Champions!
On 2nd July at the Darwen FC Anchor Ground, Darwen, CHC entered two teams into the One Stop 5-a-side Fundraising Football tournament which was run and organised by One Stop Hire in aid of Seddon Construction’s pledge to achieve £1m for The Christie in their 125th anniversary year. On the day there were four groups of teams, including two from One Stop Hire, Bethell Group, CS Construction and McGoff Construction, as well as other teams, including Seddon Group themselves, Offafix, J&P Civils and others.
The two CHC teams called CHC and Drillwave, were both expertly managed by Robert (Frankie) Bishop and drawn in separate groups in the early group round.
The CHC team comprised:
Andy Robinson in goal, Rob Nolan, Dale Fanning, Lee Farrar, Joe Keane, Thomas Robinson, and Jack Watts
Drillwave comprised:
Andy McCready in goal, Scott Myers, Sam Ellithorn, Louis Longson, Brendan Doyle, and Andy Myers
In the group round, CHC started off well with a comfortable 6-0 win over Glorious Groundworkers, including hat-tricks from Dale Fanning and Lee Farrar. This was followed by another Dale Fanning hat-trick in a 3-0 win over one of the One Stop Hire teams - Must be the First Drop. As the weather got much warmer, we saw two tough back-to-back games against both McGoff Construction teams, CHC emerging as winners 3-1 and 2-1, with another two goals from Dale and Lee, followed by a brace from Dale. Topping what was described as the most challenging group on the day, going into the final game against Seddon Group, saw CHC’s 100% record drop with a 1-1 draw (with a goal from Jack Watts).
Drillwave were placed in Group 3 and started off well, with a 1-1 draw against CS Milan FC. Defeats then followed against Wild Wanderers, Bethell Bulls, Dream Team 1 and finally FC Civils. Unfortunately, despite a sterling effort, Drillwave failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
But CHC were into the semi-final, and up against difficult opponents - J&P Civil Engineering, which included a couple of ex-employees (Dave Skelly and Matthew O’Sullivan). They had only lost the opening match of their group, winning the remainder of their games. The two goliaths met in a closely fought match with CHC emerging as worthy winners, with a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a goal from Rob Nolan.
The final beckoned and CHC’s opponents were Lads on Toure (representing the tournament’s host - One Stop Hire). As you would expect, this was another tough game but saw CHC run out 1-0 winners with a great goal from Lee Farrar to lift the trophy!!
An excellent day all round for such a worthy cause, scoring 17 goals and conceding only three, it was a magical achievement by the whole team, who, along with Drillwave, were supported by their Cheerleaders, led by Claire Chamberlain and including Mike Goodier, Paul Sumner and Claire Worsick. Some very sore and stiff legs in work on the following Monday.
All in aid of raising money for a very, very worthy charity. If you’d like to donate, please click the following link: