Bury Relics Over 65’s concluded their Greater Manchester Division 1 Walking Football Autumn league campaign in match week 4 which had been postponed pre-Xmas due to bad weather. A squad of 8 were selected of Gaz (GK), Kevin, Pete Shev, Alan, Dave Luk, Ian McCann, Paul and Graham. Pat was Manager and numerous supporters were in attendance on a dry day which saw us begin handily placed second in the league with Wakefield running away at the top.
First up were Preston with Pete and Paul starting on the bench. We conceded almost immediately when a low shot sneaked inside the post. We then piled forward with 3 good shots, the last of which hit the post after Ian and Dave played some great football to set up Graham. Preston did have a fantastic chance when their centre forward was left all alone as we pushed up but, fortunately he had so much time and space that he was left in two minds and couldn’t convert. Normal service resumed with shots from Alan, Dave, Ian and even Kevin but the impressive Preston keeper was in his usual good form. Just before the end our 95% possession was eventually rewarded when Preston took a free kick and waywardly passed it to Ian who played it straight into an unmarked Graham who tucked it away. An unlucky 1-1 draw.
Next up were Wakefield with Kevin and Alan starting on the bench. We started well with Ian neatly laying off for Dave to hit a good shot. Wakefield though are filled with quality and quickly forced Gaz into a good save and then their experienced centre forward scored a brilliant goal which gave Gaz no chance. We could have crumbled but we fought back superbly and pressed them hard. Firstly, Paul hit a fierce shot which their keeper palmed away for a corner (which he sportingly confirmed to the ref), then Ian and Paul again went close before Graham after a brilliant piece of individual skill left himself 1-2-1 with the keeper but his well-placed shot was saved at full stretch. We searched for the equaliser right up to the final whistle but just couldn’t find it. An unlucky 1-0 defeat.
At the conclusion of this game the players gathered at the bottom fence and shortly afterwards Paul suffered a medical incident. Team manager Pat commented afterwards, “As people will have seen Paul collapsed at the side of the pitch after our second game, I would like to say a massive thankyou to Graham, Kevin, Ian and Shev who reacted so fast and called for assistance. In these moments time is vital and their reaction and that of the Sports Village staff and then the emergency services will have contributed to him actually being alive. I personally would like to thank the players for continuing to play the next two games. I could see it affected all our players and credit to them. Once more thankyou everyone on behalf of Paul for their thoughts and wishes on his speedy recovery”.
Paul (No. 10 pictured above) is presently awaiting the next step towards his full recovery.
As Pat stated the players unanimously agreed to carry on as they felt it would be unfair on all the other teams in the league to take the offer of a 0-0 draw in their two remaining games. The fixtures were fulfilled but it was extremely difficult for the players to focus and although they tried admirably it resulted in 2-0 and 1-0 losses to Corinthians and Bolton respectively.
The results on the day obviously meant that we did not claim the runners up spot but we did walk away with a far greater prize!
Bury Relics 