The Ian Younger Sixes at Cowglen were once again a great success with all the competitors enjoying themselves and the weather being excellent.
Twenty teams were again invited with the only new one being Tranmere Rovers who were under the leadership of Colin "Neebs" McPherson who is now exiled in the Wirrall after being thrown out of Edinburgh by the fashion police.
Unfortunately there were two call offs with Hibs and Motherwell being unable to make it so Dynamo and Partick Thistle both put in a second team. We were particularly grateful to Partick who only got a call the day before the tournament.
The teams were split into four groups of five and played over three pitches with all of them having decent sized goals for a change.
GROUP A
Our QP was in this group and the squad was:- James, Young Al, Algie, Big John, Paul, Gordon M and Old Brian. Unfortunately Old Brian only lasted about half a game before deciding the standard was too much for him.
It was a strange old group with four out of the first five games being goalless and indeed Rangers never managed a goal at all in their four games.
Partick A and Coasters eventually went through to the quarters but Coasters only sneaked through by virtue of scoring one more goal than Bristol Rovers who in turn managed to beat Partick.
Our team finished second bottom but only lost one game, their first, and were delighted to secure a draw against Coasters. Glasgow just isn't a happy hunting ground for Coasters these days !
Bristol Rovers excelled, by their usual standards, especially as they were so short of players that they teamed up with Shrewsbury and the same players played in both groups, eight games in all.
GROUP B
Another competitive group that saw the holders, Appin, going out at the first stage.
Unfortunately, for them, they were short of a few regulars, had five poles in their squad (!) and ended up at the bottom of the table despite only losing the one game.
Dynamo A and Shrewsbury (or Shrewsbury Rovers as they became known) progressed with Duror nearly getting through after they only lost the one game, a big improvement on previous years.
Edinburgh City also only lost one game but went out as well, probably because our own Stormy was amongst their ranks !
GROUP C
Classic QP graced this group and had amongst their squad: Ross Henshelwood, Mr C, The Crosshill Goal Machine, Crossers, Arthur and Logie.
Not even a strong team on paper, they lost all their games with their last one against Partick being cut short as Thistle declared at six.
They did manage a couple of goals and even took the lead against Airdrie, an own goal, before eventually losing to the group winners and only team with a 100% record.
The Classics also managed two defeats to the English with Orient beating them 2-0 (Woody getting one of the goals), despite QP having the bulk of the play, and contrived to lose three goals in the last minute to Forest to throw away a one goal advantage.
Thanks to their romping of the Classics, Thistle B earned second place ahead of Orient and Forest.
GROUP D
Another tight group showing that the standard throughout, with a few exceptions, was fairly even this year.
Dynamo B won the group but second place came down to goals scored again with St.Mirren sneaking through to their own great surpise.
First timers Tranmere were the unlucky team to miss out but they had already made their mark on the day by getting a player sent off. Or more to the point a player thrown off by John "Scotty" Scott for being an arse.
St.Johnstone and Ayr both managed a couple of good results but ultimately they were the bottom two.
TROPHY KNOCKOUT
The two Partick teams won their way through the Quarter Finals whilst the other two games went to penalties after goalless draws.
Airdrie triumphed over St.Mirren with Stevie McGarvey being the match winner for Airdrie by missing Saints last penalty, whilst the under performing Coasters were surprisingly put out by Dynamo B in another shoot out.
So could we have the terrible sight of an all Thistle Final ?
No, as Aidrie put out the A Team on penalties but the B team reached the Final with a 2-0 win over Dynamo B.
The Final was a repeat of 2003 and Thistle again came out on top with a solitary goal winning a tournament that they'd only been invited to the day before.
PLATE COMPETITION
The Preliminary Round of the Plate saw an avalanche of goals with even Rangers managing to find the net.
Rangers goal was an equaliser against our Classic side who had taken the lead through Young Gordon who was filling in for the injured Crossers (a fall, a cry of pain, more drama than a Sunday night on BBC 2 and Crossers limped off). Naturally the auld yins couldn't hold on to a lead and the tie went to penalties with Rangers being the winners as Mr C (for the second year in a row), Arthur and The Goal Machine all failing to find the net.
Our other team also fell at this stage on penalties with St.Johnstone taking the honours after a 2-2 draw. Paul and Big John scored the goals with Paul claiming his was the goal of the tournament.
Appin's day also finished as well as Edinburgh City with Forest and Ayr reaching the Quarters.
Not so many goals in the Quarters although Ayr eased past the O's 4-0.
Both Rangers (again) and Forest went through on penalties whilst a single goal saw Duror put out St.Johnstone in a keenly fought game.
Onto the Semis and it was a game too far for Forest who had given their all but Ayr were too strong for them.
Rangers were in the other Semi so naturally it was goalless and went to penalties. Again the Huns came through as Duror failed from the spot with one of their penalties being so bad it hit the roof of the Clubhouse !
The Final between Ayr and Rangers saw a lot of tired legs and a single Ayr goal won the Plate for the second time in four years for the Ayrshire men.
This meant that Rangers played seven games and only scored one goal all day, entertainment,
I'll say !
The football finished at a reasonable time and, after the all day barbecue had been cleaned out, we had the Quiz in the Social Club.
After a three way tie Coasters eventually won on a tiebreak and they were absolutely delighted. It seems the worse they do at football the happier they are !
Our own team presentations followed with the retiring Logie receiving a shield to commemorate his 100th appearance, Gordon Maxwell winning the Top Scorer award, the retiring (but never shy) Crossers winning the Players Player of the Year and Barry winning the Player of the Year.
Unfortunately Barry had the chickenpox and couldn't attend at night so he was presented with the trophy earlier in the day when he made a brief appearance to show off his spots.
Also making an appearance during the day was Fergal who thankfully has got the plaster off his ankle but still on crutches.
The Sixes trophies were then presented with Coasters getting their Quiz trophy, Ayr United the Plate again and then Partick Thistle B receievd the main trophy itself.
The Wooden Spoon should also have been awarded with Classic QP winning it hands down but unfortunately/thankfully the Spoon never made it and is still in darkest Motherwell. Sadly it will be presented to our old lags in the near future.
With all the football and presentations out of the way it was down to music, socialising and drinking for the rest of the evening with the night going off with no alarms !
A big thanks to all at Cowglen for their tremendous help throughout the day; to Raph the Taff for organising the games on the day and keeping the scores; to all those who refereed so that the tournament kept to a reasonable time; to Logie for arranging a set of goals; to all who helped with the barbie; to Keith (on the Friday) and Bob from Dynamo and Jazza for accomodatiing some of our English visitors and to everyone who turned up and made it the day that it was.
Hopefully we'll see everyone again next year and already Saturday 3rd June has been pencilled in for our 20th annual tournament.
RESULTS
PHOTOS