231 7–0 229
Well here we go again, the start of another footie season
The squad, who already know what is expected of them this season, started the season by demolishing the 229. The 1 had scored all their goals before the ref had blown his whistle for half -time. As always at the start of the season the team had a new look about it, with Craig Thompson making his debut, Andrew Jackett in goals and Greg Johnston along with Cameron Walton on the bench. The 1 played very well in the first half, they played as a team and passed the ball extremely well. Jack was defending well giving Andrew very little to do in goals, and before you know it, a hat trick from Ross, 2 goals from Robert, and a brace from Andrew McKerlie, including a shot from the halfway line, in which he nut-megged the keeper. ( Andrews description not mine ). A special mention for Craig who was outstanding from the first minute to the last. His ability to put great crosses into the box, his work rate, his pace, his unselfishness to set up team mates to score when it is easier for himself to score, were exceptional for someone making his debut. It was a very good start to the season from the whole squad, who can only improve with more match practice in the coming weeks.The rest of the teams in this League had better watch out as the 1 are up for the challenge this season.
" WE WELCOME THE CHASE "
Man of the Match - Craig Thompson. It is his first MotM award, but it won't be the his last.
231 7–0 195
The second game of the season went the same way as the first, with the 1 racking up a 7-0 victory before half-time. It was great all round performance by the whole squad. The 1 started in a hurry and raced into a 3 goal lead. Craig added to the lead with his second goal of the game, and then the move of match. If there was a commentator for this game, this would be his commentary. Jackett, comes to the edge of his box, he rolls the ball out to Herbert, Herbert plays a square ball to Walker, lovely through ball by Walker to Johnston, Johnston nice touch to Thompson, Thompson drives forward on the right, great cross by Thompson, McLaughlins in space, he must score, GOAAAAAAALLLLLL, what a move. Craig completed his first hat trick in a 231 shirt, and then Ross completed the rout. In second half Joseph and Robbie made their debuts. Robbie scoring a great goal, Greg scored a well deserved goal and Joseph played his part for the team.
Played 2 won 2
Man of the Match - Andrew McKerlie. He never scored but played great on the left wing.
231 6–4 95/278
The 1 went into this game hoping to start the season with a hat-trick of wins, and for the third game in a row the team started with the same line up. The 95/278 took an early lead, and the 1 fell behind for the first time this season. The way the 95/278 were playing meant the 1 had their work cut out to get a victory. Ross equalized and quickly added his second goal. The game was ebbing and flowing with both sides creating many chances. Another lucky goal by the opposition meant the scores were level. Then Andrew McKerlie put the 1 ahead again, back came the 95/278 to equalise again. It was becoming a really hard fought encounter between 2 sides wanting to win the match. A Robert McLaughlin bullet header managed to give the 1 a 4-3 lead at half time. The 1 were not playing their best, and Stephen had his work cut out to organise them for the second half. The 1 where back to all square just minutes into second half, but they kept playing fooball and went ahead for the fourth time in the match when Ross completed his hat-trick. Both teams were still evenly matched and were creating chance after chance, but the 1 still held on to the narrow lead. Then with two minutes to go, Ross buried the ball in the opposition goal to give the 1 a two goal advantage. It is always a sign of a good team when they win while not playing their best. It was a hard fought victory, a hard fought victory we deserved, a hard fought victory to keep the unbeaten start to season going.
Played 3 Won 3
Man of the Match - Ewan Walker. Welcome back Ewan we have missed you....
231 4-5 16
After a fantastic start to this season, the squad went into this game with there heads held high after 3 straight wins. Today’s opponents were the 16th and from early on our boys knew they were in for a battle. The only change made to our team selection was the insertion of Greg Johnstone as Cameron Walton was rested for this game. The 231 started this game brightly and went in at half time a couple of goals to the good. With only 5 minutes of the second half remaining we were still 2 goals to the good. Unfortunately we lost 3 very quick goals to lose the game 4 – 5.
Man of the Match – Jack Herbert. Purely because of the passion shown after losing.
231 7-0 205
Over the last few years, the games between the 1 and the 205 have been close fought occasions and we were not expecting anything less than this today. From early on, we could see that our worries were unfounded as we quickly got on the score sheet. It wasn’t long after half time that we made it to the magical 7 goal difference to win the game. At this point the 205 put on their subs and we also gave them Ross Johnstone to make it 10 against our 7. All credit goes to Andrew Jackett in goals, as he made some tremendous saves to keep the scoring against us to only 1 goal. Ross Johnstone was not our most popular player today as he scored against us.
Man of the Match – Andrew Jackett (The Cat). He soaked up the pressure today with confidence.
231 8-1 95/278
After a close fought first game victory against the 95/278 and the score line of 6-4, we were expecting a tough outing this morning. Very quickly in the game Ross Johnstone scored the first of his 3 goals he would score today. The rest of the goals in the game came from Craig Thomson, Andrew McKerlie, Robert McLaughlin, Ewan Walker and special mention to Cameron Walton who scored his first goal for the 231 with the last kick of the ball.
Man of the Match – Cameron Walton. He proved the game isn’t over until the last kick of the ball!
231 9-2 205
The coaching staff were looking forward to the 9.15am kick off this morning after celebrating the life of Robert Burns the night before!!! Today saw Robbie McDonald start the game for the first time, rather than be a sub, and his contribution helped the team get to half time with the score line at 5-0. Today also saw the return to the team of Ewan Brown. Welcome back Ewan! Ewan, Oliver and Andrew were introduced to the game half way though the second half coming on for Jack, Robbie and Robert. The scorers for today were Craig Thomson (4), Robert McLaughlin (3), Ewan Walker and Ross Johnstone.
Man of the Match – Craig Thomson. His ability to beat a man as well as his goal returns today.
