CPWFC O50s GFA League Report 

Date:  Sunday 24th March 2024.

Venue: Almondsbury, Bristol.
Match Reporter: Dave Jenkins – 050s Player/Manager

Photographer: Dave Jenkins

Title Resilience under pressure

On what most people would consider a tropical day for Almondsbury (i.e. dry, little wind, and even seeing the sun at times), the over 50s took on the 5th round of the GFA league. Three league games and one friendly to be played.

We have been notoriously slow starters this season and have gotten better with each match. Not this time. We started off with a comfortable 3-0 win against Monsoons All Stars, playing some lovely quick passes and interplay. Chip started things off with a lovely low right-foot shot into the bottom left-hand corner. This was followed by the almost inevitable goal for Neil W and a penalty, duly dispatched into the same bottom left-hand corner. A very pleasing start to the afternoon.

We then watch our title rivals, Barry Town, play 2 matches. We were hoping for other teams to do us a favour and steal some points off Barry. In both matches, in fact, make that 3 with Wotton later in the day, the opposition had chances to put the game to bed. Those chances went begging, and Barry duly came up with a free kick shot to nick the game, accepted a gift from the Lebeq keeper, or put away a late chance to secure the 3 points. They showed resilience and patience under
pressure. Could we do the same?

Next up were Hanham & Kingswood. We eased into a 1-0 lead through Jeremy sliding one into the corner. A second would not come with Yves crashing against the bar – a shot so fierce it lifted the goals off the ground. Then Hanham put together a lovely move with a shot fizzing past Kirky -no mean feat. Could Ciren show the character needed to secure three more points? Of course, they did! Jeremy received a pass with his back to the goal and a defender right behind him. He gently rolled the defender and buried the shot, securing a 2-1 victory.

Our third league match was against Wotton. To our horror, we went 1-0 down after a firmly struck cross-shot just evaded Kirky’s dive. Jon A managed to equalize with a trick shot that ricocheted off the keeper’s legs and into the goal. Time seemed to be slipping away, as were 2 points. Not to fear – Richard is here. As Wotton tried to pass out from the back Richard saw the pass before the striker and strode imperiously forwards to win the ball with a crunching interception, laying a pass
off to Neil W. You can guess the rest as the ball crashed into the goal. It was not over then though, as Wotton pressed for an equalizer and hit a ferocious shot from distance. The ever-alert John pushed it away to ensure the 3 points were ours, and a full complement of 9 from 9 was
achieved. Patience was shown at key moments and a resilience to
persevere and trust in ourselves.

We finished off with a friendly against Lebeq, which was played in a pretty laid-back spirit. Two highlights of the game, or at least worthy of a mention. Firstly, Neil W sat the goalie down with what seemed like multiple dummies before dinking the ball into the goal to put us into the lead. Then Martin C seemed to decide he wanted to ‘wander lonely as a cloud’ only to find himself in our area. The guilty look on his face as he turned to see if the ref had noticed was a dead giveaway and a penalty was duly awarded. The Lebeq keeper came up to take it, and after what seemed like a five-minute chat with Kirky about what he was going to do and what the rules now were, he slid it home to earn a 1-1 draw. As a result, we remain unbeaten this season going back to October and go into the final round of GFA matches in May with a chance to win the league.

The team spirit was excellent throughout, with everyone contributing, whether an important block or save, an exquisite pass to a teammate, or a delightful turn and shot. Long may it continue.

Eager to see the GFA League table? Here is the link:
https://fulltime.thefa.com/index.html?selectedSeason=548568534&selectedFixtureGroupAgeGroup=0&selectedDivision=649761997&selectedCompetition=0#tab-2

CPWFC O60s v Stroud 060s WFC Friendly Tournament Report 

Date: 17 January 2024

Venue: The Arena, Cirencester

Match Reporters: Phil Burden, Carlo Vuolo, Peter Humphries, Mike Cox

Match Photographer: AWOL

“It was Stroud’s first game/tournament against any other team, and they seemed to enjoy it. Members from all four teams met in the bar for a quick refreshment afterwards to discuss the many highlights and select the goal of the Tournament.

