Our last fixture from the first half of the U16 Boys East District Development League saw us host Watsonians at Kelso High School on Sunday 16th November before the seasonal Christmas and New Year break.

We were blessed with another fine November afternoon to enjoy the boys game and it wasn’t long into the first quarter before goals were being scored. Kelso were two goals to the good inside the first six minutes with good attacking play into the left side of the D that saw crosses fired across the goalkeeper to be tapped in at the far post on both occasions by Chris Alton. Kelso didn’t have it all their own way as the Watsonians team found the net in the last minute of the first quarter to see the score to 2-1 at the break.

Neither side took advantage in the next two quarters, and whilst there were opportunities at both ends of the pitch the back of the net was harder to find than in the first quarter. Special mentions should go to two of our younger players, Ollie Ironside and Noah Patterson, who made their debuts for the U16 Boys team playing in defence and up front respectively.

So we came to the final quarter of the match with both teams still in it, and it wasn’t long before Watsonians brought the game level following a fine solo run and finish off the back post. With the game evenly poised both teams started pushing for the winner and in the 54th minute a fine break down the right hand side saw Chris Alton secure his hat-trick with a finish into the bottom corner to put Kelso back in front.

This was followed quickly by a fine passage of flowing hockey from Kelso that saw the play start in the right full back position and move across the pitch with several line breaking passes before a circle entry on the right hand side of the D was crossed to the penalty spot for Connor Quinn to net his first of the game and draw a round of applause from the watching crowd.

Kelso were not done as an attacking penalty corner was secured in the last minute of the game. The ball was injected to the top of the D and Murray Banks moved into the circle and fired a backhand reverse hit to the far post where the day’s goal scoring machine Chris Alton was there to tap the ball over the line and secure a 5-2 victory for the home team. The match could have gone either way in the final quarter so it was nice for the boys to find their scoring boots after struggling in the previous fixture and come away with a win.

As ever we thank the visiting Watsonians team for travelling down to the Borders and we look forward to visiting them at Tipperlinn in the second half of the season.

The first half of the Development League draws to a close following the postponement in to the New Year of our return fixture with ESM. The boys have played five games resulting in three wins and two losses, so a good return of 9 points from the opening round of matches.

Enjoy your festivities in the coming weeks and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2026 for the final five fixtures of the league!

KHC U16 Boys Team vs Watsonians: C. Alton; M. Banks (GK); M. Banks; T. Grant; O. Ironside; A. Little; J. Moir; N. Patterson; F. Pennington; C. Quinn; A. Scott; J. Wilson (Capt.).