After the torrential rain on day 1, players and officials were relieved that the only risk of getting wet was from the sprinkler system. There was no rain all day and the cool conditions were perfect on what could have been a very hot summer’s day.

North West and South East kicked off the day on pitch 2 whilst London played Yorkshire & North East on pitch 1. Raymond Man scored the only hattrick of the weekend as London won 3-1 after Rob Kelly had opened the scoring for Yorkshire & South East after only two minutes.

James Moldon scored for 12 man North West but two goals from Tom Pickersgill and one each from Bob Playford, Dave Short and Aaron Glass gave South East a 5-1 win.

A feisty encounter followed on pitch 1 with East (Robert Harrison goal in open play) and Midlands (Chris Darling penalty corner) ending up drawing 1-1. On pitch 2 West won 2-0 against South Central with goals from James Kellock from a flick and Rhys Jones in open play.

East were straight back in action on pitch 1 at 11.50 and there were some very tired legs after the end of a tough match against Yorkshire & North East which ended 0-0. Both teams had a number of good chances but goalkeepers Sean Clark and Chris Flatt produced some good saves to keep clean sheets.

London continued their good day two form on pitch 2 winning 4-0 against North West with all goals in open play. Raymond Man scored two more with Phil Price and Seb Jennings also finding the net.

South Central upset the form book in the 12.40 fixture against South East winning 2-0 with goals from Simon Robinson and James Maxwell. South East took off keeper Nathan Bullens in an attempt to claw back the deficit but Adam Mills in the Central goal and his defenders defended stoutly and came away with the win.

Over on pitch 2 Midlands had a close fought win against West. Dafydd Bowles (penalty corner) and Michael Brazier (flick) scored for Midlands. Ben Ansell scored for West in open play with 3 minutes to go but Midlands held on to win.

In the 1.30 fixture on pitch 1 some tired South Central and Yorkshire & North East legs played out a 0-0 to complete their campaign with South Central finishing 6th and Yorkshire & North East 7th. On pitch 2 East beat North West 2-0 with two goals in open play from Julian Richard and Stuart Wardle respectively consigning the valiant North West to 8th with East finishing on 12 points and in with a chance for a medal.

Midlands had already secured 1st place going into the final matches but there was all to play for with any of London (10 points), South East (12 points) and West (10 points) in the mix for the medals.

On pitch 2, Midlands came from behind to win 3-2 against South East with all five goals in open play. Rob Playford opened the scoring for South East. Chris Darling equalised for Midlands with the teams at 1-1 at half time. Dafydd Bowles and Martin Webb then scored for Midlands before Rob Playford scored his second.

The spectators on pitch 1 were treated to a tight contest which could have gone either way. Both teams had a number of good chances. Vijay Pawar in the London goal made some great saves to thwart West and Luigi Fauceglia and Ben Blundy stopped almost everything thrown at them. In the end a single goal from Phil Price secured a 1-0 win for London which meant they finished as runners up, South East were 3rd on goal difference above East in 4th and West in 5th.

As tournament director, I presented the very dented cup to Midland’s captain Mark Fisher and the medals to Midlands, London and South East.

Well done also to South East and to Yorkshire & North East who were jointly the fair play champions and to Dafydd Bowles as top scorer.

A few words of thanks to conclude. First thank you to Sara Walker and her team at EH for her organising the Masters tournaments across the country and to Gavin Dixon and his team at East.

Next to captains, managers and coaches. I am grateful for the good communication and for your help pitchside in identifying scorers.

Thirdly, thanks to Andy Poulain and his team of East umpires and umpire coaches. I am very grateful for their professionalism throughout sometimes in tricky circumstances.

Next, thanks to the team of Old Loughts volunteers who acted as match officials. A number of volunteers were doing it for the first time and did a fabulous job. Recording scores and timing cards in torrential rain is no easy task.

Finally, thank you to Jane Blake as tournament organiser, Louisa Kaye and her team in the kitchen, Jack Tranter and his team behind the bar and to Dottie Blake who both helped organise the tournament and keep GMS and the scoreboards up to date over the weekend.

On behalf of the Old Loughtonians we very much hope everyone who joined us over the weekend enjoyed the tournament despite the weather on Saturday and we look forward to welcoming you back soon.

Scorers

Dafydd Bowles – 7
Christopher Darling – 5
Aaron Glass – 5
Raymond Man - 5
Rob Playford – 5
Michael Brazier - 4
James Kellock - 4
Tom Pickersgill – 4
Rhys Jones – 3
Phil Makin - 3
Stephen Twist – 3
Ben Ansell - 2
Lloyd Atkinson – 2
Matt Bell - 2
Dominic Graham – 2
Andrew Hunt - 2
James Moldon - 2
Phil Price - 2
Chris Stokes -2
Martin Webb - 2
Graham Anderson
Ben Apperly
Simon Ball
Rupert Barker
Simon Barrett
Dean Campbell
Calum Chrichton
Robert Harrison
Ben Hudson
Seb Jennings
Yasser Khan
Antoinne- Julien Richard
Rob Kelly
James Maxwell
Will Naylor
Julian Richard
Simon Robinson
Harry Rowland
Dave Short
Stuart Wardle