Over 40s Coaches Team

We have an informal vets team of over 40s Langton Green coaches / parents who are happy to play friendly fixtures against other local vets teams (over 40s please). If you're interested in organising a fixture with us, please e-mail [email protected] and I'm sure we can sort something out. Ethos is very much friendly, sporting and about enjoying the game, so if you tend to take things a bit too seriously, it's probably not for us.

Fixtures / Results:

2023: Langton Green 4 - 3 TW Foresters Coaches (Ian K x 2, Nick D, Joel T)
2nd December 2023

A return match against Foresters, again on the TWGB 3G pitch and this time a much closer affair than the previous game.

We started well, creating a couple of decent early openings and earning several corners and plenty of territory in a good first 20 minutes, Ian C scoring a well-worked goal that was ruled out for offside after good work from Mark H and Joel, Dino having a 1 on 1 really well saved by the opposition goalkeeper and Tim A putting several dangerous balls into the box, the last of which was controlled at the far post by the other Ian (K), who cut inside and just about managed to sneak the ball in at the near post to make it 1-0.

Foresters came right back into it though, scoring twice in quick succession after we didn't exactly help our cause when rather nervously trying to play out from the back and suddenly we found ourselves 2-1 behind in a game where we'd defended really well through Adam and Mike W to that point, and the opposition had had 2 chances and scored them both - both well-taken finishes I should add, despite Jez making himself big in goal. Tom H then got through on goal from Mike W's ball from the back but saw his shot saved by the keeper and a few more corners came to nothing. We got one back before half time, Dino playing a cracking through ball to Nick D, who still had plenty to do, holding off 2 defenders before smashing the ball into the back of the net from the middle of the box with a really composed finish. 2-2 at half time and a game we'd struggled to get going in a bit, the ball spending far to much time in the air, which isn't our game at all.

Second half saw the unfortunate Tim and Ian C unable to continue due to injury, but we did get Paul G back on the pitch post-injury for his first game for us and he worked hard up front, holding the ball up well and linking really well with Tom H in particular. Dino had a bullet of a header from Neil's excellent corner deflected over the bar. A short corner came to nothing. The Foresters keeper made a super save from Ian K at the near post and we fluffed our lines a couple of times when through on goal. Adam and Mike W were solid and creative at the back, passing into midfield well and ably supported by the excellent James B, who got forward well from full back and defended solidly on the left and Mike L, who did the same on the other side, both linking well with the midfield. Neil, Joel, Dino and Mark were having a great battle in the middle of the pitch with the Foresters number 8 in particular, who was excellent all game. As the fog descended, the game appeared to be heading for a draw until a bizarre last 3 minutes.

First up, Ian K scored a free kick that looked like it would be the winning goal, curling the ball over the wall into the bottom corner (shades of Beckham at his peak), the keeper getting a hand to it but just unable to keep it out. All credit to Adam for telling him to hit it harder than his last (rather tame) effort. 3-2 and a reprieve for Ian, who would have been off free kicks if he'd fluffed another one. Foresters then shot from the kick off, Jez pulling off a brilliant save top corner, but the resulting corner was never properly cleared and a very well taken volley from the edge of the box made it 3-3 and we all thought the referee would blow for a draw. With about 45 seconds left, Dino drove forward from the kick off, found his path blocked, laid the ball wide for Neil, who was now playing at right back, who whipped in a lovely curling cross (a fluke, clearly), Joel making a Lampard-esque late run into the penalty area to head in the winner with the last action of the game. All the credit once again goes to Adam, for telling Neil to cross it and Joel to make the run. We would not know what to do without him!

4-3 the final score and a very entertaining end to an excellent, competitive game, played in a fantastic spirit throughout (other than Mike's awfully mistimed tackle that we won't speak about). We weren't at our best, but part of that was Foresters making things very hard for us.

Well done all, thank you Foresters, for a cracking game and to the referee and linos who did their jobs superbly (except when they kept flagging me offside).

Squad: Jez H, Mike L, Mike W, Adam S, James B, Tim A, Joel T, Paul G, Neil J, Dino M-L, Mark H, Nick D, Ian K, Ian C, Tom H

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2023: Langton Green 6 - 1 TW Youth Coaches (Dan S, Tom H, Tim A, Ian K x 2, Dino M-L)
28th October 2023

New opposition on the TWBG 3G pitch and a scouting report from Tom that had built up one of the opposition's players to near mythical status meant we didn't know what to expect from this game. A surprising window of 2 hours where it wasn't raining made the match far more pleasant than it looked like it might have been at 10am that morning when slate grey skies and hammering downpours were all you could see.

Missing several regulars from the previous matches and with others carrying a few knocks meant a slightly different side lined up to last time out (get well soon Julian). The key points...

