Running out of steam in the Quarter Finals.
A much changed Sassco team travelled to Falkirk for their second stint in the Lava Cup 2025 – a major 7-a-side tournament with a number of international teams from overseas, including Poland, Denmark, Germany and Iceland. This was along with well drilled teams from England and Scotland.
Our new debutantes were Kevin McKenzie in goal, with Daryll Surtees, David Grundy, Phil Railton and Paul Cook. Mike Barker then joined last, with Sangha and McShane remaining from 2024’s Ice Plate winners (having been walloped in the group stage).
It was a massive contrast this year. Despite allowing Lyngby Boldklub claw back a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 in an opening game, which saw stiff legs stuck in their own area before a breakaway saw two goals fired in – Sassco were coasting, but errors led to Lyngby firing in two goals. Plus Grundy nearly saw the red mist after a bad tackle on him, which affected his tournament.
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The team was obviously disappointed, so the next three games in the group of five were emphatic wins with some spectacular goals. Sassco coasted through most of the games, in contrast to last year, where they laboured in every game, ironically, apart from the Final.
The first was against Carloway, where it was goalless for almost half the game before a number of quick goals from Phil Railton (3) and Paul Cook (2) made it comfortable.
Park Athletic were next, where we ran out 4-0 winners with two spectacular goals from Mark McShane from distance, along with two goals from Railton.
Finally it was Carron Huskies, where we conceded near the end, but this was after Paul Cook (2) and Phil Railton made it comfortable, before Mike Barker pounced on goalkeeper save to make it 4-0 before they scored from an error.
However, we were to run out of steam this time. The Quarter Final saw us facing a strong Northern Ireland team, Greenisland FC, who were quite accomplished and polished when we watched them play. We were suffering now with Grundy being a walking wounded, having suffered a bad challenge in the opening game.
We succumbed to an early goal and never got into the game, despite a rare chance late on to equalise. It was probably fair that they were the better team, but Sassco were disappointed that there was no progress, and further disappointed that Lyngby, who we were coasting at 2-0, were the eventual winners – mainly because it was a lost opportunity for us.
However it was a great tournament appearance with an impressive set of games. The Lava Cup organised by Marc Boal is probably the best tournament of it’s kind with impeccable organisation.
Photos below include some photos from Chunky Monkey and Sports Photography Scotland.
