Last Sunday (July 27), Braishfield Football Club hosted a Memorial Day in memory of stalwart Dave Old. ‘Poker’ was a well-known and popular character and as expected, the event was very well attended.
The day consisted of two matches – it was 10 years ago that Braishfield famously won the Senior League Cup, and to celebrate that milestone, former manager Matt Payne re-united the team to take on the present-day side. The game started very evenly, but three quick goals midway through the first half saw the present-day side take control. There was plenty of action for the large crowd as play flowed from end to end, and eventually the present-day side ran out 7-3 winners. Striker Jamie Nash scored a hat-trick, supported with solo efforts from Matti Kousa, Jon Palmer, Jacob Phirachi and Ross Newman, whilst Ben Jacobs, Marc Beston and Ash Shergold responded. After the match, Craig Fielding was presented with a long service award by Rod Sutherland from the Southampton League.
The afternoon action saw an Old Boys XI take on Michelmersh & Timsbury Veterans, and they took an early lead thanks to a brave header from Alan Smith and added two more before the interval, thanks to Matt Pile and Adam Sherman. However, after the break, the ‘Marsh hit back and strikes from Tony Swift and Dave Floyd put them back in the game. The hosts had to defend in numbers and were indebted to goalkeeper Paul McMullen for making some good saves. At the other end, both Lee Whitelock and harshly had a goal disallowed before Aaron Burgess scored a last-minute fourth to secure a hard-earned victory. Special praise should go to veterans Graham Collins and Mick Tanner, who both rolled back the years.
Braishfield’s pre-season preparations are now properly underway - on Tuesday evening, they host Brockenhurst Reserves, then on Saturday afternoon, make the short journey to Lordshill Rec to play Nursling & Shirley United (formerly known as QK Southampton).
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