After much flapping about numbers, finding a suitable venue and possible extremes of temperature, the third Fantasy Football Scout Charity Cup (in support of the Stroke Association) was a pleasantly smooth affair in cool but dry conditions, as four squads of Scout regulars and guests assembled at Whittington Park in Islington on Sunday 28 July 2019.

Much was expected from Bhuna’s Koln outfit, which included several ever-presents such as Matzi, Anish and Rupert the Horse plus the man with a hammer for a left-foot (D Cullen).

The Brescia squad, meanwhile, comprised of several Scout regulars including Az, David, Geoff and TopMarx. TopMarx was another making his third Charity Cup appearance, having been instrumental in booking the pitch and liaising with the Stroke Association, but only arrived with seconds to spare after a “rough” night – he wasn’t the only one suffering from a Scoutcamp hangover!

Elsewhere, Applebonkers and Tony L took to the field with ever-presents MyPrettyPony and Paul R wearing Twente’s colours, whilst the Osasuna side boasted a number of Charity Cup legends, including Steve B, SullySonic, Bowstring, Messi and NorcalJosh.

The opening fixtures saw Osasuna edge out Brescia 1-0 in a tight affair and Twente punish defensive lapses in the Koln defence to emerge 3-0 victors, including BashVilla’s opening goal of the tournament.

The two victors then played out a nervy head to head in which Osasuna took the lead before being pegged back to 1-1. Osasuna saw a point-blank effort tipped over the bar and Twente broke from the ensuing corner to score the decisive goal and edge a narrow 2-1 win.

Meanwhile, a similarly tense affair between Koln and Brescia was settled by the goal of the tournament from Scout boss, Geoff, who lashed in a sweet strike from distance which flashed past Koln stopper, Matzi, who had managed to parry David’s initial effort.

The final fixtures of the group stages saw Twente complete a clean sweep by seeing off Brescia, including a long-range lob by Toby W, a hat-trick by Toby L and a side serving of nutmegs – first, TopMarx was megged by eventual Golden Boot winner, Scott G, who found the back of the net with style. Then it was the turn of Rupert the Horse, exploiting the space between Paul R’s legs in the first of several equine tricks, a repertoire including the “round the world” and the “roly poly”.

On the other pitch, Osasuna bounced back to defeat luckless Koln, who at least scored their first goal of the tournament, before a Bowstring strike took the game away from Bhuna’s side. Osasuna were also gifted a goal in unusual circumstances, when Koln keeper, Rupert, flicked a throw-in into his own net for a fine own-goal.

After a slight reshuffle, the semi-finals set up with unbeaten Twente facing Koln and Osasuna taking on Brescia. Koln took Twente the distance, securing a 1-1 draw before bowing out in a sudden-death penalty shoot-out, with Paul R saving the crucial spot-kick.

Brescia gained revenge for their defeat to Osasuna in the group stage by claiming a 2-0 win, MyPrettyPony sealing the win by flicking the ball over defender, SullySonic with his right before volleying in with his left in a goal which initially drew comparisons (well, one anyway!) to Gazza’s Euro 96 effort against Scotland – until SullySonic pointed out the significant height difference between himself and Colin Hendry. In any event, the dentist chair had been well deployed the previous night as Matzi introduced MyPrettyPony and Az to the benefits of a pre-match G&T or six.

Koln duly claimed the wooden spoon as Osasuna ran out 1-0 winners and the same scoreline settled the main cup final, with player of the tournament Scott G toe-poking through the legs of Brescia’s keeper, Michael L, to bring the cup back to the Netherlands and bring an end to Could Get Messi’s 100% tournament win record.

It was a day of many goals (especially from Laurie H and Scott G), some woodwork specialists (Peter Ouch) and a stunning own goal (Joseph F-B) but mainly just lots of fun. And, of course, lots of money (over £600 at the time of writing) raised/pledged for the Stroke Association.

We are still accepting and encouraging donations for this worthy cause – please donate to the Stroke Association at the Just Giving page which is linked here.