Business Fives returns as Bakers bag the Leicester title
After an 18 month wait Business Fives Leicester event got underway in an event that proved to be worth the wait. 19 companies took part in the first post lockdown Business Fives event serving up a cracker with 147 goals across 52 matches and a combined £2,984 raised for charity to top it off.
Leicester Cup Hero Matt Elliott watched the action before entertaining the players with stories from his playing career in the post match debrief and awards presentation.
The most coveted trophy of the day was for hotly contested off the pitch for the Top Fundraiser award as the teams rallied to move their fundraising efforts from £354 at the start of kick off to ultimately raise £2,984 for local charities. Over a third of that total came through the fundraising efforts of Geary’s Bakeries who raised £1,000 for their chosen charity JDRF. Balfour Beatty came a commendable second donating £750 for the Charity Air Ambulance who were well supported at the event and Breedon Group were in third position raising £410 for Alzheimer Society.
The tournament was played in good spirits with the standard of attack and defence rising as the three spots up for grabs at the National final got within touching distance and each goal became ever crucial.
It was the Anthony James team who went unbeaten as they set up a Champions League section final against top fundraisers, Geary’s Bakeries who were crowned Leicester Champions. They saw off stiff competition in the semi finals from both Dunelm and Pick Everard who were finding their form up to that point.
With passage to the national finals in the bag already by reaching the final Leicester bragging rights were all to play for as the match was watched on by Matt Elliott. The game finished 1 nil to Geary’s with a Mahadi Mohammad goal enough to seal victory for the Bakers as Matt Elliot singled him out as the man of the match in the final.
In the Ladies Player of the tournament award Tetra Tech star player Emma Aspinall was singled out by Matt as the best of the bunch with a host of quality on show.
In the Europa League section semi-finals HSBC faced off against Mazars while Breedon Group took on Design MEP.
The final was a tense encounter between HSBC and the Keep It Simple team from Breedon Group with the Breedon Group team holding their nerve to win on penalties after the match finished 2-2 and secure the last place up for grabs at the National final. Tournament top goal scorer from HSBC Daniel Toone helped himself to a couple in the final on his way to lifting the award.
The action continues on Thursday as the events move to Birmingham before further events in Hull and Leeds this month. The action will move to the golf course with Business Fours throughout October and further Business Esports online gaming events before Business Fives returns to the pitch in November with further events in Sheffield, Nottingham, Liverpool and Stoke.
