On Friday 22nd September 2017, BHW Solicitors took part in the annual charity five-a-side football tournament organised by Bibby Financial Services held at the Goals Soccer Centre in Evington. This year’s tournament was held to support the worthwhile cause of Leicester charity Wishes 4 Kids.
The tournament consisted of 14 teams divided into three divisions. BHW were drawn in the same group as fellow law firm Spearing Waite, local accountants and business advisers Cedar Business Solutions and Cambridge and Counties Bank.
We kicked off the tournament against Spearing Waite in a clash of local law firms. Determined to lay down a marker from the offset, the team attacked from the start and this paid dividends with an early goal scored with a neat finish by Michael Lam. Despite a strong performance from Spearing Waite’s goalkeeper, BHW were not to be denied and composed finishing (including four goals from Brandon Pickard and a goal by Oliver Deidricke-Hunte) meant the game finished 6 – 0 to BHW.
BHW’s second game was against Cedar Business Solutions. With the team buoyed by their performance in the first game, the game plan was to continue where we left off. Paul Davis opened the scoring with a precise shot from distance and after Farhaan Pathan added three goals and Brandon scored again, another clean sheet gave BHW a 5 – 0 victory.
The final game against Cambridge and Counties Bank was a decider to see who would finish top of the division. Unfortunately BHW never got going in the final game and Cambridge and Counties won 2 – 0. Special mention to goalkeeper Sukhpal Bhamrah for keeping the score respectable. The final result meant BHW finished 2nd in the division and qualified for the quarter-finals.
In an interesting turn of events, due to the nature of the results across the 3 divisions, BHW were drawn against Cambridge and Counties Bank in the quarter-finals. With the defeat in the last game fresh on the team’s mind, everyone was desperate to make amends. In what was a competitive game, a strong defensive performance and two goals from Brandon gave BHW a 2 – 1 victory and progress into the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals BHW were drawn against insolvency specialists and last year’s champions Begbies Traynor. Begbies in fact travelled up from Essex which shows their level of commitment. Despite a strong performance from the BHW team, it was not enough to prevent Begbies Traynor from recording a 3 – 0 win and progressing to the final.
This was the first time BHW have entered Bibby’s annual tournament and we would like to say a huge thank you to Bibby Financial Services for organising such a successful event. Congratulations to all the players in the BHW team for a strong and respectable performance.