SIAS 5-a-side football tournament
After the gloomy weather of the previous couple of weeks, it was a delight to see the sun finally showing its face on the afternoon of Sunday 4 June, at the Powerleague, Catford, London.
The group stages were full of goals, with the Brokeback Mountaineers (Aon) finishing top of its group with some impressive performances. Punter Southall and the returning champions, the Higham Flyers, topped the other group, with Punter Southall progressing as group winners on goal difference. A Touche of Class and Highly Rated (Cardif Pinnacle) gave some brave performances, but they both took an unfortunate early bath unable to muster a single point between them.
After a short break to let everyone recover form the searing tropical heat, the knock-out stages began. The Higham Flyers and Hymans Robertson continued their impressive form, progressing smoothly into the semis at the expense of PwC and Who Dares Wins (Munich Re) with 4–2 and 4–1 wins. The much-fancied Punter Southall team then went out to the clinical finishing Pearl Group team (1–3). The last quarter-final saw the two teams from Aon (Avon Ladies and the Brokeback Mountaineers) pitted against each other and this proved to be the pick of the ties. After finishing two apiece after full time, it was the Brokeback boys who held their nerve to win the resultant penalty shoot-out 3–1.
The semi-finals proved to be a surprisingly one-sided affair with the heat seeming to cause difficulties for those unseasoned 5-a-side competitors. The first match saw the confident guys from Higham fly past the Pearl Group with an 8–0 thumping to set up an eagerly anticipated final against the Brokeback Mountaineers, who comfortably beat Hymans Robertson 4–0. Hymans Robertson later went on to clinch 3rd place beating the Pearl Group in a ‘leisurely’ 3rd/4th place play-off.
Despite the oppressive heat, the final turned out to be a very exciting and competitive. The Brokeback Mountaineers were quickest out the block with some clinical finishing to take an early 3–0 lead. However, the Higham boys showed why they are reigning champions, pulling one back just before half time and then scoring three quick goals of their own to take the lead 4–3. Higham’s experience then began to tell as they kept the ball well, to finally win the match 6–4 and retain their title yet again!
A special mention to the Brokeback Mountaineers’ captain, Cyprian Njamma, who picked up the Player of Tournament trophy, as voted for by the referees, for his consistently skilled performances throughout.
