YOUNGSTARS EARN SUMMER BREAK

MYS Black Stripes 12 - 5 Tranent Colts (15Jun09)

A second evening match in a row for the kids tonight, and they once again relished the opportunity and put on a fine performance.

Jason got the team off to a flying start with an early goal. Ross had made a great clearnace from defence, which Jason collected in the centre circle and flicked the ball round his marker. He then charged towards goal and skipped past the last defender before stroking the ball under the keeper's body and into the net. The Youngstars then scored a second as Morgan's shot was deflected off the Tranent keeper into Josh's path. Josh then lifted the ball over the keeper and just under the crossbar for his first goal of the match. Tranent hit back quickly though, when their midfielder hit the crossbar with a brilliant strike and the ball fell kindly for the alert striker to blast it over the goal line. They almost equalised moments later, but Ross put in a superb tackle to prevent a clean strike on goal. From the resulting corner, Innes managed to get in amongst a crowd of bodies to punch the ball clear and prevent any further chances before the whistle.

In the second period, Jason restored the Youngstars' two goal lead when Morgan collected Lewis' path and, with his back to goal, he layed the ball off for Jason to run onto and strike cleanly into the back of the net. Sam played brilliantly in defence all game, and seemed to have an air of real confidence about him as he swept up time and time again with some fantastic tackles and clearances. One time in particular, he won the ball off the Tranent striker and cleared the ball far upfield towards Jason, who looked up and played a nice little pass with the outside of his foot towards Lewis. With the keeper rushing off his line, Lewis simply took his time and slotted the ball into the bottom corner for the team's fourth goal of the game. He scored another very quickly afterwards, before Calum controlled a good pass from Jason and planted the ball into the bottom corner of the net himself.

Ross played in midfield in the third period and was involved in almost every attack out on the right wing. His cross from the by-line beat the keeper and landed at Calum's feet, giving him an easy tap-in as the Youngstars went six goals clear. Josh then scored an exact replica of his first goal as the ball was deflected into his path just inside the box and he once again lifted the ball over the keeper and it dipped just under the crossbar. Tranent began to apply some more pressure, forcing a good one-handed save from Innes to keep them at bay.

Early in the final period, Josh completed his hat-trick with a great solo effort. From the corner flag he displayed some nimble footwork to dribble past three defenders before blasting the ball past the diving keeper. Tranent pulled a goal back though after a clever chip into the box was headed clear by Innes (now playing outfield), but it was collected by a Tranent midfielder who hit a fantstic shot giving Calum no chance in goals. They soon scored another, but the Youngstars replied with a great goal by Ross as he squeezed it past the keeper from a very narrow angle. Calum was forced to make a strong diving save from the next Tranent attack, but the ball fell to another striker and he passed it into the empty net. It was real end-to-end stuff at this point, and Innes soon won the ball in midfield and fired a good pass to Lewis, who played a neat one-two with Josh before smashing the ball into the net for his hat-trick. Tranent then pulled another goal back, but the Youngstars rounded off the scoring with Lewis planting the ball off the post and into the net following some great link-up play between Ross and Josh.

This was the final match before the summer break, and the kids can all look back on the first half of the 2009 season with real pride. They've played some great attacking football, with everyone working hard for each other in every match. Each player can now look forward to a well deserved rest over the summer and we look forward to seeing them all back in action in August.

Team sheet: Innes, Sam, Ross, Josh, Lewis, Morgan, Jason and Calum

Goal scorers: Jason (2), Josh (3), Lewis (4), Calum (2), Ross