10 August 2010

 

Village Manchester FC finished in fifth place in the eighth Gay Games.

 

The tournament, held in Cologne, Germany in the first week of August, saw two Village sides battle against teams from around the world.

 

by Pete Ransom

 

 

 

Village's first team were the talk of the tournament as they steam-rolled their way through the opposition in their four group games to emerge as the #1 ranked team going into the quarter finals.

 

After despatching Amsterdam in the opener with a stunning last minute winner from Ryan O'Connor, the team destroyed hosts Cologne with a 3-1 win the following day with goals from Ian James and Damien Mooney. Successive wins against Paris Barcelona and San Francisco Spikes followed, with Freddie, Jay McNaught and Sam Connell (2) all getting on the scoresheet.

 

Unfortunately the team bowed out with a disappointing defeat to King Kickers Italia, who frustrated Village with a solid defensive display and two goals to send the Manchester boys packing.

 

VMFC finished in 5th place with a 4-2 win play-off against Godado Mediolanum. Goals from Freddie, McNaught in the first half were followed by collectors items from veterans Steve Clayton and Jez Ure, who took advantage of some generous (i.e. no) marking in the second half (don't expect the story of Clayton's goal to be so succinct when being told by the man himself).

 

Village's second team continued the rebuilding work that has been in place over the past few months but unfortunately failed to make it out of the group stages.

 

However, there are promising signs for the future with the defence performing well and the team giving winners Argentina their toughest game of the tournament with a heart-breaking late loss. Ollie Swain (2) and Paul Golds were the scorers in the group fixtures.

 

The second team kick off the new season with a trip to Hotscots in Edinburgh later this month, hoping to build on their development.

 

As ever, our thanks go to the two team managers, Antony Lockley and Matt Hall, who put a lot of hard work into each fixture. Likewise, the likes of Steve Clayton, Andy Bates, Jason McAuley, John Bridges, Ryan Mullender and Graham Liver all perform admirable jobs without which the club could not continue to enjoy such trips.

 

Finally, a thanks to all of the players and partners for turning out on what was a truly memorable experience. The players of the tournament are listed below.

 

• 1st team player of the tournament: Jason McAuley

• 2nd team manager's player of the tournament: John Cassidy

• 2nd team players' player of the tournament: Pete Ransom