England Supporters Club

Turin fans friendly: 31st March 2015

Posted by Team England at 14:34 on Wednesday 22 April 2015

The match against Italy had been arranged for early afternoon on match-day and was played at the Turin AFC Club located West of the City Centre.

The Italian team captain, Andrea De Benedetti met the England team in the Piazza Castello and escorted the team to the stadium by bus. The England changing room was awash with new faces many of whom are new to the England Supporters Club, having signed up for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and finals.

Italy got the match underway and immediately took the game to England. The Italians looked good technically and despite being direct with their approach play, kept the ball on the floor rather than playing balls over the top. Both teams had good spells during the opening exchanges but it was Italy who raced to a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes of kick-off.

However, England didn’t panic and soon got back into the game courtesy of a neat finish from Craig Tullis after a well worked one-two with father Barrie. The celebrations were fairly short lived though as Italy restored their two goal lead within minutes following a great counter attacking move; the No.10 stealing the ball on the half way line and breaking through the English defence to provide an easy finish for his Italian strike partner.

Despite temperatures of 25c on pitch-side, the pace of the game didn’t drop. Louis Minter replaced Chris Brook in attack and quickly made an impression, combining well with Alex Moore to win a penalty which he converted before half time, making the score 3-2 going into the break.

As is often the case, that goal before half time gave England the impetus going into the second-half and it wasn’t long before the equaliser came. Chris Brook had been reintroduced as part of a three man attack and calmly slotted home from 10 yards out from a Craig Tullis cross.

As the Italians began to tire, the pace of Craig Tullis caused all sorts of problems and he put England 4-3 up mid-way into the second half, this time being put through by Louis Minter.

With about 10 minutes remaining England extended their lead. A cynical handball on the edge of the D resulted in a free kick from around 25 yards out – up stepped Captain Dane Cloke who hammered home a wonder goal following a clever lay-off from Barrie Tullis. The icing on the cake was delivered by Craig Tullis who completed his hat-trick in style, running from his own half and beating two players before finishing past the Italian keeper.

The afternoon finished off with a short presentation to thank our Italian hosts for a great game of football, their excellent sportsmanship and superb hospitality which concluded with a post-match beer (or two) in the club house.

If you would like to get involved in the fan-friendly activities please email your name, age and preferred playing position to: fanfriendly@mac1.net.

Pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6hP4nj