Nine excited boys made the short journey to Fettes for the IAPS Qualifiers. We were in a tough pool and it was going to be a big task to achieve our goal of reaching the final. However, we have been working hard for the last couple of weeks and the boys were determined to give it their best shot.
Our first game against Loretto was a 0-0 draw where Loretto played the better hockey. We were too selfish with the ball and this meant we made very little progress in attack. Loretto had many shots at goal but Jamie made some terrific saves. Onto the next game and we were fortunate to have a break before playing St Peter’s, York who had just played Sedbergh. They started well and scored within the first two minutes. However, we dug deep and forced a penalty corner before the half time whistle. Up stepped Harry T whose excellent strike hit the back board with force and got us the equaliser. In the second half, we were much better at moving the ball and as St Peter’s tired, we got more chances. The winner came after a bit of a stramash on the goal line but someone – I'm not sure who! - managed to force the ball over the line. With this win, we grew more confident and were able to see the benefits of moving the ball, player to player, rather than dribbling.
Our final pool game was against Sedbergh who we had welcomed the day before to Cargilfield for a warm up game. We played some of our best hockey in this game and two goals each from Theo and Monty gave us a deserved victory and we were group winners.
In the semifinal of the cup, we faced Belhaven. Some of our play was outstanding – moving the ball out to the right and breaking forwards in droves giving the defence no chance. Again, we were ruthless with our finishing and great work from Toby supplying the crosses for Monty and Theo as well as scoring a great goal himself meant we were in the final to face Fettes who just two weeks ago, had scored a number of goals against us.
We had a plan and as a coach watching from the sidelines, I couldn’t be prouder of how we stood up to what was a confident opposing team at the first whistle. Dexter was given the task to stick to their playmaker like glue and brother Theo was to be close enough too that he could break away when the chance fell. The boys did an outstanding job, frustrating him and his team. Of course, this was always going to leave players free but Harry, Tristan, Wilfred and Charles in defence played so strongly. With Monty covering his former classmate Hugo on the right wing in the first half and Toby in the second half, it meant that for the two halves, we had everyone covered. Jamie made some outstanding saves and the boys worked hard blocking shots, making jab tackles and clearing the ball away from danger – they had proved they had come a long way since the heavy defeat a fortnight ago. We had some chances ourselves but just lacked that composure and cutting edge when we found ourselves in the D. The final whistle went and the boys were out on their feet but were confident they still had some energy to do it again for the 5-minute period of golden goal time. Despite starting with the ball, we weren’t quite set in defence and left someone unmarked at the back post who managed to slot in the golden goal to win the game and the qualifier.
We were a bit shell-shocked and it was heartbreak for the boys who had worked so hard as a team but they did their school, coach and parents proud today. They improved throughout the afternoon, scoring lots of goals and only conceding 2 in over 70 minutes of hockey, which is a fantastic achievement.
Heads up, boys – you were amazing to watch today!
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