Sassco tough it out to take the Fruit Bowl.

Two wins and then clawing back a 4-4 draw.

Four teams took part in the final tournament this year. All looked strong, with Washington Boys and Sassco returning from the October event, while Velocity Colliery Tavern and WHN FC brought strong squads.

The opening saw the incumbent Fruit Bowl holders suffer a heavy defeat, with newcomers WHN FC hammering them 5-1. Sassco were next on, clinical in a 3-1 win over Velocity, who had their fair share of chances.

Sassco then surprisingly came back from 1-0 down to defeat the form team, WHN 2-1, which put them in pole position. After this, Washington Boys then overcame Velocity 3-2 to gain their first points. Velocity ended their campaign with a defeat against WHN, despite going ahead and then equalising. All their defeats were narrow, but at this stage, the other three team all had the opportunity to take the title.

The final game saw Washington Boys needing an unlikely handsome win to take the tournament, with WHN waiting on the sidelines hoping for any win for Washington over Sassco to give them the trophy. Sassco just needed to avoid defeat – however they tried their hardest to give WHN the trophy.

They were 2-0 down, but then clawed back with two quick goals. Washington then went 3-2 ahead, only to see Sassco reply from the kick off. Finally, Washington had a man dismissed and staggeringly went ahead in the last 90 seconds. They didn’t hold on (unfortunately for WHN) as the Washington goalmouth was bombarded before Leo Whelam slid a low shot past Arjan Sangha.

A great overall win for Sassco.co.uk, their first tournament win since December 2020, with a squad of Mahdi Pirot, who fired in most of their goals, with Ciaran Howe-Hartley, Leo and Paul Whelam, Declan Boiston and Davinder Sangha in the squad.

All the teams were very accomplished and could easily have won the trophy in probably the most balanced tournament to date.

Season 26’s first tournament is on 13th February 2024

Existing teams will be invited and any newcomers or previous entrants.


05-12-2023 19:00
Washington Boys	1 - 5	WHN FC

05-12-2023 19:15
Velocity Colliery Tavern	1 - 3	Sassco.co.uk

05-12-2023 19:30
WHN FC	1 - 2	Sassco.co.uk

05-12-2023 19:45
Washington Boys	3 - 2	Velocity Colliery Tavern

05-12-2023 20:00
Velocity Colliery Tavern	2 - 3	WHN FC

05-12-2023 20:15
Sassco.co.uk	4 - 4	Washington Boys