Posithread win Season 18.

With a revival of the Sassco League, albeit in 5-a-side format, five teams entered and the tournament was reasonably successful, despite no referees, a flare up, slight confusion over the rules and Fatty Wardle’s voice screeching from 10:30am to 12:30pm.

The venue was the Galleries and the pitches were excellent. Smaller than Goals Sunderland, but much smaller than the massive Downhill Complex (RIP), which meant you couldn’t really hide on the pitch like McDermont tended to do.

Sassco.co.uk 4 Sunderland Deaf FC 3 | Posithread 3 AEL United 2

First on were Sassco taking on Sunderland DFC, and despite being down 1-0, they clawed it back to win 4-3. Muers was on fire and scored two of the goals, while Gourlay did his bit. Gavin James, ex-Sassco, caused no end of problems to the ageing Sassco team, but they persevered. On the other pitch, AEL United, a new team and an unknown quantity were caught cold in a 3-2 defeat against Posithread. David Hix, Liam Wooton and James Collinson scored the goals, including two late ones.

The second set of game saw Posithread secure 6 points with a 2-0 win over Crown, who sat out the first fixtures. Chris Ellis and James Collinson fired in the goals, while Jon Wardle and Tom and Dave Robason looked out of date and less mobile than they used to be. It kicked off with Sunderland DFC and AEL United. AEL were comfortable 5-1 winners, but without a referee, both teams got a tad bit too excited.

AEL United 5 Sassco.co.uk 3 | Crown Electrics 4 Sunderland Deaf FC 2

AEL then saw off Sassco.co.uk with a 5-3 scoreline, even though Muers scored another brace. Sunderland Deaf FC suffered another defeat, this time against Crown Electrics, who secured their first points with a 4-2 win.

Posithread 10 Sunderland Deaf FC 1 | Sassco.co.uk 4 Crown Electrics 3

By the latter stages, teams were getting tired. Sunderland DFC signed off, suffering a hammering off Posithread, while Sassco controversially defeated Crown Electrics 4-3. A disputed last second step out of the box from Paul Bunyan occurred after the whistle was blown, but Crown being Crown refused to believe in the referee’s integrity. Bunyan was outstanding for Sassco and was mainly responsible for keeping the score low against stronger teams.

AEL United 6 Crown Electrics 2 | Posithread 8 Sassco.co.uk

Final games saw AEL defeat Crown 6-2, with Tommy Scott firing in like he did all previous games, while Sassco suffered, despite Muers scoring again. Sassco had to defeat Posithread by a heavy scoreline, but were clearly incapable of doing so. Collinson, Hix and Wooton scored the goals to give Posithread the tournament and their first ever title in the Sassco Leagues.

All in all, it was enjoyable. Confusion with the rules was settled by the second games and despite the flare up, the games were played honestly. We can look into getting a referee for the next tournament, but the costs would increase. Nevertheless, it should be possible to get an independent person to officiate.