The Dogs of War win The Oxfam Cup

The 2011 Oxfam Cup was won by The Dogs of War after beating the SSC 2-0 in the final at Sandylands on Sunday.

Defence proved to be king with only 10 goals scored in the group stages. The Q-Team did their best by conceding 5 of these! In fact in our group Bayer Neverlusen conceded the only other goal, something that probably cost them their place in the semi-final and allowed The Dogs to progress.

SSC - Finalists

In the second group The Ice Cream Scoopers can count themselves even unluckier not to have progressed. The were pipped to second spot by Club Com First Madrid on goals scored. The all important goal came in the final group game and secured a 1-1 draw against Franks Tanks.

The Dogs of War - Winners

In the Semi-Final SSC progressed with realtive comfort against Club Com First Madrid, 3-0, and The Dogs of War edged past Franks Tanks 1-0.

As with the 2009 tournament the same group (the one The Q-Team happened to be in) produced both finalists. The opening minutes of the final were even but then The Dogs managed to score a goal which took the wind out of the SSC sails.

SSC get a shoot away during the final

The SSC seemed to struggle to regain their composure that had seen them totally untroubled in the tournament to date. In the second half both teams pressed for the crucial next goal but it was The Dogs who eventually settled the tie and win the trophy with their second goal.

Jonathan Endersby shoots during the final

Despite me being the organiser the tournament seemed to pass by without major incident. Hollie did a great job refereeing pitch 2 for the tournament, as did Ady when he took charge of the fiesty second semi final.

I am indebted to Ady, Nick, James and Emma for the photos taken (some of which appear in this story).

The Q-Team (minus Emma (behind the camera), Simon and Ben)