Tom Leighton wins silver medal at Children’s Games

PROMISING footballer Tom Leighton left Australia with a silver medal and a suntan having taken part in the recent International Children’s Games.
Medal winner...footballer Tom Leighton came home from the International Childrens Games with a silver medalMedal winner...footballer Tom Leighton came home from the International Childrens Games with a silver medal
Medal winner...footballer Tom Leighton came home from the International Childrens Games with a silver medal

Teenager Tom, who lives in Carluke, was part of the Lanarkshire team who narrowly lost 5-4 on penalties in the final in New South Wales.

However, despite the blow of losing in the final of the six-a-side contest, 14-year-old Tom, who lives in Carluke, believes the experience will be invaluable to his future development as a footballer.

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He said: “It was great to be out there and be part of something like the Children’s Games. We were out there for 11 days and the warmest it got was 32 degrees so it was a bit of change from Scotland.

“I thought we handled the heat very well. We were definitely one of the best teams in the tournament.

“We played a couple of Australian teams and we hit double figures before we played a team from Hungary in the semi-finals; they were definitely the best team we played.

“They were very technically gifted but we managed to sneak past them and I got one of the goals in a 2-1 win.

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“In the final we played a team from Plock in Poland and it was very tight. To be honest I thought they played for penalties.

“We usually played two at the back but they just kept all five men back; their goalkeeper was Man of the Match and in the end we lost on penalties.”

For more on this story pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.