The Highlands FC U13 team have just competed in their 2^nd Kanga Cup in Canberra during the first week of the July school holidays.

The Highlands boys and the team entourage had a fantastic week in the nations Capital playing 5 games of football and enjoying the sites and many activities which Canberra has to offer.

The Highlands team had 4 other teams in their group and played against teams from Queensland, NSW and the ACT.

Game one was played at O’Connor against the Gosford City Dragons. Not knowing what was in store the Highlands boys started cautiously but found that they had their opponent’s measure and gradually gained the upper hand in the match.

A first half goal to Ned Kastelein was followed up by another in the second and one more from Toby Fisher to round of a 3-0 win and a great start to the tournament.

Players of the match in game one were the goalscorers Ned and Toby.

Game two was played in South Canberra at Calwell on a wet and slippery pitch against Belnorth who had a 4-0 win on day one.

This match was a very tight affair and a game of few opportunities. The defences stood out and the final scoreline of 0-0 was a fair result.

Players on the match for the Highlands were Ikani Vaitohi and Joel Morrow.

Ned ruled himself out of the fair play award after he picked up a yellow card!

Tuesday saw the boys play a double header and the team travelled from Calwell to Dickson to take on the Gunghalin Storm. The weather closed in and the game was played in cold, wet conditions. The Highlands boys didn’t seem to mind and played a great match with the whole team playing well.

Half time was 2-0 with Toby Fisher and Nick Bell the goalscorers. Two more second half goals sealed a good win with goals from Ned Kastelein and a penalty from Taylor Delahunty.

Players of this match were Oliver Hardman ,Nick Bell and Robert Cvitan.

So the boys went to bed on Tuesday night knowing they were top of their group and a win or a draw on Wednesday required to make sure of a semi final spot.

On Wednesday the Highlands Blues played in their very own version of State of Origin against the North Queensland Crocs. Maybe a touch of complacency had crept in to the team as this game against the was probably the worst performance of the week. The boys played at Waramanga where they had played plenty of matches on 2009 so the venue was nothing new. The team dominated first half proceedings but numerous wasted opportunities were to prove costly. The only goal coming from Nick Bell close to half time.

Coaching staff advised the team to switch on for the second half but these instructions went out the window when the Crocs equalised following a couple of appalling defensive lapses.

This should have triggered the Highlands team to lift their game but another patch of poor defending and concentration saw the Townsville team grab another goal and they were looking good for the semis.

The Highlands team were looking like all their efforts had come to no avail when a last ditch attack and cross from Ned Kastelein found the big head of Brodie Moore who steered his header into the back of the net with time almost up. This goal was celebrated like a world cup win by the Highlands boys who knew what it meant.

A draw was good enough to secure second spot in the group and a place in the semis.

Brodies effort saw him named as man of the match and he was closely followed by Mitchell Legg and Jono Chambers.

So it was back to Waramanga on Thursday on a beautiful Canberra Winter afternoon to play against Gunghalin United who had topped their group in the other half of the U13 pool. The Gunghalin boys looked impressive in their warm up and the local lads knew that they would be in for a tough contest. To their credit this match was the best of the tournament and the Highlands team lifted their intensity and the match was a hard fought competitive affair for the full hour of play.

It was amazing no goals were scored in the match and it ended goalless and extra time had to be played to decide the outcome. Stress levels were rising for both players and supporters.

Gunghalin had a couple of golden chances to seal the game in extra time but Josh Heyhorn in the Highlands goals made a couple of magnificent saves. Up the other end Highlands could have snatched a goal but Brodie Moore’s shot went agonisingly wide.

So the whistle went to end extra time and it was in to the dreaded penalty shoot out. There are not enough pages to write about the next events of the day, suffice to say that the Gunghalin side were winners on penalties after officials had made them re-take 3 penalties which had been saved.

The efforts of the Highlands team seemed to have come to nothing but that was certainly not the case as they had played a fantastic game and had done the Highlands Football community proud during their week in Canberra. It came down to some very harsh decisions to make them finally lose a game.

Player of the match in what was unfortunately the final fixture was Taylor Delahunty and he was closely followed by Lachlan Burley, Jonny Bell and Josh Heyhorn.

The prize for victory was a game on the new Hawker synthetic pitch. Unfortunately we will have to wait another year to be able to so this.

The Gunghalin team went on to win the Grand Final!

The Highlands FC boys have now only lost once in their last nine matches which is testimony to their improvement on the field and at training. The attitude and effort throughout the season have never been questioned but now the team are showing that they can match it with the best teams in the competition with their play which revolves around tackling and passing.

Coaching staff are working on modeling the teams play on Spain who show how you can make the game easy if you can pass and control the ball with confidence.

The Highlands team now look forward to the rest of the Illawarra competition and will dream of what might have been at this years Kanga Cup.

Player of the Tournament for the Highlands team was Oliver Hardman and Best and Fairest for the week was Ikani Vaitohi.