30/08/2026
Walking Football Friendly Match Report 30.8.26:
Culcheth WFC O50s V Garstang WFC O50s
Today we welcomed Garstang to Culcheth High School for a pre season friendly game of Walking Football.
Both play in the Lancacshire League with Garstang having dropped down to League 2 and Culcheth promoted to to League 1, so a close game was expected between 2 teams at similar levels of the game.
The match was 3 x 20 minutes under FA rules with rolling subs and overseen by excellent referee John Adams.
First 20 minutes:
The game started just before 10am on a bright and fairly sunny morning in Culcheth.
The home side playing in yellow shirts kicked off the game and started brightly with early possession in the first few minutes. Garstang playing in black shirts with red trim waited for their opportunity and soon had some of the play themselves. It was obvious this was going to be a tight game. Garstang then took advantage of some time on the ball moving it out to the left where their player on that side struck a clean hit across the goal into the opposite corner, just evading the dive of Culcheth keeper Paul and into the net. 1 nil to Garstang. More possession from the away side and some unusually lapse in marking from Culcheth allowed Garstang a few more chances at goal, which maybe they should have taken at least one of. The first 20 minutes on the whole was fairly even with just 1 goal in it.
Second 20 minutes:
The home side started to keep possession more and pass the ball well with some good play in the Garstang half. It soon paid of as a pass forward in the centre from Colin to Steve C then found it's way from Steve C to Gary on the right who finished the move of with a shot into the Garstang net. Making the game level at 1-1. Even bouts of possession by both teams saw the 2nd 20 end honors even at 1-1. It felt like there was a winner in it for someone, but who would take their chance?
Third 20 minutes:
Culcheth kicked off for the final 3rd and kept the ball in their possession and moving it well, but Garstang were more than capable of moving up into the home teams half and creating a chance to go back in front, which they did on occasion. As the game started to get a bitty and passions rose, with just over 5 minutes to go Culcheth managed to take the lead for the first time in the match. Garstang were obviously worried as they were vocal about the continual ball through the middle up to forwards Steve and Horaine and the eventual winning goal came from a pass to Steve V where he turned and made space for a shot and the ball was then in the Garstang net. Culcheth now 2-1 up.
With not long to go, the home side kept the ball well to see the game out and the final whistle of the game was blown by excellent referee John Adams who was fair with how he controlled the game and told players why he had blown his whistle when he did. Big thanks to John for being todays referee. A very good game of walking football with some great play by both sides.
FINAL SCORE: Culcheth O50s WFC 2 Garstang O50s WFC 1 .
Culcheth WFC would like to thank Garstang WFC very much for coming to play us in this friendly match today and would like to wish them all the best for the coming season.
Report by Colin Mitchell (Culcheth Marketing and Communications Officer, Player, referee and Volunteer).
