Sportsbeat reporter taught footballing lesson in Manchester

 By Nick Clowes, Sportsbeat

DESPITE lacing my boots up each Sunday morning, hurtling around a blustery field for 90 minutes and occasionally kicking the ball rather than someone else's shins, I've never claimed to be any good at the nation's favourite game.

NO HOLDING BACK: Sportsbeat's Nick Clowes shows no fear in a 50-50 challenge with up-and-coming George Fletcher at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester

Football is my passion, it's what I think about, talk about and - thanks to my employment - write about on a regular basis.

But when it comes to playing it, I'm as error-prone as the cumbersome Titus Bramble, have the mobility of an aging Jan Molby and have a ‘trademark' move which involves me kicking it as far as I can in roughly the right direction.

However, when invited to join the BT and Lord's Taverners celebrity and media team for an exhibition match at last week's BT Paralympic World Cup, I naturally jumped at the chance.

The assembled bunch - including ex-Manchester United and Wales midfielder Clayton Blackmore - would take on England's Cerebral Palsy Development Team.

Seven-a-side football was included in the Paralympic World Cup for the first time this year with the Great Britain representatives securing bronze and this game was designed to give the next generation - who we were told were extremely raw - a chance to grab the limelight.

So it was surely just a case of our team turning up, giving them a game and going easy on them. How wrong could I have been?

"You do know youse are gonna get beat dontcha?" was the welcome I got from Scouser George Fletcher, followed by a cheeky grin.

It didn't stop there. "You're not wearing shinpads?" he said as we lined up to go out onto the pitch. "You're gonna regret that."