Sevens football tournament sparks FVC Babcock MAs into action

A Forth Valley College football squad comprising nine modern apprentices from the College’s Babcock Fabrication and Welding courses, attended a 7-a-side Construction and Trades tournament in Edinburgh on Thursday 19 March.

The World of Football facility in the capital was the venue and Edinburgh College were the organisers of the competition involving six teams, two from the hosts and one each from Fife College, New College Lanarkshire, Glasgow Clyde College and Forth Valley College.

The format was a round robin group stage where each team played five games, with the top four progressing to semi-final and then final. FVC advanced to the semi-finals after just one defeat in the group stage, with Kyle Gallacher scoring a whopping 15 goals in the process. However he picked up an injury and was unable to play in the knock-out rounds.

After finishing second in group FVC played the eventual winners - Glasgow Clyde College in the semi, with the other game pairing Edinburgh 1s v New College Lanarkshire.

Dean McKirdy, FVC’s Active Campus Coordinator, who helped to organise the event, for the FVC team, said: “Unfortunately, FVC lost 2-0 in the semi-final. But we did win the third place play off by beating Edinburgh 1s 2-0, with Christopher Crorken, who played the full day as a keeper, scoring both goals as he came outfield due to injuries.

Results

• Game 1= FVC won 7-1 v New College Lanarkshire. With star man Kyle Gallacher scoring all seven.
• Game 2= FVC won 8-0 v Edinburgh College 2s, Kyle Gallacher with six, Luke Ewens and Struan Robertson with one each.
• Game 3= FVC drew 2-2 with Glasgow Clyde College, Kyle Gallacher with two goals.
• Game 4= FVC suffered first defeat losing 2-1 to Fife College, Luke Ewens with the goal.
• Game 5= FVC drew 1-1 with Edinburgh College 1s - Charlie Williamson with the goal.

The final saw Glasgow Clyde College comfortably beat New College Lanarkshire.

Dean McKirdy, added: "I was so proud of each of the students that attended. We deserved more than third place, but unfortunately it wasn't to be on the day. The team were an absolute credit to the College with exemplary behaviour at all times, and we picked up the ‘Team of the Tournament’ award for our discipline and friendly attitude towards the other players and staff.

“This tournament was also great in terms of working with the Active Campus coordinators at other colleges, as we were able to deepen our cross college work and develop further opportunities for students to take part in college sport."

Anyone looking to find out more information on how to get involved in sports at the College should contact Active Campus Coordinator Dean McKirdy at dean.mckirdy@forthvalley.ac.uk