Bill Carne meets up with Macs Page, who makes goal scoring look easy as he scored an amazing 132 goals last season . . .

 

Macs Page isn't nine years old yet but he has already caught the eye in terms of scoring goals because last season he found the net an astonishing 132 times in 26 games he played for Prendergast Villa, for the county and Swansea City, where he played just one game, against Bristol City, and scored a hat-trick.

He continues to train weekly with the Swansea City Development Centre and although it means a lot of travel to training and for matches, he enjoys the challenge of playing at this higher level.

Macs showed he can score at any level because he did just that when he was invited, alongside two others Prendergast Villa players called Leon and Kieran, to play for Carmarthen All Stars under 8s in the Ian Rush Festival at Cardiff in July. Macs' team did considerably well and although there was no overall winners as it was a festival.

 His team scored 21 goals and only conceded one - and he finished up as top scorer with ten goals as the All Stars won every match against some good teams in their age group. It was no mean feat in view of the quality of players on view since they were playing against other very good Welsh and foreign teams, including touring sides from Lebanon and Dubai.

Macs started out in football before he was eight when he asked if he could go to training with Clarbeston Road and took to it straight away, since he not only played in his age group but also played a year ahead, as he has done in most clubs for whom he has played. By the time he had played his first four games, he had already scored 22 goals!

 After four months, however, he transferred to Fishguard Sports junior section because lots of his pals from school played there and he finished his very first season with 30 goals to announce his arrival on the local scene, with an average of almost three goals per match. It was an amazing statistic, made all the more remarkable because in most of those fixtures he was playing up a year against bigger boys.

 But that paled into insignificance last campaign because in his first full season of football he scored that astonishing tally of 132 goals as he played up front. 55 of them were scored for the Sports and he had heaps more as he played for Prendergast Villa in a series of tournaments where opposing defenders found it difficult to keep him out of the game.

 Macs also played for Pembrokeshire under 9s after attending trials and going to training sessions where he showed his ability to work hard and he played against Ceredigion and Carmarthen, scoring in both matches, of course.

 He is coached at the Villa by Adrian Blundell, known to all as Wiggles, and Rob Owen, and this season has started well with the boys winning their first three games. With the coaches looking to build on their skills, Macs and the rest of the boys continue to improve and are turning into a force to be reckoned with.

 Macs has also had some specialist coaching with his heading of the ball from Bernie Armstrong, rightly regarded as one of the best goal scorers with his head in the county. Bernie promised Macs the reward of a giant Mars bar if he scored a headed goal in a match and as soon as Macs had achieved the feat Mr Armstrong was as good as his word, taking up the chocolate to the Page household for Macs to enjoy!

 Macs has played local rugby for the past three years and he is as passionate about his rugby as he is about his football. He is part of a very well-structured Fishguard and Goodwick junior team led by Steve Rowe and the boys usually give the opposition a run for their money. Macs has enjoyed similar success in the oval ball game as in football because he scored 50 tries last season and 60 the season before. Unfortunately, there will come a time when he will have to choose which sport he will focus on because of time constraints but in the meanwhile he will continue to enjoy his rugby with the Junior Seagulls.

 Macs has been lucky to receive total support from his family because although parents Beverley and Neil are busy in their respective roles as teacher and builder they are happy to ferry him around for so many matches up the line as well as locally. His brothers Steffan (17) and Morgan (12) are both keen on football whilst sister Ruby (6) is already showing an interest in sport.

 Ask Macs about favourite players and he would nominate Lionel Messi, of Barcelona fame, and he loves to join Neil on trips to the Liberty Stadium to watch Swansea City play in the English Premiership set-up.

 But above all else he loves playing and scoring goals, using his ability to be in the right spot at the right time to find the net. He has a nice first-touch for one so young and electric pace off the mark which confounds opponents!

 Bernie Armstrong says that Macs is as talented a youngster as he has seen for a while, high praise indeed from someone who knows his way around as far as coaching is concerned. We at the Western Telegraph could pay Macs Page no higher compliment and we wish this talented young footballer continued success as he moves through the age groups!