Birmingham’s Over 50’s came runners up in a tournament at Chesterfield FC as a pre curser to the European Championships.
They came through the six-game round robin to reach the final unbeaten, 1-0 Wins against Mansfield and Abbeymead and a 2-0 success against Spireites were coupled with draws against Unity (1-1) and Boldmere (0-0) Milan Mazic and Pod both netting two and Mark Averill the other.
The final was a very tight affair where both sides had a couple of chances, Heath Underwood in goal making an excellent save to deny Boldmere and likewise the Boldmere keeper saving from a Mazic snapshot. With only 2 minutes remaining a Birmingham free kick from David Castle was inadvertently passed straight to the Boldmere forward who coolly placed his shot beyond Underwood to seal victory. After the game Captain Castle commented,
“I am so gutted for the other guys, I’ve played over 200 competitive games for the club and have won many tournaments but I know a lot of the lads who have only recently being playing have not been so fortunate their reaction was great but I still feel so responsible, with Heath in goal I would have really fancied us on penalties”.
