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.