It’ll be a busy couple of weeks for the lads at Hastings United Walking Football.
There’s a crunch FA cup match coming up and four teams playing in Tournaments in Brighton and Maidstone.
So a few good training sessions are just what the doctor ordered. And that’s what we had at the Academias Decrepido tonight.
Four teams played round-robin and there were some excellent goals, good keeping and brilliant defending.
No refs tonight so it was a bit hit and miss on the decisions but no arguments and all played in super spirit.
Match one was a four-goal thriller between Lemons and Pinks. The Pinkos had the upper hand for ten minutes and scored twice: Posh Andy’s first-time half volley was an incredible start to the evening. He struck it hard and true with his open instep and drew warm applause from both sides.
Wingnut’s well-struck penalty after an infringement by Peruvian Mick looked to have put the game beyond doubt but the Lemons kept plugging away and were rewarded with a super strike from Mick and then a powerful equalizer from Massive Mark. The harrying and support play from Posh was good to see and the return to 90 per cent fitness from Speedy Steve and his bionic hip was another welcome sight but it was Old John Martin who took top honours in defence: tireless, calm and skillful, stroking the ball around like a 30-year-old.
In match two the Oranges overcame the Blues with a one-nil win thanks to a Matty fluke. But there was nothing jammy about Matty Longshanks’ second of the night, leathering it with a curve past The Cat to give Team Tango their second win of the evening against the Lemons.
OJM showed a bit of steel in his tussles with Bexhill John and upended him on the wing with a foul worthy of Julian Dicks in his Hammers Heyday.
Game 4 was a one-all draw between Blues and Pinks. Posh repeated his incredible strike from game one latching on to a sharp cross from The Chairman proving he was no one-strike wonder. El Jay took his equalizing goal well and was hungry for more but he reckoned without The Cat who made the save of the night to get a strong left hand to a typical El Jay curler headed for the inside of the left post. At the other end the Nutkin made two good saves before the Blues went ahead.
Trigger and Oh My Cod! swam like predating sharks on the edge of the box and pounced on a rebound from The Cat. They got in each other’s way but Trigger got the last touch to slot home into an empty net.
Sadly an OJM deflection of an El Jay shot put it the wrong side of the keeper and Massive Mark’s powerful shot into the right hand corner put the Lemons back in the hunt but it came too late to affect the result. 2-1 Blues.
A pen from Iron Russ was enough to give Team Tango their one-nil win over Pinks to win his team the top honours with a 100 percent record.
The two Chrises both had good nights at the back and mention must be made of The Riddler who did a sterling job as playmaker at the back. Something for the Hornets to think about there?
Man of the Match: John Martin. Simply outstanding for a septuagenarian.
