player Steve Bragg who unfortunately lost his life 12 months ago.

Drawn in group against Chesterton, Bedworth and Leicester, Birmingham found it difficult to breakdown the oppositions defence losing to Bedworth 1-0 and drawing their other two games 0-0, Birmingham looked solid enough at the back with Dave Castle and Shay Flaherty protecting Les Dawson’s goal effectively enough. Without a natural striker in their side it was always going to be difficult, a post denied Andy Craddock’s left foot shot, Andy Struthers and Gareth Edwards also had shots blocked as they dominated possession but created little in the way of clear cut chances.

Birmingham eventually went out in the quarter finals to the eventual runners up, a side made of friends & family of the late Steve Bragg, after yet another 0-0 draw, on penalties.

Skipper Castle commented, the lads from Hartshill did Steve proud, they had obviously worked hard to organise a well run tournament, scoring goals was always going to be an issue for us, as it proved.

BWFC over 50’s  v REDDITCH UNITED 9-0 WIN

Ian Gough and Kevin Mann both struck hat tricks as Birmingham comfortably beat Redditch in their first competitive game, after 10 minutes Gough had helped himself to a hat trick and an assist as Birmingham led 4-0, further goals before half time , A Rob Castle brace and Mann’s second meant a comfortable 7-0 half time lead. The second half started in similar fashion as once again Mann scored with a superb finish to leave the Redditch keeper with no chance.

Paul Wilmott  making his debut was pulling the strings in midfield as Birmingham were in total command, Dave Castle and Simon Dyer renewed their partnership at the back and looked very solid and when called upon Derek Hughes made some fine saves. Birmingham played out the second half with their usual passing game and this was rounded off with a Dave Castle penalty with a couple of minutes to go.

Next challenge for the over 50’s is the People Cup Final on Sunday in Birmingham where they take on Manchester City , Leeds United and Plymouth Argyle amongst others in a bid to win Walking Football’s equivalent of the FA Cup

THE RAY USHER CUP – BWFC (OVER 60’S) V COLESHILL 4-0 WIN

Birmingham travelled to Coleshill to play a 9 a side game in The Ray Usher Cup series on the impressive Packington Avenue all weather pitch. Due to last minute drop outs, Ewan and Roger were recruited from the Tuesday session at the club for their competitive debuts and both acquitted themselves with credit. Coleshill started in dominant fashion building up attacks from the back with some slick passing moves and were close with a couple of efforts. Birmingham began to get into the game and were awarded a penalty following a pass back infringement which was coolly despatched by Dave W.  Following a tactical discussion at half time it was decided that we would press much higher as a team and disrupt the possession enjoyed by their defenders. This change did the trick and Birmingham dominated much of the second half and scored three more times from Dave W, Frank and John C. Coleshill threatened at times but the defence stood firm and worked hard to keep their skilful players under control.  A game played in good spirit with very few fouls with a good performance from the referee.  Excellent team performance from Birmingham once they gelled as a team and sorted out tactics. MOM Larry Hackman for cool display in defence with excellent distribution.

Tommy B, Paul F, Ewan K, Roger M, John C, Steve W, Frank H, Dave W, Larry H

WINTER SHIELD WINNERS – BWFC (OVER 60’s) v HARTSHILL 1-0 WIN

A game that was a credit to both sides and to Over 60s Walking Football with hardly a foul and played in great spirit and well refereed.

Hartshill started strongly, clearly smarting from losing the previous game. Les in goal made a couple of excellent saves and kept Hartshill from taking an early lead. Both teams took a while to adapt to the bigger pitch and most of the play was taking place with patient build ups from the back with front players being tightly marked. Birmingham began to get more into the game in the second half and were better able to support Dave up front. Hartshill seemed to be disrupted by injuries and running penalties and the pressure told about 8 minutes from the end when Malcolm found himself in space on the edge of the D and managed to squeeze the ball home for the lead. As expected Hartshill came back strongly and Birmingham were defending deep for the last five minutes. A misplaced pass from a Birmingham player gave the Hartshill danger man a good chance with minutes to go but the ball was blazed just over the bar with penalties looming. MOM Malcolm Thorpe

A great team performance and well deserved victory after we seemed well out of it after a comprehensive defeat in the second game of the series.

Les D, Barry H, Keith L, John C, Malcolm T, Dave W, Paul F, Steve W.

EFL WALKING FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – RUNNERS UP (QUALIFIED FOR NATIONAL FINALS) 19/4/17

Birmingham’s over 50’s travelled to Derby Arena to play in the English Football League Trust competition invited by Kidderminster Harriers as winners of their Christmas tournament, the major National tournament with over 70 entrants from League sides   has a prize of playing in the final at Bodymoor Heath in June.

Drawn in a really tough group with Notts County, Burton Albion , Derby County amongst others The Blues knew they would have a difficult task to qualify for the final, hosts Derby were their first opponents and after going 1-0 down to a very dubious penalty a late goal from a well worked corner saw Dave Wright smash his drive into the roof of the net for a 1-1 draw, a 3-0 victory over Walsall with goals from Wright, Andy Struthers and Mike Ternent and a 1-0 victory over Port Vale meant at the halfway stage the Brummies led the group. Their fine form continued as a  0-0 draw against Notts County and two 1-0 victories against Burton and Shrewsbury with goals from Wright and a piledriver free kick from Struthers saw them top the group and qualify for the semi finals against Coventry City. Birmingham’s defence had stood firm with Rob Castle in goal making his tournament debut keeping five clean sheets with Dave Castle, Shay Flaherty and Simon Dyer negating the opposition forwards.

Coventry were comfortably beaten with Wright and Dyer on target and excellent game management saw them qualify for the National final, the virtually meaningless final with Notts County was played out with great spirit as both teams had already achieved qualification with County running out 2-1 winners.

After the game skipper Dave Castle said “Our general attitude and commitment today was exceptional , we had some guys that hadn’t played a lot of tournament football and I thought everyone fitted in well ,Rob a had a steady tournament in goal and I thought Mike T gave us so many options, his strength and awareness was key. We sometimes have to pinch ourselves here as to what we are achieving, we were missing several key players today but it just shows how much strength in depth we have at the club, and recently with the 60’s and 65’s doing so well too its really exciting times for us at the moment. Could we dream of Peoples Cup, EFL Trophy and National Championship Treble?”

