BWFC attended the Kingsmaid Cup tournament last Sunday along with 9 other over 60’s teams & were divided into two leagues.

League 1: Boston United, Barnsley Pals, Baslow, Wakefield Wanderers, Staffordshire Moor,

League 2: Birmingham WFC, Man City, Leggy Mambos, Bracknell Town, Preston North End.

Our first game was against Preston North End who we beat comfortably 3-0 with Dave Whatmore scoring a hat trick!

The second game we played Manchester City which resulted in another win for BWFC, this time 2-0 with John Cooper and Dave Burgess joining Whatmore on the score sheet.

Our third game was against the well organised Leggy Mambos. They scored straight from the kick off putting BWFC under pressure from the start!

They managed to do this against two other teams they played against later in the tournament!

Les had his work cut out in goal but really frustrated Leggy Mambos by saving numerous hammer shots. Despite John Cooper scoring a very good goal, we eventually lost the game 3-1.

In the fourth game we played Bracknell Town and although they passed the ball around very well they could only manage to score one goal.

We were huffing and puffing by now as we had no subs on the bench, but we dug in hard and eventually beat them 2-1 with goals from Keith Laishley and Dave Whatmore

The three wins earned BWFC a semi-final slot against Wakefield Wanderers from League 1.

Wakefield turned out to be a very good side that moved the ball very quickly. They scored two very lucky goals followed by a third goal which finished us off with a 3-0 defeat.

Leggy Mambo’s (from Barnsley) went on to win the tournament beating Wakefield Wanderers 1-0 in the final.

Although each of the five games were only 12 minutes in duration, we found it very draining as the tournament progressed into the later stages. The ball could be played off the side and end walls of the pitch, therefore stayed in play for most of the time. All the other teams had subs which were invaluable for a tournament of this size. The referees used were of a good standard and made fair decisions which was nice to see.

Our two new players Dave Burgess and John Cooper gelled into the BWFC team very quickly and both contributed in scoring excellent goals. The Kingsmaid Cup was a great experience which should stand us in good stead for future competitions.

BWFC team –  Les Dawson, Keith Laishley, Paul Foster, Dave Burgess, Dave Whatmore, John Cooper.