The
first game of Round 2 saw Westfield Wanderers
take on Water Boy.
Water
Boy had lost just 1 in 7 games during the earlier
Algarve Open tournament but in the Veterans stage,
with much the same squad, they had opened up with
a defeat. Westfield Wanderers may well be wary
of a backlash. Westfield Wanderers had also opened
up with defeat here but they had done the same
at the Mallorca 2014 Veterans Tournament before
bouncing back with a win that set them on the
way to Cup qualification – a repeat of 12 months
ago would do them nicely.
With
the game underway it was Paulo Vilhena who scored
the first goal of the game for Water Boy. It was
a goal that would give them a 1-0 lead at half-time.
After the break Vilhena would add a second goal.
He'd not scored all day in the Open Age event
but his two goals in this game were instrumental
in seeing his team on the way to their first Veterans
victory.
Westfield
Wanderers opened their account through Sam Gurner.
Alas for Westfield Wanderers fans though it was
only to be a consolation on this occasion.
Dickie
Dogs were next in action against The Blackouts.
This was a repeat of a Group A fixture from the
2014 Mallorca Veterans Tournament which The Blackouts
won 4-0. It was Dickie Dogs only defeat in the
group phase in Mallorca.
The
Blackouts had already opened up with a win whilst
the Dickie Dogs had begun with defeat so the latter
would need revenge on their Irish opposition from
12 months ago to kick-start their campaign. Revenge
didn't look like it was on the menu though as
Ronan Gilligan broke the deadlock for The Blackouts.
Ronan Gilligan was the top goalscorer in the 2014
Mallorca Veterans Tournament and his goal here
set his team on their way.
Shane
Cox doubled the advantage to make it 2-0 with
his third successful strike in two games and at
half-time Dickie Dogs had an uphill task. There
was to be no repeat of the 4-0 scoreline from
last year but The Blackouts saw out another victory
as 2-0 was good enough to wrap up the points.
Due
to engineering works, signal failure, leaves on
the line – sorry, that's the Network Rail book
of excuses for over-running. We were over-running
(no excuses, just apologies) in the Veterans Tournament
due to the earlier Algarve Open running with delays
which meant we had to update the fixture list
as we went along to ensure we finished the Veterans
Tournament on time. This meant the next game to
be played in Group B was Dickie Dogs again versus
Sergio Cristina.
Sergio
Cristina had the opportunity to join The Blackouts
at the top of the table if they could secure victory.
Dickie Dogs were looking for their first points
of the day and a win here would mean they were
one of four teams in joint 2 nd place on 3 points.
Momentum
was not with Dickie Dogs at the moment and they
saw themselves slip to a 1-0 deficit in the first
half through Telma Silva. Silva had scored in
Round 1 and he scored for a second time in this
fixture after the turnaround to sink Dickie Dogs.
His third goal in two games broke the Dickie Dogs
resistance and Sergio Cristina secured their second
2-0 win of the day to share the lead at the summit
of Group B.