COMEBACKS, SHOOT OUTS AND INTER CLUB RIVALRIES – PEOPLES CUP

Birmingham Over 50’s had two representative in the semi final of this year’s peoples Cup semi final, but with only one team allowed to progress to the final, something had to give. Birmingham Blues started their fixtures against the Port Vale, a dream start with goals from Kev Reid and Simon Dyer, meant they were able to relax and ran out comfortable winners 3-1 with another goal from Reid. Unfortunately it proved a false dawn, as the side then narrowly lost their remaining fixtures to Pele’s Pearls 1-0, their counterparts from Beechcroft Avenue 2-1 and Heanor Strollers 3-1 with goal contributions from Richard Dawson and Rod Thompson. Manager Ian Gough commented later “ I thought we did really well , we competed in every game, I though Rod Thompson was superb and Andy Monk made some great saves, we really missed Kev Mann upfront and Simon Dyer has played with a nasty injury, I really think the lads can be proud of their performance”

A bizarre start for Birmingham Walking FC, against Heanor Strollers from Derby saw them 3-0 down within 2 minutes of the start of their first game, the usually reliable Birmingham keeper Les Dawson, by his own admission being nervous as normally he would have saved all 3 of the reasonably tame shots. Birmingham knew the chips were down and their long unbeaten record in danger of being broken. An Andy Struthers pass saw Dave Norton claw one back on the stroke of half time and shortly after the break, Mike Milligan made it 2-3. Half time substitute Dave Wright then cut inside and sent a left foot drive into the corner to restore parity. A fine save from Dawson in the last minute meant Birmingham’s “get out of jail free card” had been played. Knowing that only 3 further victories would guarantee to put the Brummies into the final they tightened up at the back and were comfortable in beating Port Vale 2-0  (Norton 2) Birmingham Blues 2-1 (Norton , Wright) and Pele’s Pearls 2-0 (Norton , Milligan) to top the group and set up a final against Pele’s Pearls.

Birmingham had got their passing game going really well, but an unlucky ricochet from a Mike Milligan shot left a Pearl’s forward alone to slot pass Dawson in the Birmingham goal, Birmingham pressed throughout and were rewarded when Norton turned sharply and placed a shot passed the keepers left to take the final to penalties.

Cool heads and strong will were needed as supporters and players alike were on the edge of their seats as both teams scored 8 penalties on the trot. Dawson then got a touch to send Pearl’s ninth penalty over the bar. It was left to the hugely experienced Darren Bradley to step up and cooly slot home the decider and send Birmingham through to their third consecutive People Cup Final.

Afterwards Manager Paul Murtagh commented “I just couldn’t believe the start we had to be 3-0 down so soon was just ridiculous, I cannot remember the last time we let in 3 goals in a game. The lads showed so much character, it’s days like this when you don’t play particularly well but just grind out results, we know we won’t play that badly again. I was really pleased for Les at the end, keepers are either Hero’s or Villians, his save for the penalty effectively won it for us.”

Birmingham now go to the equivalent of the FA Cup Final in their attempt to win the illustrious and elusive treble of Peoples Cup, National Championships and Home Internationals. Captain Dave Castle commented “I believe we all know what we are capable of, we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground, Saturday was a reminder to us of how football can go, we showed incredible resolve to comeback against Heanor, after winning 8 consecutive tournaments everyone tries so hard against us which is understandable, we just need to keep doing the simple things really well”

 

Ray Usher Memorial Cup Over 60s v Coleshill 22/3/17 -WIN

BWFC 2 v Coleshill 0

A comfortable victory in the third game of the cup with goals from Rob Corp and Steve Dixon. Birmingham narrowly go ahead for the first time in the over 60s department of the series by one goal. Previous results 0-1 and 2-2.

Walsall Over 50’s Tournament 18/3/17- (TOURNAMENT WIN)

 

A seventh consecutive tournament win for Birmingham’s over 50’s proved excellent preparation for the Semi final of the FA Peoples Cup this Saturday, A competition to celebrate the life of one of Walsall’s Walking Footballers Dean Welborn saw two teams entered from the Beechcroft based club. Mixed fortunes ensued, Birmingham Whites lifting the trophy whilst Birmingham Blues were unfortunately knocked out in the qualifying stages. Birmingham Blues proved solid enough and had the most part of possession in all of their games, but their lack of finishing and crossbars and posts seemingly constantly denying them , a 1-0 defeat to Port Vale in the first game was followed by three draws ( two 0-0 and a one all draw , Andy Norris slotting home a Paul Murtagh pass).

It was a different story for Birmingham Whites, a team with the nucleus of their FA Peoples Cup team plus the addition of Alan Deakin and Stephen Taggart, a 4-0 victory over Wolves with a brace each from Dave Norton and the ever impressive Andy Struthers followed by a 3-0 win over Wyndley meant qualification for the semi finals was already assured before another comfortable 3-1 win over Hartshill Strollers.

Birmingham had totally imposed themselves on the tournament and had dominated possession throughout all their games. Skipper David Castle had returned from 6 weeks out and his partnership with Deakin looked virtually impregnable while the continued excellent form of Darren Bradley had watchers on applauding Birmingham’s impressive passing game.

After various play offs with other teams Wyndley qualified for at the dubious spot in the semi final to face the on fire Brummies. Four more goals from Dave Norton (taking his tally to 11) and an opportunist follow up from Taggart meant a 5-0 semi final win and a meeting with the aggressive but talented and previously unbeaten Port Vale.

Birmingham Whites started excellently and kept possession for long periods and their reward was an excellent goal from Stephen Taggart with every outfield player touching the ball in the build up. Shortly after Dave Norton’s seemingly telepathic partnership paid dividends as his superb pass was converted with a trade Struthers rocket which gave the keeper no chance. Birmingham then managed the game out comfortably as Vale were restricted to only long range efforts none of which were on target.

After the game skipper Dave Castle commented, “It was great to be back playing with the lads after injury, we seem to be developing nicely, with Brads and Norts we have leaders all over the pitch, Andy Struthers improvement has been nothing short of meteoric, with him and Dave (Norton) we have so much quality in front of goal, I thought Deaks and Tag were superb and fitted in to our style of play seamlessly. We need to ensure we don’t get complacent, we have played some unbelievable football recently but our target has to be the Peoples Cup and the Nationals this year. I’m sure if we keep our feet on the ground we are on the verge on something pretty special.”

BWFC v Coleshill Over 65s 8/3/17 – WIN

BWFC 5 v Coleshill 2

BWFC over 65s continued their fine form and maintained their unbeaten record with a comprehensive win over Coleshill, player manager John Limbourne got them underway with the first goal. Coleshill replied to draw level at one all at half time. Penalties awarded to both sides just after half time were despatched to make it two all but further goals from Malcolm and Derek Thorpe put the tie beyond doubt and finished 5-2.

BWFC v Hartshill Over 60s 5/3/17 – WIN

Hartshill 1 v BWFC 3

Birmingham Over 60s showed a much improved performance to keep the Winter Shield alive and now all square before the final game in April.

Ray Usher Memorial Cup BWFC v Coleshill Over 60s 28/2/17 – DRAW

Coleshill 2 v BWFC 2

Coleshill raced into a 2 nil lead but BWFC fought back to a deserved draw with goals from Dave Whatmore and a fine effort from Don Russell.

FA Peoples Cup 2017 – First leg 25/2/17 – (TOURNAMENT WIN)

It was a dull rainy day in both Shrewsbury and Birmingham for our over 50’s in the attempt for us to go one better this year and win the Walking Football Category of the equivalent to the FA Cup.

