Hibs Under-15 squad have returned from a successful trip to Poland, where they played their part in a multi-team tournament – mixing with some of the best clubs in Europe.
Led by coaches John Divers and Guillaume Beuzelin, an 18-strong squad of youngsters travelled to Wrocław, Poland to take part in the Lower Silesia Number One Cup.
The 24-team tournament included representation from all over Europe, with Hibs competing with the likes of Liverpool, PSG, Sparta Prague and Leicester City to name a few.
Hibs were drawn in Group E, along with Ajara FF (Georgia), Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) and Parasol Wroclaw (Poland).
The youngsters got off to a winning start with a 1-0 win over the Georgian side with Jackson Thomson grabbing the only goal of the game on Saturday (8 March).
Hibs were then held to a 1-1 draw with Parasol Wroclaw with Murray McDermott on target before narrowly losing 2-0 in their final group game with Sparta Prague.
That meant Hibs finished on four points – joint-top of the Group E, along with Ajara FF and Sparta Prague. Unfortunately, only the top two qualified for the knock-out stages – with Hibs dropping out due to goal difference.
The following day (Sunday 9 March), Hibs were drawn into a group with Escola Varsovia (Poland), AS Trencin (Slovakia) and Leicester City (England) to compete for places 13-16.
The youngsters triumphed over our English counterparts beating Leicester City 1-0 with Jackson Thomson on target again, before Ryan Purden and Axel Kitchin scored in a 2-0 win over Escola Varsovia. The final match was a goalless draw with AS Trencin meaning Hibs finished in a respectable 14th place out of 24 teams
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
