As the saying goes, you never lose your touch, and two Bristol City legends have shown can still deliver on the field by playing starring roles in a title-winning side.
Scott Murray and Louis Carey were influential as 3 Lions, the Bedminster pub team, won the Gloucestershire FA Sunday Premier Cup on Tuesday night with a penalty shootout success against Sportsman on the Oaklands Park 3G in Almondsbury.
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In a game that was a fantastic advert for Sunday football, 44-year-old Murray and 42-year-old Carey, City’s record appearance holder , showed that while most ex-professionals are reluctant to drop down to grassroots football after they retire, these two ex-Robins still have the fitness and desire to carry on playing.
Indeed, for Murray, there is the added pleasure of playing alongside his teenage son, Jay, who showed plenty of skill and confidence on the ball on the right wing, just like his dad used to in the red of City.
Sportsman looked the more likely winners for much of the game, thanks to two goals from Kye Simpson, one from his brother Kane and another from Zayd Muhammed.
But Murray, who scored the first 3 Lions goal with a header from a deep Jamie Johnson cross, and Carey came to the rescue for 3 Lions, whose second goal was a superb 40-yard chipped effort from Karim Rendall.
There were many brilliant goals in the game, but none better than the one scored by Carey, whose left-foot curler from the edge of the penalty area found the top corner of the net and gave 3 Lions renewed hope.
Then, with nine minutes remaining, Murray, now Bristol City kitman after retiring in 2012, finished off a slick move by sliding the ball past Sportsman goalkeeper Peter Bradbury from 12 yards, before racing off towards the corner flag where he was soon mobbed by his jubilant teammates.
Sportsman came agonisingly close to winning the game in stoppage-time as Muhammed’s free-kick struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down on to the goalline before being cleared.
In the shootout, Murray and Carey confidently converted the first and third of the 3 Lions spot-kicks, while Asa White, Josh Knight and Johnson were also successful in a 5-3 success.
As 3 Lions celebrated wildly, with chants of, "feed, feed, feed the Lions" from their supporters, Carey took time out to console Samir Shaffu, whose missed spot-kick for Sportsman proved decisive..
Victory completed an amazing few days for 3 Lions, whose reserve side won the GFA Sunday Minor Cup last Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Boss at Stonehouse Town FC.
