Hungerford Without Bert
The All Stars were invited to an evening tournament with our Hungerford friends at their John O'Gaunt 3G centre and, with storm Bert unable to flood this particular venue, it was a successful evening.
The format was originally 6-a-side and as Hungerford could field two squads of 7 and wanted to give them both game time, we agreed to the change as we had 6 and a sub. Both games were 12 minutes in duration with a half time switch around. The pitches played well given the very heavy rainfall over the weekend.The Calne squad comprised Charlie N in goal, a defence of Graham N and Andy S, a midfield of Bob B, Kevin G and Rob H with Sion up front. Hungerford played two strong sides and we found Hungerford's first team well organised and they moved the ball around like the experienced team they are. Overall, we played well in a tight first game and despite the scoreline, we were comfortable against their second team.
Game 1
It was close with 2 v 1 win for the All Stars. In a game that was a little high on running (some a little dubious) and contact offences, the teams were well matched. We opened our account with Andy S's peach of a pass to Kevin who then scored a cracker by beating the goalkeeper on his left side. Hungerford's passing play worked a good equaliser. As Hungerford totted up their own running total, Sion slotted in the resulting penalty to the goalkeeper's left.
Game 2
We played with some really good football to win 3 v 2. Sion slotted in the first after walking onto a lovely pass from Rob S. A few minutes later, Sion hit the post and the rebound hit a Hungerford defender and went in to make it 2 v 0. Hungerford continued to work their passing game to pull one back and did so by overloading the midfield. Walking onto another good pass from Rob H, Sion H scored the third on the second attempt after a good save from their goalkeeper. We continued to pressurise their defence and were caught by a good pass on the break with Hungerford scoring their second against the run of play.
A good relationship exists with Hungerford and they are keen to join more tournaments. Sion H, Andy S, Tony R from Chippenham, and Dave Allen from Hungerford will take this forward.
Next up?
A four-team mini tournament at Grange Drive, Swindon in January. Sion will be looking to pull a team together to play with Andy S's Hungerford select and Tony R is looking to bring two Chippenham teams.
If you want to know more about what Calne All Stars is about and how it differs from the regular Calne teams, click here.