Redcar miss out on final berth

Playing against teams from USA, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark, Redcar started the tournament in good form with two wins. But the following two matches saw some controversial refereeing decisions and the woodwork conspire to see Redcar finish fourth with the USA side winning the title.

The Cleveland club went to Sweden in high spirits having won the British Pub Cup at Liverpool's Anfield ground against Sizewll Sports and Social last month. And in the week leading up to the foreign affair in Sweden, ex-Liverpool defender and Match Of The Day summariser Mark Lawrenson oversaw some last minute preparation when he held a training session with the Cleveland club.

Redcar's first fixture was a 2-1 win over the Danish side courtesy of strikes from Danny Brunskill, who also scored the winner at Anfield, and Brian Crawley. This was followed by a narrow 1-0 win against the Irish opposition who, said secretary Jock Dixon, were unlucky not to get anything from the game.

"The match against the Irish was a very hard game. They (Ireland) gave 100 percent."

But from here on in, things went downhill for Redcar with first Sweden and then USA inflicting unlucky 1-0 defeats.

The Swedish side scored in the last minute, immediately after Redcar had, in their opinion, been denied a clear-cut free-kick deep in opposition territory. Against the USA, Redcar had goal attempts cleared off the line and they also hit the woodwork. It just wasn't to be Redcar's day.

Dixon admits he was surprised to see the USA team take the title, especially after his own team had come so close to beating them earlier in the competition.

"We thought they weren't that good. We were a little bit unlucky, we could've been in the final."

Redcar lost the third place play-off to Denmark 4-2, although the previous night's shenanigans may have had a part to play.

"The lads had gone nightclubbing. They were a little bit worse for wear," admitted Dixon.