Rake and Pikel Over 35’s Vets Football Team

An incredible end to our game against Wirral master yesterday meant we had to settle for a draw after another solid performance ended 3-3.
We were in our changed red strip due one of our players put our usual kit in the tumble dryer which has sadly annihilated the kit. We live and learn.
Onto the game itself, we thought we had taken a deserved lead as Edwin scored directly from a corner. The goal was controversially ruled out as the Wirral weren’t ready. A flavour of what was to come.

Edwin scored again shortly after to make it 1-0, before Chris S chased down their defender to steel the ball and slot home to make it 2-0 at half time.

The Wirral scored just after half time against the run of play, but we went down the other end and after narrowly missing with a sensational over head kick, in the aftermath Jacob smashed home from the edge of the box.

The Wirral scored again to make it 3-2 with a few minutes to play, when an unbelievable situation took place. Appeals for a penalty were waived away following a series of crosses into the box. Then someone ran onto the pitch while the game was in play to show the referee the handball that had taken place minutes earlier on their phone, which the ref went on to give and they scored from the resulting penalty.

The ball had been out of play numerous times in between as well.
We were able to obtain the footage so judge for yourselves! Clear and obvious? Insane and robbed of 2 points! But great performance again by the lads, and on to the next one!

Another fantastic performance by combined Dee & Rake team as we beat Hoole 3-2 to stay top of the league and unbeaten so far this season.

We could have taken the lead earlier in the first half but deadeye Danny Deakin’s penalty was blazed wide. In hindsight, a mistake to boast earlier that ‘I don’t think I’ll ever miss a pen’.

Our pressure finally paid off though as we took the lead just before halftime through a goal by man of the match Chris Scutter.

It was a feisty affair at times with several bookings, so our manager Sandro and goalkeeper for the day called for calm heads at half time. We’ll come back to this. We came out the blocks in the 2nd half and another goal by Chris followed a goal by Andy Young to take us into a comfortable lead.

Then a fortunate bounce and the Hoole striker was in on goal until our keeper scythed through him and was booked in the process. They scored the penalty and again shortly after to make it a nervous finish but a well-deserved win!

Onto the next one in 2 weeks!

Another great game against Forefield in the Friendship cup that ended 2-2 with us being unfortunate not to force the win after some great opportunities to score.

Alex B is claiming the first goal despite strong suspicions the ball was headed wide until it clipped the defender on the way in. One to be validated by the FA.

We found ourselves 2-1 down but came back strongly and forced an actual own goal from our new corner taker Luke and despite the pressure we applied late on we couldn't force the winner.

No bookings this week which was a bonus!

Hoole rangers up next week in the league!

Disappointing result as we lost to Crossway FC Supporters & Old Boys this weekend in the Eric Dean cup. Well played to Crossway who were deserved winners frustrating on our part to concede goals in a cluster before half time after starting well.

Down to 10 men in the latter stages with a player sent off for being sarcastic 🤷‍♂️

At least justice was served as the time wasting of the opposition goalkeeper was rightly clamped down upon and punished with a yellow card. Jonathan Shingfield

On to the next one!

Another fantastic trip to Sanremo in Italy for our annual tour hosted by our friends at Ospedaletti FC. A 4x team tournament won again by the Rake!

Caps off a great start to the season following our decision to merge with Dee Rangers FC vets and enter division 4 together as one team, while also competing in the friendship cup.

A fantastic start to the season with a hard fought draw 2-2 against Frodsham before going on to beat Vaults 9-2 which has taken us to the top of the league in the early stages of the season!

Next up its Crossways in the Erik Dean trophy this Saturday!

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If anyone is interested in playing please let me know

The Rake and Pikel football team are recruiting for next season!

We train every Monday 8-9pm at Abbey Gate college just up the road and play once a fortnight in the Chester & Wirral Football league.

It's a great group of lads with loads of social activities. Last season we even went on to Italy for a friendly tournament which we won!

We also support the Business Beats Cancer Chester charity and recently competed in a tournament a the Chester FC ground!

If you are interested please let us know!