Review
For the most part it was a case of what might have been for Glasgow players in this competition. Arguably best performance over the weekend was by Barry Corr. In the Open he won both his group matches including victory over improving seed Ben Staples to qualify for the quarter-finals. There he lost by only a single goal to eventual winner Gareth Christie. Then on the Sunday he led Glasgow’s B team to semi-final qualification. An fine performance saw him defeat Yorkshire’s Paul Lawrenson 4-1. It was an excellent response to the decision to promote Dave Houston to the A team ahead of Corr. For Tom Burns a draw against Gareth Christie would have seen him go straight to the quarter-finals to play Barry Corr. As it was he narrowly went down to the Taysider after leading and then surprisingly lost in the barrage to Ben Staples. Colin Berry also made it to the barrage but lost heavily to Mark Farrell. Baver Bari also reached the quarter-finals, finishing behind Steve Bennett in the group. Bari also lost but made a good fist of it against Rob Ramsey.
In the veterans Dave Gladman made the quarter-finals at the expense of Colin Day. Day beat Gladman in the group but then, remarkably, lost to Rob Conway whom Gladman had beaten 5-0. Gladman lost his quarter-final to Mike Parnaby after performing creditably in the 1-0 defeat. John Halpin competed well in all his matches. He continues to improve and will have gained much experience from the tournament. Congratulations to Colin Day who was the only Glasgow player to receive a trophy, finishing runner-up in the Plate. He lost 3-2 on shots to Russ Harker. This shoot-out will be remembered for one of the worst shots in competitive subbuteo history when Day’s central shot failed to even reach the Harker penalty box.
The biggest disappointment was the failure of Glasgow A to qualify for the semi-finals. A draw with 3-man NETFA saw them go out on goal difference. This might have been avoided if the following hadn’t occurred: Dave Gladman losing to Dave Baxter, Tom Burns losing a 2-goal lead to Scott Fleming, Dave Houston failing to beat Connor Bowden, Dave Gladman not converting possession into goals against Ben Staples and Tom Burns not hanging on to his lead against Rob Ramsey. It should also be said that the team were without Dave Butler and Willie Fleming, two of the club’s top players. It was a success story for the B team, however, and congratulations to Barry Corr, Ronnie McKenzie, John Halpin and Fraser McKenzie. They lost to Tayside A in the semi-finals but the margin of defeat against them was less than that of the Glasgow A team. This will ensure that Glasgow B remain in the top 100 ranking.
We can say, however, that the tournament was a success and enjoyed by all participants. Congratulations to the worthy winners in all categories! We thank all the players who took part and we very much appreciate the kind comments we have received. Full results are available in the Glasgow IO page on this website.
More tournament pictures
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Ever thought of a career in sports journalism Dave,brilliant report.