19 March 2017

 

The club took two teams to Yorkshire Terriers' annual tournament where one team reached the cup semi-final and the other reached the vase semi-final.  

The well attended small-sided competition, which took place at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds, saw the first team face Mersey Marauders 1, Terriersaurases and Yorkshire Terriers 3 in the group stage. 

 

They kicked off proceedings with a 1-1 draw against Mersey Marauders 1 thanks to a goal from Cole. They soon got into the swing of things with Cole x2, Kurucz x2, Wilson and McNaught netting in a 6-0 won against Terriersaurases and Wilson and Hayes scored in the next game to beat Yorkshire Terriers 3 2-0. 

 

In the reverse ties the first team beat Mersey Marauders 1 2-0 (Wilson, Kurucz) and Terriersaurases 5-0 (Walpole x2, Cole x3) before concluding their group games with a 1-0 loss to Yorkshire Terriers 3. 

 

The results saw them top of the table and make it into the cup stage where they faced Yorkshire Terriers 1 in the quarter-finals. Goals from Wilson and McNaught took them through the semis with a  2-0 victory but it was there that their challenge ended as they went down to eventual winners Nottingham Lions 2-1 despite another strike from Wilson. 

 

First team man of the tournament: Colin Hayes 

 

The second team faced London Titans, Yorkshire Terriers 1 and Nottingham Lions 2 in their group and things started well as a goal each from Shaw and Sherratt earned a 2-0 win over the London Titans. 

 

Successive losses against Yorkshire Terriers 1 and Nottingham Lions 2  (2-0 and 3-0 respectively) were followed by a second victory over London Titans thanks to a Sherratt strike. The penultimate group game saw them draw 0-0 with Yorkshire Terriers 1 before they suffered a final game loss (2-1) against Nottingham Lions 2 despite Sherratt's third goal of the tournament. 

 

The results saw them enter the vase tournament and they saw off London Falcons 1-0 in the quarters thanks to a solitary Westy strike. Like the first team, the second team's journey ended at the semi-final stage. They drew 1-1 with Mersey Marauders 1, with Williams grabbing the goal, but they lost out on penalties as the lads from Liverpool held their nerve better. Mersey went on to win the Vase competition. 

 

First team man of the tournament: David Sedgewick

 

Speaking about the tournament, first team player James Cole said: "The​ boys played some great football throughout​ the tournament, achieving some impressive results and it bodes well for when we host the GFSN tournament in July!"

 

New second team manager Westy said "Great performance from VMFC2 with the team reaching the semi finals before losing on penalties to Mersey. Loss aside the team played great throughout the day and made their manager proud, as they always do. I'm looking forward to the summer seven tournament and the team will continue to go from strength to strength."

 

Words: Rob McPherson

Photos: Steve Joyce, Philip Faryna, Lyndsay England