Welcome
to the 2023 Mallorca Veterans Wooden Spoon Final
– often dubbed the battle for 17th in the 20-team
format.
It
was a chance for the two teams to end the day
on a high. After difficult group phases the two
teams had already experience an upturn in form
with their Semi-Final victories. Tonight's beers
would taste so much sweeter if they could bounce
into the bar with two successive wins under their
belts although we concede a wooden spoon is not
quite as impressive as medals round round the
neck.
We
had a contest between Southgate Ramblers and The
Maulers to look forward to which was a repeat
of the group stage fixture at the 2022 Lisbon
Veterans Tournament which Southgate County Brewers
(as they were called then) emerged victorious,
1-0. Southgate County Vets also met The Warriors
(sister squad of The Maulers) at the 2017 Mallorca
Veterans winning 2-1 in the group phase.
History
pointed towards a Southgate victory and that's
the way it turned out on the field in 2023. Southgate
Ramblers raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time and
then extended that to 5-0 in the second half with
strikes from Stefan Perez (2), Patrick Ball, Bradley
Sayers and Steve Young. Steve Young was crowned
the top scorer on tour with 6 goals in the process.
There
was a late rally from The Maulers who reduced
the deficit from 5-0 to 5-2 with Mark Brooksby
claiming both goals. It took his tally to 4 for
the day which saw him end the day as the top scorer
for The Warriors/Maulers. Alas, for them it was
too little too late in the context of this final.
The
battle for 17 th was decided as Southgate Ramblers
won the Wooden Spoon. Whether it goes on display
in the trophy cabinet or is used to stir some
Bolognese is entirely up to them! We hope both
clubs enjoyed their tour and, as ever, it's great
to host Southgate County and The Warriors/Maulers
on the football fields of Europe.
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