Piratespraise performance ofyoungsters

East Kilbride Pirates have heaped praise on their young players for going toe-to-toe with British superpower London Blitz.

The U19 squad were a whisker away from landing the BritBowl title last week after holding a 40-32 lead in the final quarter, but fell to a 46-42 loss.

However, the club take plenty of positives from the tight-contest as they look to next season.

Pirates chair Amanada McDonald said:“Although we lost the final, it was a historic match up and has already been described as a classic – not only was it the highest scoring junior final of all time, but we put up the most points scored ever by a losing team.

“In almost a decade since I’ve been involved with the Pirates, this was possibly one of the best and most exciting games of football I’ve watched at any level.

“We’ve had compliments from across the UK about the standard of play and we’re genuinely excited about the future of our junior team.

“We’re also looking forward to see what comes next for many of these talented young players as they progress to the senior level within our club, and to welcome the next influx of junior footballers who are graduating up from our youth teams.”

No fewer than 12 of this squad now graduate to a Pirates Senior team that will be all the better for their presence.

Those remaining will take a short break before teaming up with others moving on from both East Kilbride Pirates and Hamilton Buccaneers Youth teams to prepare for the 2018 campaign.

Head coach Matthew Davies said:“It’s been an incredible season.

“We didn’t come home from Worcester with the gold but what we did do was win seven straight games and take part in one of the best junior football games of all time.

“We went toe-to-toe with the Blitz and in those games that can go either way, it’s sad that someone has to leave empty handed.”