Bury Relics Over 65’s started their Greater Manchester Division 1 Walking Football league campaign on another warm day in Heywood. The squad was Keiran (GK), Tony G, Alan, Pete Shev, Gerry, Dave L, JoMo and Graham with Ken as Manager, Keith the Kit Man & Kodak Keith in attendance. A great first day resulted in 3 wins and 1 draw which was a fantastic return considering that we were missing our top international who was jet setting on a Greek yacht, our newly crowned National champion who had to stay at home to play Snap with his brand new deck of Red and Blue cards and all 3 of our usual goalies for various medical reasons.
First up were Preston. As always, in every age group and at every level, they know how to frustrate and contain us. We scored first, when Graham took the initiative after some confusion among the opposition, but played poorly in a scrappy match but fortunately managed a 1-1 draw after Preston equalised, especially, as we could have gone a man down.
The second game was against Corinthians. We started slowly following our disappointing opener and when we fell behind it looked bleak but it was the kick up the archie that we needed. Looking down the barrel of defeat we started to knock it about Relics style with great passing to feet and movement off the ball. Graham equalised after a good team move and you could feel the relief in the air. We relaxed and pushed for a winner which was gifted to us when the cardinal error was made of leaving Graham all alone in front of goal. As usual he coolly slotted it home just before the final whistle for us to triumph 2-1.
Next up were Bolton and we continued from where we left off, starting well with strong pressure exerted throughout. This forced the foul count up for the opposition until the inevitable happened and a penalty was awarded the Relics. After a disastrous preseason on the penalty front (33% conversion rate) it fell to JoMo to step up to the plate. He struck the ball perfectly into the bottom right hand corner giving the keeper no chance and us a 1-0 win.
We went into the last match against Blackpool with the confidence now flowing. We were on fire, playing great football and Graham bagged a brace for us to finish with a flourish and a 2-0 victory.
An excellent performance by all our players, especially considering the absence of 2 top quality outfield players and all 3 keepers. Huge thanks and credit goes to Keiran who, at short notice, threw himself fully into the goalkeeping job. He didn’t let the team down and his excellent, crisp distribution from feet balanced out his lack of big match GK experience.
A good start to the season.
Bury Relics 