BWFA 63s league (6th March 2024)
Hartshill 3-4 Solihull Moors
A thrilling game of walking football between the top two teams in league. Strollers had a great start playing the better football and five minutes in Liam Keyes opened the scoring, Moors equalised with a stunning finish from a tight angle, strollers however continued to press and play the better football and were rewarded with a second Liam Keyes goal. With strollers well in control of the game came a calamitous 15 minutes where we gifted Moors 3 goals and found ourselves 4-2 down. Liam Keyes completed his hat trick, Chris Pardoe struck the post and Rob Dunning the bar but it wasn’t to be our day. Bitter pill to swallow as strollers were the better side on the day. Great effort lads guaranteed runners up not a bad first season.
Robert Dunning
BWFA 57s Premier League (3rd March 2024)
Hartshill 2-1 Birmingham
Another very hard fought victory for the strollers today against title challengers Birmingham, strollers started brightly enough but found themselves a goal behind after ten minutes. Strollers equaliser came just before half time with a proper team goal with Liam Keyes burying the final pass. Second half became quite physical as the opposition needed to win, two quick blue cards for consistent tackling from behind saw Birmingham a man down and strollers punished them with a second Liam Keyes goal with a few minutes remaining. Excellent performance yet again from this group who continue to do Hartshill proud.
Robert Dunning
BWFA 57s league 1 (3rd March 2024)
Hartshill 3-0 Atherstone
The latter didn't field a team so we were awarded the game, however we did manage to get a friendly with top of the table Shard End as their game against Cov was cancelled in respect for one of their players who sadly passed away midweek. A mixed team of Hartshill members of various ages who hadn't played a game together as this squad. 1st half Shard End dominated possession but the Hartshill lads played to a system that gave them few chances. The deadlock was broken after about 15 minutes when their top scorer lost his marker and fired a well drilled shot from the left side of the area to put Shard End 1 up at halftime. 2nd half was a different proposition where Hartshill had much more of the ball and created several chances that unfortunately went over the bar from the middle of the park. Our best chances were 2 shots from Dave A with a low level shot from the left and then the chance to bring us level with a ball from Seddo to Ray W who threaded the perfect long ball to Dave A who was unmarked outside the Shard box. Dave struck a sweet low shot to the right of the keeper but frustratingly it hit the post. In summary a game we could've and should've won against a team sitting at the top of the table. Well done all. Chris P, Ray W, Dave A, Kev S, Phil C, Seddo, Nico and me.
Gareth Edwards
BWFA 50s Premier League (25th Feb 2024)
Hartshill 3-2 Cadbury
Final league game today with a 3-2 victory over Cadbury despite going 2-0 down. It’s been a tough season with injuries hitting the squad with members helping out again so special thanks to Sarv, Rob, Dave Austin, Franco, Reg and Roger. Thanks guys. Final league position is third from top down one place from last season. Still a league cup to play before two National Cups.
Andy Norris