For the second Thursday in a row, we were back at The Mike Doyle Centre to raise some money for a deserving charity, this time around it was Stroke Information. 12 teams this week compared to the 10 from last week, all giving generously, meant that we raised a decent wedge on the night, and some pretty decent football was played in pretty tricky conditions.

6 teams in each group meant more games of shorter length, putting more pressure on that first goal in each game…….

GROUP A

In the opening round of games, the three teams who were expected to be fighting out for the top two positions took on the three teams who would be considered to be the outsiders of the group. Sunday Premiership champions Insole beat Stockport Eagles 2-0 to get their campaign started, while Adswood Reformed were 3-0 winners over Exeter Gently and Step Brothers also didn’t concede as they beat El Caliente 2-0.

Adswood took on the Brotherhood in the second batch of fixtures, with neither team able to make the breakthrough in a game that finished goal-less. Insole took advantage to take control of the group with a 3-0 win over Exeter Gently. If Caliente or the Eagles were looking to make a play for a semi-final spot, one of them needed to win the meeting between the two of them, so a 0-0 draw did neither team any favours.

Insole faced Step Brothers next, knowing a win would effectively guarantee them a top two spot with two rounds to spare, but a third straight 0-0 draw in this group kept them in control, while putting Step Brothers chances of qualifying in the balance. Adswood joined Insole on 7 points with a 2-0 win over El Caliente, who were all but out following this result, while Stockport Eagles picked up a first Christmas Cup win (across both tournaments) by beating Exeter Gently 1-0 to end Exeter’s hopes.

El Caliente’s prospects were in the balance before the 4th round of fixtures, and they remained goal-less as a 1-0 defeat to Insole ended their tournament hopes. Adswood remained level with Insole, moving onto 10 points with a 1-0 over Stockport Eagles, who’s hopes also ended there. Step Brothers needed a win to keep their chances alive going into the final round of fixtures, and a comfortable 3-0 win over Exeter Gently meant it was two from three going into the final round.

Step Brothers had the advantage of playing the last game of the group, so would know what they had to do in their game in order to qualify. First they had to watch Insole take on Adswood, with the winner of this game guaranteed top spot. A hard fought 2-1 win for Insole meant they clinched first place, with that first defeat for Adswood leaving them on the brink of elimination when they’d looked good for qualification right the way through. Exeter Gently and El Caliente finished their campaigns with a dead rubber between the two, and with neither team having scored a goal so far a 0-0 draw looked nailed on. Exeter finished their night with a 3-2 win, which was the highest scoring game of the night….. With Adswood having lost their final game, a win for Step Brothers against already eliminated Stockport Eagles would send them through in second place. With the Adswood lads cheering them on, the Eagles nicked a shock 1-0 win that sent the Brotherhood home and sent Adswood into the semi-finals.

GROUP B

Group B had similarities with Group A in that it looked like being two from three at the outset, and those three teams avoided each other in the first round of fixtures. Gangs Of Dwight Yorke were comfortable 4-0 winners over FC Stront Bakken to get their campaign off to a winning start, while Ken & Barbie FC beat Team Tom 2-0. Duno were looking to go one further than their semi-final spot from last week, and they beat Wellspring 2-0 to get three points on the board.

The three winners from round 1 avoided each other again in the second batch of fixtures, and they were all winners again to create a 6 point gap between the top three and the bottom three. Gangs Of Dwight Yorke made it 7 scored, none conceded with a 3-0 win over Wellspring, Ken & Barbie made it consecutive 4-0 defeats for Stront Bakken, while Duno scraped a 1-0 win over Team Tom.

Gangs made it three from three to open round three, beating Team Tom 2-0, then they could stand a watch Duno take on Ken & Barbie in the first clash of the big three, and a 1-0 win for K&B looked to have put them in a strong position to qualify. Wellspring and Stront Bakken would know that the loser of their game would be done as far as this tournament was concerned, and a 2-1 win for Stront Bakken gave them the slimmest of chances of getting through the group.

Those chances ended in the next batch of fixtures, as a narrow 1-0 defeat to Duno kept Duno in contention while ending the Bucket Boys hopes. Gangs took on K&B in what looked like the tie of the group, but a surprisingly one sided game finished 3-0 in Gangs favour. Team Tom and Wellspring both picked up their first point of qualifying as they played out a 0-0 draw in a game that meant very little to either side.

Duno needed to call in favours in the final round of fixtures, as nothing but a win against leaders Gangs would see them eliminated, and even that wouldn’t be enough if K&B could pick up a point from their game with Wellspring. Duno couldn’t do their part though, and a 2-0 defeat left them in third place in the table. K&B eased to a 4-0 win over Wellspring, while Team Tom ended their campaign with their first win, 2-0 over Stront Bakken.

SEMI-FINALS

Having scraped into the semi’s, and having made it to the same stage in last years competition, Adswood Reformed were looking to go one step further this year, but would have a tough task making it through against a Gangs Of Dwight Yorke side that cruised through the group without conceding a goal. This was a tight game though, with Adswood holding their own as we headed into the final few minutes at 0-0, but just as we looked set for penalites, Callum Jones scored the only goal of the game to send Gangs into the final.

The second semi also looked too close to call as Insole took on Ken & Barbie FC in what turned out to be an end to end affair. Insole struck first, but K&B leveled things up heading into the final 5 minutes. Matthew Atkinson restored the Insole lead almost immediately, and this time they were able to hold on for the win to leave the final between the top teams from each group.

FINAL

Gangs Of Dwight Yorke had made it all the way to the final without conceding a goal, and started the final the stronger side with chances coming and going. Throughout the 15 minute final Insole were only able to create a handful of chances, so when Jimmy Leeson scored to give Gangs a deserved lead it proved to be the only goal of the game, leaving Gangs Of Dwight Yorke as Christmas Cup 2 winners.

OTHER INFORMATION

The 12 team turnout, with each team having a minimum of 7 players on the night, meant that we cleared £286.40 for Stroke Information. The spot prize winner of a pair of tickets to a Stockport County game, for being one of 5 people to make a double donation to take part, was Tom Harrison from Exeter Gently. Many thanks to Tom, Shaun Mather, Anthony Pugh, Mike Belshaw and Tom Hornsby who were the people who double donated on the night, and thanks to all teams who took part.

See you all in 2018…..!

Gangs Of Dwight Yorke