June 2017 ~ Tour!

With the season over for another year, all eyes turned to Portugal. Wanderers' fifth international tour would see three matches take place in #Lisbon and a record number of players in attendance - no less than 28!

The Men would take on Grupo Desportivo MPL, who kindly helped organise the fixtures, and Clube Vodafone, whilst the Women would take on Ponte Frielas, who stepped in at the last minute after CAC Pontinha's staff and players left to join a bigger club! Considering the conditions and the amount of alcohol consumed the night before, these games were never going to be one for the purists... Unfortunately for them, the Women always end up playing semi-pro or professional teams and Ponte Frielas were no different. Despite having two international players on loan, the tourists' ringers combined to slice a corner straight into the roof of the net and it didn't get much better after that. 0-6 was a fair result!

MPL had already beaten #Vodafone and so took on Wanderers to lift the three-way trophy. Wanderers looked like they were playing in treacle and found themselves three down very quickly indeed. A second-half resurrection - probably just as the previous night's Red Bulls kicked in - saw a goal-fest but not a comeback. Final score - 3-7 with goals from Ashley Stokes and tour legend Andy Tracey (NB. record as of 22nd August 2018 - 9 Tour appearances, 2 goals, 9,434 km travelled!) The final game was a decider for the runners-up spot and Wanderers finally found their groove. A severely wind-assisted cross-shot from James Rennoldson flummoxed the goalkeeper before the Bench Press Brothers of Daniel Flash, Nkrumah Smith and Abdul Salako all netted. Wanderers weren't without the odd defensive slip but ran out 6-4 winners.