23 May 2010
The Veterans roll back the years…Yes really!
Team Bath Veterans’ Tournament
Saturday 22 May 2010
It appears not to have escaped the notice of a good proportion of the B&W vets squad that if you book a holiday, wedding etc on the same weekend as the TBVT, you are guaranteed fantastic weather. And so it was that Dave G found himself briefing a bare 11 in “the Pen” for the first clash of the day with West Wilts.
Up to this point things had not gone well on the “equipment” front, with Ade having to squeeze his meat ‘n potatoes into a pasty case that was far too snug and Winge forgetting his shinnies. Dave G also seemed a bit out of sorts during the briefing as he tried to explain that we would be playing with four hockey balls in a diamond shape, thankfully this turned out to be incorrect.
By way of brief explanation to those of you unfortunate enough not to have been there, the tournament was run on a round-robin basis this year, with the usual points for a win and draw, but a point also for each goal (the significance of this will be evident later dear reader).
Full of anticipation the vets began the campaign with some early pressure against West Wilts with Winge soon “just jabbing it in” to go one up. It didn’t feel quite right though, the passing wasn’t working and there was an uneasy feeling that we were on the edge of being a bit of a shambles. This was confirmed when a grey bearded West Wilter swung meekly at a ball on the top of the “D”. While the defenders thought to anticipate where Ade would kick the rebound, his meat ‘n potatoes burst out of the pasty case, rendering him unable to get his leg across to the near post and the ball rolled over the line.
This brought a sustained period of West Wilts pressure and the first short corner. Although the corner was defended successfully, it was to be Dave G’s last heroic act as he lay crumpled, hamstring torn from knee to back(side). Fortunately, Fry had ridden in from the West and filled the gap in defence for the last few minutes to help us cling on for two points.
After a rest it was back to the briefing pen and a new recruit to bolster the numbers in the form of Mark, or “Squibber Lite”, cruelly rejected by Bath Buccs. It was then onto the sandy pitch for the next clash against Bridgend. Bridgend, a capable but none too mobile team skilfully kept the ball away from our flailing sticks and they were soon a goal up, despite now having Ade’s meat ‘n potatoes back in its familiar casing. B&W’s campaign was descending into disarray but was salvaged by some hard graft from Banks, Higgy, Bain, Faulkner, Smith and Winge, culminating in Gary flicking a ball into the net. This crucial goal added a further two points to our tally, but it was looking too little, too early with tournament double winners and favourites, Bath Buccs winning their first two games comfortably.
There then followed a very long lunch break. As it turned out, this was important in several respects; it allowed the team to sort out where they were going for a drink and grub afterwards, and for Banks to take re establish his equilibrium with the required amount of beer & nicotine. This also allowed Dave G, now in full Coach mode, to come up with a cunning plan to change the location of the briefing pen. Crucial, because the next game was make or break, Bath Buccs. The defence was reorganised to Warner, Bryce, Fry and Edwards, which almost immediately started to function as it should. This gave confidence to the midfield with Eddy in controlling mode, feeding the energy and experience of Winge and Higgy. Suddenly, Bath Buccs had an uncomfortable and angry orange rash on them. Then, Gary had a vision; maybe due to the heat, only he knows. The vision was that he found himself in that familiar place, on the first tee on a crisp spring morning holding a one wood with a dimpled white ball tee’d up in front of him. For reasons of purity alone, it was goal of the tournament.
Bath Buccs tried hard to respond, but an assured Fry in the centre supported by the new model defence dealt comfortably with the by now stunned Buccs. In addition, Warner was returning to form, a wonderful sight as he sweated and dribbled up the right. A quite remarkable turn around in the performance of the team, but despite our 8 points, it seemed we had probably left it too late to catch the top two teams, West Wilts and Bath Buccs.
This is without doubt how these two aforementioned teams saw it; they now played each other for the title. Winning our last game against Cirencester would not be enough; we’d have to win it by some implausibly ridiculous outlandishly large number of goals.
The Bath Buccs v West Wilts game kicked off a few minutes before ours (mainly due to Dave G’s extended briefing, in the by now, lucky pen area). Bryce also tried to explain about the rejuvenating effect of changing what by now must have been 11 pairs of very sweaty pants, but was he was unfairly ridiculed.
It is actually mildly disturbing to consider how B&W would have dominated the tournament if they had played like they did against Bath Buccs and Cirencester from the start. The team didn’t seem to notice that there was any opposition in front of them as Bain, assuredly tapped the turf with his stick and then drilled the opener past the keeper. Goals then followed from Higgy, Gary, and Winge (x2, including one ‘roofed’ shot) bringing the tally to 5.
The B&W euphoria was broken at this stage by a confident cheer from the opposite pitch. Bath Buccs had beaten West Wilts by two goals and bumped their points tally to 15, they were convinced they’d won it for the third time in a row.
Back on the other pitch, Bank’s lifestyle had by now caught up with him and he sat out the last few minutes to allow Squibber Lite to come on up front and make some important assists. Events then took an unusual twist as the Cirencester keeper gave Eddy a good kicking. With the keeper carded and sent off B&W had a short corner, and a chance to up the goal tally to 6. Understandably, the Cirencester defence decided to make an early start at the bar leaving the goal empty. Fully focused, B&W took the short corner with Edwards picking up the ball on the top of the D from a push out by Winge. Edwards then advanced cautiously, trying not to trip over his shoelaces, and hammered the ball into the backboard from a yard out; 6 goals and the final whistle.
After demands for two recounts from Bath Buccs it was confirmed; 9 points from B&W’s final game added to the 8 from the previous games made a total of 17, which was definitely more than the 15 of the crestfallen Bath Buccs. B&W had deservedly won the tournament, and despite a rocky start, they won in style as the only unbeaten team. And a true team it was.
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