The Stamford Strollers, with a few friends from Glinton and Huntingdon, visited Benalmedana on the Costa Del Sol last week.
In a friendly 6 team round robin against local Spanish and ex-pat opposition, the teams finished in 3rd and 4th place with the Stamford Yellows narrowly pipped for runners up spot on goal difference mainly due to an awful perfromance against La Alfoquia.
This was the third continental tournament that we've attended, two in Portugal and now Spain.
On the football front the Yellows were in mixed form and had two below par games over the two games, both followed by solid perfromances. In fact they were robbed of victory against WFS as the referee disallowed the only goal in the game for encroachment, a very tight decision (and no VAR of course) :-)
The Whites proved to be a solid defensive outfit and difficult to break down. Sadly they were lacking a killer instinct and mobility up front and suffered as a result.
The football was truly secondary though and everyone had a superb trip which, as in previous years, was organised by skipper Taff Lovesey and Stuart Craig.
Squads:
Yellows:
Taff Lovesey, Steve Brine, Paul Blakemore, Scott Sawers, Jez Norris, Brian Dunkerley, Colin Kirby
Whites:
Stuart Craig, Andy Walton, Paul Marks, Stan Braycotton, Dave Barry, Kevin Browne, Dave Ribakovs
Stamford Results:
Yellows:
W3-0 v Stamford W (Jez Norris, Scott Sawers 2)
L0-5 v La Alfoquia
D0-0 v WFS A
W2-1 v WFS C (Taff Lovesey2)
W3-0 v WFS B (Colin Kirby, Scott 2)
Whites:
L0-3 v Stamford Y
L0-2 v WFS A
D0-0 v WFS C
D0-0 v WFS B
L0-2 La Alfoquia
Table:
15pts +19 La Alfoquia
10pts + 7 WFS A
10pts + 2 Stamford A
2pts -5 Stamford B
2pts -7 WFS C
2pts -14 WFS B
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