Ascot United Supervets v FC Seefeld Switzerland Veterans

Report

23 August 2024

Ascot United Supervets 2-2 FC Seefeld (Switzerland)

 

Ascot United’s over 50s and Swiss side FC Seefeld put on a feast of Supervets football at the Racecourse Ground on Friday 23 August. Ascot generally dominated possession, but with 20 minutes left it was the Swiss side that were two up. Cue a Leon Palmer-Wilson piledriver and a goal from a beautifully crafted Martin Kay cross, and the sides were back on level terms. Given that neither team could craft a winner, the spoils were duly shared.

 

“Fair play, FC Seefeld sent out quite the statement” mused co-manager Dave Porter to the world’s media after the game. “That’s the best warm up I’ve seen any Supervets side ever do; doggies, complex passing drills, keep ball stuff. Respect, it was a real thing of beauty”.

 

Impressively though the visitors from Switzerland did indeed warm up, it was Ascot who got out of the blocks quicker. Mike Tomlinson and Phil White were at the centre of most things Ascot did, although it was the mercurial Abbas Hussain and Ascot’s Podcast sensation, Leon Palmer-Wilson, who kept finding the space and looked set to unlock the visiting defence.

 

That, however, never quite happened. Mike Tomlinson skipped through the Seefeld defence like a modern-day Ricky Villa, before slipping the chance wide of the on-rushing ‘keeper. Julio, Seefeld’s Cuban shot-stopper, was much the busier of the two custodians, palming out efforts from half a dozen Ascot players. The ball just wouldn’t go in the onion bag.

 

That only changed when Seefeld scored two in quick succession. Both were breakaways, both involved some neat passing but both also involved Ascot mistakes. Fair play to the visitors though, the chances came along and they stuck them away nicely. 0-2 at half-time.

 

Stuart Flurry was not going to settle for that. He ruthlessly pulled five players and demanded nothing less than Total Football a la the Netherlands in the 1970s. Importantly, the side also moved to a back four, and that certainly helped.

 

Indeed, for most of the second half an ebullient Martin Kay was ploughing up the right, whilst Micky Parker joined forces first with Tomlinson and then with Leon Palmer-Wilson to take charge of the centre of the park. That left Dave Freer and Nigel Gatehouse to defend as the Yellas shifted up a gear and went all out attack.

 

Dwaine Bryan regularly pinging the ball 50 yards and putting it on a six pence also helped as Ascot continued to roar forward. Ultimately, it was a neat move down the left that led to them scoring their first goal of the evening, Leon Palmer-Wilson making no mistake from the edge of the box.

 

Cue wave after wave of further attacks. Mike Hynes and Martin Kay were doing a decent Becks/Neville impression down the right, whilst the ever-willing Abbas Hussain was hustling and hassling down the left.

 

It did, however, look like Seefeld might just hold out. There were just five minutes on the clock when Ben Spence, Phil White and Mike Hynes again came together on the right, setting up Martin Kay to ping over a beautiful ball. Dan Hough slid in at the back post to draw the sides level.

 

Indeed, Kay was at it once more with just seconds on the clock. Another excellent cross came in, Jez Myhan ducked nicely underneath it and Hough forced an excellent save out of the over-worked Cuban goal-tender. 2-2 it stayed.

 

“There’ll be some sore limbs in the morning, but the Supervets can be pleased with the shift that they put in” noted Porter afterwards. “I reckon a bit of WD40 might be needed to get some of them out of bed though, mind…..”

 

Team. Dwaine Bryan, Nigel Gatehouse, Mickey Parker, Dan Hough, Abbas Hussain, Leon Palmer-Wilson, Mike Tomlinson, Phil White, Dave Porter, Dave Thompson, Jez Myhan.

Subs. Martin Kay, Mike Hynes, Dave Freer, Ben Spence, Jad Sidhu

Scorers. Leon Palmer-Wilson, Dan Hough