Fantasy football

Jenny Foulds Mike Farrell - 1623 • Published 26 Aug 2008 10:30

Lennox Dumbarton 0 Al-Jazira 19

THIS was fantasy football at its finest - a church team made up of students, a teacher, and a doctor-come-goalie, against a cast of superstar pros worth millions.

But this game was not make-believe - it actually happened.

The incredible friendly match was played between amateurs Lennox Dumbarton FC, and the best team in the United Arab Emirates, Al Jazira.

Playing a game against a side worth £40m, on a top quality pitch with a background of snow-tipped mountains in Austria, was not a run-of-the-mill fixture for Lennox Dumbarton.

And although the church league side lost 19-0 - with an extra man on the park - it was still the game of the part-time players" lives.

Sat Bance, the player-manager of Lennox Dumbarton, is still pinching himself to see if it all really happened.

He told the Reporter: 'It was just absolutely incredible, but at the same time surreal.

'We"re used to playing on small muddy pitches in the pouring rain, and this was just on another planet.

'I had said to the lads before we started: "Look, if we"re losing 25-0 at half time, we can just call it a day," but we were only losing by 10 at half time, which was brilliant.'

Not even a nasty cartilage injury could prevent the 35-year-old Cardross Primary teacher from playing against Al Jazira, who are currently trying to sign Brazilian superstar Roberto Carlos.

Dutch internationalist Philip Cocu - who played for Barcelona - had only recently left the Arab side, while George Weah, former World Player of the Year and AC Milan goal-machine finished his career there.

In contrast, Lennox Dumbarton has been going for three years and finished 11th in the Third Division of the Evangelical Churches League.

The Lennox Dumbarton is part of the Burgh"s Lennox Evangelical Church and is made-up of students from the Burgh and the Vale.

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This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 26 Aug 08

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