BACK TO WINNING WAYS

Pencaitland 4 – 8 MYS Black Stripes (6Oct07)

Having suffered a few defeats against Pencaitland last season, it was good for the Youngstars to start with an early goal today. A fantastic cross from Lennon on the left hand side found Harvey 6 yards from goal and he smashed the ball high into the net. The Youngstars managed to earn a number of corners in the first 15 minutes, and the second goal came from a great short corner. Dylan nudged the ball to Calum, who played a great pass back to Dylan. He stepped past a Pencaitland defender and blasted a cross into the box. The ball missed everyone and bounced past the keeper and into the net. A string of great saves from Kyle managed to keep Pencaitland out and gave confidence to the Youngstars defence.

Pencaitland managed to pull a goal back in the second quarter, but Jason stole the show with a superb hat-trick. The first was a great solo effort, beating a few defenders on the right hand side and driving forward to slot the ball past the keeper. For his second, Calum won the ball in his own half and passed the ball to Sam, who then saw Jason free and placed the ball right into his path. Jason wasted no time in firing the ball into the goal. About 2 minutes later, some confusion in the Pencaitland defence allowed Jason to win the ball just outside the box, and he stroked the ball comfortably past the helpless keeper making it 5-1 to the Youngstars.

Into the third quarter and Pencaitland scored early on to keep the game reasonably close. However, another fine pass from Lennon left Jason free in the box and he scored yet again. Mark and Innes worked well together in defence and prevented a lot of attacks from Pencaitland, but were unfortunate when the Pencaitland attackers broke free and blasted the ball past Kyle into the roof of the net.

In the final quarter, Pencaitland managed to score another goal, but the Youngstars proved too strong and made many more chances to score. The pick of the bunch was an effort from Josh, who picked up the ball in his own box and drove forward right into the Pencaitland box before firing a smashing shot at goal. The Pencaitland keeper was forced to make an excellent save to keep the ball out. Eventually, the seventh goal came following some great dribbling skills by Dylan and a powerful shot which the goalkeeper managed to save, but the ball was deflected to Jason who passed it into the net for his fifth goal of the game. Shortly afterwards, Sam won the ball with a header towards Dylan, who then drove towards goal and buried it under the keeper for the final goal of the game. A great result for the team against one of the stronger teams in the league.

Teamsheet: Kyle, Mark, Innes, Josh, Sam, Harvey, Dylan, Lennon, Calum, Jason J.

Goal scorers: Harvey, Jason (5), Dylan (2)