Pringle: House Sport 2009-10 Last update: 10-Feb-2010

For Rugby Match Reports, please follow the link

U11 Football v Fettes (8 Feb) won 3 - 2

A first outing for this team.  We started well and played in their half.  Fettes responded by playing defensively, effectively so.  They were quick and firm in the tackle.  The first game saw the only goal, a good one by Cian.  The second games was similar, and we struggled to turn dominance into goals until Cian struck again.  At the other end we had several wobbly indecisive moments but Xander, captain for the evening was having a great night in the goal.  One nil again.  Finally after a quiet opening, Fettes scored a good goal and, with our reserve goalie distracted by the gallery a very soft one went in.  Cian scored again but we finished disappointingly.  Joiner Jerseys for Cian and Xander.

U13 football v Fettes (1 Feb) won 4 - 3

A depleted and somewhat experimental team always looked the stronger and we had the best of territory almost throughout, but there were a lot of near misses and frustration manifested itself in irritation rather than patient and unselfish interplay.  Fettes had a small team who played intelligently and tenaciously: they took their chances and could have pinched a win against the odds.  Joiner jersey for Ben Mc.

U12 Prep schools indoor tournament (Overall winners)

A fourth win in a row for Merchiston in this excellent competition.  One school was forced to cancel by the state of the roads so we fielded a B team.  They played well enough to make life easier for our top side finishing second best!  Loretto were the side to beat.  The B's drew with them, but the A team could only win 1 - 0.  It was the match in which we lost our rhythm and made heavy weather of it.  Instead of hanging on to an early lead we should have kept on the front foot and scored another handful.  We are indeed grateful to all other schools for their skilful contributions to the tournament.

U13 v Belhaven Hill won 1 - 0

We won 1 - 0.  That was all that was good!  On a miserably cold day we fielded a strange arrangement of players which did not work, and we seriously underestimated what Belhaven would achieve since our last win.  All credit: they were very quick and effective in the tackle and capitalised on our mistakes.  Changes at half time improved the balance but our finishing remained away below what we are capable of.  The coach accepts his share of the blame!

Swimming v Fettes & Compass (11/1/10) - Won

U9 2nd; U11 2nd; U12 1st

Football v Fettes (9/11/09) W 9-3

An extraordinary evening!  In the first 6 minutes we scored 5 goals (Duncan got three) and it looked like it would be a long night for Fettes.  We did everything possible.  The strikers were put in defence and not allowed out of their half.  The defenders had to play up front, and our captain Jordan never got out of goal!  It worked, as the statistics show, and most importantly the team played as if everything was normal.  Great credit to the Merchiston side who never questioned the need for the strategy.  Fettes were very small, they played spirited football they deserved to enjoy themselves as always.

Football U13 v Cargilfield W 5-3

Swimming v Fettes (1/10/09) W105-103

Fettes arrived at Merchiston very keen to continue their dominance over us in the swimming pool.  The first few races were very even with Fettes and Merchiston winning alternative races.  A first in both U12 (Tom H) and U13 (Benjamin K) gave Merchiston a slight advantage.  Benjamin K won the U13 front crawl to extend the lead, and when Merchiston won the U12 freestyle relay it looked like we would run away with it.  A costly error in the U12 Medley relay and a Merchiston DQ meant Fettes claimed 10 points to even the scores.  A Merchiston win at U13 level gave us a slight cushion, and we needed to win one of the next two raft races.  Thankfully the U12s did the job and although the U13s lost the final relay Merchiston edged out winners 105 – 103.  Well done all.

Football v Fettes (21/9/09) W 9-4

We welcomed our old adversaries and friends making a slow start but with some good footwork on both sides.  We should really have been two or three up, but instead finished 1 - 0.  Suddenly in the middle game everything clicked and Jack H, Tom B and Benjamin K collected five fantastic goals.  Ben went off but two more successful raids followed.  Fortunately Fettes scored three of their own albeit our errors helped them!  Extraordinarily we rather lost our way in the final game and the draw was a fair result.  Another great evening's sport.
Goals - Jack (3), Tom (3), Ben (2) Jordan (1).

Football v Cargilfield (14/9/09) D 3-3

It was a thriller of a match and big scores were only prevented by the excellent goal keeping.  We are very much an attack biased line-up but we do tend to play too defensively whenever confidence is challenged.  We were always level or ahead and their equaliser came right at the end of the match.  Two big players one with a mighty strike kept them in the game.  A fair result but we would really want to have won.  Almost everyone played up to expectation.  Joiner jersey's for Jordan and Xander.

Swimming Gala (10/9/09) W 106-60

The first Swimming Gala against Clifton Hall is a fantastic way to start the swimming season, as it is quite a relaxed event.  The U13s welcomed Benjamin K from the Compass.  The first two races set the tone for the match with, Alexander and Benjamin winning the U11 and U13 freestyle.  The gala continued in the same way with a lot of boys (Fingal, Tom and Jamie) winning their races.  Well done all.