The East squad having held a couple of practice sessions arrived at the tournament with reasonably high expectations having maintained the vast majority of the squad that competed so well at Nottingham in 2021.

The format was different this year with two pools of four teams with three games on the Saturday of 45 mins and a cross over qualification games on the Sunday of 45 minutes. The weather was warm and the facilities were excellent as the East prepared for their first game against South Central & East London B team knowing how important it was not to drop points in the first match.

The East started much the stronger with the opposition comfortable in defending deep and playing on the break but with goals either side of half time through Shayne Andres and Rick Mort finished a deserved 2-0 victory and a valuable 3 points.

Our next game was against Yorkshire & North East knowing that a victory would guarantee a top two position in the pool and a semi final on Sunday. East started well and were up 1-0 within the first 15 seconds when Shayne Andrews capitalised on a defensive error and clinically shot past the advancing keeper. This should have steadied the ship but Yorkshire & NE came back strongly and scored two goals within a ten minute first half period and had another couple of shots that came of the post. The East rallied and scored their 2nd goal to equalise before half time again through Shayne Andrews. The second half was dominated by the East and deservedly took the lead mid-way through with a clinical finish from Shayne Andrews (his hat-trick) roofing from the top of the area with a precise flick. No further goals were added and with the East victory a semi - final place was in the bag.

The last game on the Saturday was against the West who were in with a shout of either winning or coming second in the group. The match started with both sides cancelling each other out but a defensive lapse left the West forward unmarked who finished past the advancing Ian Smythe. 1-0 down the East side continued to press for an equaliser and were rewarded when Ian Konrath roofed a ball into the net from a cross / shot from Shayne Andrews. 1-1 and the winner came in the second half through a well worked corner with Shayne Andrews converting.

At the end of Saturday our goal had been met with 3 victories, finishing top of the pool and a semi final match against North West on Sunday.

Photo by Jon Kiely

Sunday morning came around all to quickly with the temperature rising into the mid 20's the East prepared for their game against the North West with high expectations. A slow start allowed the North West to capitalise on attacking positions and were rewarded with two goals in a frantic 4 minute spell from a short corner and a well worked move leaving the left forward to score unopposed at the far post. The last 15 minutes of the half saw the East starting to dominate and deserved their goal from Shayne Andrews who converted from a lose ball in the area. 2-1 down with 25 minutes to go and the East dominating it just seemed a matter of time before the equaliser would come. The West adopted a half court defensive model and despite the East dominating the ball and creating chances the goal did not materialise and the ambition and goal of reaching the final was lost. Disappointment and frustration amongst the squad was clear but with all great teams it was how the East
would react against the West in the 3rd/4th play-off.

Although not the game that the players wanted the East dominated the game against the West scoring short corner goals in either half through Howie Wilson and Mike Crowson. A 2-0 victory could have easily been a lot more with chances being created but with tiredness kicking in and concentration levels started dropping, the chances went begging. 3rd place guaranteed which in one way was pleasing but not what we wanted and the agreement between the players was that we will come back strongly next year!

My thanks go to all the squad who contributed magnificently over the 5 games and supported each other when required. They were well led and marshalled expertly by Mike Crowson who set the example of his leadership qualities from the outset.

Photo by Jon Kiely

Martin Collcott
East 055's Manager