For a boy whose whole record is built on goals, there is exactly one tournament he walked away from without a single one — the KSFA Youth Cup. We keep it at the front on purpose.
It came early in the season, when the team simply wasn't ready yet — still finding each other, still short of rhythm. Playing up an age didn't help. Game after game, the goals just didn't come, and for the first and only time, the sheet at the end read zero.
It stung — genuinely, all round. He was disappointed to the core, and so were the coach and the two of us on the touchline. There's no dressing that up, and we won't.
Finding the floor
But here's why it earns a highlight rather than a footnote: that tournament was their minimum. They found the floor of what a bad week looks like — and from a floor, the only direction is up. Everything since has been better, and knowing exactly how low it can go is part of why.
The honest record keeps the zeros, not just the hat-tricks. This is the one we point to when a good run makes anyone forget that the bad days are part of the same story.