4th October 2023.
Bury Relics Over 70’s went into their second set of fixtures of the Greater Manchester Division 1 Walking Football league campaign struggling to field 6 players due to holidays, injury and suspension.
The patched up squad was Eddy (GK), Tex, Bob, Pat, Tony, Keith B, JoMo and Ken with Keith the Kit Man as Manager, Dave (injured) as Assistant Manager plus Kodak Keith & Watford Mark in attendance.
A gutsy day resulted in 1 win, 1 defeat and 2 draws which was a great return considering that JoMo and Ken were not really fit to play and Keith, Tony and Pat were all to some extent short of full match fitness.
First up were Blackpool. I have to admit that my main concern was knowing the location of the defibrillator and what we could use as a makeshift stretcher if we pushed it to the limit. Keith the Kit Man’s selection was based solely on the best way to manage the H&S of a banged up squad through 4 fixtures. Keith decided to test out JoMo’s hamstring and Ken’s knee right from the off. We started well, Bob and Tex were strong at the back with Ken giving us an outlet up front. From a well worked corner between Tex and JoMo, the latter knocked it across the box for Ken to blast it first time, high into the net beating their keeper all ends up.
Unfortunately, JoMo further damaged his hamstring making the fabulous crossfield pass and had to limp off to be replaced by the willing Keith. The only aim now was to keep it tight and prevent further injury. Blackpool, with nothing to lose, piled forward and got a bit handy. Pat and their No. 10, had a bit of a walking battle, with Pat taking no backward steps. We kept our workrate high and ground out the victory. Keith took a casualty report in the short break – a dejected JoMo, slumped against the fence, said he was out for the remainder of the morning and Ken’s knee needed a rest before resuming action.
Easy to pick the team for the second game against Rochdale as we only had 6 fit to play which came as a bit of a shock to Pat who was knackered but had to keep going. We again lined up with Tex and Bob at the back, a new midfield of Pat and Tony and Keith up front for Match 2 v Rochdale. We were doing well keeping them at bay when out of nowhere their centre forward, Chris, surrounded by 3 of our players on the edge of the D got a good, hard shot off which took a slight deflection through the forest of legs and rifled into Eddy’s top left hand corner. Eddy had no chance as he was unsighted and the force of the shot saw it in the back of the net before he had time to react. We had very little forward traction and were fighting a rearguard battle. Pat was in bits and I was starting to make a mental calculation of how quickly I could get to the defib and back as I was stood at about the furthest point away from it as possible!
Suddenly, JoMo had a Lazarus moment, and shouted on the manager that he was fit to go on. Keith, taking the attitude that a limping upright JoMo was a better option than a horizontal Pat, made a quick substitution. Oops, I had to make a quick brain swerve to work out if Dave’s manager’s coat would serve as a suitable stretcher substitute. We suddenly started to go forward with Tex and Bob managing to get some long shots, in after good set up work by JoMo, Tony and Keith, which was heartening but ultimately to no avail as we battled to a 1-0 loss.
Fortunately, we now had our 20 minute match break, during which we could rest and somewhat recover. Unfortunately, we had to watch our next 2 opponents City and Corinthians play out a high quality draw which gave all the Relics the heebie jeebies. With expectations low, JoMo and Ken volunteered to play against City, giving Pat and Keith a well deserved break. We kicked off, and, Wow, just Wow, we started like a train with their goalie saving a shot f…
With expectations low, JoMo and Ken volunteered to play against City, giving Pat and Keith a well deserved break. We kicked off, and, Wow, just Wow, we started like a train with their goalie saving a shot from Ken with his outstretched big toe which went for a corner after 15 seconds. The train turned into a steamroller as we absolutely battered them from thereon in. JoMo gave a masterclass in how to play hobbling football, with Ken finding space all over the top of the pitch and Tony was now realising that he had let himself in for more than he bargained for with another all action midfield performance. Everybody was getting shots off as we peppered their goal, including our 2 top class defenders Bob and Tex who were snuffing out any City attacks before they got into our final third. Ken scored another cracker which came out from the City keeper’s good save but the ref gave the decision against him for the ball not coming fully out the box. Extremely harsh as that would have given us the victory that our performance merited but the best 0-0 draw I have seen.
Another fitness check revealed that Ken’s knee had given way twice in the match and it needed time to recover. JoMo decided to carry on in pain so we went into the final match against Corinthians with the tried and tested defence of Eddy in net with Tex and Bob patrolling the back line, JoMo and Tony in the middle and Keith B up front. We started strongly again and were generally solid but the match time was beginning to tell and we were tiring as it went on. Corinthians were being restricted to long range shots, one of which was fired in low which Eddy saved excellently with his foot over the bar. Ken, volunteered to go back on to give Keith a rest for the last 5 minutes. He gave us a fresh leg and we pushed for a winner. Chances came and went but we couldn’t get past their quality keeper. 0-0 again.
I was honoured to watch such a show of guts, determination, and team spirit. I could not believe how we rebounded from the Rochdale defeat to put in such strong performances against top level opposition. Everybody played their massive part in securing 5 points against the odds in a huge collective effort.
Thanks to Ian McC for the report.
All the GMWFL Autumn 2023 Results and Fixtures are here
Bury Relics 