Chichester City's old dogs taught some new tricks

A total of 17 veteran players, who had played for Chichester over the past 40 years, turned up for the historic clash and the large crowd were treated to a few glimpses of the old City brilliance.

Grahame Vick, who had previously played and coached at Chichester, took charge of the vets and his pre-match instructions were to play narrow, conserve energy and keep the ball.

However the fit Chichester reserves were quickly into their stride and had a comfortable 5-0 lead at half-time, with only Shane Mott coming close to scoring for the vets.

The vets settled better in the second half and with the wind behind them they started to play some neat football with Mott scoring a sublime goal on the hour.

The reserves picked up two more goals following errors in the vets’ defence before Martin Smith scored a late goal from a corner to make it 7-2.

Vets Sean Forry and Chris Heath had to eat humble pie after the game as their sons Morgan and Correy both played a key role for the reserves, although Sean took some comfort from the defeat as he manages the reserve team.

The organiser of the vets, Paul Stevens, said: “It was great to get back on the pitch with some of the City players from yesteryear and it was also good to see some familiar faces in the crowd.

“We all had a thoroughly enjoyable day despite the result and hopefully we gained a few more supporters and volunteers for the club.”

VETS: P Stevens, M Smith, N Holder, S Mott, C Heath, M Luff, D Barnes, D Matthews, C Muller, P Knight, M Harwood, G Macey, P Collins, B Kilner, G Pearce, B Hauxwell, S Forry.

CITY RES: T Cowell, C McGreal, L Prior, C Heath, M Trinder, F Smith, T Groom, A Barton, J Manners, M Forry, T Bigwood, D Walker, B Bowton, N Hubert, C Mmaduka, S Davidson.

VINNIE SMITH