On a bright and pleasantly mild December Tuesday morning Leyton Orient set off for the annual Billericay “Spirit of Christmas” walking football tournament in aid of charity. The format was nine Billericay teams being joined by seven invitees, including a Scots team down from Glasgow, in four groups of four. The top two teams in each group qualified for the main knockout and the bottom two into a plate knockout ensuring each team played a minimum of four matches.

First up for Leyton Orient were the Billericay Rhinos. After a slow and sloppy start to the game Orient gradually started to completely dominate and were eventually rewarded with a well taken goal by Okocha. This pattern continued for the rest of the match and Orient were given a chance to wrap up the 3 points with a late penalty awarded for encroachment in the box. Okocha struck the penalty well but the keeper stayed strong and made a fine save. Despite this Orient comfortably saw out the final couple of minutes without any drama near their goal. Final score: Billericay Rhinos 0 v 1 Leyton Orient (Okocha).

Next up were Billericay Broncos. Once again Orient started slowly and this time were punished when following, a smart one two on the edge of the Orient box, the ball was coolly dispatched into the net. This stung Orient and Eades in particular into action. The rest of the match was easily Orient’s best performance of the day and Eades helped himself to a superb hattrick. This was an excellent effort by the team and a well deserved win. Final score: Billericay Broncos 1 v 3 Leyton Orient (Eades 3).

With both teams already qualifying as the top two Orient turned their attention to a strong Little Oakley side to see who topped the group in the final round robin match. Once again Orient found themselves one down early after a quality goal from the handful that is Oakley’s striker. Orient had slightly the better of the rest of the match but could not find the equaliser despite many efforts on goal. Orient’s cause in this game was not helped by some rather bizarre refereeing. The Oakley defender went through the back of Okocha on numerous occasions on the edge of their box without receiving any kind of sanctions at all and in the end twice when we appealed he overturned the free kick and gave the ball back to their keeper. Finally threatening a red card if we did not sub Okocha. Nobody, including Okocha knows why! Final score: Leyton Orient 0 v 1 Little Oakley.

The Scots team from Glasgow awaited Orient in the quarter finals. They were called Webata, a team Orient had not crossed swords with before. They were a decent team who started on the front foot but as in every other game Orient grew stronger and were right in the match. Despite a few half chances for both teams the deadlock could not be broken and a penalty shootout awaited to claim a place in the semis. Three penalties per team. Webata were flawless and scored all of theirs followed by Eades and Cox comfortably scoring for Orient. Rohm stepped up to take the final penalty to try and take it to sudden death and scuffed it straight at the keeper who easily saved it. Final score: Orient 0 (2) v (3) 0 Webata after penalties.

Captain Rohm said, after picking himself up off the floor, “I’m so proud of the squad and the performances they all put in. I felt that we finished the stronger in all four matches that we played and more than held our own against some quality opposition”.

“Congratulations to our friends at Romford who despite sneaking into the main knockout on their average age being older than the joint 2nd team in their group went on to win the trophy outright. Many thanks to Billericay for a most enjoyable day for a very worthy cause.”

Leyton Orient squad: Tony Weston (Gk), Paul Weston, Adam Rohm (Cpt), Alan Cox, Tim Conlan, Nad Pillay, Steve Eades, Andrew Okocha.

Goalscorers: Eades 3, Okocha.

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Image used © 2024 Trevor Ridley