Our forwards matched the weather as goals rained in from the word go, in Shrewsbury, Ian Gough managed to take the Birmingham Whites through to the semi final stage with a glut of goals. 

Competing in a group including teams attached to Shrewsbury Town and Telford Utd the tone for the afternoon was set in the first second of the opening game against Telford Stags B with Kev Reid firing in a left foot thunderbolt straight from kick off. Birmingham were from then on in total control of a 10-2 victory, which was capped with a spectacular Shay Flaherty effort.

In the second fixture against an aggressive Shrewsbury Town team 2 early goals from Kevin Mann and a third from Kev Reid settled any nerves. Shrewsbury fought back and with the game poised at 3-2 the two Kevin’s combined again to see Birmingham home.

With qualification assured they went into the final group game against whipping boys Worthen & Brockton full of confidence and came out 11-1 winners topping the group with 27 goals in their three games.

The semi final against Telford Stags A was settled early again as Birmingham gained a two goal lead and were in total command as they strolled into a 5-1 lead. The only blemishes were two late goals from Telford giving them pure consolation in the last minute.

To qualify for the semi final Shrewsbury were once again the opponents. As before Mann and Reid, gave them the perfect start as they went into a 2 goal lead. A defensive mistake and a dubious penalty meant Andy Monk’s goal was breached twice and suddenly the game looked like it was slipping away. Birmingham needed some inspiration and Captain Simon Dyer took it on his own shoulders and rallied with two goals himself to see his side win the tournament with a 4-2 victory, and progress to the semi final stages of the FA Peoples Cup.

Manager Razor commented, ‘I’m so proud of my team, fine all round performance lead by Captain Simon Dyer with Andy Monk in goal, Shay Flaherty and Rod Thompson at the back and the 2 Kevin’s up front who terrorised the other teams all day with a fine display of attacking football linking up well to score 26 goals between them’.

In Birmingham a thoroughly disciplined performance meant the Birmingham Blues also qualified to the semis of the Peoples Cup, potentially setting up a inter club match in the latter stages! The Blues met Leicester in their first fixture and almost repeated their 7-0 success in the Midlands final with a comfortable 4-0 victory, two goals from Dave Norton and one each from Andy Struthers and midfielder Mike Milligan. Wolves, Walsall and Hartshill all found similar treatment, as Birmingham’s all-round superiority meant further victory of 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0. Defender Darren Bradley was imperious at the back, as he replaced the injured David Castle, and the ever impressive Les Dawson in goal Birmingham looked certain to qualify.

The semi final saw them once again meet Leicester who decided aggression was their best chance of beating Birmingham. Two brilliant saves from Dawson kept them at bay, then the impressive Mike Milligan scored a superb brace to calm any semi final nerves. A sending off for Leicester prompted Darren Bradley to comment that we needed more punch for the final. The 2-0 victory meant they had scored 21 goals without reply as they met Pele’s Pearls in the final ,a team put together on that morning but full of old professionals that had just reached the 50 mark. 

Two brilliant Dave Norton strikes settled it for the Brummies as shots rained in, and whilst in total control a consolation goal with 20 seconds to go meant a brilliant double for the Birmingham club.

Manager Paul Murtagh commented, ‘The team today were a pleasure to watch, total dominance in every game made my job very easy! With two important players still to return after injury we’re looking in good shape for the latter stages. The performance capped off a brilliant day all round for all our teams.’

Goals scored in Shrewsbury – Kevin Mann 13, Kevin Reid 13, Simon Dyer 5, Shay Flaherty 3 and Rod Thompson 2 

In Birmingham – Dave Norton 12, Mike Milligan 6, Andy Struthers 3 and Darren Bradley 2

 

 

BWFC v Bedworth United Over 50s 10/2/17- WIN

Bedworth United (A) 0 v BWFC 2
Bedworth United (B) 1 v BWFC 4

Birmingham’s Over 50’s took two teams to Bedworth United on a damp Friday evening, and both sides came out on top. Bedworth, an off shoot from Coventry City’s Walking Football set up,  began defensively in the first game as they seemed reluctant to leave themselves open at the back, several players making their competitive debuts, Andy Craddock, Rob Castle, and Ex Everton and Norwich midfielder Mike Milligan took time to knit together. 0-0 at half time did not tell the tale of possession and territory which was dominated by The Blues.

Andy Struthers move to the centre of midfield in the second half and Mike Milligan taking up  a deeper position seemed to have the desired effect in the second half, Struthers rattled the bar once and the post twice, before Ian Gough laid a ball into the path of Milligan whose 20 yard effort flew into the top corner. Any nerves were now settled and Birmingham began to dominate, Castle and Craddock both went close before Struthers capped a fine second half with a beautiful placed shot in the corner.

Manager Dave Castle commented “ we totally dominated the game , their keeper was superb and made some spectacular saves, I glad we kept our shape and composure the goals were only a matter of time away”

In the corresponding fixture on the adjacent pitch an impressive 4-1 victory was in a large part thanks to Richard Dawson who grabbed all of Birmingham’ s goals. Leading 2-0 at half time they always looked comfortable, a little too comfortable in fact and allowed Bedworth to pull one back at the start of the second half to make it 2-1. This seemed to stir BWFC back into action and woke up to take control once more. Two more Richard Dawson goals put the contest beyond doubt midway through the half with Kevin Reid also rattling the woodwork.

BWFC would like to extend their thanks to Bedworth for the warm welcome we all received.

BWFC v Hartshill Over 60s 4/2/17 – LOSS

BWFC 0 v Hartshill 2

Hartshill deservedly ran out two nil winners against a below par BWFC team in the second game of the four match series. Poor defending led to both goals in the first half and Hartshill never looked back as soon as they got their noses in front.Birmingham huffed and puffed in the second half without really troubling Hartshill who were happy to sit on their lead until the end of the game. BWFC will have to up their game if they are to be competitive in the remaining two games. The series currently stands at 3-1 to Hartshill with two games left to play.

BWFC v Hartshill Over 65s 15/1/17 – WIN

Hartshill 1 v BWFC 4

BWFC over 65s maintained their unbeaten record with a comfortable 4-1 win over Hartshill in Dudley. Goals from Barry Huntington and a hattrick from player manager John Limbourne sealed the win.

Over 65’s manager, John Limbourne, commented “It was a good team effort. Everyone played their part by supporting each other throughout the match and we deserved the win.”

BWFC v Hartshill Over 60s (Winter Shield) 15/1/17 – DRAW

Hartshill 1 v BWFC 1

Birmingham over 60s gained a creditable draw at Hartshill who are the National Champions at the age group.

The team started slowly and Hartshill peppered the goal with a succession of shots which were either too high or expertly saved by Man of the Match, Les Dawson. The pressure eventually told and Hartshill opened the scoring with John Cooper threading the ball into the corner of the net. There was very little room on the pitch and opportunities to play passing football were limited. In the second half the team began to gel and BWFC began to get on top. The referee awarded BWFC a penalty for encroachment in the area but unfortunately for BWFC the home keeper pulled off a great save. Birmingham continued to press and were rewarded 4 minutes from the final whistle when Brendan turned and guided the ball into the corner of the net.

