Silver for Boys' U11 Team at Craigclowan Tournament

Silver Medals Earned by the Belhaven Hill U11 Boys Team

We got off early and headed up to Perthshire for the Craigclowan 7s Hockey tournament. We arrived and headed up to the pitches to warm up. We were up against Merchiston first, as the whistle blew it took a while for Belhaven boys to get themselves into the game. Merchiston managed to sneak past our defence and score the first goal. This woke the boys up and we soon managed to get a superb equalizer. Wilbur lifting the ball and Ollie hitting it in the air into the back of the net. We managed to get another goal before the final whistle, Charlie crossing the ball along the back line for it to be slotted into the goal.

After a short break between matches and a quick sip of Lucozade we went onto play Craigclowan. They had a strong team and after we had seen them warming up, we knew it was going to be a tough match. We were 1 – 0 down at half time and after a quick chat something seemed to have clicked and in the second half the boys played some of the best hockey that I have ever seen by them. They kept in space and used their quick passes to get the ball into the D. Hector showed incredible skill dodging and dribbling the ball down the wing to cross it to Wilbur and Ollie, and Ollie was quick to fire the ball into the goal. The boys then were awarded a PC and everything went to plan with Hector receiving the ball back from Ollie and sweeping the ball in behind the goalie. Before the final whistle went Ollie scored another great goal.

With no break between matches we had to play Fettes next, whom we had unfortunately lost to two days before. Hamish managed his team and made sure that the players were marked before they got into the D. The teams were evenly matched and we came away with a 0-0 draw. Harry and his defenders – Tristan, Hamish and Geordie – not letting the Fettes ball strike and were a wall blocking any short corners! We then had a nervous wait to see if Belhaven were top of their group and into the final – and after the last match was played, we knew we had made it through.

We were up against Cargilfield in the final. We took some time to get use to their game play and they managed to score 3 goals in the first half. At half time we talked about how we needed to mark every player. The second half was definitely our game and Cargilfield felt the pressure and had to pass the ball back to their defenders. Ollie was quick to put the pressure on and we kept the ball down in their D. Belhaven were awarded a short corner and the boys knew what they needed to do. A strong push out by Hector to Wilbur who passed back to Hector and he swept it into the goal. It was a brilliant day and wonderful to come away with the silver medals, the boys played amazingly!

Man of the tournament: All the boys played incredibly well but a special shout out to Hector for superb stick skills and game awareness and Ollie for brilliant deflections into goal.

Boys' Hockey: U11 Hockey Tournament at Craigclown