This season’s Under 14 Inter-District Tournaments delivered a feast of entertaining hockey for a large, appreciative crowd on 18 and 19 May at Peffermill, Edinburgh.
These events give the stars of the future their first taste of representative hockey at the beginning of Scottish Hockey’s youth pathway – and the 17 teams didn’t disappoint!
East District triumphed in both the girls and boys’ events, but only after some great matches.
Girls’ Tournament
Pool A
East Purple topped their group with a 100% record, starting with a 4-0 win v South. They followed this with a big win against Highland, including hattricks for Emily Macpherson, Chloe Brown and Miranda Reid. Anna Anstead, Isla Fuentes Philips, Eliza Weiser, Amelia Cooper and Miranda Reid were on target in a 5-0 win against South-West. And in a very tight last Pool match, Purples edged West Yellow 4-2 thanks to doubles from Lauren Davidson and Miranda Reid.
South beat South-West 3-1, with captain Rachel Elliot scoring twice, before a 10-0 win v Highland including an Evie Leonard hattrick. South finished second in their Pool with an impressive 2-0 win v West Yellow. Rachel Elliot and Rosa Beccattelli scored the goals.
West Yellow finished third thanks to a 3-1 win v South-West and an 8-0 win v Highland. Gabi Joannides, Ameerah Hanif and Eva Hose scored in both games, with Joannides scoring four v Highland.
A 9-0 win against Highland gave South-West their first win and fourth place in Pool A. There were seven different goal-scorers, and a hattrick for Katie Hutchison. The Highland girls fought hard in every game but had a tough day against strong opposition.
Pool B
Every game in Pool B was incredibly tight, but East Sky finished top with three hard-fought wins. They opened with a 2-0 win against West Pink thanks to a double from Isla Lloyd. Lloyd was on target again in a 2-1 win against Midland, with Ella Wingate getting the other before a consolation from Isla Williams. After trailing to an Esme Rogers goal for North, Sula Russell equalised for Sky before Emily McLean scored their winner.
Midland won their other two games to finish second. Sophie Barrie scored both goals in a 2-1 win v North. And then Barrie scored the only goal of the game to beat West Pink 1-0.
Finally, West Pink beat North 1-0 to finish third thanks to a penalty corner from Olive Mackay.
Play-offs and Final
In the Play-offs, Sophie Jenkinson and Connie East gave Midland third place with a 2-0 v South. The Pinks beat the Yellows 2-0 in the battle of the West teams to finish fifth thanks to Freya McGeogh’s double. North beat South-West 4-0 to finish seventh, with goals from Arabella Winn (2), Juliet Brown and Melody McKenzie.
In the all-East final, Isla Fuentes Philips gave Purple the lead after 13 minutes before Emily Macpherson scored in the last minute to seal a 2-0 win. Both teams had to play very well all day to extend East’s strong track record, as it’s been seven years since another District won this event.
Boys’ Tournament
Pool A
East Sky started in style with a 6-0 win against South thanks to a hattrick from Jacob Leiper and goals from Angus McLean (2) and Louis Duncan. In their next match, Midland took the lead in 2 minutes through Toby Chapman before Will Young equalised and then Louis Duncan grabbed a very late winner for Sky. And they won the Pool with a hard-fought 2-0 v West Yellow – Leiper and Young grabbed the goals.
Midland were runners-up thanks to a 2-1 win over West Yellow and 3-0 v South. Ben Kelly, Oscar Lyle, Francis Maughan, Matthew Swinney and Will Langley scored the goals.
A strong 4-1 win against West Yellow gave South third with doubles from Murray Bower and Charlie Windsor-McKenzie. Finlay Dunlop got the consolation.
Pool B
Three impressive performances by North gave them top spot in Pool B. They opened with a 1-1 draw v East Navy, as Yash Chiniwala cancelled out Moss Taylor-Ladas’ goal for East. Michael de Boucherville and Eli Clark’s goals earned a 2-1 win v West Cerise, with Robbie Dewar scoring a last-minute consolation. And a Chiniwala double helped North win the Pool with a 6-0 win v Highland.
West Cerise were second thanks to a superb 2-1 win v East Navy in their final Pool match. Robbie Dewar and Joshua Young scored early before Euan Griffin got one back. Earlier, Finn McCabe’s goal gave Cerise a 1-0 win v Highland.
East Navy were third after a 4-0 win v Highland. Felix Usher (2), Louis Arthur and Brodie Holliman were on target.
Play-offs and Final
Midland and West Cerise shared third place overall after a late-minute equaliser by West’s Lewis McCarthy following Toby Chapman’s opener.
Fifth place went to East Navy with a 5-0 win v South. Moss Taylor-Ladas (2), Alexander Tait, Callum Pollock and Felix Usher scored the goals.
West Yellow were seventh after a thrilling 4-2 win v Highland. Fraser Speirs and Gregory Cauchi gave West a 2-0 lead before Gillespie McMulkin and Noah Cottam (penalty flick) hit back for Highland. But two goals in the last three minutes from Andrew Mitchell and Hamish Meikle gave West the win.
The sun came out just in time for a thrilling final. North’s Eli Clark scored a penalty corner before Ben Maclean and Rudi Johnson-Forrest put East in front, only for Daniel McFarlane to equalise. But Louis Duncan hit back two minutes later and Will Young sealed the win for East with two minutes to go. North had put in another superb team performance but just came up short against a talented East Sky team.
Well done to all the players, coaches and team managers who put so much into this event, and to the supporters for creating such a great atmosphere. And as always a huge thank you to all the umpires, officials and other volunteers for their fantastic support all weekend.