The game ended on a positive note with BWFC showing promise for a team that had never played together before and look forward to the return leg. Thanks to Mark Grazier who expertly refereed and dealt sensibly with an outbreak of “handbags” between two of the players.

Romford Tournament 15/1/17 – (TOURNAMENT WIN)

Ray Usher Memorial Cup BWFC (Over 60’s) v Coleshill 1/2/17- LOSS

BWFC 0 v Coleshill 1

Coleshill proved too strong for a Birmingham side giving debuts to a number of new players. Coleshill go ahead in the first game of the Ray Usher Memorial cup, named after the Coleshill player who unfortunately passed away recently, our thoughts and condolences go to all the players and families of our friends at Coleshill.

Kidderminster Tournament 17/12/16 – (TOURNAMENT WIN)

WON 3-0 v Kidderminster Harriers B
WON 2-0 v Jingle Balls (Wolves)
WON 2-0 v Kidderminster Harriers A
DREW 0-0 v Hindlip
LOST 0-1 v Hartshill B
WON 1-0 v Hartshill A

Shard End Tournament 14/12/16 – (TOURNAMENT WIN)

(Over 50s)

WON 7-0 V Coleshill
WON 8-2 V Shard End
WON 9-0 V Sparkbrook

Over 60s V Coleshill 14/12/16

BWFC 1 – Coleshill 4

Over 65s V Coleshill 16/11/16

BWFC 2 – Coleshill 2

Goals Tournament Dudley 12/11/16 – (TOURNAMENT WIN)

(Over 40s)

BWFC entered an eight team tournament at Goals centre in Dudley on Saturday and once again brought home the silverware, drawn against 2 sides from Hartshill and Kidderminster Harriers, Birmingham got off to a quick start two goals from Simon Dyer and one from Andy Norris saw off Hartshill comfortably with a 3-0 scoreline. Birmingham then totally dominated against Hartshill main side quickly going 2-0 up with a brace from Andy Cook before a fortunate long range pass eventually found the back of Les Dawson’s net as it evaded both attackers and defenders alike before nestling in the corner. Birmingham’s last group game saw them in total control against the hapless  Kidderminster Harriers and ran out 5-0 winners again Norris and Cook scoring 3 and 2 respectively, Dawson was having a blinder as he made several quality saves and confidence was high going into the semi final against Hindlip, Gareth Edwards and Simon Dyer had forged an great midfield partnership and David Castle marshalled the defence with confidence and assurity in front of Dawson.

Birmingham were not troubled in the semi final as a good strike from Simon Dyer set them on there way and with further goals from Norris and Cook put them into the final to face the best of the Hartshill teams who had defeated the B side in the other semi final.

Against the run of play  deflected goal by Hartshill A put them 1-0 ahead a a string of fine saves from the Hartshill keeper saw them deny Birmingham until half way through the game a typical left foot pile driver from Andy Cook ended their resistance. A fitting goal three minutes from time by top goal scorer Andy Norris mean another trophy was heading to Beechcroft Avenue.
After the game Captain David Castle said he was delighted with the attitude and performance of the team in general, “Gareth and Simon gave us great mobility in midfield and in the two Andy’s we have goals to spare, I know Les in goal was nervous before the start but his performance was incredible some of his shot stopping defies belief, as a team I can’t think of anyone who didn’t perform well, great to lift another trophy”

BWFC over 50s In Oswestry 24/10/16 (THIRD PLACE)

Over 50s BWFC played at the Oswestry Tournament last weekend and the results are as follows:

Lost 1-0 to Sheffield ,
Won 1-0 v Rochdale ,
Won 1-0 v Highley,
Lost 1-0 v TNS
Drew 0-0 v Blackburn
Drew 0-0 v Hartshill A
Drew 0-0 v Hartshill B

Finished in a credible third place overall, well done to all who played and represented our club!

Solihull-based walking football side gunning for national glory in Cirencester

A HALL GREEN-based walking football club will be aiming for national glory this weekend when they travel to Cirencester for the National Walking Football Final.
Birmingham Walking Football Club, previously known as Beechcroft, will tackle Gillingham, Gloucester and championship favourites Barnsley in the round robin tournament.
The top two sides from the round robin fixtures will then face each other in a one off grand final to decide the winners.
And the borough outfit will have experience on their side as Birmingham will field two former Aston Villa players in Darren Bradley and Dave Norton.
The club’s appearance in the national final comes just weeks after a comprehensive 7-0 victory over Leicester in the regional qualifier.
Though many people will associate walking football with various comical TV adverts, Birmingham skipper David Castle insists the sport is growing and played at an extremely fast pace.
David, who used to play for Bromsgrove FC before switching to walking football after retirement, said: “The standard of walking football right now is superb, the sport is nothing like you’d imagine it to be.
“Barnsley are the favourites to lift the title but we’re determined to give them a run for their money.
“Our first aim will be to make the final and from there we’ll continue to press hard to win the championships.
“Our club is booming right now with 250 members which is superb, I hope this weekend we can inspire more people in the borough to take up walking football.”

source-https://solihullobserver.co.uk/sport/solihull-based-walking-football-side-gunning-for-national-glory-in-cirencester/

WFU NATIONAL FINALS OVER 50S (BWFC 3RD PLACE FINISH)

It wasn’t to be for BWFC on this occasion, too many missed chances and sending off’s were the order of the day for a Birmingham side that just simply failed to realise their potential at the finals of this tournament.  Going into the finals with an unbeaten record and expectations high, a disappointing 3rd place was achieved with the following results:

BWFC 0 v 1 Leggy Mambos

BWFC 1 v 2 Hearne Bay

BWFC 1 v 1 Abbeymead Rovers

BWFC 3 v 1 Abbeymead Rovers (3rd place play off)

Central Final Birmingham 7 Leicester 0  in Rugby 24/10/16 (CENTRAL FINAL WINNERS)

Birmingham over 50’s Regional Final 30/9/16 (REGIONAL WINNERS)

BWFC over 40’s & 50’s friendly games update

It’s been goals galore for the Birmingham over 50’s and over 40’s in the past two weeks, The over 50’s enjoyed a crushing 21-2 win over the newly formed Telford United, and the over 40’s enjoyed similar success whilst beating Sutton Town 12-5. The usual suspects, Dave Wright and Andrew Struthers were instrumental by scoring 15 of the over 50’s goals, whilst Ian ‘Razor’ Gough, had more assists than Arsenal’s Ozil and also helped himself to a hat trick. Thorp also bagged three quality strikes, and a rare David Castle strike completed the rout.
Not to be outdone the over 40’s had a similar tale to tell after a visit to Sutton Town, using the space excellently on a large pitch, Paul Murtagh’s 5 goals led the way, whilst four and three from Kev Reid and Andy Norris respectively completed their 12-5 win, Alan “showboat” Deakin and David Castle’s partnership at the back kept Sutton to just a handful of chances but for Sutton’s clinical finishing the score could have been even more emphatic. Sutton Town’s goalkeeper made some excellent saves, as he time and again he thwarted Norris and Reid, who had more shots than a student on freshers week, a late penalty miss by Castle meant as usual he had to get the drinks in!

