Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the opening day of the men’s over 40’s Area Master’s event such an enjoyable day today despite the weather.

In particular I would like to thank Shaw’s butchers for providing such a tasty hog’s roast in the evening, Jade and Colin from the Lewin clinic as physios, KLP for being available to provide first aid as well as Andy and his East umpire team and all the Old Loughts volunteers and members of staff who were on site to act as match officials, man the bar, serve the food, water the pitches, record the results and ensure everything went smoothly.

The tournament kicked off at 11.00 with last year’s winners and runners up in action. Midlands put down a marker winning 4-0 against London with goals from Lloyd Atkinson, Chris Darling, Michael Brazier and Dafydd Bowles. On pitch 2 East won 3-1 against South Central with goals from Dean Campbell, Ben Apperly and Ben Hudson with Chris Stokes scoring for South Central.

Up next, South East won 4-1 against Yorkshire & North East. Aaron Glass and Tom Pickersgill both scored twice for South East and Simon Ball scored for Yorkshire & North East.

The match on pitch 2 saw West and North West draw 2-2. Matt Bell and Rhys Jones scored for West and Andrew Hunt and James Moldon for North West.

The 12.50 matches resulted in wins for West and South Central. West survived extensive East pressure to win 2-0 with goals from Matt Bell and Phil Makin. South Central beat North West 1-0 with a goal from Calum Chrichton.

Midlands continued their good form against Yorkshire & North East winning 5-1 with two goals from Steven Twist and one apiece from Michael Brazier, Chris Darling and Lloyd Atkinson although the goal of the match came from Simon Ball with a top right corner strike.

On pitch 2 South East won 1-0 with Yasser Khan scoring.

In the 2.30 fixtures London and East drew 0-0 and Midlands beat South Central 3-0 with two goals from Dafydd Bowles and one from Harry Rowland.

With the rain pouring down, North West and Yorkshire & North East played out a goalless draw whilst South East scored 3 (Rob Playford 2 and Aaron Glass 1) to beat West (James Kellock and Simon Barrett).

East then beat South East 2-1. Dominic Graham scored twice for East and Aaron Glass scored for South East. London beat South Central 3-2. Will Naylor, Graham Anderson and Antoine- Julien Richard scored for London and Chris Stokes and Rupert Barker for South Central.

As the heavens opened again Midlands dominated against a tired depleted North West (who had only one substitute) with 2 more goals from Dafydd Bowles, as well as goals from Martin Webb, Chris Darling, Michael Brazier and Lloyd Atkinson. Andrew Hunt scored for North West.
West also scored six against Yorkshire & North East. Rhys Jones, James Kellock (2), Henry Burningham, Ben Ansell and Phil Makin scored.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow.

Scorers so far:
Dafydd Bowles – 5
Aaron Glass – 4
Michael Brazier - 3
Christopher Darling – 3
Rhys Jones – 3
James Kellock - 3
Phil Makin - 3
Stephen Twist – 3
Lloyd Atkinson – 2
Matt Bell - 2
Dominic Graham – 2
Andrew Hunt - 2
Tom Pickersgill – 2
Rob Playford - 2
Chris Stokes -2
Graham Andersen
Ben Ansell
Ben Appleby
Simon Ball
Rupert Barker
Simon Barrett
Dean Campbell
Calum Chrichton
Ben Hudsen
Yasser Khan
James Moldon
Antoinne- Julien Richard
Will Naylor
Harry Rowland
Martin Webb