Motherwell football ace Jonathan is back from Beijing and is set for 2012 Paralympics in London

Sep 24 2008 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Football ace Jonathan is back from Beijing and is set for 2012 Paralympics in London

GREAT Britain’s Paralympics squad returned home from Beijing last week including Motherwell lad Jonathan Paterson who skippered Team GB’s seven-a-side football squad in China.

The 20-year-old scored in the team’s final match of the tournament when they thrashed hosts China 10-2.

It meant Team GB finished in seventh place overall with the eventual winners of the competition being number one seeds, Ukraine.

His father Stephen, who was in constant communication with Jonathan throughout The Games, told the Wishaw Press: “He (Jonathan) said it was terrific.

“The welcome from the moment they stepped off the plane was fantastic.

“Everything had changed from the Olympics to the Paralympics and there was no hint of being treated like second-class citizens.

“They were well looked after and the Olympic village was said to be amazing.

“Stepping out in the first match against Ukraine was a massive honour for Jonathan and the family.”

Jonathan, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy aged just nine-months-old, played in all but eight minutes of Great Britain’s five matches in the Beijing Games.

He began the tournament in a midfield role but after the heavy 8-1 defeat to gold medallists Ukraine he was asked to shore up the back line, taking on a central defensive position for the remainder of the games.

Having being well beaten by Ukraine and Iran, two sides consisting of full-time footballers, the team then drew with Ireland 1-1 in a match played in front of more than 12,000 spectators.

And although Ireland were seeded above Great Britain in the official rankings, Jonathan was disappointed his team could not secure a victory in what was their final group game.

The side then lost to Holland for the right to compete in the fifth/sixth play-off match before going onto defeat China in the seventh/eighth placed play-off.

Stephen added: “The standard was amazing and GB have got alot to learn from it.

“The Russians and Ukrainians have been together for almost ten years but the British lot have had only six or seven training sessions in the last few months and it definitely shows.

“As they look to gear up towards London 2012 they will certainly need to up the number of training sessions and get them together more often.”

There will be no respite for Jonathan after his trip to China because he works as a football coach at the Scottish Football Association, and will be joining up with the Scottish cerebral palsy team in preparation for next year’s World Championships in South Africa.