England walking football honours for Graham Curry and Steve Adcock from Stamford Strollers
Two players from Stamford Strollers were part of the England walking football squad at the weekend.
Graham Curry represented England 60+ at the tournament where Steve Adcock made his international debut.
England 60+, along with their colleagues in the 50+ and womens 40+, won their respective tournaments.
The Over 60s won all five of their games against Ireland, Basque country, Italy, Wales and France in the tournament held in Bordeaux.
Stamford Over 60s have started their ASHA Healthcare Midlands League campaign.
They shared the spoils with near neighbours Oakham after a 1-1 draw in their opening match.
Strollers enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first half but failed to create any clear cut chances.
Oakham, on the other hand, created better opportunities on the break and Stamford were indebted to Paul Newiss for a couple of good saves as the first half ended 0-0.
The second half started badly for Strollers as a stray pass was intercepted, just outside their own goal area, and was dispatched into the far corner of the net on the half volley giving Newiss no chance in goal.
Despite this setback, Stamford continued to dominate possession, but things got worse for when Tim Marsden received a straight blue card for a last ditch challenge on the edge of the Strollers area.
Reduced to five men, Strollers had to endure a period of pressure and again Newiss had to make a couple of good saves to keep the deficit to one.
Following Marsden’s two minutes in the sin bin, Strollers were returned to full strength and pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
Again Stamford dominated possession and, following a flowing move, Chris Keirl shot powerfully into the corner of the Oakham net to level the scores.
Despite Strollers’ best efforts, they couldn’t find a winner and the game ended all square.
Their second match against Chesterfield had the same outcome as once again Stamford saw plenty of the ball without creating any clear-cut chances.
Chesterfield looked dangerous on the break and Newiss was forced into making one outstanding save with his legs.
Strollers continued to push forward and were rewarded when Bill Heath finished off another good move as he turned on the edge of the Chesterfield area and fired through the keeper’s legs to make it 1-0 at half-time.
Th second half saw Stamford take control of the game, especially when a Chesterfield player received a straight blue card for dissent.
Strollers continued to dominate the ball but were unable to turn their possession into goals.
On a rare Chesterfield attack, they were awarded a free kick which following a wicked deflection found the corner of the Stamford net.
Strollers: Paul Newiss, Chris Keirl, Bill Heath, Lee Tillen, Alan Cook, Frank Smith, Ian Scarborough, Tim Marsden.
Stamford Strollers A team made it four wins out of four with a victory double on matchday two of the Peterborough League season.
They were 7-3 winners in their first match against Boston United Communty who recently achieved a third-place play-off in the WFA National Cup.
Strollers got into their stride very quickly in the game with Nick Hunter giving them an early advantage courtesy of a crisp turn and shot into bottom left-hand corner of the Boston goal.
This spurred Boston into an immediate response as they rallied and got an equaliser.
The game then changed in what seemed like an instant, with two more quick-fire Nick Hunter strikes to bag his first Strollers hat-trick.
Paul Blakemore followed up with another after a quick one-two gave him a chance for a strike on goal, then Hunter bagged his fourth to make it 5-1 to Strollers.
If Stamford had any thoughts of a job already done, these were quickly dispelled as Boston hit back with two quick goals to cut the deficit to 5-3 by the end of the half.
Half-time changes were made with Charles Walker and Nigel Reeve coming on for Paul Blakemore and Lee Tillen.
In a hard fought second period, Strollers went on to achieve further advantage with goals from Ian Ross and Nick Hunter.
They then defeated last season's champions Norwich Community Sports Foundation B 3-0.
This turned out to be a very good, hard-fought contest between two strong teams.
Again, Stamford got off to a quick start, with a blast from Nick Hunter giving them a 1-0 lead.
This seemed to spur Norwich into life and the next 5 minutes saw them have almost all of the play and territory, with Strollers backs to the wall and struggling to get and keep the ball.
Two outstanding saves from Paul Newiss kept Norwich at bay during this testing period of the game.
As the game returned to a little more balance, Strollers forced two great saves from the Norwich keeper, one from a screamer of a shot by Paul Blakemore denied only by the fingertips.
With half-time fast approaching, an uncharacteristic passing error from Stamford presented the ball to a Norwich player who found himself one-on-one with the keeper.
In an attempt to remedy the error and save a possible goal opportunity, a challenge from Nick Hunter was deemed to be severe enough for a blue card to be issued, resulting in two minutes in the sin bin.
During what could have been a decisive two minute period, the Strollers defended magnificently to hold on to their 1-0 advantage until half time.
Norwich continued to press hard for an equaliser, but the few half chances that they managed to create were efficiently snuffed out by the Strollers defence.
With the match moving into its final stages, two quick goals were added from Iain Ross and Nigel Reeve to put the result beyond doubt.
Everyone performed magnificently throughout the day, but special mention must go to Nick Hunter for his six goals, five of those in double quick time in the game against Boston.
Also, Lee Tillen for his unselfish passing and movement throughout the day which was outstanding.
Strollers: Paul Newiss, Paul Blakemore. Iain Ross, Lee Tillen, Nick Hunter. Charles Walker, Nigel Reeve.