U17s battle back well but fail to climb mountain

St Patrick’s Sports Acd 5 C’town Pupils YFC 2 SGDYFL - U17s/2005s

An early kick-off of 11.20am in Lanarkshire, coupled with the clocks going forward, caught Campbeltown Pupils Youth 2005s (under-17s) napping on Sunday, as they found themselves 4-0 down within the first 25 minutes to league leaders St Patrick’s Sports Academy.

One of the poorest opening displays from the under-17s this season left an impossible mountain to climb.

With the fourth goal for St Patrick’s on the 25th minute, many teams would have folded but with a few positional changes, the visitors finally found their way and were arguably the better side for the remainder of the game.

Calum Ellis was once again on the scoresheet with a superb 20-yard strike from the edge of the penalty box, making it 4-1 and giving the Pupils some new-found belief. Both he and Kyle Danson missed chances to reduce the deficit further before the end of the half.

Within 10 minutes of the second half, the Pupils made it 4-2 when a fine pass from Ryan Shields found Ellis, who once again outpaced the St Patrick’s defence and knocked the ball past the helpless St Patrick’s keeper for his 36th goal of the season.

Whilst St Patrick’s enjoyed their share of play and had some chances for themselves, it was the Pupils who had the better chances, with Ellis and Danson once again unlucky not to score.

With 12 minutes remaining, St Patrick’s made it 5-2 to end the hopes of any comeback and the young Pupils side returned to Kintyre disappointed.