Friday 22nd June and members of the DWD football team made their way to the RTPI 5-a-side Tournament 2018. Despite a strong looking group, with Quod, Boyer and GVA, the team were optimistic.
The squad?s first match of the tournament was against Boyer and following a strong start they found themselves 3-0 up. Boyer then ramped up the pressure and it was left to some heroic saves from Thomas Ferrier and some strong blocks from Hannah Thomas-Davies to hold the game for a 3-3 draw.
The second game was against tournament favourites GVA. The team again had a strong start, with a hat-trick for top-scorer James Smith meaning DWD won 3-2 in the end. Following the game Smith contributed his goal scoring to the ?tactical excellence and scouting report? from the team?s manager and past GVA player Andrew Deller.
The third game against Quod was for a place in the trophy knock out stages. The game started off with a thunderbolt strike from Jake Barnes-Gott within the first two seconds to give DWD the lead. The game then opened up and despite some excellent defending from Sarah Price the game stood at 3-3 with 3 minutes to go. Not one to let the team down Clara Rands then channelled her inner Messi to get through on goal, drag the ball back past a defender and then finesse the ball in the top corner of the goal. Final score DWD win 4-3.
DWD topped the group on 7 points, GVA on 6, Boyer on 4, and Quod on 0.
The form of the squad took a turn for the worst in the quarter finals and despite the fine keeping of Alex Cole in goal he could do little to stop a deflection which left the team 2-0 down against Wildstone Planning. Final Score Wildstone win 3-1, and DWD are knocked out.
Overall the squad had a great evening and congratulate eventual winners GVA on winning the Trophy and Boyer on winning the Plate.