A good game, played in a good spirit, against a side who tested us throughout. Our midfield played superbly - the quartet of Dino, Dan, Joel and Mark all showing great composure on the ball and energy and tenacity with the ball. And our forwards took their chances (mostly), Dan opening the scoring with a good finish after clever build up play from Tim on the right, Tom and Tim both pouncing on some loose play at the back to score well-taken goals they still had to work hard to finish, Ian K getting lucky with a deflection for his first after Joel's superb pass and beneffiting from Dino's tenacity for his second, before Dino got the goal his performance deserved after following in Tom's excellent free kick that hammered off the underside of the bar. Nick D was lively and threatening as the other member of the 4-strong stike force and so nearly scored 2 or 3 goals.

At the other end, Adam and Ryan were absolute rocks at centre back, Jez was immense in goal, pulling off one double save in the second half that defied physics and our full backs James B, Mike L and Nick E all struck exactly the right balance of defensive solidity and marauding Roberto Carlos style attacking verve. An own goal the only blip on our defensive solidity, but given two people both thought it was their fault for losing "their" man at the corner in the build up, probably deserved to concede when we don't even know who is marking who!

A really good all round performance against a side who gave us some difficult spells in the game and could have had a couple more goals were it not for Jez's heroics and some brilliant centre back play from our defence. We look forward to facing them again. And a big thank you to Matt M, for refereeing and also to the lads who ran the line.

Squad: Jez H, Mike L, Ryan E, Adam S, Nick E, James B, Tim A, Joel T, Dino M-L, Dan S, Mark H, Nick D, Ian K, Tom H

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2023: Langton Green Coaches 4 - 3 Langton Green Phoenix (Ian K x 2, Dino, Paul J)

This one was a lot of fun. Coaches vs last year's U18s (who were coached by Ian K).

Coaches scored first after Ian K was unceremoniously tripped and buried the free kick with a perfect David Beckham-esque curling effort (okay, it was a deflected mishit pea-roller that was only 50/50 on target to start with, from a free kick that probably wasn't even a free kick) before the Phoenix lads levelled with a very well taken free kick from Rami. Ben H somehow got on the scoresheet (goalkeepers playing up front so often do) and Louis made it 3-1 to the lads. A ridiculously soft penalty that would have put the game out of sight was blazed over by Rami, after which it was all the coaches. Ian K made it 3-2 after a cracking through ball from Joel saw him nip round the keeper and slot home, before Dino created and took a difficult chance in the penalty box with 5 minutes to go. And with the last kick of the game, Paul J absolutely smashed the ball into the top corner to win it for the old blokes, thus proving that youth is no match for experience. We look forward to next year's rematch.

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2023: Langton Green 13 - 1 TW Foresters Coaches (Tom H x 4, Mike W x 3, Ian K x 2, Neil J, Dino, Joel, Nick D)

A good game, played in a good spirit, against a Foresters side who played far better than the final scoreline suggested. Their luck with injuries was horrendous, with 3 or 4 of their strongest players succumbing early in the game to a variety of unfortunate muscle strains, twists and knocks. They ended with the bare 11 players on the pitch and whilst Langton took their chances well (Neil's mishit shank of a long range effort the pick of the bunch), this was a one-off result we definitely wouldn't expect to see in a rematch.

Thanks to the opposition, the folks who ran the line and the referee, who was only slightly late ;-)

Squad: Ross W, Adam S, Adrian S, James F, Scott W, Neil J, Joel T, Dino M-L, Dan S, Mark H, Nick D, Ian K, Tom H, Mike W

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2022: Langton Green 3 - 1 Frant (Ian K, Phil M, Mike W)

A very enjoyable edition of our yearly coaches game vs Frant saw us visit Frant's pitch on a warm March afternoon, having spent the 24 hours before desperately scrabbling round for enough players, including a goalkeeper and enough kit to clothe everyone who was playing. In the usual way of things, we went from having 11.5 players to 15 in the space of that 24 hours.

The game kicked off with bags of energy (or as close to that as you get when the average age on the pitch is 45 or more), and plenty of early chances to take the lead were missed out on in what we might describe as an "acclimatisation phase" where we got used to the surface and the fact most of us were actually running around on an 11 a side football pitch for the first time in a year... or just actually running at all.

Ian K, Tim A and Mike W all saw decent chances to make it 1-0 go begging, before we went behind against the run of play, to a well struck free kick that just crept inside the far post. We bounced back quickly, Ian K making up for a first minute miss, to slide home a simple finish after Phil M had done well to set up, pouncing on a loose ball on the edge of the box. 1-1.

