Carnegie U10s & U12s at it again – by Keith Forster


Due largely to the short notice given for the Watsonians U10 and U12 tournament for Sunday 13th March our club struggled to find enough players to fill the four teams entered.

For four full teams we needed a total of 24 players – five-a-side for the two U10 teams and seven-a-side for the two U12 teams but only twenty had made themselves available so we were in trouble from the off.

First event up was the U10 main event starting at 0915 on the Astro tennis courts at George Watsons College, Edinburgh.

Our team, CARNEGIE SWALLOWS, managed by Matt Bond comprised of Christopher Tweddle, Theo Wood, William Poole, Fergus Bond, Grace Wood and Rhiannon Millar and played in the 12 team event split into two groups of six teams dominated , as one may expect from a school-based tournament, by no fewer than SEVEN P5/6 teams from Watsons who play together each week as part of their P.E.sessions.

All games had an eight minute duration and our opening game was against a strong team from CALA which our team matched for skill and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, umpiring that was not strict enough on ‘feet’ prevented a number of goals at both ends of the pitch.  On the final whistle both sides were still tied at 2 – 2 thanks to goals scored by Christopher and Theo.

Game two against Watsonians White was kept to a mere 2 – 0 score-line in favour of Carnegie due to the lax umpiring though to be honest Swallows dominated for most of the game with goals from Christopher and Fergus.

Game three against Watsonians Pink was just as one-sided and ended 4 – 0 to Swallows with Theo (2), Fergus and William on target for Carnegie.

Game four against Waverley was a much tighter affair but the ability of Swallows to defend solidly and attack in numbers eventually paid off with a well-deserved 1 – 0 victory with William netting that important goal.

Game five against Watsonians Green was another master-class with the irrepressible Swallows running out 4 – 0 winners with goals from Theo (2), Fergus and Rhiannan.

When the points were tallied up Swallows and CALA were tied on 23 points a-piece and with both teams having played out a draw when they met it was down to goal difference.  With Swallows recording a difference of 11 and CALA 12 it was CALA who proceeded to the Final against Inverleith Cougars who won the other group.  Swallows therefore had to be content to play Grange for 3rd and 4th overall.

The game was a close affair and a goal halfway through by Theo seemed to be enough until Grange netted an equalizer with twenty seconds of the game remaining.  Both sides therefore finished THIRD EQUAL overall – a great result in the 12 team event.

First equal in the group and third equal overall was a good performance.

Whilst all this excitement was going on our U12 Development squad, CARNEGIE TORNADOS were competing in the 12 team P6/7 event on the main Astro pitch with Calum Wood in charge.  The squad comprising of Adam Prosser, Cy Simpson, Adam Lowe, Andrew Milne, Austin Watson, Robbie Breeze, Laura Wood, Rosie Joiner, Maya Millar and Emily Bond started tentatively against Erskine Stewarts Melville allowing them too much space in front of goal and found themselves 2 – 0 down by halfway through the ten minute game but from there on, and with gaps plugged, Tornados came right back into the game and a goal by Adam Prosser brought hope but the equalizer could not be found.

Game two against Inverleith Tigers got better and better for Tornados as players got used to one-another’s play putting the opponents under more and more pressure and a goal by Adam Prosser two minutes from time sealed the 1 – 0 win.

Game three against Watsonians Blue produced some excellent passing play by tornados who dominated much of the game and a 5 – 1 win resulted with goals from Robbie (2), Emily, Cy and Austin.

Game fours opponents were Watsonians Green which produced good play from both teams but Tornados edged it with a 3 – 1 victory and goals from Adam Lowe, Robbie and Cy.

Game five against Watsonians Orange was a lower scoring game than it should have been with Tornados missing a number of chances but they did enough to record a comfortable 3 – 1 victory.

The count-back showed that initial defeat was costly and with 21 points we finished one point behind ESM so went forward to the 3rd/4th play-off match against Grange who had lost out to CALA in their section of the draw.  The play-off was a close fought affair with both sides making scoring opportunities but missing for one reason or another.  The final whistle sounded with teams locked on a 0 – 0 scoreline so both sides were awarded a THIRD EQUAL placing overall.

