Sunderland Strollers

Match Stats Final Score Geoff's Grandads 3 Spring Chickens 3 Spring Chickens Won 6 - 7 after penalties Official Attendance 5

They think its all over........it is now!!!

Match report

Geoff's granddads were out in force proudly wearing their latest strips sponsored by The Pound Shop and sporting their new hair doos in the form of nasty wigs. Geoff claims that wigs are something you accumulate after years of going to fancy dress parties but these claims were refuted by the Spring Chickens who reckoned it was a lame excuse for most of the granddads not having much hair and having many years to accumulate such items!

The spring chickens lined up mostly in blue with the exception of a couple of ringers. FIFA referee Phil 'Specsavers' Watson was close at hand for the big match however kick-off was delayed by 4 minutes due to a bit of crowd trouble. (Phil took the ball off Kieran cos we needed it!) Watson was clearly showing signs of stress as presumably he had made a late dash to the game from his full time job at Barclays. (A number of players had mentioned in passing as the game went on "the referee’s a banker!!!")

The first half was a tense affair and was fairly evenly matched but first blood was drawn by the Grandads when Chirpy struck a neat 'miss kick' past Paul Crute following a mix up in the Spring Chickens flat back nine. The score was 1-0.

A couple efforts went close with shots from Matthew Prior, Donna and speculative Bryan who continually tried to score from long range but Ramsden had him sussed out after his 19th attempt from the halfway line.

Anth Brown was on a mission to go through whatever was in his way in the midfield. Unfortunately this included his own team mates as well when he took Mario out with a karate kid style tackle! Steve 'the cat' Ramsden was in top form between the posts for the Grandads pulling off a string of impressive saves but just before half time Mario popped up with the equaliser, the teams going in level at the mid point.

The second half started with more venom with tackles flying in left right and centre from Bryan, Ken Maynard and Ian Maxwell. At one point Bryan's mis-timed tackle on chirpy was so fierce that Chirpy’s wig nearly came off! Referee Watson managed to keep his cards in his pocket although this was probably because it was getting cold.

Despite sterling performances in the centre of the park by Wilson, Malcolm, Ian Semens and Dave Dixon,and by Dicka at the back they were unable to stop Dave the ringer who soon made it 2 - 1 when he lobbed the advancing Ramsden following a mix up at the back. Shortly after this Angelo made it 3 - 1 to the Chickens following some good link up play in the centre by Vicky and Donna and tough battling at the back by Angus.

The Grandads looked dead an burried until they brought on a super sub (some handy Irish bloke Ian Maxwell found) who brought something to the Grandads midfield that had been lacking from the start...skill!!! As the game wore on it became increasingly clear the Grandads 8-2-1 formation was not working and they reshuffled with the introduction if Irish bloke. Chris Bewie made up for his earlier gaffs with 2 goals in quick succession bringing the score back to 3 - 3 with only minutes to go. Dave Dixon missed a sitter late on with only the keeper to beat. The game ended that way and ’hawkeye’ Watson blew up for a penalty shoot out.

The first six penalties were slotted home by Dave the ringer, Ken Maynard, Bryan, Chirpy, Chris Bewie and Mario. It was now sudden death. Chris Maynard took the responsibility and calmly slotted past Ramsden. It was all down to Malcolm Cox as he picked up the ball and placed it on the spot.......the crowd went silent, Malcolm stepped up and Paul Crute pulled off a wonder save to give the Spring Chickens victory.

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