Plus Accounting Team (L-R)
Back: Nick Short, Mark Horsfield, Alex Koupland, Chris Morey, James Hooper
Front: Hayley Nash, Victoria Peacock, Stanley Fowler
On Thursday 18 April 2019, Plus Accounting took part in the annual ThoughtShift football tournament in aid of the Clock Tower Sanctuary. On a sunny day before the Easter bank holiday weekend, the team had their sights set on retaining the trophy!
Despite a few last-minute drop outs, this year’s ThoughtShift football tournament saw a total of 6 teams taking part making it bigger and better than ever! The sun was shining and after each team had registered and warmed up it was 2pm and it was time for kick off!
Match 1: Plus Accounting 2-1 ABN Amro
Plus Accounting’s first opponents were ABN Amro. After an even start to the game, ABN Amro took the lead and so we rotated the team and brought on Stan and James. The fresh pair of legs seemed effective with Stan equalising almost immediately after coming on. Then a few minutes later Nick saw his shot fly into the top corner giving us a winning start to the competition!
Match 2: Trusted Housesitters 1-1 Plus Accounting
The games were 12 minutes long without any half time intervals and this game saw both teams start fast with two goals coming within the first few minutes. This time we took the lead with Alex grabbing himself a goal however they quickly levelled. Chris made a few fantastic saves with the help of the post and therefore neither side could find a winner as the game ended in a draw.
Match 3: Plus Accounting 1-0 Seed Publicity
Game three saw Plus Accounting put in their best performance of the tournament so far which earnt us a 1-0 win. The margin of victory could have been much bigger however the opposition keeper was in an inspired form keeping us out on a numerous amount of occasions. Even when we did beat the keeper the post stood in between us and the opening goal with both Mark and Stan hitting the woodwork. Our patience was finally rewarded though when Stan’s strike hit the back of the net.
Match 4: RocketMill 0-2 Plus Accounting
Our final two games in the group saw Plus Accounting come up against some familiar faces with both RocketMill and iCrossing being in our group in the 2018 tournament. RocketMill were also the team we beat in the final of last year’s tournament so no doubt we were looking for the same outcome this time around. Thankfully for us, history repeated itself as we claimed a 2-0 victory thanks to a brace from Stan, which all but sealed our place in the top four of the table.
Match 5: iCrossing 0-1 Plus Accounting
The fifth and final game in the league was against the eventual winners, iCrossing. Going into this game both Plus Accounting and iCrossing were unbeaten and it meant the winner would claim top spot in the table. Both teams looked dangerous going forward however it was Stan who slotted the ball into the net to give us the narrow advantage. Hayley and James stood firm in defence and thanks to some great saves by Chris we managed to seal not only the win but our third clean sheet in a row.
A total of 13 points out of a possible 15 (W4 D1 L0) meant we finished top of the table and in doing so set up a Semi Final match against 4th placed Trusted Housesitters.
Semi Final
Trusted Housesitters 4-0 Plus Accounting
Plus Accounting went through the whole league unbeaten, winning against every team in the tournament except a draw to Trusted Housesitters who we typically would face in the Semi Final. A shaky start saw us fall a goal behind and as the minutes passed we went further forward in search for an equaliser. Fatigue seemed to hit the team and when we were caught on the break we saw the score grow further beyond our reach, finishing in a 4-0 defeat, meaning our shot at retaining the title was gone.
A great effort from the Plus Accounting team who did themselves proud with a total of 4 wins in 6, claiming top spot in the league! We may have won the league, but the overall winners of the cup were iCrossing who won on penalties in the final. The presentation of the shield was handed over from us to iCrossing and the player of the tournament was announced.
Well done to all those who took part and thanks to ThoughtShift for a well-run charity event! We look forward to bringing the shield back to our offices next year.
Written by James Hooper