17th April saw the running of the 7th FJN Cup in aide of Wolfram UK at our home venue of Horsham FC.
There are no guarantees in life, but if there was ever to be one, it would that our annual charity match is blessed with good weather. Year on year we seem to be blessed with good weather.
This year we had a few firsts as we had two supremely talented ladies playing ( welcome to the FJN footballing family Lucia and Dani from Howden), 6 debutants and also the ‘F’ of FJN, Fin Small, made a cameo appearance at the end of the match.
The team set up is always Team Stu v Team Dan. Teams were picked the week before kick off and Team Dan looked to have an uphill struggle by fielding 5 players in their fifties! Taking into account Fin’s 5 minute cameo, the age swing on Team Dan was 16 – 59 – surely a record in itself?
Had Stu pulled a masterstroke by snapping up all the younger sets of legs??? Or would Dan’s elder statesmen prevail?
The game kicked off with Stu’s team playing towards the club house and a hostile Spanish crowd (no idea who they were but we had about 10 enthusiastic Spaniards in attendance). Team Dan’s regular centre half pairing of Richard Grover (Wingate) and Steve Barner (Howden) resembled a young Baresi/Maldini partnership as usual and fended off the youthful forward line of Team Stu. On 20 mins TC (Bupa) wriggled through the challenges in the area and tumbled under what looked an innocuous challenge by Billy Warner (Trawick). With no VAR in action this week, ref Simon Faires pointed to the spot. TC confidently dispatched the penalty to make the score 1-0.
The game continued to ebb and flow and the ferocity of the effort was typified by Lucia Cantor (Howden) who, literally, ran the soles of her astroturfs! Team Dan attacked predominantly on the left where Dani Smith (Howden) led the right side of Team Stu a merry dance and forced a couple of blinding saves from Ricki Kerbey (Now Health). It seemed a matter of time before the scores were level and James Sandford (CharlesTaylor Assistance) added to his impressive tally of FJN Cup goals to make it 1-1.
The pressure continued from the team in white and pink, and a looping far post header from Amit Bhudia (Libra) put Team Dan 2-1 up with just a few minutes of the half remaining. Perhaps Team Dan had one eye on the big screen and watching the clock move towards 45 mins as they switched off to allow the rapid Chris Bates (HCI) to send an inch perfect lob over stranded keeper Dan Small.
Team Stu very nearly made it 3-2 right on the stroke of half time as FJN Cup regular James Walker (Charles Taylor Assistance) struck a fierce drive through a crowd of players that keeper Dan Small turned away to his left (sorry James…. 😂)
Half Time 2-2.
The FJN Cup always follows the same format of everyone playing at least 22mins in the first half so that everyone gets plenty of game time, and the second half then becomes ‘survival of the fittest’. Team Dan had two legends tap out at half time but everyone else for both teams gave the thumbs up to the management teams that they were ready for more.
Team Dan started the quicker of the two teams and took control with a fine drive from outside the area by Richard Grover (Wingate). A Zidane esq finish…. (you owe me a beer for that Dickie 🍻) from the Captain of Team Dan.
Team Dan turned the up the heat further when a mix up in the Team Stu defence left Darren Nicol (CIB) free to add to his tally of FJN goals to make the scores 4-2.
Stu, in his capacity as manager this year due to injury, turned to his bench and made wholesale changes to stem the flow. The subsitutions and formation changes from ‘Pep’ Perry made were inspirational and will be used by coaches in years to come. A great passage of play and a free flowing move was started, and coolly finished by Dan Woods (AXA) to make the scores 4-3.
The pressure continued and after a barrage of corners and free kicks Chris Bates channelled his inner Marco Van Basten esq volley that flew into the top bins. Take a bow son 👏 4-4!
With the clock ticking down, and tired legs visibly starting to take over, Tom Chisman’s (Howden) curling effort was tipped on to the post by Gordon Banks, sorry Dan Small, in a frantic 90th minute. That turned out to be the last action of a thrilling match and the game finished 4-4. Penalties loomed…..
As all footballers know, penalties are not for the faint hearted, so hats off to all stepped up to the plate. The tale of the penalties went
Dean Tincombe (Cigna) ✅ Jack Craig (Howden) ✅
Billy Warner (Trawick) ✅ Ben Hudson (CTA) ✅
Ben Johnson (Clear Group) ✅ Kai Ellis (FJN) ✅
Ciaran Moores (Centricity) ❌ Chris Bates (HCI) ✅
Fin Small (FJN) ✅ TC (Bupa Global) ❌
Juan Pena Nunez (Zurich) ✅ Dan Woods (AXA) ✅
Rob Flynn (D&G) ✅ Lucia Cantor (Howden) ❌
Player of the match awards went to Andy Greaves (Howden) for an imperious display at the back for Team Dan and Chris Bates (HCI) for his two wonder strikes for Team Stu.
So there we have it! Another year done and dusted for the FJN Cup and bragging rights secured for another year for me over Stu!
We raised £1,847.25 for Wolfram UK and would like to thank everyone who participated in the match. See you next year!
