TOURNAMENT REPORT
Our 18th annual tournament was once again a success with the football being played in good weather and mainly in good humour.
Twenty teams took part with TFC Dynamo the only new team from the previous year. Unfortunately Torquay called off in the week leading up to the tourney so an "All Stars" team was made up on the day to fill the blank space.
For our part, we had two teams competing, an A Team and a Classic Team. the squads were as follows:-
A Team: Ross Henshelwood, Arthur McCue, John Kirkland, Roddy Davidson, Gordon Swinburne, Stephen Din, Alan Main and Alistair Dorward.
Classic: David Ferguson, Barry Cook, Joe Collins, John Crosbie, Paul Stormonth, John Drennan and Iain Campbell.
GROUP A
The group opened with a stunning performance by our A Team, a 7-0 defeat to Hibs !
Hibs won the group on goals scored from Nottingham Forest who, in their tenth appearance in Glasgow tourneys, also finished unbeaten. Last year's Plate winners, Rangers and Edinburgh City took the next two places whilst our own A Team finished in a disappointing last position with only one point.
GROUP B
This looked the closest group on paper but Airdrie quietly and efficiently won all their four games while a titantic battle ensued for second place between three teams. It took a 1-0 victory by our Classic team in their last game against St.Mirren to book their place in the Quarters and send Ayr and the Not So Mighty Mirren into the Plate. The remarkable thing about the 1-0 win was that Mister Campbell scored the only goal, a fine turn and shot. Even more remarkably Crossers also scored a winner, this time against the All Stars who remained pointless to no ones interest or disappointment.
GROUP C
In this group Partick, unsurpisingy, finished top but the main shock was that the O's from Leyton also qualified for the Quarters for the first time. Even more of a shock was that their team included Volney, Woody and Tom and they still qualified ! A great team spirit and a young guy, Barry, up front made all the difference to the O's. This left Shrewsbury in third place with Duror and St.Johnstone bringing up the rear, as expected.
GROUP D
The alleged "Group of Death" saw Appin win all their games including a hard fought game against Coasters who only dropped points in this game. Dynamo did well to finish third whilst, like Group C, Bristol Rovers and Motherwell ended up in the bottom two places as expected.
QUARTER FINALS
Unfortunately Leyton and Forest's runs came to an end at the hands of Aidrie and Appin whilst holders Partick succumbed to Coasters.
The other Quarter saw our Classic team play Hibs and nobody, including themselves, gave them much of a chance. A minute gone and Hibs were one ahead and the inevitable goal feast was expected. But........Barry conjured up an equaliser, sparking wild over the top celebrations (even by old people's standards) and the Classic side survived to take the game into a penalty shoot out despite Hibs putting the boot in because they weren't getting their own way.
Renowned for their expertise from the spot, the Classic side looked favourites but that wasn't allowing for Mr C cracking under the pressure of a big crowd watching and he duly put our first penalty wide. Thankfully Hibs followed suit and after everybody, including keeper Fergal, had scored, it went to sudden death. What do you know than Mr C missed another kick, this one going even wider, and Hibs were through to the Semis. And they say there is no substitute for experience !
SEMI FINALS
After two close contests an all Highland Final emerged as Coasters and Appin battled their way through.
Appin scraped past Airdrie on penalties after a goalless draw. This wasn't surprising as neither team had conceeded a goal up to this point.
A single Coasters goal was enough to see off Hibs in a game where Big John was forced to send off a Hibs player for dissent, or for being an arsehole, depending on your point of view. It ended a poor all round display by Hibs and they went straight off back to where they came from after the game, no great loss to anyone.
FINAL
Big John was the "lucky" man chosen to referee the Highland Final and it was a closely contested affair with no hint of bother and no goals either.
On to penalties and Appin held their nerve better to win the Trophy 3-2. It would be churlish to mention that Ruby and Bertie were among the failures for Coasters !
THE PLATE COMPETITION
FIRST ROUND
St.Johnstone put paid to Bristol Rovers hopes with a 2-1 victory whilst our own A
Team saw off the Dossers by the same score with Gordon The Gazelle getting the winner with a superb strike with only seconds remaining.
QUARTER FINALS
Three penalty shoot outs saw Rangers (complete with a goalkeeper in Celtic shorts), Shrewsbury and Ayr all marching to the Semis at the expense of QP A, St.Johnstone and Edinburgh City. The only clear cut victory was by Dynamo with a single goal being enough to eliminate Duror.
SEMI FINALS
Two close Semis ended with Ayr and Dynamo reaching the Final and Shrewsbury and Plate holders Rangers heading for the showers.
FINAL
The Final between Dynamo and Ayr had a surreal look about it. Dynamo were wearing blue but had orange bibs over their tops whilst Ayr wore all white the same colours as the referee !
This didn't confuse the teams though and, in a good contest, the teams couldn't be seperated and onto penalties we went. Penalty after penalty were scored until the keepers took one each and both missed. Eventually Ayr missed another one and Dynamo were the Plate Champions.
It was nice to see such a sporting atmosphere during the penalty shoot out and it was a credit to both teams.
THE AFTER TOURNEY BACK STAGE PARTY
After a long day we finally got down to the after match activities and the Football Quiz proceeded the main presentations.
It took a tie breaker for Airdrie to be victorious over Coasters with most other teams nowhere.. Again it would be churlish to mention that Gav from Coasters changed a correct answer at the last minute to take it to a tie break !
Our own Player of the Year Awards followed and ex winner, captain, assistant manager etc, John Scott, now of Coasters, made the presentations.
John also presented the main awards and Appin received the Ian Younger Sixes Trophy with Rab MacDonald being in a winning side in the tournament for the first time since 1990 when he was in the Raith Rovers team which won the Hampden Trophy.
Dynamo were presented with the Plate and the Wooden Sppon went to the Motherwell Dossers who were the worst team in the group stages (apart from the All Stars) based on least goals scored.
It was a well deserved honour which Jaffa gratefully received and he then presented the Crooked Cup to Jazza which our Classic team won in a penalty shoot out earlier in the day.
With all the presentations out of the way some of the further travelled teams headed home and we had a party until 1am with the usual rubbish songs being played including some English nonsense.
There was also goading by some of the English folk due to one of Scotland's daily rags suggesting that a majority of Scots were going to support England at Euro 2004. It was more like one of those April First stories than a real report, unless the only people they polled came from Edinburgh !
There was also a medley of Smiths songs at midnight to celebrate Jazza's birthday and, for some, the party continued back at his until well into the morning.
Of course the tournament couldn't run without the help of some people and a big thanks to all at Cowglen for their help, to Catherine and Tricia for providing the buffet, to all those people who helped out by refereeing and to everybody who took part in another enjoyable day.
RESULTS
PHOTOS