YOUNGSTARS ON FORM AGAIN

MYS Black Stripes 5 - 1 Pencaitland Yellow (20Sep08)

Pencaitland brought a depleted squad to Wallyford today, following a couple of late call offs - but they proved to be strong opponents with a number of great tacklers throughout their team. The visitors put the Youngstars under pressure right from the start, and Innes (playing in goal for the whole match) was forced into a couple of saves early on. However, the Youngstars opened the scoring following some great footwork from Jason out on the left wing. He then cut a great pass in to Lewis who had his shot saved by the diving keeper. The ball then broke kindly to Harvey who hammered it into the back of the net.

Pencaitland equalised early in the second period, when Innes was unable to hold onto a strong shot from their striker. This gave Pencaitland a boost and they kept the ball in the Youngstars half for most of the quarter. Innes kept them out with a couple of excellent diving saves, improving his confidence as a replacement goalkeeper now that Kyle has left the squad. The Youngstars restored their lead following some clever play by Lewis, who had won the ball from a Pencaitland kick-out. He dribbled out towards the left wing, then cut onto his right foot and fired the ball into the top corner.

Sam was used in defence again today, and (as in the previous game) stood out with a brilliant performance. His tackling was strong, his passing was accurate, and his willingness to track back was really needed by the team. Indeed, he was involved in the team's third goal when he won a great tackle in his own half and passed the ball to Lewis, who then drilled it into the penalty box. Calum ran onto it and made a nice first-touch pass to Jason, who skipped round the defender and blasted the ball past the diving keeper. Pencaitland lost their confidence at this point and the Youngstars pounced quickly with another two goals. Lewis had the ball on the half way line, then dribbled past three Pencaitland players before calmly slotting it into the bottom corner of the goals. Then Jason found space with the ball down by the corner flag on the left wing and crossed it towards Calum who knocked it into the net with a nice first-touch strike.

In the final quarter, some fantastic defending by Mark kept Pencaitland at bay and his passing set up many attacks for the Youngstars. In particular, Josh had an excellent game out on the right hand side, showing some great dribbling skills and firing in lots of accurate crosses. Morgan, on the left hand side, once again showed his usual determination to get up and down the pitch and is proving to be a very useful midfielder. No goals in the final period, but some great passing football was on display and the team walked away with a victory - but more importantly, another great team performance.

Teamsheet: Innes, Mark, Sam, Josh, Harvey, Lewis, Morgan, Jason, Calum

Scorers: Harvey, Lewis (2), Jason, Calum