Alford Soccer 7 Festival

Well done to Ellon Meadows Colts for finishing 3rd in the laegue at the festival, missing a place in the Final by only 1 goal.

Results

EMC 0 Quarryhill 0
EMC 1 Stonehaven Ajax 0 (Goal - Stuart Beaton)
AC Culter 0 EMC 0
Colony Park 0 EMC 0
Kemnay 1 EMC 1 (Goal - Reece Dempster)
EMC 1 Donside Dynamos 0 (Goal - Marc Lawrence)
EMC 0 Donside Bulls 0

To walk away from a tournament being disappointed that we did not reach the final shows how far the boys have come in such a short space in time.

Some key point for us all to remember, on the first day of the season EMC were beaten 10-0 by Stonehaven Ajax, to beat them 1-0 today was a great result. To go a goal down to Kemnay, only to see the boys raise their game to fight back for a draw shows the spirit that has developed within the team.

We lost only 1 goal in 56 minutes of football, and did not loose a game, is an achievement not to be underestimated.

Every boy that took part played an important role today and they should all be proud of this achievement.

I would like to congratulate Donside for a very well organised event today. This is something perhaps Ellon Meadows could consider for the future.

If anyone has any photos they would like to contribute to this post, please get in touch and I will have them added.

Ellon Meadows Presentations

Conratulations to all Colts boys on their efforts across the course of the past 9 months or so, if we could reward the entire team we would as every boy has improved massively in this time and deserve all the praise they got.

Well done to Marc Lawrence. To be nominated as Players Player of the Year is a great honour.

Also well done to Chris Argo for his award as Coaches Player of the Year, awarded for his developemnt as a player and also his great attitude throughout the entire season.

Keep up the good work and there will be even bigger rewards to follow for all the boys involved.

On a personal note both myself and Craig would like to extend our great thanks to all the parents and the other kids for their efforts and support thoughout the year, without this we would really have struggled.

As for the trophies and cards presented to us coaches, we were very surprised and taken aback, this was a very nice gesture, one that was not necesary, but one that will be treasured by us both for a long time to come.

Thanks.

Steven & Craig

Chris Argo & Marc Lawrence

A fitting end to a great 1st season

Alford Soccer 7 Festival

The festival on Sunday 27th is due to start around 11:00, running to around mid afternoon.

Please arrange to be at Alford no later than 10:30 to allow for registration etc and to get ourselves organised.

For those who need it, click here for a route plan to Alford from Ellon.

Parking details are also shown below, please follow these as far as possible.

Kemnay Football Festival

Colts enjoying the sun before the match

I have finally got round to getting a summary of Saturdays events onto the web.

It was a fantastic day for all who attended, and Kemnay should be pleased with the event as it went without any major incident, except their tent ending halfway up the tree!

All boys fully deserved their medals as they all did very well in what was their first experience of a tournament of this nature, although they found the short format matches just a bit too short, but this will come with experience.

I'm sure all parents will agree that this was a worth while exercise and we can all look forward to another great day at Alford this Sunday.

Thanks go to Julie for the photos!

Fun in the sun after the last match

Colts with their deserved medals

Meadows with their medals too

Presentation Night, Sunday 27th May

Looks like we have a very busy day on Sunday 27th May, as well as the Alford Soccer 7 Festival, we have the annual Presentation Evening.

The evening will be held at The Station Hotel, Ellon, from 5:30 to 7:00.

As well as all players, all parents and brothers / sisters are encouraged to attend.

This should be a good evening with each team being given some recognition and a small awards presentation will round off the evening. Each team has 2 trophies to award (Coaches Player of the Year & Players' Player of the Year) as well as a couple of club trophies to be awarded.

A light snack of juice and crisps will be laid on for the boys.

Hope to see you all there.

Kemnay Tournament, Saturday 19th May

The details of the Kemnay tournament have just been published.

All teams will consist of 7 a side with up to 2 substitutes.

The Morning Sections will have 9:30 Registration, 10:00 Kick Off, Estimated finish 12:15.

Section C - P4This section consists of 10 teams split into 2 groups of 5 (Groups C1 and C2) competing in 2 different periods.In the first period the five teams in each sub group will play each other once (4 games).

At the end of the first period the top 5 overall in the C section will form a group of 5 for the second section with the lower 5 also forming a group.

The teams within these new sections will also play each other once giving them a further 4 games.

Each team will therefore play a total of 8 matches over the course of the morning.

There will be no finals in this group as it will be played as a Football Festival with medals for all participants.

All Section C games will be played on the "Hampden" and "San Siro" pitches.

These will be the pitches furthest from the pavilion.Each game will last 5 minutes, without break, and up to 2 minutes will be allowed as a turnover time between games.

ALL PARENTS, COACHES, AND PLAYERS PLEASE NOTE

Due to the high number of games to be played (about 240 during the day) it is important that teams are ready to go onto the correct pitch at the correct time.

Labels for each pitch will be attached to the goalnets. Coaches will be issued with a detailed timetable of each match time and location at registration on the day, as well as a set of tournament football rules.

It will be the responsibility of parents/carers to ensure players are on time for matches.

The football rules will generally follow the SYFA developmental football guidelines.

Directions to Bogbeth Park, Kemnay can be found at this link : Kemnay FC Directions

It is likely to be very busy and congested around registration time so would be best to arrive early if possible.

Glentanar Colts 3 Meadows Colts 3

A very enjoyable match today played by two teams that gave their everything.

The match was played as 8-a-side given Glentanar's large pool of players and over 3 x 20 minute periods. I think this may have been to much for Ellon as the boys did tire late on.

Ellon started with only 1 change to the starting line up against Culter, with Michael coming in for Stuart. Fraser was the other substitute.

