29/06/2026
On Saturday we played in the first Walking Football Tournament on Sheppey organised by Sheerness East WFC. 8 teams including a Blackpool team that had won a tournament abroad. Two groups, we were in a group with Blackpool, Sheerness East Yellow and Faversham Strike Force playing in their first competitive games. The first game was against Faversham which was a competitive affair, we were at the wrong end of 2-1 at one point but managed to get back to 2-2 and eventually scored a winner, 3-2. Bungle scored 2 and Kelly 1. Next game was against Blackpool who where very organised and had some very good players, a couple with ferocious shots. Their first goal was a scorcher from a free kick, giving Pete in goal no chance. We had our chances but we didn't take them and eventually conceded a second, losing 2-0. For the 3rd game against Sheerness East some of the first team were rested in expectation of reaching a semi final. A couple of changes at half time were made and saw us win 4-0 with Bungle scoring another 2, Wozza with 1 and Nonny getting the other. That left us second in the group meaning we were to play BNI (Canterbury) who had topped their group. We played very well in the game and had most of the ball and chances but we didn't take them, and on one of BNI's rare attacks they managed to score past Pete with a bit of a scuffed shot. We kept our nerve and continued to push forward, we were denied a DOGSO penalty by the ref who we believe misjudged one of our players in thinking he was a covering defender. We continued to push on and managed an equalizer to take it to penalties. We took the first, with Wozza scoring. The next four were missed meaning they had to score their final penalty to take it to sudden death. Pete made an excellent save to take us into the final against Blackpool who had beaten Chatham Town in the other Semi. The final started very even with us playing some very controlled football, not giving away silly balls and although we were not having a lot of attacks, we could see it was frustrating Blackpool, leaving some space for a few chances for us. With about 50 seconds remaining a mix up in communication at a corner meant we left a spare man free who scored despite a valiant effort from Pete to save it. A nice little tournament and we showed we can compete with some good teams. Thanks very much to Sheerness East Walking Football Club for organising and running the competition. Really enjoyable afternoon. Teams on the day, Pete, Beaky, Kelly, Nonny, Wozza, Graham, Bungle, Nobby, Andy M, Mark J, Speedy. Next games are 4th July at the Woodnesborough tournament.
