Burton Albion Community Trust  “ Walk All Over Cancer ” Over 50’s Walking Football Fund Raising Tournament.

The Tournament was played in mostly bright but cold and windy conditions at the Burton Albion FC, training facility at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent.

Birmingham  0    v Burton Albion ”A”  0

This was a closely contested match in which Birmingham can count themselves unlucky not to have taken all 3 points. 

In the early exchanges, Birmingham had the upper hand and had a number of near misses with Ashley Mathieson hitting a superb shot which struck the bottom of the Burton post.

Dave Treacy and Neil Shand were both denied by saves from the opposition goalkeeper.

At the other end Bart O’Shea in the B’ham goal was in his usual good form and ensured that the score stayed at 0 – 0 with a super save during a sustained spell of pressure from Burton.

Birmingham  1   v   Stoke City  1

After another bright start by B’ham, which saw them take the lead through an unstoppable strike from Neil Shand, B’ham continued to dominate most of the possession and a place in the final was looking likely.

That was until a bad decision by the referee not to rule out the Stoke equaliser when the ball was clearly well above head height !!  

Ashley Mathieson again hit the post with another great strike but the win just wasn’t to be.

Birmingham  8   v   Burton Albion “ B “  0

This match in all honesty was played against the weakest team in the competition. They had previous lost 6 – 1 to Burton ” A “ and B’ham just had to record a win to secure place in the play off for 3rd place.

This win was duly delivered with, for the most part, a slick and polished team performance.

2 goals each from Dave Treacy, Nick Wilkie and Ashley Mathieson and 1 goal each from Neil Shand and John Limbourne secured a well deserved place in the 3rd and 4th place play off against Wolverhampton.

Birmingham   1   v   Wolverhampton Wanderers  0

This was a very competitive match which was not played by the Wolverhampton team in the spirit of the day or that of Walking Football. From the start the opposition tried to wind up the B’ham players and in particular Nick Wilkie who was sent flying 3 times by a particularly nasty and cynical player who was eventually sent from the field of play by the very lenient and incompetent referee. The player did not reappear.

It was during this period of play that Dave Treacy, who along with the defensive stalwart Tony Fisher had been keeping Wolverhampton at bay, ventured forward and struck an unstoppable shot past the despairing Wolves goalkeeper and into the net. Two quality saves by Bart in the B’ham goal ensured that the score stayed this way and B’ham ended the competition in a very creditable Third Place overall.

Squad:      Bart O Shea, Tony Fisher, Dave Treacy, Ashley Mathieson, Nick Wilkie, Neil Shand and John Limbourne.

Goal Scorers:   Dave Treacy 3     Neil Shand  2      Ashley Mathieson  2      Nick Wilkie  2     John Limbourne  1

Played 4   Won 2   Drew  2    Lost 0