231 8-1 118
This game was the first time we had played the 118 this season, due to the weather and the 118's lack of numbers. Today was to be no different as we had to give them one of our star young players Greg Johnston to make the numbers even. Two of our younger member, Cameron Walton and Robbie MacDonald, started the game, illustrating their hard work and commitment shown to the coaching staff on a Wednesday night at Woodfarm. Ross Johnston once again opened the scoring with a tremendous shot from the edge of the box. It wasn't long before Ross made it a hat-trick for himself, although Andrew McKerlie caught up very quickly and managed to bag 5 goals himself. Robbie MacDonald didn't put a foot wrong throughout the whole game. The only thing he didn't do was score a goal. He covered every inch of the park, defending his own goal or attacking the opposition goal. The scorers today were Ross Johnston (3) Andrew McKerlie (5) Cameron Walton (1) Ewan Brown (2) Jack Herbert (1) Craig Thomson (2). Ross, maybe you should take a leaf out of Greg’s book and not score against us!!
Man of the Match - Robbie MacDonald. Well done Robbie you showed 100% commitment today let's hope you can continue the good work!
Cathkin District Indoor 5’s
We went into this competition as holders after winning last event. As usual we had 2 teams entered a strong team and a weak team. When you read further down you will see that this year there was very little between the “strong” and “weak” team.
“B” Team
The “B” team were first to play and against the 205 “A” and unfortunately were narrowly defeated 2 – 0. The next game was against the 2nd EK team and our team won the close fought match 1 - 0 after a wonder strike by Cameron Walton. Next was the game against the 95th who narrowly beat us by 1 – 0. Next up were the 16th “B” team, once again we were unfortunate to come out of this game losing 1 – 0. Next up were the 229 “B” team and another victory of 1 - 0 thanks to our star striker Cameron Walton. At this point the coaches are getting quite excited about the chances of progression to the finals. Finally we took on the 195th and came out easy winners with a score of 4 - 0 and once again Cameron Walton showed the way to goal scoring a hat-trick before setting up Greg Johnston for the 4th goal. This partnership shows promise for the next couple of years.
“A” Team
The “A Team started there campaign with a victory of 1 - 0 over the 195th “B”. Next came the game against the 278 which proved a very tough game which eventually finished 0 – 0. Next up came 4 - 0 victory over the 205 “B”. We faltered slightly in the next game and were narrowly defeated by the 229 “A”. Next were the 118 and we made light work of this game by winning 5 - 0 which averaged one goal a minute! Next up we played 5th EK and needed a win to guarantee our place in the semis; unfortunately we dropped one point by drawing 0 - 0. Finally we had a must win game against the 16th “A” and unluckily we drew another game 0 -0.
It was a long wait to see who had qualified but soon Gordon Spence made the announcement. The League that the “B” team were in was announced first and the winner and runner up qualified with 16 points each and we came in a very commendable 3rd place.
Next the results were in for the “A” Teams league the winners were the 278 on 20 points (we were the only team they dropped points to) with us coming in 2nd equal but going through as we had a better goal difference than the 229 “A”.
The Semi Final draw was made and we were drawn against the 95th, the game was played at some speed and both teams came close to taking the lead, there was only about 30 seconds left on the clock when the 95th struck home what was to be the winning goal.
Unfortunately this was the end of our participation this year but with the success of the 2 teams we have a good few seasons to look forward to.
The Teams lined up as follows:
A Team
Andrew McKerlie, Robert McLaughlin, Jack Herbert, Ewan Walker, Ross Johnston and Craig Thomson
B Team
Cameron Walton, Ross Johnston, Cameron Johnstone, Ewan Brown and Robbie MacDonald
231 8–2 229
We went into this game top of the league and could afford no slips ups today. The game started at a very quick pace and it wasn’t long before Andrew McKerlie opened the scoring for the 231. By half time the score line was 5 nil but we struggled at the start of the second half losing 2 quick goals to make the score 5 – 2. Robert McLaughlin replaced Cameron Walton and Greg Johnston replaced Ewan Brown in the 2nd half but Robert’s game was cut short after a high challenge which cut his leg at the knee. The injury to Robert allowed Ewan Brown to come back onto the park. The score ended up 8 – 2 and the scorers today were Andrew McKerlie (2), Ross Johnston (4) and Ewan Brown (2)
MOTM – Ross Johnston showed himself as a true leader of the team with his goals and organisational skills
231 7–0 118
Today started the same way as the game we played against the 118 a few weeks ago, unfortunately they only had 5 players and we gave them Cameron Walton to make it a more balanced game. We came out all guns firing and there wasn’t even 5 minutes on the clock when Robert McLaughlin had scored his 3rd of the 4 goals he scored today. Within the next 10 minutes the game was over after we had gained the necessary 7 goal difference. Stephen instructed the team to use this game as a practice for the next couple of games and the boys showed their understanding of these instructions and the ability to knock the ball about between themselves, although this didn’t stop them scoring a few more before half time. At half time we changed things about Greg Johnston came on at half time, Cameron Walton rejoined the ranks of the 231 while Jack Herbert and Andrew McKerlie joined the 118 on a temporary basis. We also changed goalkeepers, Ewan Brown went between the sticks and Andrew Jackett came out for the last 10 minutes and even scored a goal, well done Andrew. This proved to be a very useful exercise as the 118 side (with our 2 boys) in the 2nd half proved a tougher challenge. The scorers today were Robert McLaughlin (4), Ewan Brown (2), Ross Johnston (8), Andrew McKerlie (1), Andrew Jackett (1) and Ewan Walker (1)
MOTM – Robert McLaughlin – Those boots were made for scoring, well done Robert your new boots did the trick and you showed great positional awareness for all your goals and assists.
