The Relics over 65’s made a good start to their Autumn 2021 season with 2 – 0 win against Salcom, followed by a 0 – 0 draw against Rochdale Strollers. The third game against Manchester Senor Citizens also ended 0 – 0 but an admin error from the Citizens resulted in them having to forfeit the game 1 – 0 to The Relics. The final game against Manchester Corinthians ended up with a tough 1 – 0 win for The Relics. The 10 points on the day saw Relics end the day top of the league.
Well done to the players on the day – Gaz (gk), Bob D, Graham W, Pete Shev, Tex, John W, JoMo. and Manager Ken B.
Thanks to Dr John for providing the detailed match reports below.
For all the GMWFL Autumn 2021 results and fixtures see the Match Centre page here
Game 1; Bury Relics vs. Salcom
The day was warm with some sunshine and after a pre-game meeting by the league, where all teams were warned about filling in forms correctly, the games got underway with the mighty Bury Relics first playing Salcom. After a good team talk by Ken, the Relics got off to a good start by stringing multiple passes together around all of the team, with the first chance going to Tex, who hit a shot just wide of the post after a six pass move. Then further pressure from the Relics led to another chance, a daisy cutter from Graham that just whistled past the post. The Relics really had the wind in their sails and were pressing for a first goal which came from absolute screamer by Tex. He received the ball left hand side of the box, some distance away, and let fly with a howitzer into the top left hand corner of the net. The support went into a frenzy of appreciative applause; it would be a goal of the month contender if on match of the day. Salcom had some passing moves but were not really threatening the Relics goal, while for the Relics, Jomo shot just wide of the right hand post. The constant Relics pressure lead to 4 foul offences by Salcom and Graham stepped up to take the penalty and confidently put away to make it 2.0. A John W shot brought a good save from the keeper, who tipped it onto a post. However, there was a bit of controversy about another John W shot that the keeper palmed into his own net but the Ref disallowed the goal because there was a 2nd ball on the pitch. Salcom did get 2 chances to score later in the game, one from the penalty spot after the 4 foul rule which was shot wide, and then another chance when on a clean break away, this time Gaz made a very good save by tipping the shot onto the post and away to safety. This was a very strong Bury Relics performance and a 2.0 win to start with.
Result = Relics win 2.0
Game 2; Bury Relics vs. Rochdale Strollers
This game was a lot closer, where both teams were playing good passing football and also marking well. Bob was shadowing their striker around the pitch. John W had a good shot to the top left but just missed. The Strollers managed to create a chance and the shot was well saved by Gaz. This was turning out to be a stale mate but towards the end of the game, The Relics had a free kick and the subsequent play led to several shots by the Relics and a corner. The players from both sides had to be content with a goalless draw and a shake of the hands at full time.
Result = Relics draw 0.0
Game 3; Bury Relics vs. Manchester Senior Citizens
This game, not long after kick off, seemed a little aggressive, with John W angrily pulling their number 11 out of the way. After this things calmed down and good play was done by both teams. Graham manufactured a good opportunity by performing a precise tight turn when receiving the ball back to goal and taking a shot, which was close to the top left hand corner but was just wide. Another Relics move and Graham was fouled; from the resulting free kick, Jomo made a run and hit a great shot, but the Ref blew for running. Citizens were having trouble coping with the intricate and precise passing of the Relics and this led to a 4 foul penalty to the Relics. Although Graham hit a good low penalty to the left of the keeper, the keeper managed to get down to it. In subsequent play, John W had a good long shot that just missed, then on the counter Citizens brought out a great save from Gaz. Pete had a good game defending, and Jomo hit the crossbar toward the end of the game but it was not to be..
Result = Relics draw 0.0, but upgraded to a Relics 1.0 win due to an admin error by The Citizens
Game 4; Bury Relics vs. Manchester Corinthians.
The final game of the day was a challenging one against the Corinthians. This game had a lot of good passing moves from both teams but also was littered with interceptions, where players from opposing teams will anticipate a pass and make a short run to intercept. Notably Bob played a very good ball through to Graham and put him in the clear but could not test the keeper on this occasion. Both teams moving the ball around and Corinthians shooting wide. Gaz tried to play a one two with a Relics defender but an interception was made and Gaz pulled off a great save to deny a goal for the Corinthians. Graham’s marker had been trying to nip in front of Graham all game to get the ball, but Graham was now wise to it now and fashioned a long range shot from slightly left of the goal. It travelled a long way, low and bobbling, onto the right hand post, where the ball rebounded towards the keeper, who had dived, and then into the net off the keepers back; great goal and well deserved for the battling performance. There were chances for both teams towards the end of the game, most notably was the triple save Gaz had to make after Corinthians had intercepted several of his throw-outs. Two of those saves were very good and preserved the Relics lead, and that’s how it finished, 1.0.
Result = Relics win 1.0
Bury Relics 