Solihull Football Centre Saturday 22/7/23
Birmingham mixed team v Kick Cancer team
Kick Off was preceded by a minute’s silence and applause in memory of Tony, a kick cancer player who recently passed away.
The game kicked off and B’ham started the strongest which resulted in an early goal scored by Mike after some good play by Karen, Brian and Paul. With both teams pressing B’ham doubled their score with a smart finish from Mike again, this time it was Nick and Yasmin who helped to set up the second goal giving B’ham a 2-0 lead. A substitution for the Kick Cancer team saw John Cooper enter the field and immediately scoring a fine goal with a right footed curler past Woody into the far corner taking the score to 2-1. B’ham then went 3-1 up after an own goal that then seemed to wake up the Kick Cancer team.
Second 20 min: Kick cancer started to push on and two quick goals from Chris and Coops levelled the score to 3-3, now we had game on. B’ham lost their way a little as they had a lot of debutantes in the team but kept going with the help of seasoned players such as Mike, Paul, Brian and Nick. Kick Cancer moved up a gear and went in front for the first time withColin finishing from thirty yards out with Woody standing no chance.
3rd 20min: B’ham were under pressure but stopped the goals coming in with some great defending from the ladies with Karen working hard up front and with Max and Yasmin blocking some fine strikes from close- up and distance …Kick Cancer then shot off with further goals from Dave, Chris and Coops to open up a 7-3 lead.
Fourth 20 min: B’ham scored a fine goal after some good play from Alan, Max, Yasmin and Brian for Mike to set up a crisp finish from Paul taking the score to 7-4. Then again, B’ham were caught out with a goal from Junior deflecting off Yasmin and wrong-footing Woody, Junior claiming his goal done a lap of honour. Play resumed with Chris and Mel taking the score to 10-4. To B’ham’s credit in the last 10 minutes they shut up shop and made the Kick Cancer boys know they were in a game. Final whistle went to end an enjoyable encounter between the two sets of players.
A mention goes to both keepers who played hard to keep their teams in the game with making good stops when called upon, well done to the lads. A big shout out to Maxine, Yasmin, Karen and Alan, who were making their debuts, for applying themselves well. Also, a big shout out to Nik, Mike, Brian, Paul and Woody all having played in competitive teams before well done all.
We were lucky that the rain held off and a great game was had by all. A big thank you goes out to Alan (Ballie) for collecting donations before and after the game and to Dave for coming in early to open the bar.
A Further thank you goes to Paul Murtagh for the use of the pitch and the donation to the Kick Cancer Team TOTAL RAISED £115.00 which was greatly received.
A massive thank you goes to everybody involved on the day.
REPORT BY BRENDAN – MATCH REFEREE ….
