Kelburne Men's 5s Beat Hillhead 5s 3-1

Saturday 26.1.19 - First game back at outdoor saw the usual balance of youth and experience take the field at Glasgow Green. Captain Ian and Peter were on the side-lines but there was plenty of experience to keep the kids in line with Gordon Robbie, Ewan Crawford and Willie Hunt controlling things from the back, making solid tackles as Hillhead pushed ahead on their first attack. However Kelburne started well and after some lovely play between old and young, Dick Donaldson was released at the top of the D and as he pulled the ball onto his reverse he was crudely up ended, getting a shot away as he landed in a belly flop. More intricate passing and team build up play put Nic Knox in one on one on the goalie, with his initial shot saved he coolly slotted away the rebound, but after some discussion between the umpires the goal was disallowed. Defensively the old guard and Jack Nelson who was having an excellent game kept everything tight and much of the attacking hockey involved the whole team. Dick and Don Tervit pretty much controlled midfield with Jared Bolland and Hamish Walker causing all sorts of problems, bombing up and down the flanks. Finally there was a breakthrough as some great passing between Nic and Dick played Don into the circle and he smashed it home for the opening goal. And it wasn’t long before Dick was occupying the Hillhead defence again, managing to release his pass to Sam Hunt who created space with some lovely skill to slot home Kelburne’s second of the game. Sam, Jack, Jared and Hamish made way for Calum Jamieson, Tommy Austin, Dylan Bradely and Rory Donaldson and all carried on with the free flowing and fast paced play. Don was playing as though he got new knees for Christmas as he zig zagged through the Hillhead defence as did Rory, Calum and Tommy which lead to Dylan getting into good attacking positions and pressure mounting on the Hillhead defence. HT Kelburne 5s 2-0 Hillhead 5s.

Second half started as the first had ended with pressure from the off. Jack played a fantastic ball to Nic who crossed for Sam who narrowly missed the target. This was followed by Jared winning a corner and Sam injected to Don who slipped it left to Nic who fed it back to Sam on the baseline and his shot was stopped by the defender’s foot on the line. Hamish stepped up to take the penalty flick but unfortunately it went passed post.

Gordon seemed to have a rush of blood to his head as he drove into the opposition half and kept going which led to a short corner. This was slipped right to Don who struck it with force slightly high and the goalie attempted to stop it with his glove, but it was only deflected into the goal. Hillhead were unhappy but it had hit the backboard so the goal stood and we were 3-0 up. Quite quickly Hillhead managed to force their way into our 25, Fionn Wilson had not been called on much during the game and he closed the angle well and forced the forward to shoot wide. Unfortunately on their next attack Fionn was unsighted when shot came in and Hillhead scored making it 3-1. Tommy replaced Don and difference in age and height made no difference to the game as Kelburne continued to dominate in all areas. He managed to take Hillhead’s right back to the cleaners and laid back for Sam who forced a great save from their goalie. Rory and Dick played some lovely one twos and this ended in Dylan being played in forcing a great save from Hillhead’s keeper on one occasion and solid defending on another. Calum on the other side showed some great skill making a lovely pass for Dick to take a shot that hit the side board of goal. So first game back and as supporters we had the pleasure of a great team performance, solid defending, creative midfield play and lots of shots on goal. The boys played with maturity and the oldies played with composure and youthful energy. Great performance!!!! FT Kelburne 5s 3-1 Hillhead 5s. Next week Kelburne 5s travel to Notre Dame High School in Greenock to play Greenock 2s with a 2pm pushback .