Charity Football Match III

On Saturday the 23rd May 2009 CFM held their third Charity Match again at the top venue of Henderson Sports and Social. A blistering sunny day where with the help of the players involved and the fantastic supporters CFM managed to raise an amazing amount for Prostate Cancer Awareness.

This fantastic amount will go towards further researching a cure into this devastating disease and into the support work for suffers and their families. Thank you all for your support as we continue in trying to make some sort of difference.

Unlike last year's charity match the players and supporters had the weather on their side, what a day and what a match. But before we get to the match there was the matter of the players draw. When the FA Cup is drawn its always at a top location with celebrities and the BBC, when CFM do a draw we like to do it in a car park in Ilford next to a skip, just off the North Circular.... you can't say we're anything but a classy outfit. The following highlights the results of the draw.

The Teams

DC United

Back row (from left to right) - David Portch, Danny Jacks, James Woods, Tom Rolls, Dave Cullen, Ben Callow, Nick Sawyer, Kevin Stuart
Front row (from left to right) - Chris Jacks, Liam Kelly, Jack Brennan, Ryan Tuckwood, Andrew Heath, Craig Hughes

Warrior Hawks & Warlord Beefs AFC

Back row (from left to right) - Tom Maton, Marc Stay, Chris Morris, Rob Sullivan, Paul Klein, Richard Kelly, Paul Maynard, Pat Cannon
Front row (from left to right) - Danny Findlay, Jordan Marsh, Micky Shea, Kris Graham, Carlos Gilbert, Gareth Sparrowhawk

With the awesome Referee Steve Watson ready for kick off the whistle was blown and battle commenced. Right from the off the game was as open as Roman Abramovich's wallet, end to end stuff that thrilled and entertained the terrific supporters; and it wasn't long until first blood was spilt.

The halfway point of the first half was looming and the reds had a corner, a corner to be taken by the charismatic Paul 'The Nard' Maynard, the only player to be on the winning side of every CFM charity match thus far. Paul took the left footed corner which was a real inswinger, so much so that the ball confused poor Liam Kelly who was sitting proudly on the near post who ducked underneath it allowing Paul to score from the corner. Liam said he heard a call to leave the ball, but everyone in DC's area thought they may have heard Liam shout 'Not my face, not my beautiful face!!' just before ducking out of the way. In any case The Nard had nailed his first Charity Match goal giving the reds a 1-0 lead.

The Match continued with its fast, unrelenting pace. The midfield battle between the Reds Kleiny and the Shea against Cullen and Kev Stuart was electrifying to watch, as was the battle of speed and determination down the DC right flank. Andrew 'Beefy' Heath and Ryan 'Tucky' Tuckwood were proving to be quite a handful for Danny 'Milton' Finley and the Ginger Warrior Tom Maton.

Both sets of defences seemed unbreakable with the Sparrowhawk and The Stay'myster keeping DC's dangerous front line of Nick Sawyer and Ben Callow under wraps. DC's Danny Jacks and partner James Woods bent over backwards to keep the hard reds attack at bay, while supporting the attack so that their team could come from behind. Talking about the Red attack, with all the majestic and cat like turns he was doing we wondered if Kris Graham was rising to the occasion or if he was having multiple epileptic fits - very impressing though Kris, well done.

Now for brilliance, as the 1st half was coming to an end Mr Craig Hughes found himself alone with the ball after a slight misjudgement by Sullivan. Reds goalie Carlos closed Craig down but using his surprising pace Craig knocked the ball past Carlos to find an open net from a tight angle, all must have thought 'here we go 1-1.' We're not sure if it was the nerves of having a great goal scoring opportunity or the fact that he could hear the thundering footsteps of Sullivan getting closer to him, but Craig decided to cross the ball across the face of the goal and ultimately to a reds defender. Better luck next time Craig.

Just before the half time whistle was to be blown the Reds struck again, this time though the head of young Chrissy Morris. With the reds having a free kick just outside the DC box Micky Shea stepped up to float one over the DC defence. Red legends Pat Cannon and Richard Kelly both went to attack the ball but stopped as they heard the call from a mid air Morris who headed the ball over DC's stopper Tom Rolls. Going into half time the Reds found themselves 2-0 up.

The 2nd half commenced and both teams carried on from where they left off with some excellent attempts by Ben Callow for DC and Micky Shea for the Reds, both coming close. Half way through the 2nd half and the Reds seemed to be cruising for a 2-0 victory when up stepped Nick Sawyer for DC and what surely must have been the goal of the game. From at least 40 yards Nick received the ball from the midfield and spotted Carlos off his line. From there Nick with pin point accuracy chipped Carlos. That goal not only brought DC back into the game but Nick won the Silver boots for his effort. 2-1 to the Reds.

From Nick's goal the game went into over drive and with only minutes left DC United levelled with a fantastic run and goal from Andrew Heath down the right..... lordy that Beefy is quick..... but with Heath's goal and the final whistle the Charity Match went into a penalty shoot out. The excitement was unbareable.....

So, how was the match going to end, both teams picked there penalty takers and with Tucky winning the toss DC United went first. The below is the result of the shoot out:

Chris Jacks - DC United - 1-0
Paul Klein - Hawks/Beefs - 1-0 - Awesome save by Tom Rolls
Andrew Heath - DC United - 2-0
Micky Shea - Hawks/Beefs - 2-1
Ryan Tuckwood - DC United - 2-1 - Miss
Gareth Sparrowhawk - Hawk/Beefs - 2-2
Danny Jacks - DC United - 3-2
Kris Graham - Hawks/Beefs - 3-3
Ben Callow - DC United - 4-3
Carlos Gilbert - Hawks/Beefs - 4-4
Jack Brennan - DC United - 5-4
Paul Maynard - Hawks/Beefs - 5-5
Liam Kelly - DC United - 6-5
Richard Kelly - Hawks/Beefs - 6-5 - Miss

So with Kelly's miss DC United won the charity match on penalties 6-5. Congratulations go to Cullen, Danny and the DC United Team.

DC United 2 - 2 Warrior Hawks & Warlord Beefs AFC

DC United winning 6-5 on penalties