Glen's kicked off and immediately put Ellon under pressure, but the defence of Alex and Chris dealt with this comfortably.

Ellon went straight up field from the kick-out with Alex playing a long ball over the defence but Reece failed to find the net when he had time to settle. From this point it was to be all Ellon during this period with constant shots at the Glen's goal, but most missing the target, or their keeper dealing with them.

Ellon were starting to become very confident, with Matt and Ross dealing with the Glens midfield, and Mark picking up the loose balls and running at their defence.

Michael was using his strength well with hold up play and was helping to bring the rest of the team in to play with some neat passing and through balls.

The breakthrough eventually came with a strong run and shot from Mark. The struck the post and then the keeper, but REECE was on hand to blast in from 6 inches!

Further good play lead to Michael getting in to the box, a small tap to his heal knocking him off his feet and a big shout for an Ellon penalty was waived by the referee. The Ellon boys felt hard done by and dug in even deeper.

Despite continued pressure from Ellon no further goals were to come in this period.

1st Period Glens 0 Ellon 1

Reece was replaced by Stuart up front and Ross replaced by Fraser on the right of midfield. Ellon seemed to carry on where they left off with several good opportunities created from corners, but no clear shots on target failed to inrease the lead.

Logan made a good block with his feet from a rare strike by Glens. This was a reminder to Ellon that a single goal was not good enough.

Some good movement from Ellon lead to a good shooting chance for MATT which he hit well, but low. Stuart followed the ball towards goal and did enough to put the keeper off and MATT's shot found the bottom corner to double Ellons lead.

Again some strong play from Ellon put the Glens defence under pressure and a goal mouth scramble ensued with a shot from Stuart being fumbled past the post by their keeper.

From the resulting corner Ellon were awarded a penalty after a Glens boy had used a hand to take the ball down. STUART stepped up and blasted the ball in to the top left corner of the Glens goal, 3-0 Ellon.

By now the Ellon boys were all starting to push forward and Glens to their credit took full advantage of this and broke up field and fired in a great shot past the luckless Logan, 3-1.

Alex had to be replaced after taking a knock in his arm, with Ross going back in to midfield and Mark moving back to cover in defence.

The swung the game totally in favour of Glens and wave after wave of attacks where Ellon did not clear their lines. They paid the penalty for this with another fine strike which could have been dealt with earlier, but left Logan with no chance.

2nd period Glens 2 Ellon 3

Ellon shuffled the pack again with Alex returning and Reece replacing Stuart, but more importantly Logan had twisted his knee and was replaced in goal by Michael.

This period was now far more open with the ball going from end to end with chances for both teams, but Ellon were still finding it difficult to clear their lines.

Glens struck again to level the match with a fierce shot past Michael after some poor defending.

Ellon reacted well to this, but were still slow to clear the ball and were getting caught by Glens and Chris having to make several last ditch tackles.

Fraser was coming more in to the game and was running at the Glens defence as often as he could, but they were now defending in numbers.

A late tackle by Reece resulted in him being lectured by the referee which did not please him, but he reacted well to this and started to channel his energies in to what he knows, running and pressuring the defence. This almost paid off with a few chances just squeezing past the Glens post.

The match was not over quite yet with Ellon & Glens having several chances, with Ellon having the better of them, but neither was to score.

Full time Glens 3 Ellon 3

A very entertaining match for what had become a sizable crowd, played in very good spirit and good weather.

A nice way to finish up the first season for the boys, pity we could not hold on to a win.

Well done to all 10 boys, keep up the hard work.

Roll on under 10's!

Donside Soccer 7 Festival : 27th May

Ellon Meadows Colts have been invited to participate in the Soccer 7 Festival in Alford, organised by Donside Juvenile FC.

The format of the event in 8 teams in a league (all U9's) playing each other with the winners and the runners-up playing each other for the trophy.

The Festival kicks-off at 11am shapr, so we shoyld arrive no later than 10:30.

The Festival is held at the Pleasure Park. Directions can be found on the link below.

Map of Alford and parking areas.

Sunday 13th May v Glentanar Colts : 10am start

Due to Glentanar having 2 home matches our match is now an early start at 10:00.

Please be there no later than 09:30.

Click here for directions.

Directions to Glentanar Colts, Aberdeen

Glentanar Boys Club play home fixtures at Woodside Sports Complex, the home of Glentanar Junior Football Club, which is located just off Great Northern Road in Aberdeen.

Head in to Aberdeen along the Parkway, straight on at the Tesco roundabout, and over the bridge at Persley.

Take a left and head up the hill to the Haudigan roundabout. Take a left at the roundabout and then head alonf Great Northern Road for atout 1/4 of a mile.

Just before the Video Drive In there is a turning on the left (Station Road) that takes you over a small bridge. Follow this road and it will take you under the railway line.

Take a left at the 'T' juction an then the next left before the housing.

The club is on your right.

Go to Google Maps

Kemnay Summer Tournament, Saturday 19th May

We have entered the team into the Kemnay Summer Tournament which will be held in Bogbeth Park, Kemnay on Saturday 19th May.

Our age group games will be held in the morning and will be in a league format.

Start time is currently estimated at 10:00 am.

More details to follow once we receive them.

If you are not going to be available to play on this date then please let us know a.s.a.p.

Sunday 6th May : Match Cancelled v Colony Colts

Unfortunately Sunday's match v colony Colts has been cancelled as Colony cannot field a team. This is most disappointing given how few matches we have played recently.

A training / fun session has been arranged for Sunday at Strickers Bridge of Don (behind McDonalds), at 10:15 for around an hour. Cost will be £4.

All parents are welcome with their boys, and any brother that may be interested.