Over the weekend the AFC Bournemouth Warriors headed to Nottingham for their latest round of powerchair football fixtures, recording three wins and a draw from their four matches.
Sitting second in the league table ahead of the matches– all 12 teams in the Muscular Dystrophy UK Championship meet up for batches of fixtures at the Lee Westwood Sports Centre in Nottingham over the season – the Warriors were looking to solidify their place near the top of the division and put pressure on Manchester United at the league summit.
Here’s a summary of the Warriors’ matches over a successful weekend:
AFC Bournemouth Warriors 7 – 1 Middlesbrough
A dominant first half set the Warriors on their way to an opening win against a Boro side bottom of the league, with Ryan scoring twice, Regan scoring once and a debut goal for Abbie towards the end. Matt stole the headlines with a hat-trick, the final goal of which came after some great triangle work with Matt able to finish off the move.
Electric Eels 0 – 3 AFC Bournemouth Warriors
Ryan scored the opener from a good Regan assist, and while Regan went close the lead was just a single goal at the break. The Eels were defending solidly, but after Ryan had doubled the lead Regan wrapped up the win as he scored at the end of a four-pass move.
AFC Bournemouth Warriors 1 – 1 Bolton Bullets
It was roles reversed as Ryan set up Regan for the first goal against the mid-table Bullets and the Warriors led at the interval. A powerful Bolton shot levelled the scores, however, and Bournemouth were unable to find a late winner.
Nottingham Forest 1 – 6 AFC Bournemouth Warriors
As Sunday’s two games came to a close, Ryan was in form again, scoring four against Forest in another big win. Already two-goals up, a defensive mistake, breaking the three in the box rule, give Forest a route back into the game, but further Warriors goals, including two from Matt, one coming from a good Adam assist, ensured a winning end to the weekend.
Muscular Dystrophy UK Championship - Top Six
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | |
| Manchester United PFC | 18 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 73 | 50 |
| AFC Bournemouth Warriors | 17 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 40 |
| Norwich City | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 37 |
| Muscle Warriors PFC | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 35 |
| WBA Dudley | 18 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 31 |
| Bolton Bullets | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 29 |
Heading back down to Bournemouth after the fixtures, the Warriors remain second in the league table, now three points clear of Norwich City in the third, but trail Manchester United at the head of the standings by ten points, though the Warriors do have a game in hand.
The Warriors will next head up to Nottingham in early May for four more big matches, which include a fixture against Manchester United on the Saturday.
