WHINNEY BANKS
went to the easter spring festival at butlins holiday camp in skegness lincolnshire,
and what a tournament it turned out to be with teams coming from leicester, nottingham,derby,sheffield and
local hosts lincolnshire it was going to be a hard task in order to lift the trohpy.
whinneybanks played their first game against pre tournament favourites east kilbride, and after a hard fought
game and a goal from lee richmond whinneybanks won 1-0 .a good start was needed in this tournament , due to the fact
that only the group winners would progress to the final.
the next game was against quarrydale united and this turned in to a comfortable win 5-0
with goals from nathan gill, terry carline and lee richo,
the next game was similar to the last with the manager johnsmith, trying to play the full extent of
his squad, with squad members robert maxwell , connor hawkins,eddie bege, are but to name
a few ,,,,and as someone once said " a perfect end to a perfect day" played 3 and 3 victories and standing them in goodstead
for the folling day.......
the next day the parents and the players were feeling the worse for wear after some late partying
into the night,,little did the squad realise what was to behold in store for them ....the next game was against brampton"a"
and but for a injury time penalty by terry "lethal weapon" carline the dream might of been over but the result been
1-0 the banks pogresssed... a draw was all they needed to go onto the final but they were playing
south wickersley youth and a team who also hadnt been beaten but needed a win to go through,,due to a draw against
brampton "a",,,, what a game that turned out to be ,, with end to end action in a close fought game, whinney
banks went on the final with a well deserved 0-0 draw.....back at camp banks hq (gazebo under a tree) the manangement
were making some last gasp battle plans......
THE FINAL:::::
with the two managers comparing notes the feedback of brampton "b" was that they had never lost a match
in their home league and had three boys on the books of sheffield wednesday,,,
whinney banks hadnt conceded a goal yet and their aspirations of glory were running high , but with brampton
scoring two in the first half the dream was almost over ,,, and with lee richo almost pullin one back on the stroke
of half time their young heads went into half time bowed and with a few tears of defeat already been shed ,,,it
needed a rousing team talk from john smith and assittant peter clark,,,,the second half began
and within 5 mins lee richo wiped away his tears to hit a cracker to make it 2-1 with 5 mins to play,,,, to be fair
brampton pressed on regardless and with some exceptional saves from matt"the cat " alder whinneybanks kept on
attacking hoping to find the equaliser and with 15 seconds left and calls from the opposing team for the referee to
blow the " effing whistle" terry carline hit a unstopable shot to send the banks supporters into a delerious
state,,, the final whistle followed and bothteams went of to regroup,,,, with the format being a "golden goal" both teams
went for thewin , but another fine series of saves from matt alder a penalty shootout was assured and a
fine all round team performace left whinneybanks with a day they could really be proud off
THE SHOOTOUT;;;;
1-0
1-1
2-1
3-1
3-2
4-2
yes you guessed it whinneybanks won it with the final goal being scored by kyran dawson and the final
enemy penalty been saved by matt alder,, scenes of delight and tears of joy ensued ,,, the crowd were on the pitch
and a state of mayhem persued with the referee trying to take control for the following match ,,, but the whinneybanks
lads were determined to have their moment of glory to the sounds of "pigbag" they marched of the pitch triumphantly
and back to camp banks hq,,the scenes that followed over shadow the win in 1966 by england and the boro in 2004
,,, and after the presentation the team went back to the local irish bar to celebrate the win
(and thats another story)
all in all the whinney banks did themselves proud and their parents proud on what was a memorable weekend
and the saying ZIP IT will live on forever!!!!!!!
