WALES Veterans finished as runners-up to England after taking an 18-man squad to the Home International Tournament at Manchester City's training ground.
The squad prepared for the games with regular training sessions at Cardiff City's House of Sport ahead of a busy schedule.
In a tight first game on Friday evening Wales were edged out by last season's champions England 2-0 while Northern Ireland and Scotland played out 0-0 draw.
All sides were back in action on Saturday afternoon when England put Scotland to the sword with a 4-1 victory and Wales were victorious against a very strong Northern Ireland squad, winning 2-1 with the prolific Vince Lewis of Penybont grabbing both goals .
Everything was set up for a winner-takes-all final day on a very warm Sunday and the 11am kick off times would really test the fitness of the veterans.
In a very quick and competitive game Wales took a 1-0 lead into the break against Scotland thanks to an edge of the box screamer from Keith Williams of Merthyr but the Scots equalised on 55 minutes.
With 18 minutes left Wales captain Laurence Owen of Newport looked like he had won the game with a towering header from a corner but agonisingly Scotland levelled matters in the last minute of the game as the game finished 2-2.
England managed to edge out the Irish 2-1 to retain the trophy that they won last year in Merthyr. Wales finished as very creditable runners-up.
The second-placed finish was testament to the Welsh squad's fitness and quality; with just a bit of luck on the Friday evening they could have got something from the England game that would have given them the title.
The Wales Vets have several more fixtures this year and have tours to Majorca and Valencia lined up where they will play a number of games. They have already started planning for next year's tournament that will be held in Scotland .
The Wales Veterans now have 36 league teams spread across South Wales in age groups starting at Over-40s and up to Over-60s. Details can be found on their website walesveteransfootball.co.uk
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