BBS VI Football League - League Tournament 2
Saturday 15th December 2007 – Manchester
Once again the participants of the BBS VI football league assembled for the second of our six league tournaments in Manchester on Saturday 15th December. The Platt Lane venue (Manchester City's Academy facility) welcomed us with some seasonally "freezing" weather conditions causing all players to thank their lucky stars that we play indoors!
After the opening tournament held in London back in November the early form had been established in both Divisions, so clubs arrived in Manchester either hoping to pick up where they left off or "start with a clean slate".
Division One
Loughborough Lions A, as league champions, had made a great start in tournament one and arrived in Manchester looking to establish their dominance. With just the minimum five-man squad however they hoped to remain injury free. The sight of Dave Punter’s considerable frame crashing to the ground with a suspected broken ankle in their first game really set the cat amongst the pigeons. Despite Dave's best efforts to play on he had to resign himself to watching from the sidelines as his teammates fought hard to salvage some points from the day. As Inter Cosmos had discovered in tournament one, having just four players is "a nightmare" and this proved true for the league champions who picked up just the one point all day (scant reward for their hard work).
Could their rivals take advantage? Inter Cosmos and West Bromwich Albion A met in the opening game of the day with Cosmos desperate for points with a full strength squad and West Brom keen to put pressure on the league leaders. This end to end battle saw Cosmos pull away to an impressive 4-2 lead, with captain George Ferguson (fresh from his exploits in Turkey with the England VI team) scoring a quite brilliant hat-trick. However, this was new territory in recent years for the Cosmos boys and far from closing out the game they allowed the West Brom lads to grow in confidence. In no time the game was level with West Brom powering forward and Cosmos holding on. A clinical strike at the death from West Brom put an end to proceedings leaving Cosmos wondering where it all went wrong. This was a great advert for the VI league and what a start to the day!
From there West Brom went from strength to strength and although run close on occasions they finished the day with a maximum 12 points and a healthy lead at the top of the table. Inter Cosmos also recovered well, rediscovering their early form from the first match to win their remaining three fixtures, claiming nine points and second place in the table.
The Loughborough Lions B team and RNC A both had battling afternoons fighting hard to pick up points from one another and Loughborough Lions A. Loughborough B have introduced one or two new, but experienced, players this year so at times played some good stuff but got caught out occasionally against the stronger sides on the day. RNC again showed flashes of real quality, particularly in their final game against Inter Cosmos as they led 4-3 going into the final five minutes before suffering a cruel 5- 4 defeat.
A great day for West Brom with Inter Cosmos running them a close second and the league champions left with a real fight on their hands.
Division Two
After the first tournament in November the second division was shaping up into a real competitive affair with the experienced South Shields outfit being pushed hard by an ever improving QAC side and the new boys from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation.
Tournament two proved much the same with all three sides picking up victories against the West Bromwich Albion B team, the new side from Swansea City and RNC’s B team. So which of the top three sides would make the most of their opportunities?
Tournament two unquestionably belonged to South Shields ending the day with maximum points and top of the league. The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and QAC are close on the heels however and this season has the potential to go right to the wire.