A better opening game could have made all the difference but runner-up in the league and a 3rd equal placing was a very creditable performance.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the U10 P4/5 teams and the U12 P7 teams to show what they could do.  Knowing we were short of players a number of those who had already played were asked to double-up and play again for which we thank them.

Our U10 squad led again by Matt Bond took the field as CARNEGIE SWIFTS and playing were Ryan Dempsey, Sean Collier, Fergus Bond, Cece Joiner, Susie Bond and Rhiannan Millar. 

Game one against CALA ended as a 2 – 2 draw with good play raging from end to end throughout, Swift’s goals were scored by Ryan (2).

Game two against Watsonians Green produced a deserved win to Swifts by 2 goals to 1, thanks to two strikes by Sean and overall good play as a team,

Game three against Watsonians Pale Blue was a solid performance in defence with good break-away moves giving Swifts a 4 – 0 victory with goals from Ryan (3) and Cece.

Game four against Watsonians White Was perhaps the hardest game of the afternoon but Swifts played well enough to secure a 1 – 0 victory courtesy of a goal from Ryan.

Game five against Watsonians Yellow was the ‘icing on the cake’ resulting in a 6 – 0 victory with strikes from Ryan (4), Cece and Fergus.

The count-back showed Swifts and CALA tied on 23 points and with the two teams having drawn when they played and goal differences being the same it was the fact that CALA had scored one goal more than us that took them through to the Final and left Swifts having to play-off for 3rd/4th place.  Swifts capped off their afternoon by winning by 3 goals to 1 with goals from Ryan (2) and Cece.

The third THIRD PLACE of the day was another huge success story – well done everyone.

The final hope for silverware rested on the shoulders of CARNEGIE TYPHOONS in the U12 main event of the day guided by Keith Forster and Calum Wood.  The squad were all playing their second event of the day with Sally Tweddle joining after having played for our club U14’s at Forresters school in the morning and William Poole, Christopher Tweddle, Grace Wood and Theo Wood having played for Carnegie Swallows U10’s plus Andrew Milne, Austin Watson, Robbie Breeze, Maya Millar, Emily Bond and Rosie Joiner having played for Carnegie Tornados U12’s earlier in the day.

With nine teams competing in fifteen minute games Carnegie Typhoons were drawn in pool one with four other teams.  The need for a squad of 11 in the seven-a-side event was because Carnegie was being asked to play four games back-to-back on already tiring legs.  Typhoons got down to the task very well demonstrating some excellent passing play and defensive work resulting in a 2 – 1 win against Inverleith Pumas in the opening game with goals by Andrew Milne (2).

Game two against Borders 1 was just as impressive and a similar 2 – 1 win was recorded against a good team, goals from Robbie and Maya this time.

Game three against Grange was a tough game with Typhoons beginning to visibly slow down.  An early strike by Robbie was unfortunately countered by a goal from Grange after our star defender Sally had to leave the field with a hand injury.  Emily Bond also had to leave the pitch when a recent knee injury flared up again but the team held on for a 1 – 1 draw.

Game four against Watsonians Blue was going well when Christopher had to leave due to injury and a game that should have produced a win for Typhoons ended as a 1 – 1 draw. Goal scored by Austin.

Two wins and two draws put Typhoons into the semi-final against the winners of the other group, CALA.

CALA held the upper hand for most of the game due to Typhoons flagging fitness levels but they did enough to stop CALA from scoring but unfortunately that meant entering “Golden Goal” extra time.  For seven minutes Typhoons took the play to the opposition setting up at least four chances but CALA were to have the last say scoring a goal on eight minutes to progress to the Final.

Typhoons entered the 3rd/4th play-off game against Watsonians Blue looking very “second hand” after their extended day and it looked very much as they were also going to finish third equal until the ball in a goalmouth scramble right at the end of the game was tipped home to give Watsonians the third place accolade

To get all four teams into a top four play-offs and come away with three third places and a fourth was a huge effort from everyone.  From a coaches point of view all of our players gave their all and showed great team spirit especially the players who played in second events and prepared to run themselves into the ground.  The crowd favourite, especially in the final U12 event, was undoubtedly little Theo Wood who showed no fear of players much bigger than himself, a display of non-stop running and a great amount of skill for a player only SEVEN years old.

NEXT EVENT for these age groups is Sunday 4th April at Kinross.