Irish-American Community Centre 9-a-side
Soccer Tournament |
Hamden Playwright 4 North Branford SC 3
Pl
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Pts
Madison AFC 5 Milford Tuesday 6
1
Hamden Playwright
3
3
0
0
10
4
6
9
Milford Tuesday 2 North Branford SC 4
2
North Branford SC
3
2
0
1
11
7
4
6
Hamden Playwright 3 Madison AFC 1
3
Milford Tuesday
3
1
0
2
8
12
-4
3
Madison AFC 1 North Branford SC 4
4
Madison AFC
3
0
0
3
7
13
-6
0
Milford Tuesday 0 Hamden Playwright 3
Championship Final Hamden Playwright 5 North Branford SC 1
The Winners! Hamden Playwright SC
The participants: Hamden Playwright: The hosts. Play in the SASL Over-30s league in Third Division East in 1st place at the time of the tournament. Had the largest squad (at least 15 players) which ultimately proved to be a major advantage for playing four games from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on a hot, humid day. Dominated all their games -- except they were 3-1 down against North Branford in the first game, but came back brilliantly to win 4-3. The Final, against a depleted and totally exhausted North Branford side, was a stroll for them. It was 4-0 by half time and Playwright simply took their foot off the gas in the second half. Madison AFC: Play in the SASL Over-30s league in Third Division East in 3rd place at the time of the tournament. Had a small squad (around 11 players) but with a couple of young, fit and fast players. Had a disappointing tournament, losing all three games, although their 5-6 loss to Milford Tuesday was back-and-forth all game long and very exciting to watch. Milford Tuesday: Play in the SASL Over-30s league in Second Division in 8th place at the time of the tournament. Had a small squad (around 11 players) but with several young, fit and fast players. It was amazing that they only won one game, their first, against Madison AFC. That game was very competitive with lots of goals and it may have taken a lot of energy out of them. North Branford SC: A hybrid squad from their Over-30s (6th in the Second Division) and Over-40s (3rd in the Second Divison) teams in the SASL Over-30s league and Masters League, respectively. Short of players from the start (8 players), were forced to include one of the players' sons and two injured players who had come just to watch to help out (11 players in the end). Arguably the oldest team on average on the day. By the time of the Final they were down to 7 players (after injuries and players having to leave) and had to borrow players from Milford Tuesday. The Final was "A Game Too Far" as the players, by their own admission, were "out of gas!" Many Thanks! Regardless of the results, a great day was had by all of the teams and all participants thanked the Irish Club for the facilities (including THE EXCELLENT BEER!), Hamden Playwright for hosting and organsing the tournament and to Dave Robertson of Madison AFC who provided and cooked all of the fantabulous food!
Finally, I'd like to say on behalf of Madison AFC, Milford Tuesday and North Branford SC, that we three teams did a marvellous job of losing all of our matches to Hamden Playwright, making them look really good so that they could win their own trophy. This we did so that we could be invited back again next year! :-)
Thanks Steve and Greg!
Cheers!
- Garry Archer (North Branford SC)