Junior Sharks have mixed fortunes against Tornadoes

Nov 27 2009 Dumfries Standard Friday

THE SOLWAY Sharks U14s and U16s entertained Kilmarn ock in a home leagu e fixture on Sunday

First up were the Sharks U14s who were out of the blocks very quickly scoring two goals in the first minute of the game.

Connor Henderson scoring the first assisted by Jack Stevenson and Connor ‘Chesney’ Caven scoring the second assisted by Scott Henderson and Steven McClemont.

The Sharks made it 3-0 just before the five-minute mark when Connor Henderson showed great composure to finish following a pass from Caven.

The Sharks did not have it all their own way and the outstanding Calum Hepburn in the Sharks net was called upon to make 21 saves over the 40 minutes.

Just before the break Connor Henderson again demonstrated his lethal finishing making the score 4-0 at the interval following excellent work from Josh Broadfoot.

The Sharks continued to dominate during the second period and dictated play from the back with Douglas Fairbairn, Josh Grieveson, Jack Stevenson, Stuart Kerr and Jay Maxwell all putting in excellent defensive performances.

The Sharks’ fifth goal and his fourth of the game was scored by the prolific Connor Henderson ably supported by Stevenson and Broadfoot.

At this stage the penalty minutes started to accumulate with the Kilmarnock side appearing to lose their cool against some hard fore checking from the Junior Sharks. The Sharks’ sixth goal was an unassisted effort from Maxwell who was promptly removed from the game for what was assessed by the referees as being an over zealous reaction in protecting his netminder.

Sharks’ seventh and final goal was scored by Grieveson assisted by Steven McClemont. Coach Jamie Thomson was delighted with his battling team’s performance which saw their second win in three games.

Next up were the Sharks U16s who took on an experienced and big Kilmarnock side.

The game started extremely closely with Sharks’ netminder Grant Scott making a number of fine saves.

With the Kilmarnock forwards on top, the Sharks’ defence held firm with Kyle Kirkpatrick, Charlie Lauder, Josh Grieveson and Jack Stevenson all matching the Kilmarnock Tornadoes physical approach.

With Lauder serving a two-minute penalty for holding, the Kilmarnock side took the lead with Martin McPhail opening the scoring and with the Sharks still licking their wounds the lead was doubled only six seconds later by Fraser Kerr.

A fortunate third goal for Kilmarnock was scored in the 21st minute as a bouncing puck eluded the clutches of netminder Scott.

The Sharks then rallied with excellent play from Callum Henderson, Joe Coulter and Connor McCallum.

The latter opened the scoring for the Sharks with the assists going to Lauder and Grieveson.

With the referees starting to lose control and a significant number of penalties being awarded for what was certainly a physical but in no way a dirty game, Kilmarnock took advantage scoring their fourth and fifth goals without reply until Connor McCallum scored twice for the Sharks in the latter stages of the game with an additional and final seventh goal for Kilmarnock coming in the very last minute making the final score Kilmarnock 7 Sharks 3.

Man of the match in both the Under 14s and the Under 16s games for the Solway Sharks was Josh Grieveson.