Honours shared after super under-9s tourney
THE Newcastle Under-9 seven-aside tournament turned out to be a great night of football.
All eight teams had qualified through their groups and were split into two groups of four, with the top two from each group going through to the semi finals.
In group 1 Royal Grammar started off well, putting five past Newcastle School for Boys with only one in reply. They went on to beat Ravenswood 2-0.
St John Vianney had a similar start as they won their opening two games against Ravenswood, 1-0, and Newcastle School for Boys 3-0.
This meant that going into the final game of the group they had both qualified for the semis and they were playing to decide the top two places.
Despite heavy attacking from St John Vianney, Royal Grammar won 2-0 to finish top.
In the second group, things were a lot closer. In the first games, Regent Farm drew 0-0 with St Charles and then lost to Christchurch 1-0.
Christchurch then drew with St Mark’s and beat St Charles to finish top of the group.
In the last game, Regent Farm had to beat St Mark’s to finish second but they only drew, so St Mark’s went through to the semi-finals instead.
In the 7th/8th play-off, Ravenswood beat St Charles 1-0. The 5th/6th play off went the way of Newcastle School for Boys, 2-1 over Regent Farm.
The semi-finals proved to be two close encounters. In the first semi, RGS took the lead after a mix-up in the St Mark’s defence.
They weren’t able to add to this, and it was St Mark’s who finished the stronger and equalised just before full time. This took the game to penalties.
St Mark’s missed their first penalty, while RGS scored their first and missed their second one.
St Mark’s missed their second penalty and RGS scored their last one to go through 2-0.
In the second semi, Christchurch took an early lead and it looked as though that was going to be enough as St John Vianney piled on the pressure but were unable to score.
St John Vianney even had a shot hit one post, roll along the line and hit the other post and bounce out.
Finally, the pressure told and they equalised after a goalmouth scramble. And just as it looked as though this was going to go penalties, St John Vianney scored again with virtually the last attack of the game.
The 3rd/4th play off between Christchurch and St Mark’s ended up in a 2-2 draw and Christchurch won on penalties.
The final saw RGS take an early lead and it was only the brilliance of Holland in the St John Vianney goal that kept the score at one. Just like the semi-final, St John Vianney came more into the game in the second half and equalised almost immediately at the start.
They continued to press and they soon added another. This is where RGS showed their resilience and equalised just before full-time.
No further goals were added, so it was decided to share the trophy, so each team would hold the trophy for six months each.