Camp Retro victorious again after a dramatic finale

Hockey - Three-in-a-row for the champions

The Camp Retro era at the Roger Brummitt Mixed Hockey Tournament shows no sign of ending.

Three times a star-studded line-up lovingly assembled by former City of Peterborough and current National League star Cameron Heald have entered the popular end-of-season event and three times they have emerged victorious.

They left it late last weekend though with Chris Porter, another man with plenty of National League experience, scoring the only goal of the final against the youngsters of Sons of Pitches with the very last hit of the match.

The goal arrived from a short corner taken after the final whistle with Porter slotting past heroic goalkeeper Callum Rigby from close range.

Rigby had been quite brilliant in a second-half dominated by the champions and he, along with a defence which featured a strong performance from Katherine Amps, looked set to force the final into a sudden-death penalty shoot-out.

Brendan Andrews had earlier made a remarkable save off the goal-line to keep Sons of Pitches level, but Camp Retro were worthy winners again.

They have yet to lose a single match in the event, although they were held to a goalless draw by Ragamuffins B in their first group match.

Ragamuffins A are usually the biggest dangers to Camp Retro, but they were effectively knocked out by Sons of Pitches.

Sixteen teams took part in the two-day event, although the unfit state of the grass pitches at Bretton Gate led to a change in structure and schedule.

The group stages were all played as nine-a-side matches on half an astroturf pitch with the Trophy and Plate final reverting to 11-a-side on a full pitch.

Inches of Post won the Plate competition for teams finishing in the bottom two of their Saturday groups after a penalty shuttle shoot-out against Beavers.

It was 1-1 at the end of normal time with Nicky Reddy cancelling out a first-half strike from Beavers’ Joe Lester. Goalkeepers Charlie Exton (Sons of Pitches) and Michael Green each made one penalty save before a Beavers’ miss from their sixth shot settled the contest

GPO won the Jack Rouse Fairplay Trophy.

The GPO team that won the Jack RouseFairplay Trophy at the Roger Brummitt Mixed Hockey tournament.

PICTURES: DAVID LOWNDES Brummitt Trophy runners-up Sons of Pitches and Plate runners-up Inches of Post join forces for a double-team photo.

Team Festival and Bourne Deeping Dragons (stripes) in Brummitt action.

Almighty Ones (black) take on Blue Green Zeds at the Brummitt