 

15/8/16 Manchester over 50s (TOURNAMENT WIN)

Birmingham Walking football over 50’s, triumphed at the Etihad Stadium to qualify for the final of the champions trophy, after their now seemingly inevitable slow start they produce some excellent football to win this qualifying group. An energetic Wigan Athletic side romped to a two goal lead which left Birmingham too much to do before eventually   overcoming the slow starting brummies 3-2 , goals from Dave Wright and Andy Struthers were not enough to claw back the deficit, In their second game a brace from both  Wright and the ever impressive Dave Norton had given Birmingham a comfortable 4-1 lead before the they took their foot off the gas to beat Gillingham 4-3 . After a short break to recoup and discuss tactics a change in personnel saw Shay Flaherty, join David Castle at the back, this gave Birmingham a far more solid look, Flaherty was superb in stopping the threat of home favourites Man City, and with some excellent inter play and finishing Birmingham produce some sublime football to romp to a 5-0 victory. As Man City  had beaten Wigan earlier this meant going into the last game they need to only beat Wakefield to qualify , the goals continued to flow and by half time qualification was assured with a 4-0 advantage, and they eventually ran out winners by 7-0, 7 tournament goals a piece from David Wright and Dave Norton, meant they also finished joint top scorers in the competition. An impressive debut from Keeper Martin Williams and contributions throughout the team means that the ever improving over 50’s are in good shape for the next round of the National competition in September. Skipper David Castle said ” I can’t believe this is my first tournament win with Birmingham, I felt we were destined to keep being runners up, we are starting to look impressive now, we just need that consistency right from the start of tournaments and Im sure major trophies are well within our grasp”

Kingsmaid Cup Over 50s
LEAGUE FIXTURES
Fixture 1  ……………………			Pitch No.	Time
OVER		Fixture 1  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Birmingham WF	v	Wigan Whites	1	11.00am
SCORE	2		3
OVER		Fixture 1  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Wakefield Wanderers	v	Herne Bay FC	2	11.00am
SCORE	0		2
Fixture 2  ……………………
OVER		Fixture 2  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Man City	v	Wakefield Wanderers	2	11.20am
SCORE	4		1
OVER		Fixture 2  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Herne Bay FC	v	Birmingham WF	3	11.20am
SCORE	3		4
Fixture 3  ……………………
OVER		Fixture 3  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Herne Bay FC	v	Wigan Whites	3	11.40am
SCORE	2		4
OVER		Fixture 3  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Man City	v	Birmingham WF	1	12noon
SCORE	0		5
Fixture 4  ……………………			Pitch No.	Time
OVER		Fixture 4  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Birmingham WF	v	Wakefield Wanderers	1	12.20pm
SCORE	2		0
OVER		Fixture 4  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Wigan Whites	v	Man City	2	12.20pm
SCORE	0		1
Fixture 5  ……………………			Pitch No.	Time
OVER		Fixture 5  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Man City	v	Herne Bay FC	2	12.40pm
SCORE	2		2
OVER		Fixture 5  ……………………	Pitch No.	Time
50’S	Wakefield Wanderers	v	Wigan Whites	3	12.40pm
SCORE	0		4

 

2/8/16 BWFC V COVENTRY (WIN)

BWFC 1 Coventry 0  (Over 60’s)

A ‘friendly’ friendly was carried out at Beechcroft last Tuesday for the over 60’s with Birmingham winning 1-0. In a largely one sided encounter Coventry defended well and the Coventry keeper pulled off a couple of great saves to keep his team in it.  Frank Hughes scored the only goal midway through the second half , finishing off a fine move involving debutant John Randle and Brendan Glynn.  The game was played in good spirit throughout and we look forward to the return leg in the future.

RAINBOW CHILDRENS HOSPICE WALKING FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – NOTTINGHAM OVER 60s 31/7/16 (3RD PLACE)

Big thanks to the over 60s Birmingham walking football team who yesterday headed off to Nottingham to fly the flag for Beechcroft in the Rainbow Childrens Hospice event. The team finished 3rd overall with victories over Stamford and Lincoln. The low spot of the day was a defeat to locals Hartshill. BWFC went on to play well in their opening defeat to eventual winners, Leggy Mambos 0-2, but in the final match only lost 1-0 after hitting the bar in the toughest game of the tournament. Thank you one and all for representing the club and well done to Les Dawson – Keeper for receiving player of the tournament!

RAINBOW CHILDRENS HOSPICE WALKING FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT – NOTTINGHAM OVER 50S 31/7/16 (RUNNERS UP)

RESULTS GROUP STAGE

BWFC V Smiths News won 5-0

BWFC V Hartshill won 2-0

BWFC V Leggy Mambos lost 1-0

QUARTER FINAL

BWFC V Burton Albion won 7-0

SEMI FINAL

BWFC V Middlesbrough won 2-0

FINAL

BWFC V leggy Mambos lost 3-0

Birmingham over 50’s continued their improvement to confirm their status as a top 6 team in the country with a very credible runners up spot to the impressive double national championships Leggy Mambos from Barnsley.

At times their football was sublime, as the first half demolition of last years Runners up in the Nationals, Burton Albion. 5-0 up at half time their secured their semi final spot against Middlesborough, where a brace from Dave Norton secured a hard fought victory.

The final against Leggy Mambos, was just one game too far for the tiring Birmingham players, injury niggles and the excellent Mambos meant two first half goals saw off Birminghams challenge.

Goals for Birmingham were 8 from David Wright 6 from Dave Norton and 2 from Darren Bradley, Rob Corp kept excellently with some fine saves, Captain David Castle said ” I was really proud of the lads today all 8 of the squad played their part, we have a number of niggling injuries at present but the introduction of Darren Bradley and Dave Norton is encouraging us to take this to another level, Our main focus this year is the Nationals which we continue in September. We just need to stay fit and focused and you never know, On our day I am confident we can beat anyone”

Man City Tournament (RUNNERS UP)

BWFC V Man City Academy    W    7-0

BWFC V Middleton FC    L    1-2

BWFC V Oldham Athletic    W    8-0

BWFC V Man City    D     2-2

The Man City tournament saw Birmingham finish a disappointing second to the hosts Man City. After a promising start beating Man City academy and Oldham Athletic sandwiching a tough game against Middleton, Birmingham needed to win the last game against Man City to win the tournament unfortunately after taking a 2-0 lead they let it slip at the end to draw 2-2. Birmingham left feeling aggrieved as one of the Man City ‘goals’ went through the side netting but the referee saw fit to award the goal. Great effort regardless from all the lads.

