Vintage Celtic were in Europe last week to play in the Algarve International Walking Football Tournament at Browns Sports & Leisure Centre in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Back Row Left To Right: John Royal, Barry Whitmore,
Stuart Downham, Ian Parker,
Stuart Thomson, Barry Wood
& Simon Clark.
Front Row Left To Right: Keith Whitmore
& Bill Murney.
The tournament consisted of 8 teams in 2 pools of 4. The first match in Pool A was against Suffolk Strollers and ended in a 0-1 defeat. The second of the 3 matches was against the Scottish team Gala Fairydean Rovers and we went down 0-2. The final match of the league format was against Stamerton Stalkers A and Vintage Celtic at last gained a point thanks to a John Royal goal which made the score 1-1.
So in the evening at dinner the league tables were published and Vintage Celtic were bottom of Pool A with 1 point.
It looked impossible and only a dream for the headline to be Vintage Celtic European Champions. The next day's format was a knock out with Vintage Celtic drawn against Pool B winners Browns, the hosts, a game we won 2-0.
The semi-finals saw Vintage Celtic up against Stamerton Stalkers B and this proved to be almost a walk over with Vintage Celtic passing the ball around beautifully and Stuart Thomson scoring 2 great goals to give a fairly easy 2-0 victory to the new look team.Thoughts went back to the St Helens and Frodsham Tournaments where we started badly and came good to win both competitions in one weekend, could it be Vintage Celtic European Champions this time? With a few hours break before the final it became a nervous time for all concerned with Vintage Celtic but nerves prevailed and the same team stepped out for the final match versus Caterham & Crawley Casuals.
The opposition took the lead and we were 0-1 down at half time but the way we had played gave every confidence that this would not be a problem. Indeed shortly into the second half Stuart Thomson scored a well deserved equaliser to make it 1-1. This was the score at the final whistle so it was now down to penalties. Once again could we do what we had done at Frodsham and win on penalties to make Vintage Celtic European Champions?
We won the toss and as we had talked about beforehand we all felt we should go first and hopefully put the opposition under pressure immediately. It was 3 penalties each, then sudden death. Stuart Thomson took the first penalty for Vintage Celtic and a well struck ball gave the Caterham & Crawley keeper no chance. Now it was their turn to put the pressure on us and they did that with a finely struck shot that sent Ian the wrong way.It became squeaky bum time for Vintage Celtic now and when John's shot was saved things began to look decidedly bad. Fortunately we had our keeper of the tournament on board and I for one knew Ian would save at least one of the three penalties. Ian didn't disappoint and duly saved their second penalty. So after 2 penalties each the score was 1-1.
Stuart Downham stepped up to the plate and despatched our third and last penalty with aplomb. This now put Caterham and Crawley back under pressure and Ian saved the day with another great save to make Vintage Celtic European Champions.
Vintage Celtic Winners Of The Algarve International Walking Football Tournament May 7th 2016
So all in all it was a fantastic occasion, well organised and enjoyed by all.
Lets hope we can increase our squad for next year's May tournament in the Algarve as it is highly recommended.
