Victory for Washington Sky Lounge.

Washington Sky Lounge and Sporting Redhouse were unbeaten....

But it was Washington Sky Lounge who were worthy winners with an equaliser against Sporting in their last game to take the first 2022 tournament.

Washington Sky Lounge opened with comfortable 2-0 victory over Sassco.co.uk in icy, but good conditions, with a large squad of players: David Ebdale, Sean Hannibell, Dan Warris, David Brown, Michael Parkin, Joe Young, Jack Riley, Alan Oliver, Richard Cook and Si Middleton. The new balls were slipping and sliding around, which caused a few problems, but Sassco, suffered two rapid injuries, with Keith Mouat and Michael Chapman hobbling out, leaving Michael Pearson, David Murton, Mike Barker with Scott Hembrough to pick up the pieces.

After this opener, a dominant performance from the Oddies FC squad, comprising of David Passmore, Liam Hiles, Dylan Cairns, Cameron Vincent, Daniel Wright, Callum Hutchinson, Kain Walmsley and Alex MacDonald only saw them equalising against Sporting (Tanj Sangha, Michael Ross, Billy Harrison, Neil Middlemiss and the ever-present Mark Kelsey), who led 1-0 against the run of play. Sporting were a man down, but had Davinder Sangha guesting for them.

Old rivals (including the age of the Sassco players) Sporting and Sassco saw a 1-0 win for Sporting (Harrison scoring), which consigned Sassco to the foot of the table. Si Middleton was now guesting for the depleted squad.

Then Oddies were trounced by Washington Sky Lounge, meaning the following game was an academic game, but saw Oddies grab a win and easily consign Sassco to the wooden spoon with three miserable defeats and a poor tournament.

The luck of the random fixtures meant that the final game was a "final" in all but name. Sporting needed the win and Washington just needed to draw. It looked heading for a Sporting win, as Denny Jackson Brown (a last moment stand-in) fired in a superb opener. However, late in the game, Washington equalised after some dominance and impressive stops by Sangha in the Sporting goal, and were comfortable in seeing out the game and taking home the fruit bowl

Much appreciation for Oddies FC (as a thankful last minute entrant) and Washington Sky Lounge (worthy winners) joining the inevitables,  Sassco and Sporting Redhouse, for the first 2022 tournament.

The photos from the tournament are below.