Reds show the rest how it's done


By Nathan Jackson
July 7 2007

The first annual "THEIMPS.TK TOURNAMENT" took place on Saturday 7th of July, and despite the frustrating start to the tournament it was a fun day had by all, with the Red Team winning all 7 games. In a near flawless performance from the Red Team, they stormed through the group stages, winning by 4 points, whereas the Whites didn't score a goal until their 7th match.

Most of the players turned up to Sincil Bank's astro turf, only to be told that we would have to move because of all the recent rain possibly infecting the pitch, this despite myself phoning up the club yesterday to check if everything was ok with us playing.

So, we all relocated to NK's astro turf and after some miscommunication between everyone, the tournament got underway. The Blue team, consisting of Julian Soons, Ian Calvert, Luke Small, Julian Burley, Will Taylor, Phil Donner and Dan Taylor were first up. They faced the under-strength White side, suffering from two of their players not turning up, possible because of the move of pitch (although a notice was put up regarding the move. In a tense game no goals were scored and each team picked up 2 points, one for the draw and one each for keeping a clean sheet.

Next up was the Black Team. They consisted of Dave Kirkbright, Nathan Gregory, Rob Makepeace, Tom Lindridge, some random guy called Damon and Norwich Imp (sorry, didn't catch his real name). They faced the Red team, consisting of Dean Burley, ET (not the alien), Gary Sleight, Aden Thomas, Dan Baumber and Matt Scrafton. In a closely fought game, the Red team eventually won 2-0, winning 4 points for the win and the clean sheet.

The Reds stayed on the pitch to face the Team wearing City shirts. This team consisted of Alex Harrison, Nathan Jackson, Andy Tinker, Nigel Stefansyzn, Jim and Stewart Carroll. In yet another close game, the reds made it 2 out of 2 with a 2-1 win. That win made it 7 points for the Red Team.

The White and Black teams played out a 0-0 draw. Each winning 2 points in the process.

The City shirted teams won their first match by beating the black shirted side. It was 1-1 at half time before Nathan Jackson scored after just 3 seconds of the second half by smashing a volley into the net. That 2-1 win gave 3 points to the City side, and the blacks were in danger of going out in the first round.

The Blue shirted team and the Reds played out a thriller with the Reds made it 3 from 3 for a 3-2 win, scoring 3 goals (worth an extra point) added to their tally, taking them up to 11 points after just 3 games. The City wearing side then battered the Blues for 15 minutes, taking an early lead before then the Blues scored with their only shot on target during the game to take a point from the game.

A crunch game was then played, the Black shirted team HAD to win or they would face elimination. They failed in their task, losing 5-2 to the blue side who picked up an extra 3 points for scoring 5, and an extra point for a hat-trick being scored.

The final group game saw the City shirted sides face the Whites. The winning goal was scored after just 36 seconds, the quickest goal of the tournament. It went to the City shirt wearing side who eventually doubled their lead.

END OF ROUND 1 - Black Team Eliminated

 TEAM

W/D/L 

 HATRICKS

G/D 

PTS

 Red

 4/0/0

0 

+6 

 13

 Blue

1/2/1 

1 

0 

 9

 City

2/1/1 

0 

+2 

7 

 White

0/2/2 

0 

-4 

4 

 Black

 0/1/3

0 

-5 

2 

SEMI FINALS

The first semi final pitted the Reds vs the Whites. In what was a fairly comfortable game for the Reds, they ran out........7-0 winners and progressed to the final.

The other semi final was far closer between the Blues and the City wearing side. The only goal of the game came from quick thinking as Nathan Jackson played in a corner before any of the defence could get back and Jim scored the only goal of the game just a few minutes in. So it would be the Reds vs the City wearing side in the Final.

3RD PLACE PLAYOFFS

The Blue side took an early 3-0 lead but a spirited show from the Whites got the crowd behind them and, after 1 hour and 23 minutes worth of playing football they finally scored their first goal. They quickly scored their second. The Blues then killed the game by scoring twice more to make it 5-2. The Whites did get another goal and often looked like potentially back into the game, they didn't though and the Blues finished 3rd.

FINAL

The team wearing City shirts had the impetus early on but fell behind to the Red's first shot on goal. The rest of the game saw City desperately try to get back into the game, wasting chance after chance along the way. The game was killed off though as the Reds scored again. The game petered out and the Reds won the first "THEIMPS.TK TOURNAMENT" by winning every single game they played.

I would personally like to thank those that took part, it was an enjoyable day for most and hopefully we'll do it again soon.