Saturday 5th Feb 2010

The team had made its final preperation for the tournament that the Cobras were holding in Carluke. Even though the team had only had three training sessions we were upbeat about our goals for the day. We had a squad of 10 heading into the tournament, Andrew Chapman, Mark Fletcher, Callum Bell, Kenny Reid, Richard Moore, Gavin Strathearn, Andrew Gibson, Christopher Farrell, Christopher McDonald and Callum Carson. We all met up at Garrion Bridge as Mark was the only person that knew where we were going. Everyone was on time and we even arrived at the grounds ahead of schedule, yes I know thats I 1st.

It was a four team event, Kirkcaldy Bulls(Holders), Carluke Cobras(Hosts), Grangemouth Broncos and Glasgow Hornets. As you can guess with only one grass pitch being used and 6 games and it had been raining all week, what state we and the pitch were going to be in at the end of the day. Mr Wallace was there for support and of course taking our mugshots (which will follow).

Suppose I better get on with the games our 1st game was to be against the Broncos. It was a mixture of rewards in that game. The 1st half saw me throw 4 interceptions, plus we lost Kenny on the 1st play of the day on D for the rest of the tournament. We did score but it was chalked off as it was deemed not to be in the endzone. However the D did pull out some great stops. But alas the game was escaping from us as we trailed at the end of the half 25-0. I changed things about took myself out of the QB fray and let Mark have a go running the O. Well lets just say that the expression "its a game of two halves" is an understatement. We came out fighting and looking more hungrier of the 2 teams with the D stopping everything that the Broncos were throwing or running at them. Plus our O was showing what they were capable of. Alas though we did loose but of a score of 31-28. This is the best 2nd half performance I have ever witnessed by the Hornets both sides of the ball.

Next up for us was the Bulls, British Champions for 2 years and holders of this tournament. Again we stumbled in the 1st half unable to get out of 1st gear on offense the D was stumbling. At the half we were trailing 33-6. I took over in the 2nd half QBing (well I could not get any worse than the 1st game.................could I?). The D managed to stop the Bulls on several drives and we did score on a couple of our own drives but the Bulls proved to strong this time. As they finally won 53-19.

Last game of the day for us was against the Cobras. They have proved to be a difficult side to beat with their youth and speed. In the past 2 years we have been unable to even stop a drive against them and keep the score under 40 points. This actually turned out to be a very close game. The D doing there work and communicating on the field working as a unit to stop the Cobras making yardage. On offense hardly a dropped ball and slowly making yardage. I was pleased with the score as it shows that we are improving. Final Score 34-24 to the Cobras.

What a weekend even though we lost 3 games this was more about what we have being doing in training into game situations. Without our main QB we still managed to work the ball up the field and score plus our catching ratio was about 90% completion which is impressive. On D you managed to hold every team on more than 2 occassions. This was a positive tournament for us and I am sure that when the start of the season arrives we will be in ever better shape.