All the talk last week was about the arrival of the most eagerly anticipated football tournament of the year, the Barclay’s Fives business tournament in Liverpool.
Okay, maybe the World Cup may just pip it in terms of spectacle, but every year Barclay’s put on the Fives tournament for charity and every year Scott Rees & Co’s football team improve on the previous when it come to progress.
This year was no different, as the team embarked on an impressive run culminating in a devastating defeat in the final to their bogey side, Cammell Laird, who were their conquerors 12 months ago at the semi final stage.
The day didn’t get off to the best start for the team, as they went 3-0 behind in a matter of minutes against accountancy and business advice firm, Baker Tilly. However, the team did fight back and managed to claw back two goals, giving them something to build on in their remaining group fixtures.
A 4-2 win over Liverpool based law firm, DLA Poper set them up nicely going into the must win, final group game and after taking the lead, the heroics of keeper Dan Curwen were called upon, when they conceded a penalty.
His save kept the firm’s noses in front and they went on to crush their opponents, trading & manufacturing specialists, Edward Billington, 4-1, to set up a semi final against Weightmans LLP.
This was arguably Scott Rees & Co’s best performance of the tournament. They dominated the game throughout, although after taking the lead, some dubious refereeing seemed to gift their opponents with a way back into the match, when a penalty was awarded against them for the second game in succession
However, Dan Curwen came to the rescue once more with an outstanding save and from here Mark Pennington’s superb solo effort sealed their place in the final with a 2-0 victory,
The final was a well contested game against a strong Cammell Laird side, who proved to have too much for the Scott Rees & Co lads. They ran out comfortable 2-0 winners in the end, to lift the trophy.
Scott Rees & Co can be proud of their performance in this tournament and it is bound to provide them with some encouragement going forward into future tournaments. Hopefully it won’t be long before they finally end their final hoodoo and lift some silverware themselves.
Of course the real winners on the day were the charity, the Prince’s Trust, with plenty of money being raised on the back of a great day of football.
Sponsor’s Barclays also brought the Premiership Trophy along with them, and the lads took the opportunity to get their pictures taken with it.
Image source(s)
1. Pixabay; Phillip Kofler; https://pixabay.com/photos/football-clip-football-boots-soccer-606235/