Wales o60s unlucky @ St George's

On 11th January Wales Veterans' Football accepted an invitation to take an o60s squad to face their English counterparts at St Georges Park, the English FA’s National Football Centre in Staffordshire....writes Jeff Smith...

The game was played on the Sir Alf Ramsey Arena..an indoor 3G pitch the same size as Wembley...a daunting task for players all over the age of 60!

England kicked off and opened the scoring after just three minutes, exploiting the space between the Welsh midfield and defence. The early goal shook the Welsh team and they worked hard to get themselves back in the game, creating a number of chances, none of which they were able to convert into a goal.

England continued to cause problems through their centre forward, John Regan, who regularly found space and brought his colleagues into the game, but the Welsh defence held firm and limited England to a few off-target efforts.

The game was evenly balanced until the 35th minute when a mix up in the Welsh six yard box led to a second English goal. The goal galvanised the visitors into action and five minutes later, after a period of Welsh pressure, they pulled a goal back with a Jeff White header.

A couple of changes at half time helped to tighten up the Welsh midfield and gave them extra impetus going forward. Within ten minutes, Wales equalised through Pepe Mele.

As England struggled to find a way through the Welsh midfield, they occasionally reverted to the long ball over the top, which suited the Welsh defence and neutralised the effect Regan had had in the first half.

With ten minutes to go and the Welsh team pushing forward in search of a winner, another defensive error on halfway gifted an England player with a virtually unopposed run in on goal. He took his opportunity well, slotting the ball past the advancing Welsh keeper from the edge of the box to put England ahead.

In an effort to draw level, Wales switched from 3-5-2 to a 3-3-4 formation and put England under tremendous pressure. Despite Wales creating a number of attempts on goal, England held out to claim the match 3-2 and in doing so, retained the Frank Terrell Cup.

Congratulations to the following players who were selected by the Management team, Jon Parkinson, Jeff Smith and Leighton Gates....
Howard Sully - Newport
Mark Jones - Barry Town
Kevin Brown - Barry Town
Les Davies - Penybont
Pepe Mele - Pontyclun
Steve Dalton - Barry Town
Alun Huish - Barry Town
Garry Vaughan - Newport
Dave Griffiths - Newport
Rob Seago - Swansea Uni
Steve Thomas - Newport
Craig Jones - Merthyr Tydfil
Paul Staddon - Barry Town
Jeff White - Pontylcun
Mike Bobbett - Barry Town
John Frater - Llanelli