Following the success of the Walking Football demonstration at Valley Parade in January, Bradford City invited Wakefield Walking Football Club to represent them in the 2017 EFL Trust Walking Football Tournament on Saturday (17 June 2017).
After winning through the qualifying round alongside Sheffield United, City's side were one of twelve teams to play in the finals at Aston Villa's impressive Bodymoor Heath Training Ground.
City's captain on the day, Mike Thompson, had a squad of nine to select from, including two 'keepers with Martin Burrell, Stephen Stoker, David Holbrow, John Jones, Chris Lund, John Myatt, Jim Pedley, Matt Pennington.
The decision to bring two goalkeepers was fully justified, as shot-stopper Stephen Stoker was injured during game 3 and replaced by Martin Burrell, who managed not to concede during his time between the sticks.
David Holbrow also suffered an injury in the penultimate game so that meant a maximum of 7 fit players were available for the final match.
Goals were at an absolute premium and the team suffered three early close defeats, 0-1, 0-2 & 0-1.
A changed formation was put into place for City's final matches and fortunes improved with consecutive 0-0 draws against Luton and Colchester.
Sadly, however, the two draws were not enough to help City progress from the group stage.
Sheffield, who were the other group qualifiers from the North, went on to win the EFL cup by a narrow 1-0 margin over Kidderminster.
Thanks to everyone at Aston Villa for looking after the teams on a very hot day’s tournament play.