Veterans Tour to Prinsenbeek
Wednesday 30th April to Sunday 4th May 2008
Team: Bob Armstrong, Mike Austin (Manager) Graham Berridge, Tom Carney
David Chick, Tim Cook, Trevor Denison (Captain), George Griffith,
Mickey Hooper, Tom Owens, Ian Rooke, Peter Terleski
Wednesday 30th April
In 20 years this Festival has only been held once before so early, at the beginning of May as it always starts on Ascension Thursday which is a holiday in the Low Countries. We set off in 3 cars with it raining for most of the journey to Dover and arrived in time for the 12.00 noon sailing. Mickey Hooper, Graham Berridge and Bob Armstrong left earlier on the Recce Patrol on the 10.00am sailing.
Those of you reading the Team List might have noticed that we had no Goalkeeper with us and also Glynn Brotherhood’s name didn’t appear for the first time ever. Whilst we had tried to persuade 8 goalkeepers to join us it was with no avail, some were injured, others cited pressure of work and in Craig Looney’s case booked to go on holiday in the Orkney’s as he was unable to remember anything about the function in Brussels last year and didn’t want the same to happen again. Glynn was unable to join us as he was in hospital for an operation on his injured hand. (STOP PRESS:
All went well and Glynn is keeping up with the exercises and well on the mend …)
During the crossing to Dunkirk we tried to get a volunteer to play in goal with no avail, so things were looking bleak, and they got worse with Ian Rooke announced that he could hardly walk and would probably not be able to play followed by Trevor saying he was also nursing an injury. George Griffith then reported that he wasn’t sure he would last very long as he hadn’t played for sometime. Not very promising..
Having got over this shock we made for Holland, the weather improved and things started to look up - until we hit the worst traffic holdup we have ever had, just outside Antwerp, which delayed us by 2 hours – Great start.
Things only brightened up after a few beers and a hearty dinner at the hotel.
Thursday 1st May
We set off for Prinsenbeek needing to persuade someone to play in goal for us, and managed to acquire the services of the Prinsenbeek goalkeeper. It was then confirmed that Ian Rooke would not play on Thursday but would add vocal support – and Trevor Denison was still not sure whether he could run as he was having some difficulty in walking. Normally on the first day we are a little slow to start and are lucky to score any goals, however this year things changed. The games went as follows:
Old Williamsonians Lost 2-4 Scorers Armstrong, Carney
This was a game we should have won, but we got the Team organisation wrong and paid the price. While we had more than half of open play, we fell foul of several long balls to their forwards with both our midfield and defence committed too far forward.
With their finishing just a little more clinical than ours, we lost the opening game.
Bangers Won 6-1 Armstrong 2, Berridge, Chick, Cook, Denison
We had this game marked down as a win with Bangers traditionally weak. However because Bangers only had 8 players they borrowed some super stars and after we took an early lead, they soon equalised, and it looked as there might be a shock coming up. However it was not to be and we continued to dominate, playing some very good passing hockey AND turning good chances into goals. We came off the pitch not quite believing that we had scored so many good goals.
Salisbury Strollers Drew 2-2 Armstrong, Denison
After our big win we were up for this game, however we didn’t expect the Umpires to play such an important part in the game, as two very poor decisions meant that we were two down halfway into the match, but our new found battling spirit got us back on top and we managed a well deserved draw by playing some excellent hockey.
Schwarz Weiss Penguins Drew 0-0
This being our fourth game with no subs we defended well against a good, and certainly younger German side. Although both Teams had chances, neither were able to put them away, with some valiant defending and both goalkeepers in good form.
The end of the first day had seen us score 10 goals and Bob Armstrong 4 of them, unheard of for many years! With only 7 against – we had a goal difference as well !.
Unfortunately, having built confidence in our Prinsenbeek keeper, we found that he had other commitments for Fri/Sat and would no longer be available to guest – back to square one on that front ..
Friday 2nd May
St Albans Centurions Won 3-1 Berridge, Denison, Terleski
We have played St Albans on several occasions and never won, and when the game started they were on top, however we gradually got into the game and once we scored there was only going to be one winner. An excellent all round performance with Graham converting an in-off, and Peter Terleski adding his name on the scoresheet.
David Read of Stourport, playing for St Albans was not a happy person – shame.
Thames Valley Lost 0-1
This was the game we had marked down as a certain win, especially as the Team were on a high after the previous win. However things do not always work out the way one expects and after having 95% of the game, and creating many chances, Thames Valley scored on one of the two times they got into our circle – despite the best efforts of the Eastcote (or was it Market Drayton) keeper we had ‘on loan’.
Four goal Bob, brilliant the day before, couldn’t lay a stick on anything!
Eastcote Lost 0-1
This was the full Eastcote Over 50’s squad, plus some ringers, and as always both sides competed in a very tight contest.The only goal of the game came from a dubious short corner, with both defenses working hard to restrict goal opportunities. Had we converted one of a couple of half-chances we would have got the draw that our endeavour deserved. As it was, we were not a happy team as Eastcote, thinking they might lose, used all of their younger players as rolling substitutes – typical of them.
Saturday 3rd May
So to the final three games with our hopes still high for a good finish.
Bedford Achilles Won 4-0 Denison 2, Armstrong, Carney
We soon got into our stride and totally dominated Bedford, who were unable to hold Trevor Denison on his runs down the left and we finished up worthy winners.
The Market Drayton keeper had a quiet game – just as well because he then played
the next scheduled game (and let a couple in) and then rejoined us for our next game – three in a row with the temperatures rising steadily – but two clean sheets for us …
Nasty Purple Nasties Drew 0-0
This was probably our best performance as we were under the cosh for the first 10 minutes, however we slowly got into the match and began to pass the ball with confidence and created several chances. Unfortunately Graham Berridge had caught Bob’s malaise from the previous day, and was not able to convert anything that came his way. Interesting to note that Nasty Purple Nasties headed our group, went on into the final and beat Eastcote to win the Tournament..
Flamingos Won 3-1 Berridge, Chick 2
This turned out to be an easy win, and by now we were playing some excellent hockey and were well on top for most of the match, so it was nice to have won two games and drawn one on the last day. Graham scored the opener with a clever deflection with his back to goal – so subtle it was almost not given – yet so much easier than facing forward.
Record
P W D L F - A GD
10 4 3 3 20 11 9
Goal Scorers
Armstrong 5
Denison 5
Berridge 3
Chick 3
Carney 2
Cook 1
Terleski 1
It was great to welcome David Chick and Tim Cook to the touring Party and nice to welcome back George Griffith. Everyone played their part in an excellent group and fitted in very well. Special thanks must go to Mickey Hooper for organising the shirts and other gifts for us at an unbelievably economical price.
Thanks must be made to the goalkeepers from Prinsenbeek, Eastcote and Market Drayton who fully played their part in making sure we did well.
Hopefully all will be able to build on our success with the Tour next year in Belgium.
Michael Austin
Manager