The annual SAMH tournament was held at the Powerleague complex in Glasgow on Thursday 16th August. It is run by Street Soccer Scotland, the organisation who built the Scotland Homeless World Cup team, which went on to win last year’s competition. So the competition was intense!
The Academy entered 2 teams consisting of 3 coaches and 10 participants from the programme. They were split evenly into 2 teams, one with 6 and one with 7, with a total football approach being adopted by the coaching teams.
The tournament consisted of about 50 teams split into groups of 5 or 6 teams. Both Academy teams topped their groups, which qualified them for the SAMH cup, the big prize of the tournament.
The 8 top teams played in the quarter finals. Ayr United All-stars were beaten in a close encounter so came a very respectable equal 5th overall. The Ayr United Superstars drew their quarter final 1-1 which led to a tense sudden death shootout, which they won to progress to the semis.
Unfortunately they came up against the eventual winners and were beaten 3-1. So, an excellent 3rd place finish for the Superstars!
Academy Coach, Stuart Watson said:
“A great day out was had by all concerned, made even better by 2 great team performances. I was proud of the teams and all who took part. Their conduct was exemplary and their attitude was superb. It was essentially a Fun day but highly competitive and the players showed that they could compete with the best. They left the tournament with their heads held high and were all a credit to Ayr United Football Academy “
