So close…
Well done to our Upper Hutt City Football U19s team, finishing with our highest ever points total at the national Napier U19s Youth Tournament over Labour Weekend.
The team got off to a flying start with a 2-0 win over East Coast Bays, followed by a 0-0 draw with Cashmere and finishing the day on a high with a 3-0 win over local rivals (and last year’s finalists) Wellington Olympic. Top of the table at the end of day 1! Gotta be happy with that!!
Hopes were high that the team could make it through to the knockout rounds for the first time in the club’s history, with just one win from the two remaining games on the 2nd day of the tournament required.
It wasn’t to be 🙁
Unfortunately, we seemed to run out of steam and lacked the intensity of the previous day, losing 1-0 to Western Springs and 3-2 in an end-to-end battle with Waterside Karori, who went through with Olympic to the quarter-finals.
Still a fantastic weekend and plenty to look forward to for next year. There was some great football on display, a number of our youngsters made their tournament debut (Campbell Webster, Joey McDonell, Cole Kennedy and Tyron Curtis), the supporters were awesome (family, friends and senior club players) – and the weather was superb!
And we were awarded the Fair Play Award by the Tournament organisers – great work team!
However, it is the end of the U19s road for a few of our boys (Connor Peirce, Blake Sinden, Sam Patterson, Oscar Hanlin, Carlos Byers, Ben Wood and Donal Gahan). Some of whom have been going to the Napier Tournament since they were 15! We look forward to seeing them all back for senior football in the new year.
Thanks to everyone involved who contributed to a successful weekend:
- team sponsor Parapine ITM
- UHCF club committee (Tim Peirce, Jamie Wood and Brian Wood for organising the gear)
- Mark Foster and Benn Dawson (coaches) and Dianne Fong and John Milroy (support crew)
- Trevor Weaver for driving the van and taking photos and Gillian Patterson for the social media updates for friends and family at home
- Napier City Rovers for again hosting the country’s premier youth tournament
- and of course the players – a great bunch of boys who don’t worry about overtraining, overloading or too much football; they just want to play the game, test themselves against new teams, enjoy some banter with their mates and represent the club with pride.
Upper Hutt City Football U19s Team (2018)
Connor Peirce, Campbell Webster, William Kempt, Blake Sinden, Jordan Weaver, Campbell Gillanders, Sam Patterson, Joey McDonell, Oscar Hanlin, Carlos Byers, Cole Kennedy, Ben Wood (c), Alex Cornille, Connor McIndoe, Sam Murray (guest), Tyron Curtis, Corban Parker (guest), Donal Gahan.