This score sheet below shows how well-balanced our teams were in the end. Both conceded just 2 on the day, and the difference between the 2 teams was one last-minute goal”.

Note: VAR is still considering if the final scorer in the Cirencester v Cirencester match had both feet on the ground in the ‘run’ up – yet another John Dunne special is up for scrutiny).

Phil Burden

 CIRENCESTER V STROUD  – SCORE SHEET

Cirencester 1   _3_  v        Stroud 1       _1_

Phil Burden 1, Pete Brock 2

Cirencester 2   _3_  v        Stroud 2       _0_

Trevor Robinson, Yves Brown, Pete Blackwell

——————————————————————————————————

Cirencester 1   _2_  v        Cirencester 2 _1_

Richard Barley, John Dunne                            Yves Brown

Stroud 1   _0_         v        Stroud 2       _0_

——————————————————————————————————

Cirencester 1   _2_  v        Stroud 2       _0_

Pete Brock 2

Cirencester 2   _2_  v        Stroud 1       _0_

Pete Blackwell, Carlo Vuolo

——————————————————————————————————

P        W       L        GF      GA     Pts

Cirencester 1          3        3        0        7        2         9

Cirencester 2          3        2        1        6        2         6

Stroud 1                 3        0        2        1        5         1

Stroud 2                 3        0        2        0        5        1

“I really enjoyed it. It felt great to put on a club kit for the first time in 28 years! Admittedly, the last time was rugby, but it’s good to be part of a team again”.

Carlo Vuolo

“Stroud Park WFC would like to thank Cirencester Town for inviting us over for a set of friendly matches at the Arena.

The games proved a tough challenge but were played in the right spirit with excellent refereeing.

For most of us it was a new experience playing in a competitive match and against good quality opposition. It was a step up, but we valued the challenge of playing outside of our regular sessions.

I’m pleased to say the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to meeting up again for a return match”.

Peter Humphries

“Well done to all who helped to organise and play in the games against Stroud. Enjoyable games played in good spirits and some good play on display. Thanks to the excellent refs who let the games flow. It will be nice to have a return in Stroud at some point”.

Mike Cox

CPWFC O70s GFA League Report 

Date:  Thursday 7th March 2024.

Venue: The Arena, Cirencester.
Match Reporter: Dave Taylor – 070s Player/Manager

A morning of impressive performances. As you’ll see from the league table on the hyperlink GFA Walking Football League (thefa.com) we have risen one place as a result of overtaking Calne. We earned ten points on the day and only Weston-Super-Mare managed to equal our tally. That means we get a little closer to the top. Four clean sheets and four goals improve our goal aggregate immensely. When you add those figures to the final two results in the previous round of matches in January, we have won five of our last six games, drawn one, scored eight goals and conceded none – an excellent run of form.

We beat Clevedon 1-0 in our first game of the day. Trevor Robinson scoring. It would have been a hatful had it not been for their goalkeeper’s umpteen-inspired saves. Next, we beat Bristol United 2-0, with Trevor getting his second of the day and Phil Leslie driving through the defence forcefully from the halfway line to slot the ball home. There was only a brief break before we were up against league-leaders Keynsham Town Orange. Although a little tired as a result of back-to-back games we nonetheless mastered our opponents convincingly to such an extent that they never had a meaningful shot at goal. So, 0-0 was a fair result. We finished with a 1-0 victory over Keynsham Town Yellow & Black. Trevor got his third goal of the day in the opening minute of the match. It was Keynsham’s only defeat of the day.

Thanks to Rob Flett, who stood in as our underage player at the last minute because Geoff Mitchell fell ill. The rest of the team consisted of Chris Mottershead (goalkeeper), Nick Sharp, David Taylor, Phil Leslie, Trevor Robinson, and Mike Dore.

The next round of matches on 28^th March is the last in this winter’s GFA Tournament.