Sunday 1st March saw the East District U16 Boys Development League leaders, Grange, travel down to the Borders for their return fixture against the Kelso U16 Boys. A competitive game last Autumn in Edinburgh saw Grange come out on top, however Kelso were hoping to reverse the outcome at a sunny Kelso High School.

The first quarter saw both teams playing attacking hockey with opportunities at both ends of the pitch. There were good openings for Kelso as we unlocked the Grange defence multiple times down the right channel but we were unable to find our goalscoring touch. The deadlock was broken when Kelso went one to the good courtesy of Chris A, who stole a loose pass at the back to put it past the Grange keeper, and see the home team 1-0 up at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started in a similar fashion to the first but Grange were starting to come into the game with strong ball carrying through the middle of the pitch. It was not long before the visitors found their stride and quickly turned the game around with two goals to lead 2-1 at the halftime break.

Following a team talk that focussed on playing to our strengths and doing the basics right we started off the third quarter with more belief and drive. With a renewed sense of confidence we managed to unlock the Grange defence a couple of times with Chris A bagging his hat-trick and seeing us lead 3-2 at the end of the third quarter.

Grange were never going to give up the game without a fight and so it transpired that they quickly found an equaliser after the final break and soon after found another to lead 4-3. Heads started to drop for the home team, having fought so valiantly earlier in the game, and this eventually told as Grange continued to pile on the pressure and scored four unanswered goals in the last quarter to win out the game 6-3.

Lots of frustration and disappointment from our players at the final whistle but as with every game lots of lessons being learned and reflections to take forward to our final two league fixtures.

We travel back up the road for our penultimate fixture which is away to Watsonians Hockey Club on Sunday 15th March.

KHC U16 Boys Team vs Grange: C. Alton; M. Banks; L. Dutch; R. Fleming; T. Grant; F. Gray; O. Ironside; A. Little; J. Moir; N. Patterson; R. Patterson; R. Poe; F. Pennington; C. Quinn; A. Scott; J. Wilson (Capt.).