GMWFL Autumn 2024 – Over 60s Whites start new campaign

Bury Relics Over 60s Whites contested the first set of fixtures of their Greater Manchester Division 2 Walking Football autumn league campaign after last spring season’s relegation on a cool, dry day in Heywood. The squad was Gaz (GK), Danny, Keith S, Ian McCann, Kevin, Ian McKinnon and Graham with Ken as Manager. A frustrating day resulted in 3 draws and a loss which was a poor return considering the pressure that we exerted in 2 of the matches.

First up were Panthers, who were very well set up defensively and kept our shots to a minimum even though we had the majority of the ball. Danny shrugged off his last second call up to show great poise at the back with Kevin and they never really threatened our goal, 0-0.

Straight into the second game against Rochdale. This was a good game in which the opposition started strongly with Gaz making a tidy save to his bottom right hand corner. We then struck the first blow when a neat one-two between the 2 Ians was lashed into the roof of the net by the Scot. We were playing solidly when out of nowhere Rochdale equalised after winning possession at the edge of our box. We continued to push forward and the game opened up with chances at both ends. Graham almost put one in the top corner with a great turn and shot before Gaz made another brilliant save to his bottom right. Then our best move of the match ended with Ian McCann almost breaking the bar with a superb shot. Final score was 1-1 in a game we slightly shaded and played good football in throughout.

Match 3 v Corinthians was a very curious match indeed, starting with the Relics support thinking we were playing Kingsmaid after a very busy summer transfer window for our opponents. Corinthians had the lion’s share of possession and Gaz had a busy game but they only scored after a referee mix up with Relics thinking play had stopped. Fortunately, the overly robust physicality of the players, belying their Corinthian name, led to 4 (recorded!) fouls and a penalty which Graham expertly slotted bottom right. 1-1 felt the right score.

Our final game was against Winstanley who were newly promoted from Division 3 where they rampaged through their fixtures. They are a young, fit squad focused on winning matches with a shoot on sight centre forward. They started off fast with Gaz making 2 good saves in the first minute but as we were coming into the game and exerting some pressure they scored off a counter attack. Before we could settle they capitalised on a mistake in front of goal to go 2-0 up. We upped our game with nothing to lose and Keith shot just wide after good forward work from Graham. Their goalie then made a good save after a great free kick from Ian McCann laying it off to Graham, quickly followed by an Ian McCann shot flashing past the post from distance. They were content to hit us on the break and Gaz was still kept on his toes making a couple of excellent saves. A 2-0 loss against a strong team built for further promotion.

3 points on a day when we played so well in 2 matches was disappointing but with an over 65s squad playing in an over 60s league every point is hard won. The players gave their all so it is onto Matchday 2 in October, with Relics sitting 4th in the table looking to move up.

Report was written by Alistair (son of Motherwell Ian).

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