We travelled to Dunbar with 3 teams and I had the pleasure of taking the As and Cs and Mr Stephen coached and umpired the B team against Belhaven.
The A team had a very close contest where we pressured their goal for the opening few minutes, only to be caught on the break and a well-placed shot from their striker put us behind. We battled back into the game and strong play from Caspian in midfield, allowed Harry to slip the ball past the keeper. It was Monty's turn next as Toby made a great break down the right and fired a ball into Monty who first timed it into the goal to take the half time lead.
In the second half, we had more pressure and scored through a fantastic first time volley from Harry to give us daylight before Belhaven, as they often do, rallied back into it to make the score 3-2. The game was end to end with both sides tiring but it was Cargilfield who had the final say with a controlled push into the corner to win the game 4-2. There were a few star players in this game - Alex L once again showed how he's the number 1 goalkeeper in the U11s with a fantastic set of saves to keep Belhaven from getting a draw, Rafa and Wilfred at the back were terrific and Monty and Harry took their goals well but I was so impressed by Oliver T who was experiencing his first U11A game and played some superb hockey on the left wing.  The player of the match was one of 3 Under 10s in the team on this occasion - quite a prospect for next season! Well played, boys!

The C team were on next normally this bunch of boys love heading off into the Pentland Hills with Mr Tinkler on a Wednesday but when Belhaven requested a 3^rd U11 team fixture, I obliged, and this group of ramblers stuck on their shin guards and grabbed their hockey sticks and mouth guards and off we went to Dunbar. It was quite a pleasant day - I have experienced blizzards at Hallhill before - and I was so impressed by the way the boys got stuck into the game. Iain, Max and Wolfie at the back were a solid wall of blue and red stripes with Iain in particular rushing forward to break up the play in midfield. Sasha, Leo and James in midfield worked really hard - James with his good close control; Sasha with his energy to find the space on the right and Leo who hurtled up and down the left wing all game. 

Then there was Honour up front - new to hockey this year but a regular Thursday evening hockey club attendee and his promise showed as he managed to roll the ball under the Belhaven goalie's foot in the first half to take a deserved lead. Incidentally, this was the first time the Belhaven boy had put on a goalie kit and did a commendable job, making quite a few saves - the pace of Honour's shot deceived him some what and he miss-timed the clearance. Our own goalie, Hugh who is so enthusiastic about donning the Obo kit and stepping into the large frame of a goal had to make a few of his own saves in this match and some were real crackers including a sliding challenge to push the ball past the post. Late on in the second half however, the defence was exposed and even though Belhaven had a couple of attempts, Hugh wasn't able to keep that one out. 

I don't think I have ever umpired a C game that hasn't ended in a score draw and it couldn't be more fitting in this one as no team deserved to lose. What a pleasure it was taking this group of boys and I am slightly envious of Mr Tinkler on a Wednesday because they quite simply were the most entertaining and delightful group I've had on a minibus in some time - no offence A team! Well played, boys and especially well done to Sasha who was player of the match!