The ‘Over 70s’ men’s pool consisted of Warriors (Scottish Over 70s), Thistles Over 65s, England LX Over 70s, Welsh Dragons and ourselves, Thistles Over 70s. The grouping looked as if we were being fitted out for a collection of ‘silver medals’, very fashionable in Paris at the time but not what you aspire to when you start a hockey match. First up were the Dragons, we competed well, played some good hockey but despite several ‘half’ chances failed to score. The Welsh had one chance and made it count 0-1. Next up were the Thistles Over 65s, fortunately some were over 75 but in general they were younger, we held them for much of the game but ended up losing 2-0.
That was Friday, on Saturday we had three games, England LX who we made work hard for their 1-0 win, this was followed by a match against the Warriors and again we held them at bay for much of the game before they managed to score, 3-0 was the result. The day finished with a re-match against the Thistles Over 65s who made us pay for our mistakes, however there was a gleaming highlight. Keith Raper did something no one else in Thistles Over 70s managed – he scored a goal! 4-1.
On Sunday, our last match, was a re-match against the Welsh Dragons a competitive enjoyable game with play going from one end to the other but with no one seriously troubling a goalkeeper. 0-0.
With some folk only available for some matches we were happy to have 16 people play for us. The team included Neil Ward, Tony Walker, Graham Bryson, Ian ‘Dobbin’ Dunbar. Donald Dunbar, Ian Downie, Peter Haines, Colin Gallacher, Roy Crichton, Alan Murray, Norrie Springford, Murdoch Shirreffs, Martin Petty, Alan Parker, Brian de Mattos, and Keith Raper.
In all an enjoyable tournament and a great group of people to play hockey with. Congratulation to Keith who won the prize for being the top scorer and a very big thank you to Neil Ward for organising and leading us, even managing to ensure the Alan Parker didn’t get too much (or too little) pitch time.
Martin Petty 11th August 2024
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- Thistles 70s and Warriors 70s
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- Martin makes it look easy
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- Rob in full flow for the Warriors
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- All pals
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- Roy show’s them youngsters
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- What’s in the bottle?