Seventeen Leyton Orient players made their annual trip down to the Ferndale Centre in Brixton for this GLL Games Waking Football tournament. For this tournament the players were representing Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets. Due to last minute injuries and withdrawals the Waltham Forest A and Tower Hamlets teams only had six players each while the Waltham Forest B team were reduced to five players. The weather treated the teams to clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid twenties – a real energy sapper as the competition progressed especially as it was a five a side tournament. With sixteen teams split into two groups each team played at least seven games to decide who reached the semi-finals. There are too many games to go into detail for each one so below are listed the results with some major incidents.

Hillingdon 0 v 6 Waltham Forest A (Ridley 2, Zelkowicz 2, Manicom, Mullins) – off to a good start against a weak Hillingdon team.

Waltham Forest B 0 v 2 Camden – not the start the lads were looking for.

Hackney 0 v 3 Tower Hamlets (Bancroft 2, Schneider) – a good start that settle the nerves.

Barnet B 0 v 1 Tower Hamlets (Schneider) – had more chances than the score would lead you to believe.

Reigate & Bamstead 0 v 2 Waltham Forest A (Wahlhaus, Zelkowicz) – an attritional game that saw Waltham Forest’s character come out on top.

Waltham Forest B 0 v 2 Epsom & Ewell – things just were not going Forest B’s way.

Hackney 0 v 2 Waltham Forest A (Ridley, Wahlhaus) – took a while but got there in the end.

Waltham Forest B 0 v 2 Lambeth – the team just couldn’t get the rub of the green.

Greenwich 1 v 2 Tower Hamlets (Bancroft, Stevenson) – this was a tough game and a good result.

Tower Hamlets 1 v 1 Waltham Forest A (Medcraft)(Ridley) – there was no quarter with the bragging rights being contested. A neat goal by Medcraft was only cancelled out late on by Ridley.

Waltham Forest B 0 v 2 Sutton – more pain after a valiant effort to get something from this game.

Croydon 3 v 3 Tower Hamlets (Myers 2, Stevenson) – this was a game that showed the true character of the team, initially going two goals down, pulling one back, then conceding again only to get one to be within striking distance and then to get the draw in the final seconds.

Barnet B 1 v 3 Waltham Forest A (Ridley 2, Zelkowicz) – Forest A got a rude awakening when Barnet went ahead but normal service was quickly restored when Ridley equalised, Zelkowicz added a second and then Ridley put the game beyond Barnet.

Barnet A 2 v 0 Waltham Forest B – spirits were flagging and this result did nothing to improve the situation.

Croydon 0 v 3 Waltham Forest A (Ridley, Wahlhaus, Zelkowicz) – the outstanding moment in this game was at the kick-off when Zelkowicz passed to Ridley who fired the ball past the dumbfounded keeper from his own half. Less than one second on the clock and Forest A were one up. No matter how hard Croydon tried Forest stood firm and eventually Wahlhaus and Zelkowicz put the game beyond them.

Crystal Palace 5 v 1 Waltham Forest B (Cox) – Forest B were absolutely out on their feet but still managed to grab a consolation goal by Cox.

Tower Hamlets 0 v 2 Reigate & Banstead – this was also a game where the heat and number of games took it’s toll.

Hillingdon 0 v 7 Tower Hamlets (Stevenson 3, Myers 2, Bancroft, Medcraft) – this game will long live in the memory for a first hat-trick for Stevenson. A good result to cap a hard day.

Waltham Forest B 0 v 2 Merton – The guys had given absolutely everything and due to injury had a use a Tower Hamlets player to fulfil this fixture.

Greenwich 0 v 2 Waltham Forest A (Ridley 2) – a draw would have been enough to guarantee a place in the semis but Forest A finished in style.

Given the other results Waltham Forest A went through to the semi-finals as group winners while Tower Hamlets also progressed as runners up although this was only confirmed after a stewards enquiry. The other semi-finalist were Merton and Barnet A.

Tower Hamlets 0 v 4 Merton – the long day finally caught up on Tower Hamlets who just did not have enough in the tank to compete against a good Merton side.

Barnet A 2 (3) v (2) 2 Waltham Forest A (Ridley, Wahlhaus) – Forest went into a deserved two goal lead and were looking the likely winners until a very harsh penalty decision allowed Barnet back into the game. Forest were still looking favourites but an overload down the middle and a lucky rebound saw the Barnet striker fire in off the post. With the game drawn it was now down to the dread penalties. Unfortunately this did not go Waltham Forest’s way with both Wahlhaus and Zelkowicz converting theirs but Ridley and Manicom fluffing their lines.

The final was played out between Merton and Barnet with Merton running out the three nil winners. Waltham Forest A came third based on games won so took home Bronze.

This was a long and tiring day albeit enjoyable. It was good to meet up with old friends from previous years as well as make new friends who we will no doubt bump into over the coming months.

Finally well done to all the players who turned out and gave everything for their teams on the day.

Waltham Forest A squad: Graham Manicom, Mick Mullins, Trevor Ridley, Tony Wahlhaus (Capt), Tony Weston (Gk), Jake Zelkowicz.

Waltham Forest B squad: Alan Cox, Keith Everett (Gk), Fid Neophytou (Capt), Ray Russo, Terry Sommers.

Tower Hamlets squad: John Bancroft, Dave Medcraft, Derek Myers, Phil Stevenson (Capt), Gerry Schneider, Paul Taylor (Gk)

Goal Scorer: Ridley 10, Zelkowicz 6, Stevenson 5, Bancroft 4, Myers 4, Wahlhaus 4, Medcraft 2, Schneider 2, Cox, Manicom, Mullins.

Location

Ferndale Centre, Brixton