Goal scorers:
Dave Wright 16
Kev Evans 3
Darren Bradley 2

BWFC Over 50s Kidderminster Tournament (RUNNERS UP)

Last month BWFC visited Kidderminster Harriers, who hosted their first tournament. The tournament involved six local teams, BWFC’s results were as follows:

BWFC v Hindlip    W    5-0

BWFC v Kidderminster B    W    3-0

BWFC v Hartshill A    D    0-0

BWFC v Kidderminster A    W    3-0

BWFC v Hartshill B    W    1-0

Amazingly BWFC, without losing a game or conceding a goal, ended up as the runners up on goal difference. Well done to all regardless.

BWFC Over 50s V Hartshill away 22/5/16 (WIN 5-0)

Squad – Ian Gough, Manager, Dave Castle, Assistant Manager, Dave Wright, Rob Corp, Kev Mann, Kev Evans, Andy Struthers, Keith Laishley, Shay Flaherty. We had a good all round team performance, with a close game for the 1st 15 mins with both teams having chances until Dave Wright pounced to make it 1-0. He quickly followed that up with another goal to see us into the break 2-0 up. Second half we were on top from the start, Dave Wright added another 2 including a magnificent volley from just outside the box before a fine Andy ‘Golden Boot’ Struthers strike made it 5. Rob Corp in goal made a couple of stunning saves to ensure he got a well deserved clean sheet! Excellent disciplined performance all round. Well done lads!

BWFC over 60s V Hartshill away 22/5/16 (DRAW 2-2)

Our over 60’S team had a disappointing ending to the game against Hartshill. After a spirited fight back, in a very tight first half, the teams came off at 0-0, with our lads coming close to opening the scoring from Gordon Davies. Shortly after the break Hartshill scored a breakaway goal that left keeper Keith Phipps no chance. Keith Laishley’s brace then put our vets ahead with a brace of goals with his trusty left foot. In the last minute a disastrous mistake led to an easy tap in for the Hartshill forward. Penalties ensued and this ended in a two nil victory for our opponents. All of the players did Birmingham proud.  Keith made some marvelous saves and special mention to Barry Huntingdon, who played every minute in a commanding performance at the back.

Back row: Brendan Glynn, Ken Scott, Steve Huxley, John Limbourne, Rick Falcon

Front row: Bill Pears, Alan Guest, Sue Thomas, Jim Finucane, Del Whitmore, Alan George

BEECHCROFT ON TOUR – Alicante May 2016 (3RD PLACE FINISH)

A group of 11 from Beechcroft Multisports Club were invited to take part in a Walking Football tournament in Los Montesinos (near Alicante), Spain in May this year.  There were no restrictions on who could take part – it was literally whoever was available on the dates.  The squad ended up being a little unbalanced – no goalkeeper for starters and a slight excess of defenders but we’re nothing if not adaptable and a system was developed to give everyone game time in positions they were (sort-of) suited to.  The other teams taking part were Mansfield Senior Reds, Monte Mentals, Moraira and Al Gorfa. The latter three clubs were based in Spain and made up of ex-pats.
On our first game day, we arrived early – our first match was scheduled to start at 10.35 but we wanted to check out the opposition and get a look at the ‘local’ rules in operation.  These came as a bit of a shock – especially with regard to goalkeeping!  No exclusive area for the keeper, bigger goals than we’re used to and keeper can run!  If fact, not much difference from ‘normal’ football.  We were extremely pleased to have Steve ‘volunteer’ to be goalie.  I don’t think anyone else would’ve survived throwing themselves around like he did to keep us in some of the games that followed.  Billy deputized for him in one game and did really well too! The local waist height rule wasn’t a problem but only shooting at goal from within the final third was harder to get used to.  There also appeared to be quite a lot of running going on!
We selected our first starting line-up to face Moraira and off we went.  Steve in goal, Rick, Del and Billy at the back, Brendan and Ken in midfield and John up front although everyone got some time on the pitch during the course of the match.  We started off well, keeping it tight but eventually lost out by 3 – 1. Beechcroft’s goal from Alan Guest!  Our second game was against Mansfield Senior Reds. Mansfield kicked up through the gears and before we knew it we were on the wrong side of a 5 – 0 defeat.  Their centre forward – a big, strong, young (in comparison to the rest of us at 51) ex-police officer certainly wasn’t mucking about.  Only slight consolation was that he did it to everyone. He scored 30 goals over the tournament, only coming off in the last game after hitting his self-imposed scoring target.
Our final match of day 1 was against our hosts, Monte Mentals. This was much closer, finishing as a 2 – 2 draw with both goals from John Limbourne.  The day finished with us third overall – we even got a trophy – and everyone in the squad got to play a part.

That evening, we enjoyed a 3-course meal with the rest of the teams and some of their wives and partners at a local restaurant.  The food was excellent and there was plenty of liquid refreshment too!  It was a thoroughly enjoyable night to end a very busy, tiring but fun day.

Day 2 dawned on surprisingly few thick heads.  We enjoyed breakfast at a local café and then walked to the sports ground.  New tactics were agreed upon to try and counter the threat from Mansfield, our first opponents of the day – a back four with two midfield/forwards – and it worked … for a while! Our squad was already depleted – John was on the plane home after his holiday ended, leaving us decidedly short up front but we gave it our best shot.  Needless to say, Mansfield did their thing and we lost but by a much smaller margin – 3 – 0.  The other two games were much closer however.  A 1 – 1 draw against Monte Mentals (goal from Jim Finucane) and a close-fought 3 – 2 defeat in the final game to Al Gorfa with goals from Alan George and Alan Guest. The worrying thing was the number of injuries we were picking up however – Del’s knee was swollen, Steve’s calf injury had been aggravated and Alan Guest was struggling with muscle strains.  Thankfully, Billy was on hand with his physio skills and we survived.  Then it was back to the hotel (via a local bar) for showers and a rest before meeting to have a meal together in the evening.  Liquid refreshments were also enjoyed by all (thanks to John Limbourne for subsidizing this)!

Day 3 and breakfast was followed by the long trek to the sports ground.  We really needed Bill’s help to even get a team on the pitch.  Del was out with a badly swollen knee and everyone else was tired and aching after playing 6 games over the previous two days.  Our first game was against Mansfield and again, we went with the 4 2 0 option to try and contain them.  The first half saw us go 3 – 0 down but we rallied to hold them to only one further goal in the second half and managed to score ourselves, thanks to Alan George.  However, we did pick up another couple of injuries with Ken and Rick suffering hamstring strains.  Billy went to work however and a patched-up team went into the fray for our final match against Monte Mentals.  And we won it!  3 – 2 with goals from Jim Finucane and two from Brendan.  (I’m convinced we wouldn’t have gotten Brendan off the pitch if he hadn’t scored!)  A great result to finish off the tournament then it was a quick trip back to the hotel for showers and to finish packing before being picked up by coach for our final lunch with everyone before departing for home.

