Dunfermline Carnegie Hockey Club youth teams at under 11 and under 13 were again in action at the Lynch Leisure Centre in Dundee on Sunday 6th March for round two of the Midlands District festival series of both indoor and outdoor versions of the sport.
This was the second of the planned four indoor rounds and Carnegie entered three teams into each age group. The U11 four-a-side teams for Carnegie were
CARNEGIE RED: Theo Wood, Ewan Cameron, Fergus Bond, Grace Wood & Joshua Love played with great resolve from the start winning their first game against Harris by 5goals to Nil with Joshua (3), Ewan & Theo on target for the Fifers. Game 2 against Junior Hockey Academy Strikers was a much closer affair but again Carnegie triumphed by 2 goals to 1 with both strikes coming from the stick of Joshua. Game three against a very useful Dundee Wanderers team resulted in a 1 – 2 defeat in a good fast game that could have gone either way, Carnegies scorer was Joshua. The defeat spurred the red’s on and in the next game against Perth Patriots they took complete control and the pressure exerted resulted in a 7 – 0 well deserved win with goals from Joshua (5), Theo and Fergus. Perhaps it was a combination of the big effort expended in the previous game and tiring legs but the red’s played well below their potential in game five against Junior Hockey Academy Strikers conceding four goals without reply but a lesson learned for the future that all-out attack on tiring legs leaves the team exposed to break-away goals. Three wins and two defeats at this early stage of the season was never-the-less an acceptable performance.
CARNEGIE BLACK: Alexander Thomson, Rhiannan Millar, Sophie Love, Maya Millar also got off to a flying start winning their opening game against Perth Saints by 6 goals to 2 with strikes from Alexander (4), William and Theo. Game two against Kinross Cobras was an entertaining affair with both teams demonstrating some excellent teamwork but Carnegie Black had the final say with a 3 – 2 win with goals from Alexander (2) and Maya. Game three against Grove Menzieshill Athill was keenly fought but a couple of mistakes in front of goal resulted in a 1 – 3 defeat, Maya being the sole Carnegie scorer. Game four saw Carnegie get back on the rails against Kinross Sharks with a 2 – 0 win, both strikes coming from Alexander. Game five against Junior Hockey Academy ended as a 0 – 2 defeat but a similar performance to that of the Carnegie red’s with three wins and two defeats was more than acceptable.
CARNEGIE WHITE: Laura Wood, Sean Collier, Ryan Dempsey, William Poole. Once again, just like the other two Carnegie squads, started well winning their opener against Kinross Sharks by the only goal of the game scored by Ryan then in game two they followed up with a good 3 – 2 win against Grove Menzieshill Pumas with goals by Ryan and Sean but unlike Red’s and Blacks the stumble in game three did not occur with a win against Junior Hockey Academy Titans by 2 goals to 1scored by Maya and Ryan. The stumble was not far away however as in game four Kinross Cobras were the victors by 2 goals to 1in a close fought game, Whites goal scored by Ryan. The fifth and final game resulted in a very good 5 – 1 win against Perth Saints with strikes by Ryan (2), Laura, William and Sean so on paper at least Carnegie Whites were the most successful with four wins and only one defeat.
All three teams demonstrated the depth of talent that the Carnegie club holds, a talent that will continue to flourish.
In the afternoon it was the turn of the U13’s to show what they could do. Again Carnegie entered three teams into this five-a-side event (Longer match time and larger pitch). With three players failing to appear volunteers were asked for from those who had just finished the U10 event and with Theo Wood and Joshua Love jumping up and down for selection (They want to play EVERY game) and William Poole also pushing to the front full squads were assured
CARNEGIE RED: Robbie Breeze, Dylan Koletsas, Danny Finlayson, Grace Wood & Laura Wood showed the way by beating Grove Menzieshill Athill in their first game by 5 goals to Nil with strikes by Robbie (2), Dylan (2) and Danny. Games two and three did not go quite so well but the team performance and application was a credit to all players. Game two was a 5 – 3 defeat by Harris, goals by Dylan (2) and Danny and game three was a defeat to Blairgowrie by 3 goals to Nil.
CARNEGIE BLACK: AndrewMilne, Cy Simpson, Adam Lowe, William Poole, Erin Bricall and Joshua Love was a young development squad playing for experience which found the going tough against bigger and faster players but to their credit they gave their all in all three games which opened with a 1 – 5 defeat to Kinross Cobras – scorer William. Game two against Madras saw the team go down by 5 goals to Nil and game three against Dundee Wanderers was much closer fought but still Carnegie lost by 3 goals to 2 – scorers Andrew and William.
CARNEGIE WHITE: Austin Watson, Theo Wood, Alexander Thomson, Rachel Robertson and Megan Thomson also had what can be best described as an “off-day” going down 6 – 3 to Kinross Sharks in game one (scorers – Alexander (2), Austin). Game two against Junior Hockey Academy Strikers saw the team ship five goals without reply and game three against Grove Menzieshill Pumas finished 2 – 4 (Scorers – Alexander and Austin).
Not such a good day for our U13’s but plenty more to come as players continue to improve their skill and their understanding of the game.