The Football team stayed at Edendale with the Hockey team; halfway between the fields we played on in Invercargill and half way to the turfs they played on in Gore.

We had already considered ourselves fortunate from the outset, being placed in a pool of 3 with Southland Boys and St Kevins. This meant we only had to win one game to progress to the Quarterfinals. Our first game against Southland Boys was a tough one. With our only goal coming by way of Captain Solomon Liesbeth, Southland Boys had the better of us, winning 3-1. St Kevins to go, one win needed. St Kevins were by far our easier game, but we made things tough for ourselves, struggling to finish. We drew 1-1. This meant an agonising wait to see if Southland boys could beat St Kevins by more than 2 goals. 6 nil Southland boys, phew. Waitaki Boys in the Quarterfinals. We went out to a great lead of 2 nil after 15 minutes, looking easily the strongest team. In the second half Waitaki made a strong come back. Final score: 2-2. We went to penalties and out-shot them, winning in the finish. In the semi-final we were fortunate to play on the turf, which was good sized and flat. In this game we had to take on Mount Hutt. We were arguably the better side, dominating possession and having the better of the chances. We drew 0-0, but lost on the penalty shootout. We met Southland boys in our 3rd and 4th play-off, but we just could not beat them, ending up 4th out of 15 teams.

A great effort by a great bunch of boys. A big thanks to John Major for the management, Murray Thompson for the accommodation organisation, and Francine Vella for the uniform management. Until next time.

Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook Trip