Our final lunch was at a restaurant in Torrevieja – three courses with drinks provided and another excellent meal.  It was unfortunate that we were unable to fully relax and enjoy this as we had to get to the bus station by 3.00pm for our airport shuttle.  However, some of the Monte Mentals team provided lifts for us so we were there in plenty of time to catch the bus and our subsequent flight home.

All in all, we had a great time.  Everyone was friendly and welcoming and I’m sure we’d all love to do it again next year if invited.  Rumour has it, it will be an over 60’s next year which will be a much more evenly balanced tournament.

Worcester Uni Over 60s Tournament 11/5/16 (RUNNERS UP)

Birmingham Beechcroft were runners up at the first Worcester University Over 60s Walking Football Tournament on 11/5/16.
The team with a number of players making their competitive debuts acquitted themselves well beating Worcester A 2-0 in the first match with both goals coming from Keith L. They then played the eventual winners Coleshill Strollers and lost 1-0 in a very tight game when they did not take a couple of opportunities to score but the opposition did. Despite this they then beat Worcester B 4-1 with Dennis S and Dave B both scoring a couple each, but were on the receiving end of the goal of the tournament with a thunderbolt from one of the Worcester team.
Keith P did well on his debut in goal and the rest of team, Roy A, Chris B, Jim M, Dennis S, Dave B, Dave F, Keith L all represented the club in a positive manner in a well run tournament.

Over 50’s Chesterton Tournament – 24/4/16 (PLATE WINNERS)

Last week saw BWFC head to Chesterton for an over 50’s tournament. The guys got off to a slow start drawing in their first game & lo+sing in the second, to Stone and the hosts Chesterton, failing to score in either game. By the third game Andrew Struthers found the back of the net not once but twice to win 2-0 against Rugeley. The stream of goals flew in from there on, with wins against Walsall B, Walsall A (in the semi final) and Beaconside (in the final). Despite the team only conceding two goals in six games they didn’t qualify for the tournament cup, but were put through to the ‘Plate’ round which they went on to successfully win! As well as bringing the silver back to Beechcroft, Andrew Struthers our star striker of the day was presented with the ‘Golden Boot’ trophy for most goals scored in the whole tournament!! Well done to the whole team!

For additional pictures taken on the day by a photographer follow this link www.ccwf.club and look at the gallery for the tournament.

Results (Click on the image for better quality) –

Lilleshall Over 50’s Tournament – 9/4/16 (RUNNERS UP)

On the anniversary of the 1966 England World cup victory BWFC head to Lilleshall to play in their over 50’s tournament.

The team managed by Paul Murtagh on the day won all their games bar one, and conceded just ONE goal in the whole tournament! Well done to all the players who finished runners up losing only to the National Champions Leggy Mambos!

Results

2-0 win v Highly

3-0 win v Walsall

3-0 win v Burton Albion

Group Stage

1-0 win v Walsall A

1-0 lose v Leggy Mambos

3-0 win v Highly

Peoples Cup Final – Sheffield 20/3/2016 (3RD PLACE FINISH)

Beechcroft WFC had one team (BWFC Red) through to the finals of the FA Peoples Cup 2016 held at Goals in Sheffield. Steve Rogers went along and joined the BBC get inspired team to produce a live account of the game for Twitter to keep all of us at home up to date with the scores!

The first game was against Grimsby Ancient Mariners and after a nervous start the team lost a disappointing  1-0. The next game was against Walking Football League A, where the team settled down and won in an exciting 2-1. The third, and unfortunately last game for our guys, saw the team take on Westcott Vets and get a comfortable 2-0 win. However due to the loss of the first game hadn’t stacked up enough points to go through to the final. Well done to all those players who took part and represented our club, you did us proud!

Semi Finals of FA PEOPLES CUP – Nottingham 28/2/2016

Beechcroft had two teams through to the semis of the Peoples Cup, BWFC BLUE and BWFC RED. Results are as follows;

BWFC BLUE  2  v  3  Shrewsbury Town

BWFC BLUE  3  v  0  BWFC RED

BWFC BLUE  2  v  1  Norwich A

BWFC BLUE  3  v  0  Norwich B

BWFC BLUE  1  v  9  Sheffield Utd

BWFC BLUE  0  v  1  Hereford Utd

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BWFC RED  5  v  0  Norwich B

BWFC RED  3  v  0  BWFC BLUE

BWFC RED  3  v  0  Shrewsbury Town

BWFC RED  1  v  3 Sheffield Utd

BWFC RED  1  v  4  Hereford Utd

BWFC RED  1  v  1  Norwich A

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BWFC RED were then third place in the semi finals and played Hereford Utd to cement their place in the finals at Sheffield next month!

BWFC RED   3  v  1  Hereford Utd

Worcester  0  v 4  Beechcroft (Over 60’s 15/2/16) (WIN)

Another game played in sunshine at Worcester University on the 3G surface. Goals from Dave Forder (2) Alan George and Roy Atkins saw Beechcroft run out comfortable winners against Worcester. Beechcroft should really have scored more but were happy with the day out and thank Worcester for their hospitality and hosting the game.

BWFC 3   v 0 Walsall FC (Over 50s 11/2/16) (WIN)

A hat trick from Dave Wright saw Beechcroft overhaul a spirited Walsall side at home in the sun. Beechcroft proved a little too strong for a Walsall side that are just finding their feet in competitive football. A commanding performance from Dave Castle kept things tight at the back and superb finishing from Dave Wright for his goals was the difference. All of Beechcroft players played their part in an entertaining game. The game was played in good spirits and thanks go out to Walsall for playing their part. We look forward to the return leg.

Hartshill  3  V  1  Beechcroft  7/2/16 (LOSS)

Beechcroft played away at Hartshill in the third leg of the Winter Shield in what proved to be an excellent advert for Over 60s football. The game was competitive and played in a good spirit on a tight pitch in the Black Country. The opening exchanges were cagey with both teams sussing out the new players from the last game. Hartshill struck first when they were gifted the ball from a Beechcroft defender’s miskick and they calmly took advantage. Beechcroft struck back almost immediately when Malcolm squeezed a shot into the corner past the impressive keeper. Beechcroft hit a post and squandered a number of other goal scoring opportunities as did Hartshill until their danger man was again given the ball and his mishit shot crept into the net. Hartshill followed up when one of their midfielders celebrated his 60th birthday with a strong shot to seal the game. Beechcroft battled well but could not break down the resolute Hartshill defence and in form keeper.

PEOPLES CUP NEWS UPDATE! 

Congratulations to all THREE Beechcroft teams (Red / White / & Blue) for getting through to the semi finals in Nottingham later this month!

FA PEOPLES CUP 2016 FIRST ROUND

Last month saw the first round of this year’s FA Peoples Cup get under way around the country. After last year’s disappointing result at Manchester (lost in the final) BWFC were keen to make a comeback and so entered THREE teams into two of the most local tournament venues. Two teams led by Matt Corp and Steve White (Beechcroft Blue and Beechcroft White) attended at Shrewsbury’s Powerleague, and the third team led by Nell entered at Derby.  Despite winning two of their games Beechcroft Blues journey ended in the semi final against hosts Shrewsbury Town in a 3-1 defeat. Beechcroft White fought hard but failed to get through to the semis, leaving all our hopes pinned on Nells Derby team!

