Sports Report:
THE STEVEN TURNER CUP
TEAM MOLEY (Blue) 6 Team Matt & John (Claret) 0
Gary Milbourn
Tony Stokes
Hayden Green
Michael Barrett
Kris Harris
Jon Grant

The Teams:
Note: Team line-ups may differ from that shown below but this was the final official team sheet. Unfortunately, the match was not covered by Football Web Pages.

Holy Moley, it’s six past Matt the goalie!

Well, where do you start?

An amazing evening in support of a great cause and Hullbridge was out in force to put on a great show despite the weather. The Hullbridge weather didn’t let us down…it was absolutely freezing!

A lot of organisation had gone into this and it showed as the game raised an amazing amount of money for The Turner Family and a night of laughter and tears was enjoyed by all. As we sat in the changing room before the game, the vibe went from laughter and banter to quiet moments where we sat there thinking “Is the body going to do what the mind tells it?”

And then there was Steve…he admitted that he wasn’t great at public speaking, but his pre-match talk had us choking back the tears and we needed nothing else to inspire us to go out and put on the best show we could... emotional? You bet!

Mr Mole, our manager for the night, did inspire us even more though with his team-talk and tactical plan and I’m sure much the same was going on in the Claret dressing room.

Luckily for me, and a few others, Steve is a huge West Ham fan, hence the claret colours of one team and something I will never forget…walking out of the tunnel onto the Lower Road pitch in Hullbridge kit to “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”, absolutely amazing.

However, this was Steve’s night, and he took to the field to kick off the game to great applause, and then the ball was kicked out of play (not for the last time!) to allow Steve to leave the pitch to even louder applause as the two teams started the battle.

STEVE KICKS THE GAME OFF

Nobody had any idea how this would go as it was difficult to know who could really play and who could just about stand up! Matt Faulkner was the first to test this theory as he sprinted (!) from goal over to the touchline early on, stumbled, and nearly fell into the crowd!

The Blues were starting to get a modicum of control and went one up when Gary Milbourn scored with a close-range deflected shot**. Rolling subs were the order of the day to give everyone game time and this added to the unpredictability even more as various talents were soon on display. Despite a strong midfield duo of Sammy Ayres and Ash Knott, assisted by those various talents, The Blues were soon 2-0 up when a free-kick was awarded for a foul on the edge of the box and Stokesy just basically stroked the ball into the corner with a side-foot free-kick**.

We reached half-time with The Blues ahead 2-0 and Moley and other master tacticians telling everyone that we needed to keep control and not let The Clarets back into the game. At this point, I’ve got to say that The Clarets were unlucky not to have scored a couple, but Blues goalkeeper Jamie Merrals was in outstanding form, making some exceptional saves to keep The Clarets at nil and we left the field to allow the kids to have their go with the half-time penalty shoot-outs.

ANOTHER FANTASTIC SAVE FROM JAMIE

A mention here for the café and bar staff who were dealing with the mad amount of people requiring sustenance in solid or liquid form and coping with the queues that were patiently waiting for either or both. On a night of amazing performances, the café and bar staff were putting one in too!

Talking of amazing performances, it was good to see that in addition to the various Hulldridge managers, the committee members were in action (!) too. For a change, Gareth was ripping up the pitch with his studs rather than the usual pitchfork and Cossy was rolling back the years with his deft left-foot touches and nearly scored! Glenn and Kev were doing something but I’m not quite sure what but, all in all, I’m sure there will be plenty of enquires for their talents from step 5 clubs and maybe even above!

THE THREE AMIGOS

Meanwhile back in the second half and Hayden Green made it 3-0 with a bottom-right corner drilled shot**. Claret’s goalie Matt was making some decent saves to stop it from being even more goals for The Blues and then suddenly it was…cue a very pleased Michael Barrett with goal number four, a header from a corner**. Still, The Clarets tried to get off nil but inspired defending (!) and even more inspired goalkeeping made sure they were drawing a blank. The Blues were well on top now and Kris Harris passed on defensive duties to join the attack and notch number five, a Harris tap in I presume**

The Clarets were pressing for a goal and now had about eight up front. The rolling subs format had now gone out of the window as The Clarets piled on players without taking any off, in fact the only rolling going on was when Frosty The Kit Man rolled off the pitch, literally!

Moley was soon wise to the tactics and quickly switched to a 5-6-6 formation to nullify The Clarets 4-5-8 and soon The Blues managed to attack without their forwards falling over each other and Jon Grant made it six with a back post tap in**. Jon protested his innocence and said that he was ghosting in at the back post and, thankfully, there was no VAR to prove him wrong so here’s Jon ghosting in.

JON GRANT – GHOSTING IN AT THE BACK POST

By now, there was very little room left on the pitch to create anything and The Blues seemed happy with their six anyway. 6-0 was a bit harsh on The Clarets but nothing was going to stop The Blues from enjoying their victory and, of course, the bragging rights.

THE CAPTAIN’S MOVE IN FOR A CUDDLE

Even though The Clarets were defeated, it was a night when there were no losers. Everyone played their part in making the match a huge success and Hullbridge proved, once again, what good they can do in the local community. The Turner family were overwhelmed with the support that everyone gave them, and Tiffanie’s thanks are shown below. An emotional, enjoyable, and tear-jerking evening and one that will live long in the memory, brilliantly organised and a joy to be involved in. Well done, Hullbridge, you did everyone proud.

** According to Matt Faulkner

TIFFANIE'S MESSAGE

THE WINNERS

SPORTS STAR (Hullbridge Man of the Match) For obvious reasons, STEVE TURNER but with a special mention to JAMIE MERRALS, for a superb goalkeeping performance.

A TMT Match Report for HSFC