James Scowcroft got the better of his old Town team-mate Fabian Wilnis yesterday afternoon in this year’s Portman Cup. The two stars of the Blues’ promotion and then UEFA Cup-qualifying campaigns a decade ago were the managers of teams made up of supporters with Scowcroft’s side scraping a 6-2 victory over Wilnis’s men.
The players, who paid £250 plus VAT to take part in the match, got a glimpse of what life’s like for the professionals on a matchday.
The two squads arrived at Portman Road to find their kit laid out in the dressing rooms, the current home kit in one and the black away kit in the visitors’ slightly less palatial changing facilities.
They then met their managers, warmed up on the practice pitch on what was in any case a very hot afternoon, before making their way to the tunnel and out on to Portman Road’s hallowed, impeccable turf.
Hands were shaken with the opposition and the officials before the game got off to a cagey start as the teams got used to what were African Nations Cup-style conditions.
Fab’s away side - including TWTD’s Phil and perhaps presciently a player named Ward wearing the number two shirt - started to get on top in the opening third of a match which was played in three 30-minute segments.
However, just before the break, Jonny Cracknell opened the scoring for the home team, the goal itself paling into insignificance compared with his goal celebration which appeared strongly influenced by Pat Cash’s Wimbledon climb into the crowd in 1987 and Alex Higgins’s emotional response to his World Snooker Championship win in 1982.
After nine minutes added on ‘goal celebration time’, the whistle went for third-time where the managers gave their sides a pep-talk and tinkered with their teams. Scowcroft had obviously given a team-talk of Churchillian proportions as his side quickly took complete control of the game. Fab’s boys did what’s known in Town circles as ‘a Peterborough’ as the home side tore through them and netted five goals without response, the pick Marc Smith’s brilliant 30-yarder. Nick Sudds nabbed two and Stuart Wilson and Steve Harding one each. There seemed no way back for the away team at two-thirds-time but Wilnis’s men weren’t dispirited and, after the manager had switched things around, got back out on the field looking to prove a point, even if a victory now seemed highly unlikely. Pride was to some extent restored as the Dutch-influenced team had the better of the last 30 minutes but could only manage to pull two goals back via Martin Swallow, one appearing to be on its way for a throw when it struck a defender. After the home team had been presented with the Portman Cup, the squads took part in a penalty shoot-out in front of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand, home team keeper Andrew Chapman pulling off a save up there with Gordon Banks’s stop from Pelé to deny TWTD’s Phil, once again emulating Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben. Despite this, Fab’s away team ran out the winners of a shoot-out which went to the very last of 30 kicks. After showers, the teams went up to the Sir Bobby Robson Suite to discuss the game, compare injuries, receive their medals and hear the managers’ post-game thoughts. "After 10 or 15 minutes we got our composure,” said Wilnis, "but unfortunately we went behind just before the break . "Then we had a little break and a team-talk and then we went into the second period. Whoa! I think I’ll blame everyone, including myself of course! "We were great going forward but going backwards that was a bit of a problem and we conceded five goals in the second period. "We kind of redeemed ourselves in the third period which we ‘won’ and scored two good goals. I’m still proud of the boys, they put in good effort and good workrate.” Scowcroft was delighted with his lads even if he felt the margin of victory was harsh on their opponents: "I think regarding the 6-2 scoreline, the game was a lot closer than that would suggest. "I thought our team was superb from the first kick-off all the way through, even the final period where we’d run out of legs we kept going. "Before the game we spoke about two things. When we had the ball we wanted to keep it, because we knew it was going to be a hot day and very tiring, but we also had to work hard when we didn’t have the ball and that was probably where we won the game. "It was in that second period where we got on top and even though we scored six, our goalkeeper, like every single one of our players, was outstanding, and was very close to being Man of the Match. I think that typified the game really. It was a team effort and a great performance.” Each manager named a Man of the Match, Wilnis nominating his side’s keeper Dan Frost, while Scowcroft’s skipper Gary Young, a Terry Butcher-esque rock at the heart of the defence, won the home side’s gong. Scowcroft said there was little doubt about the Goal of the Game, Marc Smith’s stunning strike: "I don’t know about Goal of the Game today, he’s probably got the Goal of this Year at Portman Road! Smith lashes home "He picked the ball up just inside his half, his dad encouraged him to carry on and carry on and when he did get in front of goal, 30 or 40 yards out, he let go and I don’t think any goalkeeper around today would have saved that.” Wilnis, who chose Jonny Cracknell’s epic goal celebration for the annual Memorable Moment award, admitted to being disappointed with the result but said he had a great afternoon overall: "In a way I’m gutted but if I look at the whole day I had a brilliant day, a fantastic day. "It was nice to be out there with all the players trying their hardest. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and it was nice to be back at Portman Road.” The 41-year-old Dutchman, who is enjoying life coaching Colchester’s U13s and watches Town whenever he can, said he got to grips with his team’s attributes the more the game progressed: "I arrived here I got this teamsheet under my nose and I didn’t know anything about the players. It took me two periods to figure out players’ best positions, which is quite understandable as I’d not ever seen them play before.” Scowcroft, 36, was delighted to be taking control of a team at Portman Road: "I thoroughly enjoyed the day, it was fantastic to sit in the home dugout as well and manage a team. I’ve never done it before and I doubt I’ll ever do it again. "It was a really good day, the club organised it really well and it was a great opportunity for people who support the club to come and play." The Portman Cup is organised by the club’s commercial department and Simon Milton says it always proves popular: "We’ve been doing this a few years now and the response we get from the people who play makes us do it again because they absolutely love it. "The guy who won Man of the Match for the home team is in his mid-forties and he had his parents here and they went absolutely ballistic because their son had been chosen Man of the Match and he played at Portman Road. "We saw some fantastic goals and it was good to get James Scowcroft and Fabian Wilnis involved because they’re younger managers than the managers we’ve had in the past.” He says the game took a different pattern to previous matches: "We’ve never had one team 6-0 up against the other team before! We’ve never had a team that’s lost five goals in 30 minutes before! "But there wasn’t that much between the teams and in the last 30 minutes the away team got two goals and didn’t concede.” If you’re interested in playing in next year’s Portman Cup, send an email to the club’s commercial department. Home team: Andrew Chapman, Pete Bennett, Gary Young, Kevin Boyles, Simon Rees, Rob Atherton, Steve Harding, Nick Sudds, Marc Smith, Russell Smith, Lee Crouch, Luke Fry, Jonny Cracknell, Darren Fry, Stuart Wilson. Manager James Scowcroft. Away Team: Dan Frost, Zach Ward, Jimmy Simmonds, Rory King, Graeme Spooner, Phil Ham, Ben Frost, Martin Swallow, Ryan Hunt, Mike Dove, Richard Moss, Steve Birks, Jarrod Ellis, Nicholas Hunt, Matt Hope. Manager: Fabian Wilnis Photos: ITFC Story syndicated from TWTD.co.ukWhat to read next:
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