New Newcastle Champions as NBS lift crown
New Newcastle Champions as NBS lift crown
Business Fives summer season in England kicked off on Friday with the first of 9 events across the country.
Where three Newcastle based firms NBS, Orange Bus and DFDS qualified for the National final which will take place in Leeds later this summer. The corporate football events with a charitable impact saw Square One Law lift the top fundraiser award by raising £210 for their chosen cause, Sick Children’s Trust.
Toon legend Malcolm ‘Supermac’ MacDonald an ambassador for the events was on hand to select the man of the match in the final as well, which went to Ewan Simpson from NBS, as share stories from his illustrious playing career.
On the pitch, it was NBS and DFDS who set the early pace-setting up a thrilling encounter to establish who was the dominant team in the opening group fixtures. It was NBS who came out on top handing them a semi-final match-up against Mandata. The haulage and logistics software providers had been raising funds for Walking with the Wounded with the total currently £175 and counting although this wasn’t enough to prevent an NBS win and them becoming the Newcastle champions.
In the adjacent draw, a standout performance from player of the tournament Lukman Oyebanji helped Orange Bus overcome an earlier defeat to beat DFDS 3-1.
The final saw another standout performance for Orange Bus keeper Lukman who made seven saves in the opening 2 minutes but he couldn’t keep the NBS team at bay as they eventually ran our 4-2 winners thanks to goals from Man of the match Ewan Simpson, chosen by Supermac as he also lifted the top goalscorer award.
As both finalists safely secured their passage to the national final there was a final qualifying spot up for grabs and it was the team from DFDS who grabbed it with both hands as they won by 5-1 against Mandata.
The action continues in Tees Valley this Thursday where Bernie Slaven will be the guest speaker for the day before the event’s debut in Leeds on Tuesday 13th August. Further stops in Sunderland, Merseyside, Sheffield, Hull, Manchester and Birmingham are all scheduled before the national final on October 4th in Leeds. The full line up of events can be found here.