Phil then made it 2-1 quickly after, with a close range finish from Mike W's cross after some lovely build up play and suddenly we actually looked like we knew what we were doing!! (or as close to that as you could expect). Our midfield was magnificent, Dino M-L, Ian U and Mike W (the other one) really driving the team forward, with Dan S, Mike W and Nick D providing great energy and quality out wide and supporting our full backs - Chris A and Julian P out of possession.

Second half saw us get a bit scrappy for a while and we were reliant on our central defenders - Adam S, Jan S and Tom B - to keep things tight at the back, Adam dominating proceedings as always, in his role in central defence, supported brilliantly by Jan and Tom, both of whom were flawless in the air and played nicely from the back with some intelligent forward passes into midfield.

Jez, making his debut in goal showed a commanding presence in our box to claim several high balls and had an excellent game, especially given he didn't know any of his defenders before the match!

We rode our luck on a penalty shout, which Frant very decently told the referee was not a spot kick (thank you guys), before upping our game and creating a number of great chances through Nick D's clever movement, Tim A's energy and quality in the middle and Dan S's tireless running down the wings and deft touches out wide. All this was orchestrated via the midfield of Dino, Ian U and Mike W, who put in a huge shift in the middle.

Mike W had an excellent long range strike curl agonisingly past the post, Nick D was twice denied after he created opportunities for himself and a little bit of overplaying from all our forwards saw several of us pass when a shot was on and lose possession on the bobbly surface. A sublime long range pass from right back by Chris A set Ian K free down the wing, his low cross met by Mike W with a good low finish that was brilliantly saved by the Frant goalkeeper. Lovely football all round and deserved a goal.

Just as it looked like we might not get the third goal we needed, Dino won the ball in midfield with a brilliantly timed tackle, combined superbly with Ian U to find Ian K, who nearly messed the whole thing up in a brilliant example of the brain and the body not quite being on the same wavelength, by shanking a mishit pass in behind the full back for Mike W to run onto and bury in the bottom corner to make it 3-1. And that's how it stayed until the final whistle, blown just as Julian P made the most amazing run from left back and looked like going the full distance of the pitch for a Maradona-esque goal until a huge bobble and the referee's whistle stopped him in his tracks!

Player of the match had to go to Dino, who was top quality throughout. Need to get him one of those little trophies we give out in the U8s each week so he can pop it on his mantlepiece.

Well done all - a very enjoyable game, played in a superb spirit and great to see a few new faces in there. Thanks to Alf for refereeing and to Frant for organising the game and hosting us. Let's not leave it a year until the next one!!!

A ragtag bunch of Langton Green Coaches / Vets team before our game vs Frant, March 12th 2022 (minus Mike W, who is taking the photo!)

2021: Langton Green 2 - 2 Frant (Gary M, Alan M)

Bizarre weather (biblical rainstorms and scorching sunshine in the space of 10 minutes) didn't put us off and this year's instalment was another tight affair. On balance we probably felt we deserved more than a draw, but Frant battled well and equalised in the last 5 minutes. Still time for a free kick that would have given us the victory to somehow evade everyone and sneak past the far post in the dying seconds and so we settled the game on penalties, but even that ended in a draw. The teams really can't be separated!!

2020: Langton Green 1 - 3 Frant (Ian K)

Mid pandemic, we managed to get a couple of months of relatively "nornal" football in, which saw us play our yearly fixture against Frant. This time a good opening spell and an early lead sadly didn't end how it started and 3 very well taken Frant goals (all from the same player I believe) left us on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. Another good game and honours now even with a win each and a draw across our three matches.

2019: Langton Green 3 - 3 Frant (Ian K x 2, Chris A)

The return match in early 2019 was an altogether different affair, Frant fielding a significantly stronger side who had clearly benefitted from some more regular 11 a side football than we'd managed to organise (this was only our second game!)... We played well at times, created marginally more chances than our opposition, but they dominated long spells of possession and in the end a draw was a fair result on a hot afternoon at Langton Rec. Standout performances from Rob H and Matt M at the back saw us repel a lot of aerial bombardments and excellent approach play and clinical finishing at the other end gave us 3 well-taken goals.

2018: Langton Green 6 - 0 Frant (Phil M x 3, Ian K x 2, Tim A)

We played our first fixture on May 13th 2018, against Frant, who were also playing their first game, on their newly renovated pitch. It was an excellent match, with both teams playing some good football in a great spirit. Langton ran out winners in the end with a stirling performance from Phil M up front, fed by a solid midfield and resolute defence and goalkeeper. We rode our luck in the second half particularly, against a strong Frant attack, but in the end the win was probably deserved, even if the scoreline flattered us slightly. It was great fun and we of course look forward to a return fixture in due course.

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