Tournament report

Here's the official tournament  report. Dave Rudd singled out for deserved praise.

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AWLFC Invitation Tournament Round-Up

James Webb, 17 May 2009 12:09

The first ever AW London Invitational Trophy took place on Saturday at Warbank Sports Ground.  The weather was untypical of weather for May with blustery winds and showers but this probably helped the football as the pitches were slick and some very good football was the result.

With the tournament being structured with two groups of three sides, the first games kicked off simultaneously on two of the three Warbank pitches. On Pitch 'A' Effra Accademicals who only play friendlies and have there roots in South London played against Cambridgeshire outfit Sporting Hinton.  It was a very tight opening match with Perre Heath and Andy Thornes of Effra the pick of the Effra players.  Hintons  Clive Edwards and Luke Brent-Savage linking up well upfront but unfortunately nobody could break the deadlock in 45 minutes and the game finished 0-0.

Pitch 'B' saw hosts AW London Reserves play against fellow Sevenoaks League side Borough Green.  Green are three division above but this wasn't evident early on in the game.  AW London played some decent football and maybe should of had a penalty.  AW London stand in keeper Gary Dibble kept the side in it early on but as the game wore on Green's superiority infront of goal was the decider.  The prolific Fergus Farmer scored twice and defender Mark Ralph made it 3-0.

AW London 1st XI began their tournament in the second round of matches against Effra.  Darrell Ditchburn scored very early in the game.  Despite the dominance from the home club the Effra keeper kept the scores down with some superb saves.  Finally London doubled their lead when Ditchburn was pulled down in the box and Marcus Alcindor converted.  Calvin Headley who was always a threat made the score 3-0 which sealed Effra's fate.

On Pitch 'B' AW London Reserves played their second 45 in a row against Cliffe Woods from the Rochester and District Premier League.  London found themselves 2-0 up with Goals from Dayne Bulled and Aaron Smith but Cliffe came back strong.  Josh Ridden causing problems on the right wing and Pat Bishenden dominating in the middle where superb as Cliffe fought back.  The young Tom Loynes scored twice, Steve Giles hit four and the impressive Pat Bishenden with the 7th.  Debutante Dan Hodder scored a third for London during the seven Cliffe goals and keeper Gary Dibble made some good saves but the final score was 7-3

In the final group matches AW London went into there game with Sporting Hinton knowing that a draw would be good enough to reach the final.  Hinton needed to win to continue there fight to win the trophy.  Hinton made things extremely difficult for London with some superb defending.  Simon Pollard was excellent at the back.  Calvin Headley tried in vain to break the deadlock but Hinton were not giving anything away.  Midway through the game Hinton were awarded a penalty.  Player / Manager Clive Edwards stepped up but London's keeper Phil Sellek fresh from his Players Player award saved superbly.  Both teams had chances to win the game but for the second Hinton game in a row it ended 0-0.

On Picth 'B' their was also a deciding fixture.  Two very strong teams Borough Green and Cliffe Woods contested to reach the final.  Green needed to win the game as their goals scored was four less than Cliffe.  Green found themselves 2-1 up following a brace from Fergus Farmer who once again was excellent upfront.  Winger Josh Ridden with the Cliffe goal.  Borough Green looked to be heading towards the final and defended well lead by the strong Mark Ralph.  In the final two minutes it was jubilation for Cliffe as Graham Norris equalised to take the Rochester side to the final.

The next stage was the two playoff games.  Effra played AW London Reserves first for 5th and 6th place.  London completely dominated as keeper Gary Dibble hardly had a touch.  Jake Penfold struck first with a long range effort.  Daniel Reid doubled the lead with an equally impressive strike.  Penfold made it 3-0 and then following some great football chipped the ball from close range onto the head of Dayne Bulled to complete the rout.

The 3rd and 4th place playoff was contested between two sides who felt they had a good chance of reaching the final, Sporting Hinton and Borough Green United.  Hinton let their disappointment show as they crumbled to the hands of Borough Green who looked like they had something to prove.  Fergus Farmer took his tally to 6 goals, Seb Lucas hit a brace and Charlie Cottrell with the 5th.  Green's David Ratcliffe was superb and Greame Gilkson was the pick of the Hinton players.

Following a long day the final kicked off at 5.30pm between the hosts AW London and Cliffe Woods. It was the visitors who looked most likely to score in the early stages but as the game wore on London began to find their feet.  Marcus Alcindor and Jordan Turner worked well in tandem in the Midfield and the back four was strong enough to keep Giles and Loynes at bay.  Finally the deadlock was broken with a goal worthy of winning any football match.  Young Darrell Ditchburn stuck an unstoppable shot from 35 yards which hit the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net.  London doubled their lead when a curling Calvin Headley free kick hit the corner of the crossbar and post, went behind the keeper and Calvin's dad Denis Headley blasted home from a couple of yards out.  Cliffe tried in vain to get back and Pat Bishenden was at the heart of most of there best moves but the score finally finished 2-0.  Skipper Nick Hill lifted the trophy for the winners.

A big thank you goes to all the clubs taking part most of which travelled a fair distance especially Hinton from Cambridgeshire.  Also thanks to both match officials Chris Knight and Andy Butterworth.  All in all the day worked really well.  Some very good football on show and all teams showing great respect for each other.

Player of the tournament: Calvin Headley (AW London)

Top Goalscorer: Fergus Farmer (Borough Green United)

 

SQUADS:

Effra Accademicals: Rudd, Dade, Boniface, Wyles, Stafford, Sandoval, P.Heath, Thornes, Rauchenberg, Caldwell, MacDonald, Davison, A.Heath, S.Mesner.

Sporting Hinton: Freeman, Uhlmann, McCullough, KleBensberger. Pollard, Gilkson, Hovells, Norman, Brent-Savage, Edwards, Smith, Bailey, Garcia, Hetherington, Antemie.

AW London: Sellek, Hill, Alcindor, Strudwick, Morriss, Ditchburn, C.Headley, L.Longhurst, Mulhern, D.Longhurst, Turner, Chambers, Henry, D.Headley.

AW London Reserves:  Dibble, Webb, Marden, Smith, Reid, Hodder, Penfold, Enoch, Daniels, Jordan, Bulled, Payne, Foran, Tipton.

Borough Green United:  Reid, Ralph, A.Farmer, G.Farmer, Smither, Hollebon, Ratcliffe, Salter, F.Farmer, Lucas, Cottrell, Winder.

 

 

Cliffe Woods: Nicholas, Bostock, S.Ridden, J.Ridden, Bevis, Norriss, Bishenden, McNulty, Giles, Ellis, Dring, Loynes.