Scotter Footy Tournament

Sorry about the delay but better late than never.

The Date : Sunday 29th June 2003

The Place : Scotter Village Hall Field

Man of the tournament - Callum

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, bright and warm. The various pitches had been split up into the various age groups, the u12's being on the corner No.7 Pitch. With five other teams in the same group, the day promised to a hard one. Firstly, with each team in the league playing each other, the points adding up to two semi finals (Position 1 against 3, 2 against 4 and the 5th and 6th places playing off for a plate final). With a squad of eight to choose from, Chris "rotated" the team so everyone got a chance to play - with the goal being defended by both our Liam and Dwain (who also did a good job in some of the matches in both defence and attack, and the attack/defense being taken "to the enemy" so to speak, by,not only Dwain, but Danny, Ben, Jacob, Callum, Stevie and the rest As these were 5 a side games, and they had a few to go through, each game was set at two halves of five minutes a piece

Game1 : Tigers 0 - 1 Messingham

This was a bad start to the day. It was the seemingly usual slow build up that the Tigers seem to do. Although they played OK, but Messingham just played better.

Game2: Tigers 0 - 0 Scotter Jnrs

The half hour rest seemed to get the tigers awake. This time they played better, a lot better. The match was pretty even all the way through, with few chances on either side

Game3: Tigers 0 - 0 Scotter Colts

The Colts, the eventual winners of the U12's tournament, played a little to aggressive for my liking. The game was hard , on both side, with the Tigers wanting to win because of previous history. Although the match, in the end was a pretty even affair, I think the ref lost this one a bit towards the end, with some nasty challenges (and nasty comments ) being let through without comment.

Game4: Tigers 0 - 2 Scawby Jets

To be honest, I missed this match (I had to go and pick Cathy and Laura from Table Tennis) but you could tell this was a bit of a blow - long faces and lowered heads, which was a pity, they had done so well so farThe half hour rest seemed to get the tigers awake. This time they played better, a lot better. The match was pretty even all the way through, with few chances on either side

Game5: Tigers 2 - 0 App Frod

This brought a few smiles back to a few faces. What a performance. Now we waited for the final couple of games in the league to go through, who had what points?. Who would play who? The Result? The Fifth v Sixth Place Plate play off was Scotter Jnrs v App Frod The First Semi Final was Scotter Colts v Messingham with final Semi being Tigers against Scawby Jets There was a delay of over an hour, so that people could get a little lunch, and give the teams that had just played a few moments to catch their collective breaths.We then watched the other matches with baited breath, for the most part eating icecream in the sun shine, waiting for our match to come round. I have to apologise but I didn't notice who won the Plate play off - too nervous

Game6: The Semi-Final Tigers 0 - 0 Scawby Jets Tigers lost 2 - 4 on penalties

Scotter Colts won the first Semi-Final, so we went into the game knowing who our opponents would be if we won this game. Liam in goal, with Ben , Danny Callum and Jacob up front. The whistle blew and away they went. End to end, and head to head. There were a couple of attempts on goal from both side, but by the end of the game ( 7 minutes a half in this game) it was still a stalemate, 0 - 0. The rules of this competition state that there is no extra time - just penalties, with ever one on the pitch taking a turn, including the goalie. At this point I couldn't stand it - I have never been so nervous. Now, to the other parents out there, please accept my apologies about what I'm going to do now, but I am biased, and after all it is my log. Liam was the Tigers goalie for this match(where did Chris get that shirt? - ), and again a saved a penalty clean, and nearly (and we all know nearly don't count) saved two more. But you should have seen his face when it was his turn to take the penalty. Don't get me wrong, his shooting skills have improved in leaps and bounds that last few months, but penalties? Anyway up he steps. Sizes up what he was going to do and kicked it. Not quite to Alan Shearer's standard - but at least it went the right way, into the back of the net. Me? I went mad, again!. What are parents for but to jump up and down went your kids do something special. The lads lost on penalties, and there were a few tears from some. But to me, I couldn't have been more proud of all of them. They are all getting better game by game. It was a semi final this time. Next time - the Final?