Beechcrofts Derby entry also did us proud by performing well, winning three of their four games, taking them to the semi final against Burton. A 1-1 draw led the team to penalties where the practice paid off and they won 3-2! In the final against Sheffield Beechcrofts luck ran out and they lost 3-0, however the top two teams progress to the next stage  so BWFC  left victorious.  Nell and his team now have the second round Nottingham semi finals to prepare for at the end of February! Good luck to all those involved, and please, stay injury free!

BWFC Oswestry Tournament 28/11/15
**Tournament Win**

Today Beechcroft sent an over 50s (and one over 35 as per rules) team to Wales to play in a six game tournament. They had a by in the first game after one team pulled out of the competition then went on to play five games and won the tournament without conceding a goal!! The team beat Leicester city 1-0, Rochdale 2-0, Shrewsbury 2-0, hosts TNS 2-0 in the semi, and drew against Leicester City 0-0 in the final taking the game to penalties where it ended 3-2. Congratulations to the team and manager for bringing home the silverware!

Super Friday 5-a-side winners

Over 50s Bromsgrove Tournament October 2015
**Tournament Win**

Beechcroft put forward an over 50s team to take part at Bromsgrove Sporting FCs  tournament last weekend. Our guys played the hosts in the semi final with Dave Wright scoring 5 of the 6 goals to win 6-0 and Captain Brendan Glynn also appearing on the score sheet. In the Final they came up against a strong Kidderminster Harriers team but finished triumphant with yet another spectacular goal from Dave Wright,  keeping Goal keeper Rob Corps sheet clean! Many thanks to Bromsgrove Sporting for holding the event and congratulations to our Over 50s team for bringing home the silverware!

BWFC 50s/60s V MANCHESTER CITY FC

A sprightly Beechcroft walking football team arrived at Manchester citys training ground last week for a friendly against their over 50s and 60s walking football teams.

The over 50s, struggling initially with a completely different rules format, found themselves 4-0 down in the first 10 minutes. Beechcroft quickly adjusted to the ‘new rules’ and battled back and were unlucky in the end to loose 5-4.

The over 60s – A scintillating start for Beechcroft Over 60s team with a resounding 12-0 success over their counterparts at Manchester City.
The team ably led by captain Brendan G quickly adapted to the different playing conditions and the unseasonal and unusual sunny Manchester weather and played controlled and intelligent football to overwhelm their opponents who may have been wishing they were already on their upcoming Spanish tour.
Alan H in goal was a calming influence and rarely troubled as most of the shooting was from distance and wayward. Del W and Pete B were solid in the heart of the defence and consistently supplied teammates with some crisp and accurate passing. Dave B, Phil N and Steve H played the wing back roles to perfection bombing back and forward to support defence and attack. Brendan controlled the middle of the pitch and created many chances for himself and the team. John L worked hard up front and again created numerous chances for the team with his support play. The culmination of their efforts was a nine pass move which resulted in a goal with the opponents chasing shadows. Mike B put in a spirited cameo performance with two assists in his short time on the pitch.
All the players were a credit to Beechcroft and the coaching of Nell and Paul with some excellent passing and disciplined positional play.
Thanks also to the referee for some consistent decision making and the sporting Manchester City team who may have been weakened by their impeding Spanish adventure but were admirable hosts and we look forward to the return match.

DUDLEY OVER 40s TOURNAMENT 26/9/15 
**Tournament Win**

Last weekend saw Beechcroft Walking Football Club enter two teams into the Dudley over 40s Walking Football Tournament. After winning all three group games, Beechcroft Reds lost in an unfortunate semi final 1-0 against Leasowes. Beechcroft Whites won two and drew one of their group games and then went on to win their semi final against Dudley Councillors 3-0. In a close Final Beechcroft Whites overcame Leasowes 1-0 to win the tournament. Congratulations to both Beechcroft teams who took part, but especially the Whites who won without conceding  a goal in five games!

OVER 50s EASTLEIGH TOURNAMENT
**Tournament Runners Up**

Report to follow

WALKING FOOTBALL UNITED NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

June 6th 2015 away at Hartshill * Report to follow*

BWFC V RACING BLYTHE

* Report To Follow*

Friendly 7-1 Win @ Home

FA PEOPLES CUP 25/5/2015

Finalists

* Report to follow *

Here is a shortcut link to the BBC get inspired video of the Peoples FA Cup highlights http://bbc.in/1GhwR9v we are in it (briefly) from around 11 minutes in.

RUGELEY TOURNAMENT 25/4/15

**Runners Up**

*Report to follow shortly*

The Results:
Won 6-0 v Hartshill
Won 12-0 v Rugeley B
Won 4-1 v Hartshill
Won 8-0 v Rugeley B
Won 5-2 v Rugeley A  (Semi-final)
Lost 0-1 v Hartshill (Final)

Harthill Strollers 7/3/15

Saturday saw the return away fixture between Beechcroft and Hartshill Strollers. Two teams from both sides were organised to play concurrently and in glorious sunshine both Beechcroft teams ran out worthy winners 4-1 and 3-1. Hartshill were great hosts to our two teams who put on a superb show on a lovely pitch with sandwiches and samosas after the game. It seems our club goes from strength to strength. Heres hoping they do as well in the next round of the FA Peoples cup!

BWFC
FA PEOPLES CUP 
**Tournament Win**

On Saturday 21st February Beechcroft sent three over 40s walking football teams to Shrewsbury to take part in the FA Peoples Cup. All teams did incredibly well considering most of the ‘walkers’ hadn’t played competitively in years! After playing 5 games each Beechcroft Red were into the Semi final with 15 points, winning all their games. Beechcroft Blue were also Semi finalists with 9 points. Finally, Beechcroft White came joint 5th with 3 points. Beechcroft Reds went through to the Final with a very convincing 4-1 win over a physical Stoke City side. Beechcroft blue took on Shrewsbury in the other semi but unfortunately lost on penalties to put an end to a potential all Beechcroft final. Beechcroft Reds took revenge for their defeat with an even more convincing 7-1 win in the final and therefore being crowned FA Peoples Cup West Midlands Region Champions. We would like to thank all those men and women who took part (in their new kits) to make this a resounding success for our club! The next heat of the competition will take place at the end of April.

Read about us winning the fa people’s cup  

Beechcroft Walking Football Club BWFC hosted their first ever competitive game on December 20th 2014 against Hartshill Strollers. A great debut match was had by all and despite going 1-0 down in the first few minutes BWFC fought back to win 5-1. The opposition keeper got man of the match for his tremendous skills in goal. Well done one and all!!

BWFC kits have now been ordered to make us look more professional 9/1/15

23/1/15