We exceeded expectations to reach the final of the Titans tournament which was played on 14th October 2023 at Clapham Common.
The tournament itself had 13 teams with each team playing 4 matches but going into one table with the top 4 going into the Champions section and the remaining teams entering the plate competition. Spread over 3 pitches the tournament was really well organised and everyone seemed to have a really good day.
We kicked off the tournament with a game against London Freedom and 2 excellent goals from Nicky Currall secured our first points of the day. Next up we were excited to play London Falcons who recently won the Euro Gay games a tense game saw us both pick up a point in a 0-0 draw although Falcons did have a great chance to win the game when they were awarded a penalty but they blazed it over the bar. We then played Freenix who were a mix of East End Pheonix and London Freedom players and despite looking the better side we found ourselves one nil down with a minute to go…we grabbed a deserved equaliser however through a smart finish from Martin Tonge to remain unbeaten. Our final group game saw us play Titans hero in what was a horrible game….Nicky Currall headed home to put us 1-0 ahead but Titans equalised shortly after despite a blatant foul on our GK….Martin put us 2-1 ahead only for the referee to award Titans a dubious penalty in the last couple of minutes. The game finished 2-2 but we scrapped into the top 4 and the Champions cup.
We then met another Titans team in the semi final and what a great game this was….both teams had chances to win it with Currall seeing an excellent shot met with an equally excellent save from the Titans keeper…a mad scramble in our box at the end saw Titans with a great chance to win the game but it ended with the ball being blasted over the bar so off to penalties we went. Scoring all 5 Titans needed to score to stay in the competition but Fluff pulled off a fantastic save and against all odds we made the final!
The final saw us come up against Reavy’s ringers and for the first ten minutes we were the better side having an effort cleared off the line as we looked to take the lead. Reavy’s then took over and created numerous chances before grabbing a goal with 5 minutes left as a shot deflected off Quin and beat Fluff in our goal. A 2nd was added at the death to put some gloss on the score line for the Ringers who deservedly took the trophy home.
Overall we were delighted to reach the final and our proud of every member of our team who battled hard throughout the day.